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Michigan, USA


TheGrandGesture

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Hello all,

I am new to the world of 3D printing.  I took delivery of my first printer on 1-14-2022 It was a used Qidi Tech I that I found at auction. 

A couple of months later I purchased an E3Max for the sake of getting my feet wet with Klipper and doing some light modifications.  This was an auction purchase as well.

The E3Max now has linear rails, a second Z axis motor and leadscrew, a DD swap and a Pi running Klipper. 

The Qidi Tech is what I am using to print my V2.4 since its fully enclosed.  I upgraded the hot ends for the Micro Swiss all metal hot ends with A2 nozzles.  I am printing the parts using 3DXTech ASA-CF for the base color and their ASA red for the accent color.   I plan to source as much of the build myself as I can, although I am noticing some bundles are a little more economical.  

I work for an automotive supplier in the Motor City that manufactures assembly lines for closure panels.  (doors, hoods, decklids, end gates).  We supply lines to GM, Ford, Stellantis, BMW, Rivian, and Daimler.  I used to work on the tooling and dies that made the doors in the assembly which consisted of a lot of welding and handing grinding.  I now work in the engineering group as a designer creating files for these dies and their stamping die counter part.  I work mainly with UG/NX but can manage Catia if I have to.   (If anyone needs help with a file feel free to ask.)

I'm no coder or have any experience with that writing scripts.  More of a script kiddy if you will. So I suspect I will be at the groups mercy for issues related to things of that nature.  

Before 3D printing I was more of a car person.  I've built a couple of motors and broken a few things.  I had an MKIV Toyota Supra TT 6MT, a Mitsubishi Galant VR4, and a Gen 1 CTS-V.  I like Star Wars.

I'm really excited to build the Voron. The overall design is very impressive and to think it was designed with the idea of being 3D printed.  Brilliant.   Maybe when its finished it will motivate me to finish my mill that just needs one adapter...  Should have made my UN: MasterOfProcrastination 

Thanks for letting me join.  I've already found a couple of excellent add-ons that I will be printing.   Luckily I found the panel mount latches before I started printing the OE mounts LOL.  I certainly hope to give back to the community someday.  

Thanks

Maxon

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Welcome to the forum, Maxon. Definitely sounds like you're on the 3d-printing fast-trrack programme, and you're in a good place to help with that. Plenty of sensible people so feel free to ask away. Although I suspect, with all your engineering chops there'll be plenty for us  quizz you about. That's the beauty of this, the more different views and experiences we can bring to bear on these infernal machines the better things get.

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A big Welcome. Great group of folks, lots of helpful tips and resources are great. What I love about the forum is that you can ask a question and it gets answered and explained in a friendly helpful manner. Everyone is out to help.

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Welcome to the forum! When you get going on that build, consider starting a build diary on it.

If you haven't discovered him yet, take a look at Nero 3D on YouTube, you're fairly close to him. https://www.youtube.com/c/Nero3D 

Nice to have another car guy here. I had a Probe GT that I autocrossed a few years (nearly a regional championship, if only I lived within the region). Now a Mustang GT that likes open tracks better. Also helped with a 351W Pinto project.

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15 hours ago, smirk said:

Welcome to the forum, Maxon. Definitely sounds like you're on the 3d-printing fast-trrack programme, and you're in a good place to help with that. Plenty of sensible people so feel free to ask away. Although I suspect, with all your engineering chops there'll be plenty for us  quizz you about. That's the beauty of this, the more different views and experiences we can bring to bear on these infernal machines the better things get.

When I got my first printer my intensions were to push it to its limits through learning.  I quickly realized that most printers are limited by their own designs.  After dealing with limitations and headaches I was ready for something that was properly designed that didn't require spending thousands upfront on a good unit.  Even then there is still limitations due to proprietary parts.   I'm definitely  curious to see where 3d printing will overlap with how we design and build things.  I know we have looked at printing certain things for prototyping but I haven't gotten to be apart of it all that much.  

7 hours ago, claudermilk said:

Welcome to the forum! When you get going on that build, consider starting a build diary on it.

If you haven't discovered him yet, take a look at Nero 3D on YouTube, you're fairly close to him. https://www.youtube.com/c/Nero3D 

Nice to have another car guy here. I had a Probe GT that I autocrossed a few years (nearly a regional championship, if only I lived within the region). Now a Mustang GT that likes open tracks better. Also helped with a 351W Pinto project.

I think I have come across his channel before.  I will definitely check him out.  Lately I've just been playing helper with a buddy whose been tracking his e36.  Once I settle on a house I'll have a play toy again. lol

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9 hours ago, TheGrandGesture said:

I quickly realized that most printers are limited by their own designs

Like I say you're on the fast track,took me a while to admit that conclusion to myself. I am now firmly in the camp of start with decent underpinnings and avoid getting stuck in the never ending tinkering and upgrade cycle. Although, I guess it really depends on end goals (I could be mean and say procrastination-levels) some want to print to support some other end-goal activity and others prefer to [not print] and constantly tinker. Guess, its like cars some want to get the love-of-their-life up and running to go racing/cruising and others just have the engine/gear-box/suspension/subframe permanently dismantled and spread across the kitchen table much to their families annoyance, and the one time it did run it only made it a mile down the road before going bang in a colour shower of sparks 🤣

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On 7/15/2022 at 4:13 AM, smirk said:

Like I say you're on the fast track,took me a while to admit that conclusion to myself. I am now firmly in the camp of start with decent underpinnings and avoid getting stuck in the never ending tinkering and upgrade cycle. Although, I guess it really depends on end goals (I could be mean and say procrastination-levels) some want to print to support some other end-goal activity and others prefer to [not print] and constantly tinker. Guess, its like cars some want to get the love-of-their-life up and running to go racing/cruising and others just have the engine/gear-box/suspension/subframe permanently dismantled and spread across the kitchen table much to their families annoyance, and the one time it did run it only made it a mile down the road before going bang in a colour shower of sparks 🤣

LOL.  I've done the never ending upgrade cycle and it can be a great for learning but can also lead to one teaching themselves bad habits of just replacing parts instead of doing proper testing or diagnostics.  Not to mention it all adds up quick.   3D printing is the start of it all but my end goal will include more than just 3D printing hopefully.  My day job keeps me fairly busy. (that's my procrastination excuse LOL)  

You are spot on with about the "car guys"😂  Which reminds me,  I better log off and go finish working on my truck... I am the process of fixing some rust holes thanks to Michigan's lovely salty roads in the winter time 🤦‍♂️ I don't see how anyone could have a love for doing body work LOL

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4 minutes ago, TheGrandGesture said:

Michigan's lovely salty roads

Guess that's got to be one advantage of our public sector cuts, we don't salt the roads (cause we cannot afford to).....there again the bodies might not rust but the suspension takes a beating as there are so many pot holes, most of our roads look like bad patch-work quilts.

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1 hour ago, claudermilk said:

Salt? On roads?

It used to be a health initiative, trying to reduce the Scottish population's salt consumption so  they used to put it on the roads instead in the people. Then it all became too expensive (and too many people got squashed licking the tarmac). Despite extensive trials, lard appears to be less advantageous as a road surface

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8 hours ago, claudermilk said:

Salt? On roads? I know not of what you speak (says the guy who drive summer tires year round). 😜 Salt goes on food.

I drive a lowered 2wd Silverado all year around lol.  Now I'm paying for it by fixing the bed lol.  The bed probably would have rusted eventually due to there being plugs in the wheel wells that wouldn't allow drainage.  Even without the salt there was still enough sand and dirt that dumped out when I poked through the rust.  The roads are so bad I never even swapped the factory wheels for something more appropriate for the summer 😬

6 hours ago, smirk said:

too many people got squashed licking the tarmac

🤣🤣🤣🤣

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5 hours ago, claudermilk said:

< looks at avatars >I'll leave the Ford vs Chevy stuff out of this forum... 😝

My wheels would NOT like the sort of potholes you get. 😬 20" + 35 sidewalls likes smooth(ish) roads.

Not gonna offend me any lol.  In my line of work they all have questionable priorities and everything is overpriced lol

Yeah the roads suck here unfortunately.  I'm hesitant to run a 275/55/20 and that has 6" of side wall LOL

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