3D Printing For The Family

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Are you looking for a project the whole family can enjoy during spring break?

It’s March and that means spring break is around the corner.  Children with idle time on their hands can get into mischief.  For this cause, I like to get a project together for us to work on that is both productive and enjoyable. A 3D printer involves math, creativity, and fun!

This Christmas I purchased my husband a 3D printer that we could build ourselves.  He and the boys had a great time putting it together in just one afternoon.  We bought ours from Banggood.com and the only issue we had was, they sent us a European plug.  Thankfully, my husband doesn’t let go of useful things and we had an extra to put in place.

Cute little 8th notes 3D box.

Trouble shooting and calibrating!

Once we had the printer set up, connected properly, and powered up, it was time to test it out.  The kids had some great hands on education; trouble shooting the feed line and the arm that moves up and down.  The base plate was a little tricky as well.  In fact, the balance was so touchy the first print we made were little grips that go on the base screws that help both balance and ease of adjustment.

Next we had to get the filament feeding into the printer properly and then find the perfect temperature for our filament type.  The kids mostly observed here since the nozzle can get pretty hot!  Different types of filament require different temperatures to melt and re solidify properly.   The filament we have had the most success with to date is PLA.

Hobby or Addiction?

We are really enjoying 3D printing.  My husband designed a scale model of an automatic transmission and went crazy on printing organizational stacking boxes.  I’ve printed a cool box shaped like music notes!  The youngest boy is now working on modifications for Nerf Blasters that will help the arrows fly more straight.

Honesty, the more we print, the more ideas we seem to have!  I’m excited to have found a company to order filament from.  We have been using this PLA from MakerGeeks.  MakerGeeks have been really awesome to work with.  They have a great customer service team with real people that respond quickly.  They also have the best Quality Control!  They test every batch of new filament and make sure that it has a proper hold.

The SecRET!!

We actually love MakerGeeks so much that I just signed up for their monthly service.  My husband’s birthday is coming up and I’m thrilled to surprise him with his first monthly box!  Shhh, don’t tell!  I will be sure to write a review and let you know how it goes. Want your own 3D filament box?  They ship out the 25th of each month so sign up if you’d like!

Until next time-

Davi

 

4 Replies to “3D Printing For The Family”

    1. There are several ways to fail that is for sure. I didn’t realize that the different types of filament could vary so much on ideal temperature settings.

  1. I have heard some good things about 3D printer and would love to have one at home but maybe I’ve to wait for two more years. My kids are still very young (2 and 4 )and everything is a toy for them. right now.

    1. We wrestled with the idea for several years. My husband is a tech guy and really wanted one from day one but with toddlers we didn’t think it was the best idea either. Now that they are a little older it has been a blast. I’m really glad we made the investment, so many times you buy something for Christmas and by March it is put away, not this year!

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