Just Buy a 3D Printer Already

I’ve said it to a number of friends and acquaintances.

Just stop – stop with the questioning and wondering what it’s for, just go buy a 3D printer.

What they’re really for is inspiring you; opening your mind to possibilities, figuring out what it’s for for you. You can’t think of what right now, but once you have it sitting on that worktable, with all its possibilities that you can’t actually think of yet, your mental conversation will go from, “what would I do with it?” to “what can I make today?

”You need it to be there, hooked up to your computer, ready. You’ll see it sitting there waiting and it will compel you to figure out what you can make right now. Maybe you’ll use it to download existing things, useful or otherwise, or maybe you’ll learn to use a 3D modeling program and design whatever, transfer to the printer and create something real and tangible you can hold.

If you have children, you actually have a moral imperative to go and get a 3D printer so your kids can discover they really can build anything they can dream up.

For real. Go get a 3D printer, today, now.

(I really like the Lulzbot Mini, but Replicator 2 is fantastic if you can still find one, or the Printrbot Simple if you are on a tight budget. And, no, none of them are paying me to tell you to buy a 3D printer, you just really need one. Go get it.)

Current Replicator 2 + Lulzbot Mini print farm

Cheers!

When you find yourself with a veritable print farm at home (or work), I highly recommend the excellent OctoPrint software running on a Raspberry Pi connected to each printer.