MxRemy

Oooh, if that algae-derived TPE would just hit the market already… 😍

Definitely, our Vorons have spoiled me lol

I did and I even agree! Ours just seems to be a bit of an anomaly, or else we’re just way too tolerant of jank lol. Definitely wouldn’t get a second printer from them

We have an ancient Ender 5 Pro in the library makerspace that’s running pretty much constantly, and it was already well used when it first got donated to us. Granted, it’s farrrrrr from our best printer, but it’s pretty reliable! I barely even maintain or upgrade the thing lol

I refuse to use any extruder without easily accessible gears anymore, for that exact reason lol. Using a Galileo2 on a Stealthburner I’d get flexible filaments wrapped around the gears alllll the time, and disassembling it was super annoying. Now it’s wristwatch style all the way!

That’s what I was thinking about saying too… They’re probably still mostly right, in the sense that this is a company and companies are almost always primarily concerned with their profit margin, not the environment. However like you said, most things now are made out of plastic, most plastics are made from fossil fuels, and fossil fuels need to be retired like yesterday.

WHOAAAA this is so exciting!! Nevermind the awesome mechanical properties, let’s hear it for the somewhat better environmental impacts!

Materials science folk will hopefully weigh in on this, but it’s my understanding that PA11 is more sustainably produced, but breaks down at a similar rate to other polyamides? I think I heard they did find some things that’ll eat it though.

Either way, an improvement is an improvement. Now if only Prusament would get into PHA 😈

Does that bed have a PEI coating? PETg can stick to PEI so well that the combination is relatively well known for destroying beds. Plenty of people still print that way without issue, but it depends on having your first layer really well dialed in, or putting some adhesive between the two.

They are claiming it, maybe it’s in their slicer? Although a lie seems pretty plausible too lol

I definitely don’t like the looks of it, from the fact they don’t list any specs whatsoever to the claiming “it’s got AI!” or whatever. The last brand of printers I’ve seen that looked this shady had vendor lock-in SO BAD that, when the company went under, all the printers they sold got kind of soft bricked.

However, I’m assuming you’re looking at the ~$180 base model? At that price, veryy little else exists, admittedly…

I think Creality’s cheapest printer is probably like $20 more, but if you can swing it, that’s what I’d go with. For the following reasons:

• They actually tell you exactly what goes in the thing.
• There’s a very strong aftermarket repairs/mods scene built up around them.
• There are entire projects built around converting cheap Crealities into other things, for if you outgrow it.
• It’s like the closest you can get to no vender lock-in without building/buying an open source one.

Like others have said, if you’re just trying to make a raised version of a simple flat design, that’s easy. Ideally convert it to a vector first, and then import it into just about any CAD software. Even TinkerCAD can do that.

If it’s more of a real 3d object, i.e. varies across a few dimensions, first consider how complicated it is. As long as there aren’t too many organic curves, the best route might be to take careful measurements and recreate it from scratch in CAD.

Finally, if none of those options are possible, it’s time for photogrammetry. Mix up a simple solution of isopropyl and zinc oxide (or anything talc-like i guess, I dunno), and use a quality sprayer bottle to speckle your object with it. Try to illuminate the object well from only a single source. If you can, pick up some cheap cross polarizing filters, use one on the light source and one on the camera. Take shots at the same distance from as many angles as you can, covering the whole object, ideally with a matte background. As mentioned, Meshroom is pretty decent at turning such a photoset into a decent object, but it does rely on you having a reasonably powerful PC. Alternatively, OpenScan offers a free cloud based option. (They’re also just very cool people who do lotttsss of other stuff, my makerspace just built one of their “Mini” rigs. Works great btw!!)