3D Printing... it's incredibly addictive...

Perhaps you're wondering what I'm doing the last few days, weeks and month? Don't panic! My time as a photoholic isn't over yet but at the moment there are so many things keeping me busy and I don't have the energy to create those kind of sophisticated and crazy images people are probably expecting from me.

As you know Judith is pregnant with child Nr. 4 (it will be a boy... really... you don't believe... we do neither... but we will see in approx. 15 weeks), I have a lot do to in my regular job, the girls are pretty demanding right now, my Phantom 4 needs some fresh air from time to time (and so do I), I have still a lot to do in Hyrule (Zelda Breath of the Wild) and finally I've found something new (at least for me) that really takes my attention at the moment entirely:

3D Printing

Fews weeks ago I thought it would be great to bring my 3D creations not only to images but to real form and function. I ordered the (in my opinion slightely overhyped) Prusa i3 MK2. I had to assemble the whole thing and there was always and ugly issue I had to fight against.

Don't get me wrong: The Prusa is basically a very fine machine which is (or was) able to deliver very decent quality prints (at least during the short periods it was running without issues).

Below you see a little turtle that was printed with a glow-in-the-dark fillament (fillament is the "ammuniation" of the most 3D printers).

I had really a lot of issues with the Prusa and didn't want to spend my whole leisure time fiddling around on that little machine.

I restartet the evaluation and meanwhile I'm absolutely sure: If you want a reliable printer with a certain build space, dual color, WLAN etc. you have to spend a few dollars (3000.-to 5000.- I guess).

At one point I stumbled over the not (yet) very well known Raise3D N2.

Wow! This machine was a dream... at least "on the paper". I had a few hard nights reading about this printer, watching every single youtube movie and get all the information I could. The final fact that got me convinced was a distributor here in Switzerland who made a really great impression and I got the feeling this could all lead to a happy end.

Meanwhile the N2 is here in my little attic... printing day and night of course.

I don't know exactelly what it is but 3D printing is really addictive. I guess it's the whole workflow from an idea to the final little product or object. Usually I'm creating images. Of course I can print them but it still remains some kind of virtual.

If you design a 3D object and can finally hold it in your hands this has something devine. It's just such a great feeling to be a maker.

Actually I've planned to use the printer to create art-objects or special designs but at the moment I'm printing things for our household (a station to hold out toothbrush loaders, a MP3 player for Mila (I broke her old one while changing batteries etc...):

At the beginning I was trying to create the meshes for the printing software with Cinema4D and ZBrush. For certain obects like the cucumber below absolutely great but not for things like the MP3 player above.

I soon realized how much easier it would be to create those technical things in a parametric manner in a classic CAD like Autocad Fusion 360. So I'm about to learn this at the moment and it's almost as much fun as the 3D printing itself.

Well of course this is not a very thorough blog about 3D printing. Just wanted to tell you guys what I'm at to at the moment and why it's a little quieter on my channels the last few days.

Stay tuned and hey... go into 3D printing. It definitely takes some time to learn the whole workflow but it's so worth it imho!!!

Little update:

I had quite a few issues with my Raise3D N2. Guess it was a "monday model". I stumbled over a Zortrax M300 special offer and ordered. Thought I was able to sell it if I'm not happy with it. But I was absolutely happy and so I sold the Raise3D and kept the Zortrax.