One thing I can tell you about blogging, is that it’s hard to come up with the very first post on a new site. You’d expect that since this is a website about 3D printing, that this article would also be about 3D printing – but that’s not the case. I’m just going to ramble on about some things that will occasionally be relevant, but mostly have little to do with additive manufacturing.
I’ll start out by telling you a little bit about myself. I’m in my mid-fifties. I’m married to my wife Jill, and we are quite fond of each other. We have children, step children, and although I’ve lost track of the official count, we have exceeded a dozen grandchildren. I pay the bills working as a product design engineer in the racing industry. I’m a cancer survivor. I enjoy tinkering with websites, and most things digital. I spent a good portion of my adult life building racing engines professionally.
I’ve been aware of 3D printing for some time now. I’ve employed the services of a local school on several occasions to print out new product ideas for my job. It made sense as a great first step before committing the resources of tooling and fixtures to actually manufacture a prototype. I had looked into buying one, but the cost was prohibitive for the casual user. Lately, these printers have followed the trend of most electronic devices, and reached affordability to the masses. Part of this is due to expiring patents that have kept the market within a small group of manufacturers.
So the decision was made: I’m buying a printer, and I’m going to become an expert. Another quirky thing about me is that I don’t buy anything without research…. sometimes months of it. And so began my quest to find the perfect 3D printer. Join me next time, when I share the story about what I found during my exhaustive research.
