Hey printer people, over the last few months of owning a 3d printer I’ve noticed a few things. Don’t get me wrong, purchasing a printer is still one of my best decisions, but the conversations arising from owning one are slowly driving me up my z axis… So I thought I’d start this thread to help ease my tension, and hopyfully get a few laughs in the process. Mum: “So you’ve got a 3d printer now?” Me: “Yep, all the bells and whi-” Mum: “Can you make this?!” *Holds up a key* Me: “No…” Mum: “Why not? What’s it good for if it can’t make something as basic as this?” Me: “Because it’s metal.” Mum: “So? You can’t make a plastic one?” Me: “Why would you want a plastic key!?!” Mate: “So you’ve got a 3d printer now?” Me: “Yep.” Mate: “Can you print me?” … Me: “Print you what?” Mate: “No no, can you print me?” Me: “You’re too big.” Mate: “A smaller me. Like a mini me.” Me: “I’m not printing a character from austin powers. And I’m also not printing you. No one wants that.” Gf: “So you’ve got a 3d printer?” Me: “Nah, that’s there’s a toaster.” Gf: “That’s so cool, are you printing organs with it?” Me: “Nope.” Gf: “Why not?? You could be helping hospitals and saving lives!” Me: “Well now that you mention it, I was just about to start printing a heart… For myself, because apparently I’m a hearless ass****.” So that’s my rant, and one thing’s clear, we need to educate the general public on what these things can and can’t do. Please feel free to add your own conversations, I can’t be alone in noticing this. Take it easy, print well and prosper.
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Hilarious.
With LOVE I share these examples.
About 20 “if I buy one, will you help me fix it when it breaks” Sure if you are a family member, no if I just met you at the library.
A few engine part replacement requests.
Several “will you print this thing I found on thingiverse” that were 30 hour prints.
About 50 - What really kills me is when people I meet at meetups or makerspaces are showing off their prints, and they are perfectly happy. I don’t know if I should tell them how truly bad their prints are… because they don’t know how well their prints really could be. I do, because I can’t stand it…
And one: I bought a printer for $99, and I can’t seem to get it to print like yours does. (which was a family member, and I printed so many replacement parts and modifications, that we did get it to print really well)
And when it was in the news I had a tshirt that said “NO, I will not print you a gun!”
Then there is this -3D Printers: The Ultimate Rage Machine – Shitty Gifts If this link does not work, google “ultimate rage gifts 3d printer”
Have fun
cobnut
4
Without wishing to get too serious, I find that the “people” problem splits into two parts. There’s the problem that people don’t yet think about 3D printing as a viable solution to their problems so they’re not looking for you (or me) to solve them. Then there’s the problem that they really don’t understand what a 3D printer is. In pub conversations I’ve had many of the same sort of requests (the best being “Can you print me a new wheel for my caravan?”).
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