What are some of the best purchases of your life?
What are some of the best purchases of your life?
For me it has to be:
- Helix mattress ($1,217). Sleep is great.
- Home gym power cage & weights (~$1,000). Look good, feel good, get strong.
- Netgear Nighthawk AXE7800 ($339). No more random, annoying internet disconnects/slowness.
- Books ($0 @ library)
- "Ultralearning" - Scott Young (how to learn efficiently)
- "Enlightenment Now" - Steven Pinker (the world overall is improving)
- "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing" - Taylor Larimore (how to invest)
- PS5 ($500). So many great games like witcher 3, god of war, spiderman.
I'm searching for some more deep value purchases. Give me what you've got.
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Can't believe I haven't seen "3D Printer" on here yet!
A serial hobbyist, with a lot of my interests waning in weeks to months after getting into them. But 3D Printing? I've been loving it for 10 years and there's no signs of that slowing down.
Sure there's goofy stuff you can make with it, but 95% of what I print are functional items. So often I need something for around the house and I can just print for cheaper and faster than ordering one online. Examples:
- vaccum hose adapter
- desk grommet
- custom clamp for a bike light
- small L-brackets for cupboard shelves
There's thousands of things out there you can just download and print, or you can get into designing your own. It's very rewarding to design a physical object and then upload it for others to use too!
Here's some examples of some things I've designed or remixed from other designs: https://www.printables.com/@Foreverwinter_223629
The two printers I recommend are the Prusa Mk4 (~$1,000USD) or the Creality Ender-3 V2 ($225USD). The Ender print quality is very good, it just doesn't come with several of the very nice features the Prusa has - if you can afford it get the Prusa! You won't regret it.
I agree so much with this!
If you don't have much space, you can get a lot done with the Prusa Mini too (up to 18x18x18 cm).
I have had mine for a year and a half now, and have already fixed stuff worth more than the printer cost me, as well as save me so much money on other hobbies.
There's also the added joy of digital 3D modeling, which is like having infinite playdough.
I have the old version on the ender 3, it lasted a good 3 years of printing (mostly minis for DND). It recently started running into a bunch of printing errors that I can't seem to fix. I could pay for some replacement parts, but also I only spent 200 on it, so maybe I should just get a new one. I'll look into the Prusa!
Absolutely! I've made adaptors and replacement bits for my and my brothers 90's cars. The kind of little plastic bits and clips that aren't nearly crucial enough for anyone to make anymore. That and custom desk/cabinet organizers are the kind of thing that you can only reasonably accomplish with a 3D printer.
There are certainly other ways that you can just save money, but I've found the most satisfying thing is when you find a niche like this that simply could not be done without a printer. I don't even have anthing crazy expensive, I did most of my printing on an Anet A8 and only recently "splurged" by getting a prusa mini.
Nice! I upgraded from an A8 (knock off) as well. Quality bump going to a Mk3 was astounding.
Well said about it being able to do things you just couldn't otherwise. I think that's a better argument for why 3D printing is so great.