Corona Lock down Diaries – 3D Printing.

Getting our print on!

At Christmas I tried to convince my 11 year old that a 3D printer would be a great idea. At the time, however, he had his heart set on a particular pair of trainers so it never happened. In April I suggested it would be a good idea to have one for his 12th birthday, and given that I had been telling him about them for a few months he was admittedly interested, but not enough to not ask for a Nintendo Switch.

I knew it would be good for him as he has quite the enquiring mind, would provide him a wonderful creative outlet, would let him explore…oh who am I kidding. at this point it felt like I was never getting a 3D printer.

6 weeks into Covid, with the stresses of isolation weighing on the family (I am trying to keep a straight face here) I suggested it would be a good idea to get one as it would allow him to do something different as he was not able to play rugby or cricket and school was already a distant memory.

At this juncture Mrs Afterwards suggested that if I want one I should get one and stop pretending it was for Tom. Tom though was now super interested and following a little research our Flashforge Guider 2 was winging its way to us. It is freaking huge, weighing in at about 30KG and about the size of an old style television. It pings and dings and lights up quite wonderfully too…

For those not familiar with them they mostly print things from plastic extruded through a hot nozzle using files you can make or download from the internet. Now that the remodelling is done we have been able to unpack it and have spent the weekend in the cellar printing cool stuff.

So far we’ve printed a couple of badges from 2000AD, a Totoro, a buffed up bulbasaur, some covid door hooks and even a couple of rings. It is such good fun! I even let him have a turn 🙂

Author: Michael

Husband, dad,(ex)programmer, comic collector and proud Yorkshireman. I have no idea why im here or why im writing but i rather enjoy it. no great fan of punctuation;

12 thoughts on “Corona Lock down Diaries – 3D Printing.”

  2. I just bought one of those COVID door hooks out of metal a few weeks ago – now get Tom, (or you), making COVID face shields in case there is a big resurgence like over here. In the beginning of the pandemic, many small manufacturing shops that already had 3-D printers began churning out face shields for hospital workers, emergency personnel etc., then when supplies were more readily available for them, these shops began creating these items for profit, not just on a volunteer basis for first responders. Sounds fun to while away the hot Summer days … I like Mrs. Afterwards’ quip in this sentence: “At this juncture Mrs Afterwards suggested that if I want one I should get one and stop pretending it was for Tom.” 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  5. We’ve worked out we can probably print about 16 hooks a day so thats not bad going. were going to give them to friends and family. We have the plans for face shields and masks too so yes defo going to whip a few up. I think the face shield is probably more comfortable than the mask, even though it looks a bit OTT

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Good for you – the keys are handy. I heard the inventor on the radio one day and then saw them so got one, even though I don’t go to that many public places. Here’s hoping you never need the face shield on an everyday basis and yes they are a bit OTT, but hey, if they keep you safe. For a while, when the pandemic first began, people were using plastic page protectors and hooking the three holes in the “binding part” onto their eyeglasses. I had some in a drawer, but didn’t use them.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Kindof a plastic hook thing you put on your keyring and use to open doors and press buttons. I saw them on the internet. Mostly I think people are just using it as an excuse to make a bit of money but they were fun to print 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Happy wife happy life. Not sure I can find anything to rhyme with printer that would trump that. 3D printer, cold as winter? See doesn’t have the same ring does it

    Liked by 1 person

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