What is your "inexpensive" hobby that turned out to be expensive/ you gradually invested lots of money into?
Edit: so it turns out that every hobby can be expensive if you do it long enough.
Also I love how you talk about your hobby as some addicts.
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3d printing. I started out with a cheapish Chinese model, got annoyed by the lack of accuracy and bought a Prusa.
Then there’s the filaments, accessories, post processing stuff... I own a Dremel now for some reason!
And I’m constantly eyeing those resin 3d printers, telling myself the higher resolution is totally worth it…
The only thing saving my bank account is my low attention span and dozens of other interests :)
I feel you, started with a cheap 200$ ender 3…. I now have two ender 3’s, an ideaformer belt printer, a bambu p1s, and. Tronxy 400 I’m converting into a Frankenstein printer. Oh and an anycubic mono x resin printer and a laser cutter.
Yea, 6 printers and a freaking laser cutter/engraver. All because I thought it would be fun to tinker with 3D printing
Ouch... it's like looking at my future self :)
Maybe we should start a support group.
Well, there’s a 3D printing board at lemmy.world, but it’ll probably just make it worse
It can also save money. I love just printing things I need rather than buying them! Even if I have to do some test fits, I can easily beat off-the-shelf prices with some meters of PLA.
Happy with my Prussia mini, but starting to feel the post-processing itch.
So I'm just gonna quickly add in on the resin printers.
Even a dirt cheap used anycubic model from years ago is going to be much more impressive and fantastic resolution than a standard FDM printer.
But the build plate is really small and the resin is super toxic. You will need to get something to wash the prints in and a constant supply of high proof alcohol that if you want to save money you need tools to filter as well. Then you should get UV lights for curing or you will have to wait days to harden naturally.
It's not nearly as expensive as you would think if you buy used and fanagle parts and pieces of stuff from weird sources but it's smelly, messy and more of a pain unless you really need super clean but small parts or minis.
I know I know I know...
Every time I feel the temptation, I think about the mess and chemicals and rubber gloves (that last one always does it for me somehow).
I don't have the space for it, nor the ventilation. It's just.. I like to design stuff and print it. And whenever my printer can't match my design, I get annoyed and blame it on my tools. Even though I know I should adjust my design instead.
Sorry, I'm ranting..
I have like elbow length chemical gloves and wear n95s and still will walk away feeling woozy if there is a lot of cleanup to be done.
I only have one at the request of my significant other and think that sometimes this push to move everything from factory to the consumers house doesn't always work. Some things need a proper setup and place and the home isn't always it.
Don't get me wrong I love the aspect of it literally making something from a digital mockup but would in a better world just want a space down the street to go to and have it done there. But makerspaces never really took off.
3D printing turned into building printers. Im 2 Vorons deep, and the annex k3 is starting to look interesting. Machine in general. I know I have no Real use for a co2 laser, but damn does it look interesting.
So I gues building machines.
Lol same here.
Bought a cheap printer and it worked, but I couldn't fix it.
Then I got another cheap printer that was bigger, but it was a fire hazard
Then I got a not as cheap printer, then it broke in the stupidest way possible
So I got a the Popular Cheap Printer, and it was good enough
But I needed a Prusa since I was now selling my parts, and it was good
Then I got a bigger prusa since the popular printer turned into a sunk cost fallacy.
What should've been a one time cost of $350 turned into multiple $350-500 printers until I started a business with it and spent $1000 to stop messing with it
Wow, that's pretty cool that you made a business out of it.
What kind of parts do you make?
So far, replacement Stylus for DS and 3ds systems. Display stands for old portables and games.
Working on a case for eReaders, but needed to move from PLA to PETG. So I'm ironing out those kinks