Gina

No thaw here! Except off the house roof which I'm paying for in my heating bill even though there's oodles of insulation in the loft. But the wind has blown most of the snow off my observatory roof.

I wonder how the running costs of the resin printer works out in comparison with FDM.

The changes of a fire are very low. It was a bit of a problem some years ago but the firmware detection of problems these days has virtually eliminated it. I guess building an FDM printer from scratch is rather a "catch 22" situation. It is almost the case that you need a 3D printer to make some of the parts to build a 3D printer. I say almost because you can buy ready made brackets etc. and make the rest with simple hand tools. A half-way house is to buy a kit which is the way I started. I don't have a workshop either. Living room table is my work bench!

I've seen this technology before but this is the first time I've seen a printer at a reasonable price. It's certainly interesting for small precision parts. ATM I'm sticking to FDM.

I decided that the minimum build volume I wanted was 8 inch cube (200mm) and I find I can't quite cram this into a foot cube space due to the size of necessary components. I guess the objective of producing the smallest possible 3D printer could be a good project for someone. The NEMA11 is a small stepper motor, the E3D Titan is a very compact extruder and V6 a reasonably small hotend. But however small the 3D printer, there's still the size of the reel of filament.

About what Dave?

No, it isn't heated, it isn't even enclosed ATM.

I'm currently concentrating on my Mini printer, the other end of the scale. This is part of the air duct for a parts cooler, printed in polycarbonate filament for high temperature as it goes round the hotend. 0.3mm nozzle and 300°C with 120°C bed. This filament has a Tg (glass transition temperature) of 150°C.

Wasn't very wide though and in spiral vase mode so not much filament scrapped.

That would be too big to go in the plastic recycling bag!! I have had a 600mm high print fail near the top!

Peter, I have a nice wooden shed but it's got a ruddy great concrete obstruction in it, otherwise it would make a printer box with 2m cube capacity. And the roof slides back so that the prints could be craned out! OTOH I agree with your comment "Just cos you can isn’t a good enough reason to do something. ". Though if pioneers of the past took this attitude... Neil, I have considered using the smallest bedroom as a whole room printer but also thought of getting the prints out of the door. In fact the problem with any huge indoor printer would be getting the prints out of the doorway. There is the big shed though - previously used for cattle by the previous owner but currently full of clutter. I have considered this. Then again, is there anything I would like to print that is bigger than the capacity of my Giant printer? And no, I can't think of anything!

I thought that about the tyres!

That doesn't compete with my Concorde - it competes with my Giant printer. I admit it's a touch bigger ? Giant printer capacity is 470mm x 490mm x 600mm. Or at least it is at present. I would like to go bigger but haven't got the space in the house.

It snowed here for a while this afternoon but turned to rain and moved away.

Yes, that's what I do.

Looking at camera specs, I don't think the ASI178MM is suitable for this application. Of the range of ZWO cameras sold by FLO, only two seem to make any sense. ZWO ASI 120MC-S USB 3.0 Colour Camera - £154 which wouldn't cover the whole sky. ZWO ASI 385MC USB 3.0 Colour Camera - £348 The replacement model for the camera that got destroyed and twice as sensitive. This would be the ideal night sky camera.

I can't see any way to repair the image board myself. Whether ZWO would be interested in repairing it I don't know but I have an uneasy feeling about the cost if they do. Also, I have no idea if the wet has caused damage elsewhere but suspect it probably has. I guess one option would be to see if they could repair the camera as a whole. ATM it all seems too much trouble! I have a mono camera (ASI178MM) I could use, with much the same sensor size but this was a similar price and not sure about risking it in an ASC plus I would prefer colour. This camera has a much higher resolution than the dud one - higher than needed really. I shall continue to give this thought.

I shall have to try that! ?

Very interesting.

I used a sliding door.

Yes, I had that problem too.

I bought a huge tarpaulin to well cover my workings in a huge tent when I was building my observatory.

I used 6mm ply to line my warm room walls and ceiling - quite sufficient.

Been trying to set up Slic3r for this printer as well as the Duet config.g. Here's a test print of Benchy. Looks tiny on this printer ?. This was printed with a 0.8mm nozzle.

Nice! ?