One Hundred Hours

I'm building a printer.   There are printer builds and there are printer BUILDS.   This one is of the latter type.   You can't buy one of these printers, you have to build it yourself as the design is open source.   The only thing you can do that helps get you partway to starting is there are companies that are collecting the items from the Bill of Materials list.  

Even that won't get you everything you need though, because a significant portion of the printer is 3D printed parts themselves.   You can print the parts yourself, but they're with a type of plastic that can't be printed by a lot of the printers most people have.   But there's a solution to that. 

There's a, "Print it Forward" program where you can get printed parts from someone who has already completed building their printer.  They use their printer to print parts for another printer just like it.   Then, when you have your printer built, you print parts for someone else who is building their own printer.   

There is a third option, which is to buy the printed parts from several groups selling full sets of printed parts on eBay.  Given that you need an enclosure to print the parts due to the type of plastic required, I went with the eBay option.   There are a few parts I've printed myself based on changes I decided to go with from the base spec, but the number of parts is small and the printer I have that is enclosed can handle them easily. 

I estimate it will take me close to a hundred hours to complete the build.  Possibly longer to tune the printer.  It's been fun and I've learned far more about 3D printers by building one.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son had to clean up all the things he had strewn around his room and down the hall today after school before he could have any screen time.  It's amazing how quickly he worked, knowing he couldn't get on the computer until it was done. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter had to clean up the back yard with all the balloons she's had outside filled with water.   The yard was a mess from all the things left behind.   I've gotten tired waiting for children to take home their belongings.   I threw away shoes and clothes that have been around for upwards of four months in some cases.   My daughter is going to warn anyone who comes over that things left longer than a week will be thrown away.  I threw away six pair of shoes today.   There are four pair still remaining that are reasonably new.   How do these children go home without their shoes?!