Oldie but Newbie

[thwfwa]

I'm nearing retirement from my profession as a motion control engineer supporting industrial automation products, and thought that I would take up the hobby that my daughter and son-in-law have been so enthused about, 3D printing. I tagged along with them to MRRF in Elkhart two weeks ago with the intent to maybe buy a small, starter machine. However, once laid my eyes on the Big Daddy machine at the SeeMeCNC booth, I had to go talk to them. That is a machine that I can relate to professionally. The NEMA 34 steppers are on the small end of what I work with, but at least it is a product that I support on occasion. Then I found out that they build their machines in Ligonier, Indiana about an hours drive from my home, and I knew that I was going to spend more than I had planned. So I bought a Rostock Max V3.2 on the spot. But it was well worth the money, and the time it took to put the kit together.

It only took two quick emails to Gene at SeeMeCNC's support line to get me over the confusion of building my first kit in 50 years. (My dad once worked at Heathkit. I still have the crystal set we put together). Except for the final soldering, I did the build in a day and a half. My son-in-law had never used a delta, but had put together several other 3D printers, so I asked him to do the fine stuff. Once he got started with the soldering, he went on to finish the build, updated the firmware, calibrated the machine, and "broke it in for me" by printing a bunch of stuff. He did give me a great lesson in how to work with it, answered my phone calls and texts, and got me off to printing stuff on my own within a day. My youngest two grandsons spent the next two days helping me pick out projects on Thingiverse to make for them. It printed pretty much non-stop for three days until I took them home this afternoon.

I'm very pleased with the technology, the rugged design of the Rostock Max v3.2, the Cura slicing program, and the Duet 3D wireless controller. But more than that, I'm very impressed with the support from SeeMeCNC's support team. I do tech support for a living, and my hat's off to them for how they take care of people.

My one question for everyone in the SeeMeCNC Community is "Does anyone have a design for a 3D printed model of a Rostock Max?" Not a working model, just something 4-6" tall that I can set on my desk. I have checked Thingiverse and Google, but not located one.

I'm looking forward to being a member of "the Community", and learning from all of you. I hope to return the favor when I can.

Best regards,
Tom

[geneb]

\o/

[thwfwa]

Update
It's been five months, and I'm still enjoying my Rostock Max. After downloading FreeCAD, I've begun to do some practical designs besides printing toys for the grandkids. My latest was a small triangular corner deck for a sailing dingy that I recently acquired. One of the two fiberglass decks was missing, which presented some sharp edges. So I measured up the opposite one, entered it into FreeCAD, and then did a mirror image. Although not exactly the same, it looks so good that I'm now going to replace the old piece still there.

I also purchased the dual filament Y attachment and printed up a few trials. My first project will be a company logo, but I haven't quite mastered the CAD enough to print. Hope to soon.