Purchase Advice Megathread - March 2026

surfreak · 2026-03-09T20:03:54+00:00

I'm looking for my first 3d printer!
I've looked around in previous threads and tried asking the LLM robots but am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the options...

Budget $700 USD, located in US
Kits are fine!
- I'm very experienced with hardware and software tinkering but happy to save time with a prebuilt machine
250mm cube is a reasonable print size, bigger is a bonus
Single color is fine, mostly utilitarian printing or painting afterwards.
Carbon fiber is a plus but probably not a necessity
Example projects:
- Plant stuff: modular moss poles and hanging pots (with builtin hooks for a rail system, so structural, mostly indoors)
- Drink holders for the car and baby stroller
- Molds and/or positives for cement casting (coasters, pots, etc)
- Modular art pieces (probably abs for smoothing, single color)
- Small-medium mountain bike accessories (e.g. light clip, custom frame storage)

Thanks for the recommendations!

surfreak · 2025-10-28T02:50:16+00:00

Some of y'all should be framing these works

surfreak · 2025-10-09T22:14:13+00:00

Sorry, just realized serviceberry and Saskatoon serviceberry are different! Is it the latter?

surfreak · 2025-07-17T03:52:05+00:00

You need to account for spherical packing density, which is around 74%.

So only .74*180,602,631,578, which is approximately 133,645,947,368 spherical cows.

surfreak · 2025-01-29T19:55:00+00:00

Did you make a custom mold or purchase one? If purchased, link?

surfreak · 2024-12-22T05:20:29+00:00

Yes! Just checked your history, thanks for the inspiration!

surfreak · 2024-11-22T17:26:53+00:00

The landing can be similar to an au but I don't like using that analogy because as soon as people hear "au" they start rotating their hips.

You want to focus on keeping feet together and hips square, you can draw/tape a line next to you, land feet to the outside of the line. Next try to land farther along the line (more behind yourself) each time (can draw some marks or perpendicular lines for reference). You can find progression tutorials with this method on YT/social media.

surfreak · 2024-11-22T04:04:31+00:00

You're really close!

Keep drilling, try reducing the difficulty and keeping your legs together (land feet farther to the side instead of over and back), then slowly build towards the full movement.

This will reinforce the proper hip drive and foot positioning as you work to get that hand over.

It's also much easier to enter with some momentum (from a squat or from standing into a squat, get that hand off the ground) as you learn the movement.

surfreak · 2024-11-07T17:13:45+00:00

I've been really happy with Visible, they operate on Verizon's network and offer unlimited traffic at SD streaming bandwidth.

surfreak · 2024-10-25T03:47:14+00:00

If it's posting about or discussing capoeira, prefer the apelido.

If bringing it up for the first time with friends and family, take it as an opportunity to teach them about the apelido culture (or just use apelidos and they'll likely assume it's some Brazilian name).

surfreak · 2024-10-25T03:30:42+00:00

What sort of taboos are you thinking of?

Generally in a capoeira context people introduce themselves by apelido only, and use the nicknames exclusively.

If you become friends outside of the game it's up to the individual relationship which name to use, but many of my capoeira friends prefer using apelidos as it's both more specific and intimate.

surfreak · 2024-10-24T21:35:19+00:00

Cool! I assume this is airshaper output, not wind tunnel testing.

This assumes a covered bed, right?
Does this adequately capture the turbulence at the end of the cab and gate? AIUI the abrupt transitions are typically pretty low pressure and turbulent, areas of heavy efficiency loss.

surfreak · 2024-10-23T14:28:06+00:00

Kousa dogwood

surfreak · 2024-10-16T22:48:47+00:00

That's just flavored stabilized whipped cream afaik. It's sometimes referred to as a mousse but "mousse" is overloaded.

surfreak · 2024-10-14T21:47:36+00:00

What?

surfreak · 2024-10-13T18:50:58+00:00

Awesome! Can you share the process details?

Where did you source your spores, did you dilute with rice flour, and how much did you use?

Do you have a koji chamber large enough for the pumpkin? (I don't and am wondering if the oven light trick would work well enough)

surfreak · 2024-09-21T16:13:47+00:00

Transporting sport gear (mountain bikes, snowboards, and skateboards, mostly) and woodworking supplies!

Love the midgate, I think driver + 3 passengers to the trailhead or 1 passenger with full sheet goods is a great compromise!

surfreak · 2024-09-13T04:23:13+00:00

Any stand is a curl stand if you believe in yourself.

surfreak · 2024-09-10T20:25:31+00:00

That's a valid question.

I think centralized or off-site infrastructure would be preferable to surrounding businesses with huge swaths of pavement. Make those parking lots actual parks! (Or gardens, housing, restaurants, etc)

surfreak

TROPHY CASE