Am I the only one that’s come across V1 and become a chronic tinkerer - wishing nothing more than to build more machines? I caught myself sifting through the ZenXY forums while my kids were in their swim lessons today…I think I need an intervention! Or a few more stepper motors…
Nope, your not. I bought a 3D printer, built some toys, a few small widgets. I found the MPCNC and realized I could use the printer for something truely useful so I made an MPCNC. I made a few pieces, and some furniture, then we convinced Ryan to make a printer project so I build the MP3DP v1. He came out with the low rider, so I tore apart my MPCNC and build that (printed on the MP3DP). The zenxy was next. Then I built the MP3DP v2.
I honestly think the value I get is mostly from watching these machines rise from the build platform, one puzzle piece at a time. Then the joy of assembly, understanding for the first time why the parts are shaped the way they are. Then the moment comes when they take their first steps, and then they miss some steps. Then the refinement and adjustment and experiments begin. I can’t leave them alone, either.
I have built many things with these machines. Things that make me happy when I see them and things that I’m proud of. But I actually like building the machines more. The ability to carve out print or draw in the sand is a side effect. At some point, I stopped stressing about it and just admitted it to myself.
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Should we change the title to Builder’s & Tinkerer’s Anonymous? Chronic Tinker-itus? Why doesn’t everyone tinker like this?
HAHAHAHa David I see you there. You have it worse than all of use you outpace my design schedule 3 to 1…
I spent my “day off” trying to learn some Java to add something anything to Sandify…talked shop with a local crew member…gave up on Java and dove into Archim dual endstops… Hi. My name is Ryan and I am addicted…
Just a heads up, Java is not the same as JavaScript. I hope you didn’t spend a bunch of your sunday learning a different language.
Well now you know how far I got.
Hi my names Bill and I’m a veteran tinkerer, you could say I used to a professional and I got paid for it.
Better than wasting your time going to ball games and coming away sad or happy then doing it again and again , at the end of the day we have something that we can hold in our hands and say " I made this".
Bill.
Preach!!!
Hi my name is Aaryn and I am a tinkerer. I really can’t stop because I LOVE IT! I have personally owned four 3D printers. One I built from a kit. Two others I bought new and never stopped tinkering with. I eventually dismantled those three completely and tried to figure out what to make out of their ashes. I was looking at SLA and SLS printer designs for a while. Then I ran across the MPCNC on Thingiverse. It was love at first sight.
I spend about half of my free time thinking about things I can improve by tinkering. Sometimes I design new tools or useful widgets. Sometimes I am redesigning parts of the machines I use to make them. I really enjoy spending more of my time making and tinkering with the machines than I do actually making useful things on the machines.
With that said I need to get to work. I have some cabinet doors I need to cut out on the MPCNC. Then I have a laser to attach for this Kaizen foam cutting.
Hi. My name is David, and I too am a tinkerer, or as my wife calls it… a piddle-fart… only some of my time is actually spent on V1 devices, though.
I tend to build a tool and then leave it alone (unless it breaks). I have not rebuilt my 3d printer or MPCNC in quite some time. I did recently replace a broken part on the MPCNC.
I spend countless hours in the garage on the weekends. Sometimes I produce something… sometimes I don’t.
Sometimes producing a smile, sometimes producing enough swear words to make a sailor proud.
Hi my name is Bill and I am a tinkerer… 
I’ve always had a soft spot for DIY projects (I remember wiring up an adapter to allow my VIC20 computer to read and write cassette tapes in my stereo so I didn’t have to buy their $500 cassette deck in 1982 or 1983). I started here with the MPCNC, built a MP3DP, then a modified MP3DP XL, then a …
Hi, my name is Brian and I’m a tinkerer. Just tonight I started disassembly of my perfectly working Low Rider to convert it to a Low Rider V2. I started with a Mendel90 printer I built (buying only the plastic parts), moved onto the MPCNC (again, buying the plastic parts), built an MP3DP (poorly, I might add), and converted the MP3DP to a iTopie-variant. Tinkering keeps me off the streets and out of trouble - at least that’s what I tell my wife.
Years ago, my parents gave me a T-shirt - Engineers: if it ain’t broken, fix it until it is. I resemble that about 10% of the time. The rest of the time, well, I like to think whatever I “fix” stays fixed.