TheSkySearchers

I came across this link today and thought I would share it. I suppose it's inevitable that this will happen.

https://all3dp.com/2/3d-printed-telescope-projects/

The mirror or lens(es) are the most expensive parts of a scope (or they should be). Not sure what the advantage of printing my own would be. The cost of a decent 3-D printer and the cost of actually making the other parts make it rather expensive. I've been looking for a reason to get a 3D printer, but this isn't going to be one of them. Thanks for the info though!

Huh. Makes one wonder about cost effectiveness unless people have shared printers or something. Interesting ideas though.

printers are cheap now, Ender 3 at $300ca, Half paid off in a week after doing camera lens hoods. Filament is cheap, just takes a while to print some stuff.

Dragonsfire wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:33 pm printers are cheap now, Ender 3 at $300ca, Half paid off in a week after doing camera lens hoods. Filament is cheap, just takes a while to print some stuff.

That's what I've been thinking about as well. Lot's of out-of-stock repair or replacement parts that you could possibly print. Dust covers, dew shields, parts trays, brackets, and the like.

I don't have the work space right now to set up and sort a decent size printer but it's on my list. (I assume it will need to be in a no-house-cat-zone.)

Mental image of a cat in a plastic cocoon comes to mind...

I have a 3D printer in my garage that belongs to my nephew. He was going to do lots of things with it but got too busy since he got a job at Tesla. It takes up some space.

I have a 3D printer that is pretty fun to mess around with. One cool thing is that after a year or so a piece that holds the belt for moving the plate broke. I rigged it up to work just long enough to print out a replacement part and it works good as new now!

I have also used it to print wall mounts for my VR sensors. My favorite site is thingiverse.com. You can download all sorts of schematics for free.

from the website:
"TelescopePrime is a DIY, semi-professional telescope that offers impressive functionality for an affordable price....."......."With a cost of around only $400, this telescope offers you the chance to learn how it works and to see as far as the moon!"

What a worthless piece of crap that can only see as far as the moon

I keep coming back to this concept. I've had to make a number of small plastic or metal parts to adapt different brands of gear to work together. Any one part is still pretty cheap to make by hand relative to the cost of a printer. OTOH I'm working near the limit of my skills and available tools. It seems like only a matter of time before a printer would pay for itself either by avoiding another purchase, recreating an out of stock part, or just the hours of work saved by not making what I need by hand. ABS plastic would seem to be more than strong enough for the parts I need to make.

Anyone tried one of these yet?
https://flashforge-usa.com/products/fla ... 3d-printer