What's your intention for the Solidoodle2 (Page 1 of 2)

I plan on using it to desing prototype parts for my business. I've looked at having them done out of house, and the cost alone for just 2 or 3 parts will pay for the printer. Plus like you said, I can knock a couple of prints out over a weekend and have not had to pay for any setup fees or waited for weeks for them.  Once I have the product looking the way I want, then I can take it to the next step and have them made out of house and know they will come out right and fit my application.

I have noticed that prints take fairly long, so I mainly want to add a panelolu or just an sd card to use my laptop (or even turn it off for overnight prints) while the solidoodle prints away. Will it work just as awesome if I don't do anything to it? Looks like it, but then again I have to modify anything I purchase for some strange reason. Like adding RGB lights.

When you bought this or the original SD, what did you plan to make, or was it purely a hobby?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned they want to use it to make another and maybe larger 3d printer. Certainly up there with my main intentions after my kickstarter project.

My interest is mostly hobby.  I had been interested in 3D printing for awhile, but couldn't justify it at the typical prices.  When the S1 came out for $700, it was close enough that could sell some things from a hobby I wasn't really doing anymore and mostly pay for it.

My wife enjoys making soap as her hobby, and I thought it would be fun to see if I could apply 3D printing to it (and boost the WAF).  I have some ideas of things that could be done with soap molds that would be difficult to design or create without the use of CAD and 3D printing.   Maybe I could sell some molds someplace like Etsy to help fund the hobby.

One example is this one -

I would fill this up with silicone, then slide off the ring and pull out the print to create the mold for a bar of soap.  You would fill the mold with some dark blue soap, creating a bar shaped like the print.  Then you would fill the indentation with white or silver grey soap.  This would create a bar of soap that has the outline of a full moon on top.  As the soap melts, that outline would gradually change to a crescent.  While filling the mold with blue soap, you could throw in a few stars that would appear and disappear as the soap melts.

Here is another one I did, for Disney-themed gift exchange - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22441

Then there are things around the house, and toys.  I made a bed for my daughters' Littlest Pet Shop toys that is a recreation of their bunk bed.

Once you have a printer, it is easier to think of things to make with it.  It's like when you have a hammer, all problems look like a nail.  I find myself trying to think of overly complicated solutions to simple problems just so they can involve the printer.

Right now my interest is purely hobby based, but there is so much potential for different options, and I can get quite obsessive when something interests me...I wouldn't be surprised if the answer changes here in a little bit. I'm pretty in awe of all the knoweldge floating around, too, though.

I was thinking about using mine to create a smaller replica 'personal massager' that would be about 6" long and house a battery operated internal motor. I was thinking I could sell them online. I think there might just be a market there.

Just kidding,... but kinda serious also... now i just need to find a 3D scanner.

I'm also thinking I may need to upgrade to the SD3 for the bigger print bed. heehee.

I was thinking about making a UV cured resin printer, not least because 2w blue lasers are only £35 on ebay, and have plenty of UV, but also because lasers are really cool!
but then I thought more practically, realistically, with a UV resin printer all you're really doing is moving a laser about to make a kind of 2d line drawing, I can't imagine what sort of carriage would have to be built, but I'm thinking my home effort could never match the quality and resolution of the DLP projector that the blue laser I have was pulled from...

so all I really need is a frame, a perspex "dish" and an x stage.

I've also been thinking about a more traditional printer.
with solid frame and cover like the solidoodle. but all steppers outside the build area underneath the frame, so extruder movements working on a core x-y style system, a z system just like the solidoodle (but with the motor outside the case)
filament supplied from an extruder also outside the case by bowden cable. with no electronics (and therefore no operating temperature) to worry about I'm pretty sure I could just heat the whole build area with a heater at the base so (hopefully) completely eliminate warping. (interested to hear opinions on this basic description)

you lack ambition!!

6" x 6" build area gives an ~8.5" diagonal.
then you also have 6" tall build area. adding support is going to let you build from a corner of the cube to the other corner.

10.3" [:D <- that's what she said]

of course the 8x8x6 SD3 has a total straight part maximum length of 12.8 inches.

It isn't UV laser, but it is DLP.  I already purchased the projector, used, from ebay.  I found one that also has a com port which can control things like focus.  The resolution will be very nice but with the ability to control focus from software, I can increase the density in a small area for very detailed prints or increase the exposure area for larger prints while still having pretty impressive DPI.  I will probably use something like the Raspberry PI to control it (I have one PI plus several other potential controllers on their way)... it has the necessary video output for the projector, IO pins for the sensors and motor controllers and with the right software (custom) it would be possible to just have it reside on the network and send jobs to it.

There are many examples you can find around the net for resin type printers.. this looks to be the easiest to construct for the capability it provides.  Plus, the simplicity of driving the electronics, one axis plus some sensors and a movable panel to block light during movement transition.

Bump for the new wave of members that are getting their printers.  What do you plan to use the solidoodle for?  Inventions / hobby toys / production.  I'm curious and always looking for inspiration for new directions to go with this.

I'm using mine straight out of the box, with the exception of upgrading to Lawsy's firmware...  I was thinking of going to .1mm resolution, but then everything I print would take longer, and since most of my parts remain unseen, I really don't need the higher resolution...

I bought my SD2 for prototyping a line of all-digital, analog clocks (that have no moving parts! go figure) that I starting making a year ago.  One of my concepts is patent pending, and will also be the subject of a KickStarter campaign starting the first week of February.  (I'll be sure to post the info here  ;-)
Having the SD2 has inspired me to take my concept, and turn it inside-out making a second, very different concept, that uses the same exact hardware and a slightly altered Arduino sketch.    It's been an absolutely irreplaceable tool in my arsenal, and I can say that I would still be using cardboard and hole punchers, and certainly making sub-standard parts without it.

So, soon, my SD2 will be "working" (parts of something that I will sell) vs. "playing" (hobby/gift uses).

When Xmas came around, I spent some time making gifts for a bunch of family members, the BIG Alphabet blocks for the kids, vases for the ladies, golf markers for my father-in-law, and a fife (small flute) for my uncle.

I do plan on building a larger 3D printer - probably a MegaMendel-based design, or even better, with the rotary table drive that was recently posted on ThingiVerse, a printer specifically for printing cylindrical objects (the main shape of many of my prints)
And of course, I have been printing SD replacements parts, just to have in case my jigsaw goes to pieces.

I am trying to get a community set up and running that generates and distributes pre-packaged pre-tweaked patterns for 3D printers.   Buy the machine,  log in, download programs and go.

The first step is to acquire several machines and create a web-presence.  Second step is to approach several toy companies and see if we can't license "official" products for 3D printing at home.  I've set up on Indiegogo,  but that's not working out at all.   Too many people funding sick puppies to the tune of $25,000 and giving money to lazy college-students for ivy-leauge educations. 

Guess I'll do it the hard way when my tax return comes. 

I also intend to support a friend's business,  friend needs buttons,  rings, hooks, clasps, and other misc items for her sewing business.    This is a case where six ultra-custom buttons can add three digits to the price of a project for her.