This whole 3D printer thing is very impressive, one of my local ham club members recently purchased his own device and he has been showing off creations. I continue to want one, but it seems the bank manager (wifey) does not agree they are a important ham radio shack tool!
Ive been looking at whats available on the 3d printer “community” marketplace called the Thingiverse. where people upload (for FREE) their creations so others can make them. The place has hundreds of thousands of creations, i searched ham radio, and found this nifty and very simple stand for the FT817 radio.
Instead of leaching off my 3d Printer owning friend, i searched for other options, my local library and council does not have a 3D printer, BUT a council a short drive away does, Glen Eira Library in Bentleigh has a MakerBot Replicator 2 that anyone can use. You email them the .STL file and they email you back when its ready to collect. They charge $1 per hour of print time. Anyone can use the service, you don’t need to be a local / or join the library to use it.
So I emailed them the file and a couple of days later got an email saying it was ready. The 817 Stand took 53mins to print, so cost me $1. If you are after a 3d printer object but not keen (or NOT ALLOWED to) on spending hundreds of dollars to buy one, this very cheap service from the council library is a great way to explore 3d printing and make that “item” you need.
I still want a 3D printer, and one will arrive here at some point in the future, the above service is great if you have a “known” item and want it just made, if you want to tinker and modify a design, optimise and reprint your creation, then having a week or more delay each change would be just too painful.