As an author, I must keep my mind busy when not engrossed in an alternate world. This often means diving into research or brainstorming new plot twists.

People frequently accuse me of having an excessive amount of hobbies.

In my free time, I immerse myself in a multitude of hobbies.

Writing, reading, painting, hiking, golfing, traveling, fishing, and even howling at the moon. Ok, not howling exactly, but the night sky calls to me, and through astronomy, I unravel the mysteries of the universe, awestruck by its vastness. In addition to that list, I would include computers, as I delight in exploring and experimenting with various operating systems and applications.

One might wonder how I have time for this list of activities.

I don’t watch television. With all the garbage and propaganda that comes with that contagion, I just assume not to have one. I attempt to spend very little time on social media as it is a contagion that fills society with false flags, indoctrinating our young and old with non-sequitur ideas. Some of the filth that makes its way through those mediums is downright evil. I don’t waste any time playing video games as that is a total waste of energy. Instead of playing by their rules, I live in my world.

3D printing has become a fun activity. As an engineer, thinking about some ‘thing,’ designing said thing, and, much like a Star Trek replicator, creating it with our technology is fun.

3D printing challenges one to think; we have too little thinking in this world today, so I applaud it.

I started with the legacy Ender product. If you can print with that printer, you are qualified to use other, more advanced printers.

In this article, I want to talk about ANYCUBIC.

I purchased an Anycubic Mega Pro. That printer was an upgrade from the ender product with a built-in auto bed leveling routine.

I will get straight to the cons. Every cooling fan on that thing is absolute junk. Why in the devil would they skimp on cheap fans with zero bearings? That is beyond me.

If you allow it to ‘warm up,’ the noise eventually abates, but that is a black eye for the brand.

While looking at upgrades, I purchased another ANYCUBIC product, the Viper.

Quieter product, a little faster, and the auto bed level works well.

I have had it for less than a year. I print something occasionally, definitely not every day or week. During my last print, I noticed a loud clicking noise. Upon thorough examination, we discovered that the Y-axis tensioner had a defective bearing.

More on this in a moment.

Lastly, I had a Kobra Plus that made strange noises and blew up the hot end.

That is a defective hot-end cable.

Like many companies, they prefer to be contacted through a web portal, which often results in delayed responses that can take days, if not weeks. There also seems to be a translation issue, which can get annoying when they don’t understand English.

Parts, which are the bugaboo, are unavailable. Someone in Germany has constructed a cable to replace their defective cable for $50 us dollars. Refurbished Kobra Plus can be found for a little over $129.

I can go to Amazon and find parts for Ender products, but there are very few for ANYCUBIC.

While more companies are jumping on the 3D bandwagon, I am curious about what printers you use and which ones last more than a few months

I am interested in your experiences with 3d Printers. Feel free to leave comments.

-Scott

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