3D Printers have been in the hands of hackers for well over ten years, but the dream is far from over and certainly not overslept. This year’s Midwest RepRap Festival is a testament to the still-growing excitement, and world where 3D printing is alive and kicking on the next level.
This past weekend, I took up my friend [Eric’s] advice to come down and participate firsthand, and I was simply blown away. Not only did we witness the largest number of attendees to date, MRRF 2019 spilled into not one but two conference halls at the Goshen Fairgrounds.
In what follows, I tell my tale of the times.
Who’s There?
MRRF might be far from any major metropolis, but for three days, the city of Goshen, Indiana becomes the hub of 3D-printing hubbub where a crowd of enthusiasts burn late into the night to talk all things homebrew-3D-printing related. Taking a look around, I can break us down into a few distinct communities. First, we have the Rep-Rap historians. They keep our lineage alive by maintaining some of the earliest RepRap designs that started it all. Next, we have the printer builders. Some are hard-core metal-workers who cut printers out of machined aluminum; some follow the RepRap tradition of mixing printed parts with the mechanical vitamins; some are dumpster-diving professionals, scrounging together incredible builds for under $100. Up next, we have the printer users. Some print enormous trinkets; some print functional racecars and musical instruments; some are simply pushing their printers to the extreme to “ooze” or create distinct layer patterns that elicit a certain glittering effect under the right lighting.
Then we have the vendors. Some are small lifestyle businesses created from solving a printing problem with a component; some have created entire framing systems; some sell their machining services to help get custom parts into your hands. My favorite observation about the vendors is just how personal our engagements can be. Mingle at MRRF, and you won’t meet the “I’m-just-a-sales-guy,” you’ll meet the very engineers who coined the solution they’re holding in front of you. Linger for a few minutes and they’ll tell you their tales of joy and woe in getting their solution mass-manufactured. Finally, even the Youtube crowd descends with dead-cat mics and selfie-sticks to film the scene for a few thousand likes.
Despite the eclectic self-selecting variety of groups, MRRF has space for all of us. As I moved through the crowd, there was no cynicism, no hint of disdain for folks trying one component over another. That all-encompassing acceptance of each other is what’s keeping us up late at night talking about our misdeeds in printing over the last year.
Ooze and Schmooze
Not everyone brings a printer, but everyone comes with a good story. MRRF is a place to swap your joys and woes in printing and perhaps pick up a few tips. In hearing other folks’ printing adventures, I learned about folks printing everything from crossbows to …read more
Source:: Hackaday