All good things come in threes ....

[HJM]

... at least that's how the saying goes.

There is a limit to how good items printed with the FDM process will look. Even at the smallest practical layer (0.12mm), which will result in substantial print times, the finish is still on the "meh" side.
Hence the third printer— arriving tomorrow — is a resin printer. Elegoo Mars was the choice since it has good support groups on FB and a slew of mods on Thingiverse.
AND for some strange reason when Amazon had a Lightning Sale on the Anycubic Photon, their site was all of a sudden flakier than hell. That and the latest news regarding Anycubic's peculiar hardware changes ... ah well ...
Will be interesting to see how it rolls with all the supports that are required to get good prints.
More to follow.

PS since resin printing can be quite smelly I'll vent through the same opening through which the trains get from Samedan into the garden. Just have to modify the cover accordingly.

[Jim F]

Funnily enough, was contemplating going in the same direction and while the Proton reviews and threads are give excellent reports, some lovely work on axle boxes / bogies etc, recent reviews regarding the change of motherboard and move to bespoke software makes me (and others) more concerned about getting locked in etc.

The Elegoo Mars was my next choice and I could see using it with a connection to the extractor I have for the spray booth in the workshop - but then a really good deal on a Bemo Allegra came up - and I really need it for the 2013 layout - so I will have to save up again, and still waiting for the invoice for the Bemo Maloja in Q4. Just need the exchange rate to bounce back a bit PLEASE

So - you have given me a great excuse to wait and see how you get on with it before I commit

[HJM]

When I decided on the Mars I promised myself to get all (as in ALL) the stuff ready before attempting the first print.
Printing the extras takes time and materials e.g. when one finds out that the black PLA just doesn't want to stay together it means reordering. Stuff arrives on Friday. The super-duper Mean Green cleaner — everyone says it's the best for the first stage of the post-print process in the ultra sonic tank — arrived at the HomeHardware Store.
It's a case of "you can't have it all!" i.e. living outside the large population areas has drawbacks.
With a bit of effort the first part should come off on Monday.

Oh yeah, XC skiing will start Saturday; two week delay since there wasn't enough snow, but yesterday we got snow all the way to the valley floor.

[HJM]

One month later ..... the missing items have shrunk to "0".
The little "Mini Heater" arrived last week all the way from China and is ready to be installed. In essence not much more to do prior to the first test print. Except ...... as the saying goes "there are no fools like old fools".
More on that in "The Village Fountain".

[ritter - John N]

With this 3D printer, do you find you are not using the laser cutter much? Does it still do some things better than the 3D, ie" buildings?

[HJM]

With this 3D printer, do you find you are not using the laser cutter much? Does it still do some things better than the 3D, ie" buildings?

It all depends how large, how much detail, which materials etc. If all I need is a 2D drawing that is considerably quicker than a 3D STL.
In addition one can run some stuff of buildings on whatever is the most efficient and run some details using the 3D printers.
Basically "mix and match just like one can do with DCC or on computers.