MakerGeeks 3D Geek Box Review – September 2018

For most of the month of September the continual hype of this month’s geek box continued to roll into my inbox. This months geek box was in celebration of MakerGeeks 2 years of geek boxes. September was the first month of the geek box subscription roll out. The hype was for a geek box this month worth $100. Well that’s exactly what everyone got, a $100 gift card to use at Maker Geeks. To get my gift card I had to purchase it using a coupon code MakerGeeks provided to me in an email. I have already redeemed my gift card and used a portion of it. All in all pretty successful geek box this month, good work MakerGeeks.

MakerGeeks 3D Geek Box Review – June/July 2018

Since I received both my June 2018 and July 2018 MakerGeeks Geek Boxes back to back, I decided to just combine the content reviews. At this point I am fully caught up with my GeekBox subscriptions however it has been a long time coming. There has been a lot of chatter about MakerGeeks and their shady business practices, along with some pretty bad ratings by the BBB. While I have never had any issues with their filament, I will certainly say the support and service has been hit and miss. If you purchase from them or sign up for the monthly GeekBox you are doing so at your own risk. I am hoping that the customer service and issues with supply, shipping logistics are apart of company growing pains, that they can work through. At this point I am taking my subscription month by month, if there is another long delay like I had with my June geek box, I will most likely be stopping my subscription.

Continue reading “MakerGeeks 3D Geek Box Review – June/July 2018”

MakerGeeks 3D Geek Box 3 Month Reivew – March/April/May 2018

Back in November 2017 I bought my first MakerGeeks filament, a grab bag of 1 roll of Maker PLA, 1 roll Crystal PLA, 1 roll of Maker PETG and 1 roll of Crystal PETG, combined with a Black Friday coupon code they were running at the time.  I knew they had a monthly subscription box but as I was just starting out with 3D printing, I didn’t want to commit to that just yet.  I also wanted to try out a few different brands to get an idea of how each filament brand would print.  After doing some research of what the past 3D Geek Boxes consisted of and watching some unboxing/reviews, I decided to jump in since their promotional email flyer said it was going to be a “Big One.”

Continue reading “MakerGeeks 3D Geek Box 3 Month Reivew – March/April/May 2018”

MPMD: MonoPrice Mini Delta 127mm (5 inch) glass/mirror bed clips

First, Fusion360 designed thing posted to thingiverse.com. When getting started with 3D printing, there is a limit to how much random stuff you can find and print from thingiverse. At some point you want to be able to design and print your own models. I started off learning some basic concepts of modeling using tinkercad which is a great, free, web-based application for 3D design. Browsing through there catalog of items people have created on tinkercad is certainly pretty awesome, however it is web-based and does have some limitations. After some research, Fusion360 appeared to be another popular choice for 3D design and 3D printing. It can also be registered for free as long as certain criteria are met, mainly if you are using it as a hobbyist and not in a professional for profit setting. Continue reading “MPMD: MonoPrice Mini Delta 127mm (5 inch) glass/mirror bed clips”

First 3D Printer: MonoPrice Mini Delta (MPMD)

3D Printing has always been something that I have been interested in, however the cost of the printers has always been such a large hurdle to over come.  In recent years the price has significantly dropped, especially with kits like this (Delta Kit), being affordable and provide an awesome learning experience.  If you are not interested in a build it yourself project, there are many pre-built printers out now that are very affordable as well (Pre-Built).  Since the prices of 3D printers have become more attainable the only other hurdle was the tinkering/troubleshooting factor.  Being a developer, the thought of hands on troubleshooting was certainly appealing and not a detractor for me, like I believe it is for so many others.  I began doing research on prebuilt machines and kits, when I came across an indiegogo for the MonoPrice Mini Delta (MPMD), a $159 prebuilt delta.  This was too perfect an opportunity to pass up, as this was a prebuilt machine at such a low price point for the amount of features it provided.  I pulled the trigger and within a few months I was part of the second shipment of these machines, as of now they are listed on the Monoprice web site here.  Given that this is my first 3D printer I will be doing some future posts around general 3D printing, Mini Delta mods, and Fusion 360 design that I have been learning ever since jumping into this domain.

Here are a few time lapse videos of my first few prints: Continue reading “First 3D Printer: MonoPrice Mini Delta (MPMD)”