3D printer. At any moment in time I could just print something out and it would be ready by the time I finish eating. The possibilities are endless, plenty of free models online or just learn how to design yourself.
What are some fun or useful things you print? I see a lot of prints online that are toys or action figures, and that’s pretty neat but I usually am not impressed with the quality.
I dunno about other guy, but I came here to say 3d printer.
I’ve printed small plastic parts to fix the flush mechanism of a toilet for pennies. I’ve printed little utility items like hangers for parts to paint. Holders for dnd minis to make painting them easier. Storage boxes to organize small parts for various other hobbies. Giant realistic cock and balls turned into a trophy. Replacement parts for board games that have been lost or broken over the years. Custom dice towers and dice boxes for dnd dice sets. Etc.
The ability to see a need, take some measurements, and spend a few minutes in a cad software to have a replacement part that you otherwise can’t find (or can’t find by itself) is honestly amazing.
I use my printer for making replacement parts for things, and for making simple stuff I need like tools, and also for prototyping.
An example: I used to have this motorcycle. The mount for the taillight broke. A new one was $100, and it would break again the same way. So I measured the socket in the fender, measured the bolt holes, and designed my own, which worked flawlessly the rest of the time I had the bike.
Off the top of my head I made a ssd>hdd mounting adapter for my pc. A replacement clip to fix my headphones when they broke, a latch for a pet carrier, replacement part to fix a lamp to it’s base, and a mount for a bearing my mom used to make a lazy Suzan.
The simplest thing I printed is the one I’m most happy about, I had a power bar dangling beside my bed for all my chargers and I printed 2 small clips and it holds it great.
I printed bookcase supports, an air filter and tons of custom boxes for electronics. I learned the basics of SolidWorks so I could design stuff for my printer (ender 3 S1)
I almost exclusively print functional things so here’s my list of things I’ve designed or printed:
Tubular key to bypass paying for laundry
Furniture leg extensions on almost all my furniture to give minimum 4" clearance for the robovac
Custom mounting bracket / spacer for mounting road sign to the wall with command strips
Tapestry mounting shim to clamp tapestry in binder clips to hang on the wall without ripping the tapestry
Rubber band powered sandal holders that stick to the wall and clamp onto sandals which can be used without using your hands / while holding something (I needed to keep my basement sandals from being eaten by my old robovac and I needed to be able to put them on and put them back without needing to put down anything heavy I’m taking to/from the basement, and the space required it to be flat against the wall)
Replacement shelf pegs for bathroom shelves which are normally only sold in 20 packs for >5$ when I only needed 1, the print cost like 1c instead
Replacement D-slotted electrical box key since the one that came with the box broke
Backyard lamp holder that attaches to the fence pole and provides a loop to hang a lamp
Replacement side panel clip for my PC case which came with 1 broken - manufacturer doesn’t sell replacements
Custom piece for 2 sectional couch legs to slot into which keeps the 2 halves of my couch from sliding apart causing someone to fall in between onto the floor
Some of this could have been bought online but having a 3D printer really reveals how overpriced plastic stuff is. I rarely print something that costs me more than a few dollars in filament - and that’s if it’s a very large object, it’s easily less than the shipping cost of an equivalent item alone, and small things can often only be found in large packs online while usually costing only a couple cents to print. And plenty of the stuff I print benefits from being able to be made custom and to the exact dimensions I need, for example the furniture leg extensions I made fit perfectly on the furniture legs and raise them up exactly as high as they need to be for my robovac to go under, not a centimeter more. A whiteboard marker caddy I made holds the exact number of markers I have / want to have and attaches under a light switch wall plate which I designed in order to avoid needing to attach it with command strips or screws (it gets clamped between the wall plate and the wall by the existing light switch screws). The first item I listed, the tubular key, was printed with the exact bitting needed for the lock (layer height of 0.05mm is enough vertical resolution for the key to work).
I’ve recently been working on a cube tomato project. I have those models up on my Printables account. I’m planning on uploading more useful stuff I print up.
Bone conducting ear phones, I have tiny narrow ear canals and can’t get any type of ear bud to go in my ears, the bone conductors are a revelation for listening to audio books, radio and music when I’m out and about
Shokz are awesome. I also have finicky and small ear holes that don’t like earbuds that much, along with piercings that can get annoyed depending on the style. Shockz solves all that plus I can hear my surroundings. Pro tip for camping…wear the shockz WITH earplugs and play white noise or sleep music. It was the only way I slept during a bass music festival with after parties going until dawn.
My wife was a bone conduction earphone candidate for multiple reasons and I convinced her to try some. Her first pair from Shokz died relatively quickly, but they sent her a replacement without much hassle. She likes them a lot. Every now and then I steal them for a bit. I call it the “voice of god” because when you play something through them it’s like telepathy. You can hear the outside unimpeded, but there’s also this extra sound being injected into your head. Would recommend.
I have been using them for years… reliability is questionable… but their warranty is hassle-free. Got 3 pairs in one year .very little questions asked.
This. Got 3 in a year but got tired of playing all the shenanigans customer support played, got an equivalent $35 at Amazon and if I’ve to buy it 4 times in a year I’m even. Can also run it first trough warranty and get another pair next dsy so I’m always connected. They use to be the best and break about the 20 month mark,.now is just another device waiting to die quick.
Shokz are awesome. I can’t have my hearing impared at work for safety and just practical reasons but the shokz don’t block my hearing so they’re fine. The battery on them can also easily last through a whole 12 hour shift. I’ve had mine for a couple of years now and only just recently one of the buttons has started to act up, otherwise I’ve had no problems with them.
Mine are Shokz, I’ve had them a couple of years now with no issues at all, the battery lasts for many hours, I’ve never had then run out for.my use case
InstaPot. It makes a lot of things so much easier to cook. Rice, lentils, potatoes, eggs… I use it mostly for that. No need to stand there stirring, looking at the clock. Fire and forget and always perfectly cooked.
Its kind of silly, but VR. I like hanging out in vrchat with my internet friends and it makes me feel a lot closer to them. Even when we’re just talking and goin to cool worlds.
Was also gonna say this since expensive gadgets weren’t excluded. I played a bunch of VR minigolf over pandemic to socialize with my irl friends who I couldn’t hang out with and these days VR has been the center of more than half of the social gatherings at my place where I demo games and we pass the headset around for everyone to try different stuff. Seeing new people try VR for the first time never gets old.
Not op but quest 2 is a great deal right now for cassual gaming. It works stand alone and with PC. I have also quest 3, but quest 2 is insanely cheap right now and will hold at least a couple of more years. The differences vs quest 3 do not justify the cost difference unless you are hardcore gamer. Imo
I got an older Vive Cosmos headset for like 300 dollars. The controllers kinda suck but its easy to use. Might upgrade tracking and get valve knuckles but its expensive to do so.
Valve Index kit is the best overall setup for the money. Quest headsets are for more casual gaming but the Index uses the power of your PC and its GPU for the graphics.
Not for everyone obviously, but I developed a synthesizer habit some years ago, and right now is probably the best time ever for a beginner to get into it. Korg’s Volca series, Roland’s Aira compact, teenage engineering’s Pocket Operators, Arturia’s Microfreak, and Elektron’s Model series are all affordable and a great way for a beginner to start making some cool-ass music. Beware developing a habit though. It only stays affordable so long.
I got hooked when I first laid hands on a friend’s Monotribe some years ago. Now I’ve been over a year & a half with the Dirtywave M8 handheld tracker and it’s my favourite workstation bar none. Instant on, multiple synth engines, sampler, amazing sequencer, and lovely effects, all in a Game Boy sized package with a lightning-fast 8-button workflow. Insane that technology has come this far.
I GASed hard for a M8 for a while, but importing one to Korea ended up being hard to justify the cost. Glad TE released the EP-133 recently. I jumped on that and got one just before they sold out.
At first, solo, very solo. Like I'd even avoid my wife until I felt comfortable, because at my size (was over 300lbs) certain things were embarrassingly difficult. As I lost some, and more importantly found workouts that worked for me, I started venturing out, now I do a lot of group classes (dance stuff mostly). Even though I'm still often the biggest, I feel a lot better about myself overall so I enjoy it and I've found some very supportive studios with awesome vibes.
That's awesome. Yeah, definitely a rollercoaster for me, winter gets harder since walking was/is a big part of my routine. But even 25kg must feel great. I love feeling like I've kept some of the muscle, but lost a beer keg worth of extra weight every time I climb some stairs or carry something heavy.
If you don’t mind, how did the Fitbit motivate you to be more active? I’ve been considering one for a while but it doesn’t seem like something I’d have a lot of utility for
Two ways:
One, it kinda gamified it for me, just having a score, meant I could go for a high score on days when I had the time for lots of steps/exercise. They build some in too, like streaks and hitting goals.
Two, the HR monitor definitely helped me push harder in cardio workouts. Knowing when I hit my max, and when it started dipping made even short workouts feel more effective (even if they weren't, placebo FTW).
My espresso machine. They’re expensive. I do not know why they are, but they are. I hemmed and hawed for years about us getting one and finally decided fuck it. Im an adult, I want one, we can afford it.
In 2+ years the only times I have not made myself a cappuccino are when I have not been home to do so. It is one of my most used appliances. Espresso owns.
Breville bambino plus. I love it. It’s quarky with the cleaning (when it decides you need to clean it you CANNOT skip the clean cycle) but honestly probably for the best since if I could I’d just skip it too often.
They’re expensive because a good one lasts forever. We’ve had our Gaggia Classic for over ten years now and it daily chugs out coffee like the day we bought it.
What kind of maintenance is needed with something like this? Would I need to run a vinegar mixture through it regularly to clean like a regular coffee pot setup?
Yes, but not that often. The only thing actually going through the machine is water, so it takes a long time to get dirty at all unless you’re dumping bad water in it or not wiping off the group head after use. We did have to replace the group gasket once, which was a $2 piece of rubber I could easily put on myself.
The Panic Playdate. It’s just a really nice gaming console that is getting a lot of support from game devs. It’s one of the very few truly portable handhelds as it can easily fit in a pocket and the battery lasts forever too.
Swapped out the head unit on my 2016 car for a touchscreen that supports Android Auto. I got spoiled using a similar one in my friend’s rental car. It was only $600 installed at Best Buy. It’s so nice not to have to fight with keeping my phone in a display holder where I can see the map, and now I can control my phone-streamed music with my steering wheel controls. Makes driving so much more pleasant.
I did this too around five years ago, but I installed it myself rather than paying for installation. I bought it from Crutchfield and they provided very good instructions.
It’s harder to do in newer cars though, since the head unit has more of the car’s systems going through it. Mine (2012 Mazda 3) only uses the head unit for what you’d expect - the radio, door/seatbelt chimes, and steering wheel controls.
I did this last month in my 04 Honda CRV, such a massive upgrade. I don’t have steering wheel controls, and I didn’t want to tap a screen for volume control, so I went with the boss be7acp because it has a physical volume knob. Added a backup camera because why not.
It’s been a massive upgrade! Crutchfield is the bomb, installation wasn’t that hard, a bit fiddly getting to the wires for the backup and park, but I was done in a couple hours, backup camera included.
My super automatic espresso machine. Dead simple to use and so much cheaper than operating a keurig. I bought it because I’m awful at real coffee machines and need to have a single serve option. Being able to use whole beans has made it pay for itself in the 3 years I’ve had it.
Somehow from what I’ve been seeing and talking with friends and on the web, the Philips espresso machines seem to be the most popular and the best/the shit these days. Maybe one day my Krups machine kicks the bucket and I get a Philips one and test it out to see how it goes.
I’ve read several reviews that suggest DIY beef jerky is only slightly cheaper, and it’s a surprising amount of work per pound. The TL;DR of those reviews was that it’s just not worth it.
Has that not been your experience? I love to eat it but it’s pretty expensive.
It was a lot of work without the weight tools. It takes me about 5 min to cut meat, prepare marinate … Then next day about 5 min to set dehydrator. The advantages? is variety of flavors, no bs chemical, volume. I buy a full round beef for 30 bucks at Costco and that makes the equivalent of about 70 dlls of packaged beef jerky.
A smart switch for my espresso machine so it turns on a timer each morning so it’s ready for when I get up, it takes about 25 minutes to fully warm up. Also I can turn it on or off using voice controls, great when I want another coffee later in the day.
No, its a smart thing switch as I have the hub, so its z wave. However I have a lot of smart home switches, lights and so on so that makes sense for me. Plenty of options if you do not want a hub now.
The espresso machine has a proper on off button so I just leave it in on position and the switch turns the power on and off
Damn, that is a slow espresso machine. Mine takes like 1min.
Also, would that work for devices that need to have the “on” button pressed in order to turn on?
For example: Say I unplug one of my devices, while turned on. If I plug them again in the outlet, they will be turned off and I will have to turn them on again, even though they were on when I unplugged them.
They might have a different style. I have one of these, and it definitely takes 20 minutes or so to get up to pressure.
I didn’t think about a smart switch, like GP. That’s a slick idea. OTOH, I turn the machine on and go do something else for a few minutes - I don’t find it an imposition.
Majority of any e61 espresso machine is like that, pretty much par for the course for anything other than budget non e61 or some of the new high end espresso machines that use some variation of electrically heated groups.
Mine will be “ready” after about 15 minutes but as an e61 group head is a heavy block it takes along time to get good thermal stability. Difference is I can steam and extract shots at the same time with 2bar steam and 9bar espresso, shot after shot.
My espresso machine has a proper on/off switch, so I just leave that set to on and control the power from the smart switch.
They nice machines but I wanted more consistent with its pressure and water flow, better steaming, not made by breville,and made with industry standard components that can last decades.
It’s a decent machine for the money but compared to its competitors from gaggia and rancilio what they lose in fancy programming or the pid or the easy steaming (which is still way off mine) they gain in actually having an opv (depending which one you have), build quality and self service.
I’ve seen far too many people have issues with breville stuff and then problems returning it. It’s not that good ones don’t exist it’s just that more reliable does.
To put your seven years into perspective I should be getting 30 to 40 years out of mine with some regular servicing.