My part fan is way noisier than it's supposed to be, so I'm looking for a replacement/upgrade.

It is so difficult tofind modern electronics without telemetry and ads. Smartphones, laptops, TVs, home routers, security cameras, cars, game consoles, e-readers, projectors, 3D printers, fitness trackers, speakers, and even some printers. Why can’t customers be free from this data collection and advertising? It’s not that we don’t care about it. There simply aren’t many alternatives, and the few that do exist are either more expensive or offer fewer features. Seriously, we need a list of products we can buy without worrying about telemetry or advertising.

The following list is updated at https://lemmy.ml/post/52706206. Please note that this list may contain errors.

• 3D printers: Prusa 3D Printer
• Anything else that doesn’t come with ads or telemetry built in?

Could anyone help verify whether Prusa 3D Printer has any telemetry at all? And, hopefully, that Prusa isn’t planning to change its customer policies in the future to make telemetry collection or ads compulsory?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/37700462

Non YT link: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=eb48MdtNaDQ

OrcaSlicer is a fork of the open source project BambuStudio, which is a fork of Prusa Slicer, which is a fork of Slic3r

Bambu Lab default setup requires print files to go through their servers, meaning they can see everything you ever print on your printer, unless you take extra steps to prevent it (like blocking the printer from connecting to the internet and locking it in dev mode)

Bambu threatened legal action against OrcaSlicer devs, accusing them of actions for things that developer didn't do using their own open-source code to do what they say he did

Instead of finding solutions to community issues and security bugs, Bambu seems to enjoy writing blog posts to put people who oppose them on blast. They had a similar blog post last year blaming community backlash on unfortunate "misinformation".

The better play might just be to skip Bambu altogether

Jeff Geerling's article was also posted by another user which I'll also link here.

• Invidious
• Youtube

Why do I have to download an update everytime I turn it on just to use it. As soon as I need another one I'm going back to Prusa.

Consumer-grade 3D printing is good for prototyping and making relatively soft plastic stuff. If you wanna make tough things, though, it’s really hard to beat the strength of metal. [Shake the Future] has produced a guide on using 3D printing in a process to produce solid parts out of actual cast iron.

The concept is simple. [Shake the Future] uses silicon carbide crucibles, which can heat up by absorbing microwave energy. Put one in an insulated container, dump some metal in, and throw it in a microwave, and soon enough you have a pot of molten metal you can use to cast stuff.

The Victoria Hand Project from Canada uses 3D printing to create affordable upper-limb prosthetic devices for around 150 USD, customized in just a few days. With its own software and a global network of clinics, prostheses are produced locally, for example in Ukraine and Africa. A key factor behind this success is the reliability and capabilities of the Original Prusa XL and other Prusa 3D printers, which enable fast and precise printing of parts and above-elbow sockets even in challenging conditions.

An early twist in 2026’s game of bingo as Thingiverse finally severs all ties from MakerBot (currently a part of UltiMaker) and joins London-based MyMiniFactory, in an acquisition that sees the model repository fold directly into the MMF business structure with senior leadership from the latter assuming control of the former.

PRINT&GO is a 3D printer management platform based in Lleida, Spain, that claims over 420,000 users. They claim their module, 3D GUN’T, scans print files against a weapons database and blocks jobs it flags as firearm components.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has been pushing 3D printer manufacturers to bundle this software into their machines…

Not as an option, but as a requirement (press release & PDF).

It’s not just the DA. New York State has proposed legislation that would require 3D printers to detect and refuse to print gun parts. We covered the bill and Michael Weinberg’s technical takedown of why this approach is fundamentally broken… printers lack the processing power, the detection is wildly unreliable, most machines aren’t even internet-connected, and the open-source firmware that runs them is trivially modifiable. PRINT&GO’s 3D GUN’T is exactly the kind of product that gets waved around as a solution in these legislative pushes.

This post is a handy reference for the technical reasons why requiring 3D printers to screen for gun parts is not an effective way to reduce guns or gun violence. I am publishing it on the occasion of both New York and Washington State introducing bills to require this type of screening. In addition to a topic that I have been researching for over a decade, the question of how to know if a 3D printer is printing a gun part is something I spent a lot of time working on while overseeing trust and safety at a large 3D printing service provider.

This post is not about debating the larger legitimacy of gun control. It assumes that gun control is a reasonable and legitimate action of governments in order to focus on the technical reasons why requiring 3D printers to identify and refuse to print gun parts does not work.

What filament is strongest? The real answer is “it depends”, but sometimes you have a simple question and you just want a simple answer. Like, which material makes the best 3D printed wrench? [My Tech Fun] printed a bunch of options to find out — including some expensive filaments — and got some interesting insights in the process.

His setup is simple: he printed a bunch of 13 mm open-end wrenches, and tested each one to failure by cranking on a clamped digital torque meter until the wrench failed by breaking, or skipping.

[My Tech Fun] tested a total of eighteen filaments, from regular basic PLA, PETG, ABS and ASA, and a variety of carbon fiber-infused filaments including PPA-CF. TPU is included for fun, and there’s also a wrench printed with continuous carbon fiber, which requires a special printer. More on that in a moment. First, let’s get to the results!

In a recent video [QWZ Labs] demonstrates an interesting technique to use 3D printing to make creating custom PCBs rather straightforward even if all you have is a 3D printer and a roll of copper tape.

The PCB itself is designed as usual in KiCad or equivalent EDA program, after which it is exported as a 3D model. This model is then loaded into a CAD program – here Autodesk Fusion – which is used to extrude the traces by 0.6 mm before passing the resulting model to the 3D printer’s slicer.

By extruding the traces, you can subsequently put copper tape onto the printed PCB and use a cutting tool of your choice to trace these raised lines. After removing the rest of the copper foil, you are left with copper traces that you can poke holes in for the components and subsequently solder onto.

Laser welding is getting a lot of hype right now as the tech starts to trickle down into the prosumer market. The primary advantages, compared to something like MIG welding, are precision and reduced heat. Those just happen to be attributes you’d want in a metal 3D printer, so Cranktown City strapped his Sky Fire WeldStar laser welding machine to a 3D printer motion system to see what would happen.

Putting a welder on a 3D printer isn’t a new concept. But conventional welding processes produce an absurd amount of heat that tends to ruin things. The heat alone from a basic MIG welder can be enough to make ¼” steel plate look like a Pringle. Laser welders still make the material hot, but the heat is much more focused and controllable.

Now that laser welders are somewhat affordable (this particular model has a pre-order price of $6,300), it is feasible to try 3D printing with one — at least if you’re an entertaining YouTuber that is able to get the machine for free.