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dgellow 21 hours ago

What does that have to do with 3d printing? And are you anti-3d print? That’s a position I’ve never seen, mind sharing a bit more details?

mikestorrent 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The only time I'm anti-3d-print is when $0.85 worth of filament shaped like a cat has an $15 price tag at the local tchotchke shop.

zrobotics 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not the parent poster, but I've been getting really tired of 3d printed crap and Ai generated slop models have just made it worse.

For background I've been into 3d printing since 2013, my first printer was an acrylic i3 clone with a RAMPS controller running Marlin. I've built 3 printers over the years and use my current one pretty regularly. I've been a 3d printing evangelist for years.

That said, going to any sort of craft fair or places like Etsy, and low effort 3d printed garbage is really getting annoying. I was at my small, local renfaire earlier this summer and 1/4 of the booths were just selling 3d printed and laser cut stuff, most of which were designs that are easily found online. I've seen this kind of stuff taking over at other similar spaces, and have seen people complaining about it for a year or so. It would maybe not be so much of a problem if people were making their own designs, but when it's just a model off of printables with at best some minor tweaks made by an AI tool, I have trouble getting excited.

For reference, of the 10 vendors I actually talked to who were selling these kinds of things, none had made any models themselves or were even familiar with blender, tinkercad, or any other modeling tools. There were 3d printed 'ale steins' that had had text embossed onto them, or plywood tchotkes with AI art lasered onto them. Annoying, since anyone who has done even a basic Google search should be well aware that 3d printing, especially FDM, is a terrible process for something like a drinking glass, that will be bacteria heaven and impossible to properly clean without very specific post-processing.

So while I can't say this is why the parent poster was annoyed, this is one of the reasons someone would be annoyed with 3d printing. If I'm browsing at a renfaire, I'm looking for a handmade thing to add to my costume or home decor. The last thing I want to see in that type of environment is a Ai-generated image of a dragon burned onto a cheap set of bamboo coasters bought off of alibaba. I've seen videos and posts onli3of people expressing similar annoyances, but the have been crafting, sewing, and similar creators so probably outside the general HN zeitgeist.

pooploop64 18 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yes that's exactly where I'm coming from. I love 3D printing as a concept (funny how people will make up a whole life story for you online) but it has one very strong parallel with generative AI.

I see zero reason in the slightest to ever put a product of it in front of someone else. If I want a 3D printed dragon I can get the exact dragon I want printed for me. If I want an AI stock image I can have the exact image I want generated for me.

One of my concerns lately is the mountain of absolute crap that grows exponentially by the day. Any initiative to add yet more crap to the pile is something I'm against. There's already 1000+ crappy versions of every possible invention. Are we really in such dire need of more that there should be AIs shitting them out like machine guns?

You're not going to be able to find ANYTHING on amazon.

zrobotics 18 hours ago | parent [-]

I mean, I wasn't inventing a life story. I added the detail to provide background on why I'm not anti-3d-printing generally. I'm coming from a place where I've helped multiple friends build their own 3d printers and have actually done the reprap thing of printing parts to make new printers.

>>"I see zero reason in the slightest to ever put a product of it in front of someone else"

That is many people's problem with it. It's super easy to set up the physical equivalent of AI slop at a craft fair. I'm not wanting to delve into it, but given the rise of vendors I wouldn't be surprised if selling 3d printed and laser cut stuff is the new meta being pushed by the same types of people who sell 'make money online' courses. Think the same type of worthless courses that a few years ago would be pitching dropshipping courses. Per my other comment, 3d printed beer steins. Anyone with any 3d printing experience should know that's a bad idea, but I saw multiple for sale.

And as far as Amazon, it's already started: https://www.amazon.com/3Dgenius-Printed-Impossible-Passthrou...

Amazon is less infested, since they require you to print and ship up front for FBA, but it's still there. That was the 1st result for "3d fidget cone". Looks like they are selling at least some, although no clue how profitable it actually is. Amazon search is awful, but having to parse through garbage like this certainly doesn't help.

dgellow 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Damn, that sounds pretty bad

m463 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I've gotten stuff that was 3-d printed and it was fascinating.

For example, ford has a square hole in some dashboards and someone made and sold a 3-d printed phone holder that perfectly fit into the hole.

I've seen tool trays that give you a place for all tools in a kit. This stuff used to be the territory of airplane mechanics who had to shadow their tools by regulation.