$40 bucks at a thrift store started my 3D printing journey
I popped into a ReStore on the way home from work a few weeks ago and came across this beauty. I couldn't believe my luck! And the guy who donated it was still in the store - it was on the floor 5 minutes before he saw me perusing elsewhere and pointed it out to me.
Super nice dude! Gave me a full rundown on the upgrades he'd made, its nuances, etc. He even included a tips and tricks printout haha.
I've been wanting to get into 3D printing for a while but not in earnest and hadn't had the opportunity to start budgeting for a several-hundred-dollar entry into a new hobby. I hadn't researched enough to know I could get in this cheap.
It really is the perfect machine for me because I'm a tinkerer and it begs (and needs!) to be tinkered with. Since setting it up and familiarizing myself with it, I've printed several mods for it, installed a CR Touch (I had to create my own wiring harness!), swapped the bed springs for silicone spacers, and flashed it with the mrscoc professional firmware. I also set up separate OctoPrint and camera servers. The whole project has been a blast to work on.