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Friday, 19 April 2024

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Mike...
You might try your local library.
My local public library has a 3D printer for use.
I have never used it but I have been told that libraries have large collections of "printable" files that are available for use. It is even a free service at my library.

Bob

Good news on the new office setup.

Now, what are these two pieces you need making? There's more than one way to do most things, so if you give us a better idea of what you want to achieve we might be able to come up with something.

Bob beat me too it. Our Library has a "Maker's shop" with a 3D printer. If your library does not pan out, you can check online for a local "Maker Space".

Mike --

My son, a Navy powerplant machinist, has an entire bedroom in his house devoted to these 3D printers. What i learned from spending several days with him is that . . . 3D printing is *way* more complex than printing in, ahem, 2D (even allowing for color). If i had a 3D printing task i would save myself the frustration and have someone else do it; there are likely hobbyists in your town that will do so.

-- gary ray

Sounds like you've recombobulated and then some. Hooray! You may have to drive a ways, but as other commenters say, public libraries and 3D printers are a thing, for reasons I don't understand.

On the desk-adjacent topic of ergonomic keyboards, I've moved on from the Logitech K860. While it impressed in many ways, it didn't suit me, including the key feel and that it's apparently made for bigger hands than mine. I moved on to a Royal Kludge S70. Couldn't resist the brand name, or the idea of an under-hundred-dollar mechanical, hot-swappable, ten-key-less board that can split in half, with each half able to tilt in four directions. Unfortunately, there were one too many issues. So now I'm trying out the Logitech Wave Keys and I may stay with it. It's a more modestly sculpted keyboard than the K860, with a gentler key travel and action (which many disparage as "mushy"); it's also better sized for me, half the price, and has a smaller footprint that lacks the nav key cluster that I never use but keeps the number pad that I do use.

IMO the biggest problem with ergonomic keyboards is that any design can, at best, both fit and please only a limited number of members of an already niche market, so they're typically priced higher than regular keyboards of similar features and quality. Conversely, any individual has to get lucky and/or try a bunch of them to find one that suits.

Years ago, I had excellent photo scans and prints done by https://nancyscans.com/ Now they also do 3D printing. Not so far from you, also.

You need to print something “two-thirds the size of a mass-market paperback novel”.
Never thought I’d see the Americans will measure with anything but the metric system meme here.

Mike --

I mentioned my son's experience with this technology -- he has at least three 3D printers and a high power laser cutter/etcher -- and i believe that i am channeling what he would say: select carefully the feed material being used. There a host of different plastics available for the input spools; they vary a great deal in their SHEAR and FATIGUE properties (which i believe will matter in the durability of your part in its intended use). Thus you need to do your best to pick the correct material.

That is the limit of my knowledge of material science.

-- gary ray

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