Is the Ender 3 a good entry level unit? I've seen a few people mention it. At $200 if I only use it a handful of times it's not the end of the world. I'm not ready to spend $500 on something that might not get used.

Ok, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the Ender 3. If I got that and a spool-
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Premium-Printer-Filament-1-75mm/dp/B07H9KW5P9/ref=sr_1_15
Is that enough to get started? What else will I need?

SO basically, you guys are saying this is going to get expensive? Ha! Maybe I should reword the question. If I buy the Ender 3 along with a reel or 2 of PLA will I be able to make some simple stuff and learn the machine? I may buy the glass table, that seems like a standard upgrade. I've seen some of the other mods as well but I'm not quite ready to dive head first $500 on something I might not use that much.

I'm powering my pi this way from the Ender 3 and I get the lightning bolt for under voltage. Voltage measures fine though, any thoughts?

Also, I'd like to see some pics of the lights you did, I've been thinking about adding some for the camera.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C2QF1T1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00

This is what I bought. It says 3A in the listing. Maybe I will bump it up to 5.1v and see what happens.

Has anyone tried flame polishing PLA? I printed an ocarina, I'm still learning the printer and tweaking it. It came out decent. There was quite a but of junk left behind from the supports, and the holes were a little messy. I should have taken a picture before sanding. Sanding left it very dull. I used 220. I'm sure finer grits would eventually polish it, but I figured why not try the torch? I'm happy with the result. It was just an experiment, so i didn't go crazy sanding. I kinda wish I did seeing how good it came out. I did burn it a little in one spot. Not unlike flame polishing a ramp, you need to be careful. I really should have documented the tone and tuning before and after. I will need to print another one.

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That looks much better than mine, I still have some adjusting to do. Is that the wood filament? That was going to be my next print if I did another ocarina. My son has a decent ocarina and this didn't sound terrible next to it, but there is definitely a difference. I expected the difference to be more noticeable. The top 2 or 3 highest notes didn't work properly on my 3d print. How are your high notes?

I bought the BLTouch probably 4 months ago and installation was a failure. I gave up and got too busy to figure it out. Finally got around to tweaking it and it's working great. How about some new ideas of useless pinball crap to print!