81–86 of 86 posts
Typically these threads make me feel useless as a father. Like everyone's kids are contributing patches to the Linux kernel at the age of ten.
That sums up the internet for me, constant feeling of not doing enough to get your kids ahead and personally not amounting to anything because everything has been done better than you can do it.
Building a fender-style guitar first is the easiest route, especially if you use a double-truss neck rod (get it from Stewart Mac). I recommend buying a pre-cut fret board as well. Also, you can use tung oil instead of clear coating. Trying to do an opaque spray job was my biggest regret. I could have oiled my beautiful mahogany body with much better results.
Tools:
* Flexible edge (for pegboard and body profile https://shop.pacificarc.us/products/flexible-edge-curves)
* Bandsaw (body and neck shape)
* Drill Press
* Router (For the neck and body cavities)
* Thickness planer (only need this once to plane the body wood before gluing)
* Curved carving knife (Like this https://ramelson.com/product/curved-hook-carving-knife/) to profile the neck.
* Pipe clamps
Nice to have tools:
* Oscillating spindle sander
* Belt sander
* Router table
I recommend using an easy to work wood like maple for the first attempt. I found mahogany to be a lot of effort to work. Expect the project to take quite a wile. I think mine took 200 hours.
Buy a Bambu Lab A1 Mini 3D printer. They're amazing. Then look at examples of what you can do on Youtube. Amazing! Kids nowadays have it so good.
My 6yo had 3D printer in school and now is super excited about 3D printing. I'd like to get one of these but have no clue what are the criteria when purchasing one. Can someone help in assistance what to pay attention to while choosing such device? Obviously one of the main criteria user friendliness so that 6yo could quickly start using himself.
* P1S: enclosed printer which can print most types of plastic and is extremely fast. It's a CoreXY printer meaning that the print head moves in XY position and the print bed only in Z. This makes it faster and take up less space. Controls via buttons and old style LCD display (3rd party touch panels are available). Available for 560 EUR base, 772 EUR with the AMS.
* A1: open printer which moves the bed the Y position, known as a "bed slinger". It's slightly slower than the P1S due to the bed moving but is still very fast. Controls are an integrated touch panel. This is their most modern design so it's easier to maintain. Priced at 300 EUR base, 450 EUR with AMS Lite
* A1 mini: small version of the A1. Main attraction is the price of 200 EUR base, 350 EUR with AMS Lite (+20 EUR postage).
Now the AMS (for the P1S) and AMS Lite (for the A1/A1M). These are their multiple material system. They allow you to use multiple different materials (colors, different plastics) at the same time. The AMS is enclosed and can be used with materials which must be kept dry (25% humidity in my AMS vs 80% out in the open). I have both and they're both awesome but not 100% required.
Prices in the US are lower as EU prices include 21% sales tax.
What to do? Buy the A1 mini if you're budget constrained or aren't sure. It's fantastic, it prints fast and the 18cm x 18cm size is fine for what kids will do with it. If you can stretch to the P1S then I'd highly recommend it. I brought all 3 for my business and have been running them together pretty much all the time I've been able to have them running. I use the mini for fast prototying and the other to make "production runs". Although I'll probably end up either moving the mini to private or buying another mini - as soon as the kids get started we won't be able to stop.
If you're in SV and have an SV budget for toys then Prusa are releasing a new CoreXY printer early next year. Their printers are more sustainable then Bambu Labs, they're not Chinese and are the market leader in quality. They're more capable than any of these printers too as they can print pretty much anything out of the box. I'm not sure if they have a multi-material system.
Buy a Bambu Lab A1 Mini 3D printer. They're amazing. Then look at examples of what you can do on Youtube. Amazing! Kids nowadays have it so good.
I'd recommend getting a prusa kit for anyone interested in building stuff. The instructions are easy to follow and broken up nicely. IMO it's also fun to see the parts and a glimpse of the design you wouldn't see buying a complete printer.
Bambu are cheaper in Cap Ex but based on reliability they will likely have a similar TCO after a year. Also as a Chinese brand Bambu are risky. If we get tariffs or some kind of international situation then things could be problematic.
For each hour they "make", they earn "Doubloons" which they can spend on things they need for more projects - like soldering irons, Raspberry Pis, Framework Laptops, and more.
There are about 900 teenagers coding each day and working on different projects. He might be inspired by some of the things they're working on, like this personality quiz (https://personalityquiz.kittycat.hackclub.app/) and this overly aggressive cat-themed study timer (https://study.sticks.gay/).
One good beginner activity could be making his own homepage, which he'll earn a boba tea for: https://boba.hackclub.com
Buy a Bambu Lab A1 Mini 3D printer. They're amazing. Then look at examples of what you can do on Youtube. Amazing! Kids nowadays have it so good.
My 6yo had 3D printer in school and now is super excited about 3D printing. I'd like to get one of these but have no clue what are the criteria when purchasing one. Can someone help in assistance what to pay attention to while choosing such device? Obviously one of the main criteria user friendliness so that 6yo could quickly start using himself.
I recently wrote an article that might help you decide: https://blog.bambulab.com/why-a-3d-printer-makes-the-perfect...
When choosing a 3D printer for your 6-year-old, user-friendliness is definitely key, and that’s an area where Bambu Lab excels.