How many of you have 3d printers?

@mike-parsons If you worked with VB6, depending on the time frame you very likely were using what is now VSCode or it's predecessor.

YES, being able to step through the code one line at a time observing variables changing is one debugging tool. Another is setting what we call a watchpoint on a variable, something like if it equals zero stop. The Arduino IDE 2.x does have that but requires only certain boards with extra wires. Fortunately very few of us here on the forum are likely going to write anything big enough (1,000 <> 10,000 lines of code) to need those features. Most sketches are less than 100 lines with only a few going up to 1,000 lines.

Sorry, I got you confused with someone else. I can't help with your PC purchase, but maybe consider buying the components at AliExpress and assembling your own. Cost will be similar, but you can build with an eye to upgrades. I used to do that a lot but didn't know about AliExpress.

@byron

I'm about to load up my first spool of PETG and I have a question for you.  I've read about PETG filament picking up moisture and starting to print strangely.  Have you had any problems along that line?

Thanks Tom

@thrandell

I've not had any problems with moisture, but it may depend on the humidity of the environment.  I only sporadically do prints and I'm in the habit of having two spools of different colours mounted on the double reel holder attached to the printer, and often these are left exposed to the 'room climate' for a good six months or so.

It may also be that the quality of the PETG provided by the various suppliers varies of course but I've mainly been  been sticking with the Perusament filament that Prusa produces.  

PETG can leave some wisps of stringy type fluff but a quick brush or scrape will remove this quite easily, though most of my prints don't need this step to be necessary at all.  I've not been able to put any string fluff down  to using an old reel of filament or one thats been left out to potentially absorb moisture.   I've found the strength and slightly flexible nature of PETG, and the ability to withstand being used outdoors makes it ideal for making electronic enclosure boxes etc.  

The last prints I done a couple of months back was to print some curved and rounded door handles when I needed a very slim handle (just over a fingers depth) for a door that was in a passageway.  They feel nice to use and, again, the strong but slightly flexible nature means that if one bashes into then when navigating the passagway then no harm is done either to the door handle or one's person. 

Whoops, Ive been waffling on, but I do like PETG. 😎 

@thrandell I thought ALL filaments were sensitive to moisture. I use plastic bags that have attachments for a vacuum pump (hand-operated) and are stored in sort of air-tight buckets with BIG bags of absorbent. Probably overkill, but I am a belt and suspenders type of guy.

Probably due an upgrade due to the state of the art presently, but i have four. My first was an Elegoo Neptune. It was a bit of a challenge to figure that one out and actually posted on this forum asking questions back then. Not have much luck with it I then bought a Flashforge Aventurer 3 which ran the test literally sitting on the box it came in without any tweaks. Although the print volume is a bit small it is still my quick go to machine. Wanting a bigger printer envelope on the suggestion of a friend I purchased a Creasee CS30 which currently has overheating issues that i have not looked into yet and don't use it anymore (might be a great candidate for a laser cutter/engraver conversion). Still needing a bigger printer I got luck and found a great deal on a Sovol SV04 IDEX. Further down the learning curve I must say the now ancient by today's standards Elegoo has turn out to be a handy old girl.

My interests tend to wonder greatly and haven't played in what turned to be a small print farm in quite awhile... Maybe I should!