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Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version

Posted by wenshidi 
Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 12, 2014 02:21AM
Now available for download at thingiverse

free download at Thingiverse


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Description

This is a PDF version of my latest book on 3D printing. The past year has been very exciting, and I really wanted to share as many of my AM related experiences and experiments as possible. If you are just starting out with 3D printing, then I hope that this book will help you avoid a lot of the stupid mistakes that I made with my Makerbot. If you are a veteran of the field then I hope that my quirky and contrarian take on things will inspire you to try some similarly unconventional approaches.

This book is completely self published and was written without the extensive support and back up of the large publishing houses that I am used to. It is therefore certainly not as polished as Hod and Melba's 'Fabrication', or Kirk Hausman's recently released '3D Printing for Dummies.' The main advantage of doing it by myself was that I did not have to answer to a big company editor, and could therefore be quite controversial in parts. Mine is a much more personal take on the subject, and although it might not appeal to more conservative purists, it should strike a chord if you are a hobbyist or home tinkerer like myself. The book features a wide range of industry pioneers, both printer builders as well as end users, all making some very interesting products. Their cooperation was invaluable in putting this book together and I hope that you will support their work if you possibly can.

This book is also available at Amazon.com in Mobi format for Kindle Readers as well as a traditional paper version.

Adventures in 3D Printing by Christopher D. Winnan


In both cases I have tried to keep the cost as low as I can. If you enjoy the PDF version then I hope that you can help me spread the word about the two retail versions. Although I am keen to share, a man has still got to eat. Please feel free to pass this PDF version of the book along to anybody that you think might enjoy it. If you have access to a Makers' Club or Hackerspace, then please consider posting the attached promo sheet on your message board. If you would like to make the download available on your website then that is cool too. If you could send me a link, then that would be great.

Although my first book on the subject, '3D Printing - The Next Technology Goldrush' is still receiving positive reviews, being nearly a year old, it is quickly becoming rather out of date.



This is a very fast moving technology after all. I uploaded that book onto various torrent trackers last year, but I would be happy to put a copy up here if enough people are interested.

I am afraid that I do not have any translations available just yet, although there is a distinct possibility of a Mandarin version soon, and a French version later in the year.



Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 12, 2014 08:26PM
WOW, that is a very generous offer!! Thank You!!
Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 15, 2014 01:22AM
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n9jcv
WOW, that is a very generous offer!! Thank You!!

You are most welcome. This community was extremely helpful when I was researching and this is the least I can do to say thankyou.
Unfortunately, the PDF has been removed from Thingiverse and I suspect that this is is because I was openly critical of Makerbot and Thingiverse.
For example, in the chapter on model repositories, I wrote that such sites

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need to be run separately from any maker of printers, to avoid conflicts of interest

If you have any alternative suggestions on where I should upload the PDF file, I would be grateful to hear from you.

Chris
Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 15, 2014 01:24PM
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wenshidi
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n9jcv
WOW, that is a very generous offer!! Thank You!!

You are most welcome. This community was extremely helpful when I was researching and this is the least I can do to say thankyou.
Unfortunately, the PDF has been removed from Thingiverse and I suspect that this is is because I was openly critical of Makerbot and Thingiverse.
For example, in the chapter on model repositories, I wrote that such sites

Quote

need to be run separately from any maker of printers, to avoid conflicts of interest

If you have any alternative suggestions on where I should upload the PDF file, I would be grateful to hear from you.

Chris

Dropbox it and share a public link to the file, I wonder why I couldn't find it on thingiverse anymore.
Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 19, 2014 04:06AM
OK here is the dropbox link, as requested.

dropbox link

I am also putting it up on Youmagine at the same time.

I hope that you find it einteresting an entertaining reading.
Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 19, 2014 11:27AM
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wenshidi
If you have any alternative suggestions on where I should upload the PDF file, I would be grateful to hear from you.

You could make an entry for your book on the RepRap Wiki, and upload your pdf directly to the wiki. I would be happy to help you with this if you need assistance.

By the way, YouMagine is operated by Ultimaker (a company that makes printers) so they probably won't appreciate your criticism either winking smiley but I doubt they'll remove your book.
Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 19, 2014 09:19PM
Thanks Matt, that is a very kind offer. Even so, putting my book up on the wiki would be a little presumptious of me. After all, it is just a general book about 3D printing and not specific to repraps. Thanks for the offer though.

I am starting to get some downloads on the Youmagine site. Fortunately my experiences with Ultimakers were very positive and I did not have a bad word to say about that company. smileys with beer
I did not go out of my way to criticise makerbot, I was just reporting things the way I saw them. It probably did not help that one of my very first introductions to the industry was meeting Zach Smith in Shenzhen. Most of my own printing experience was with then on an open source makerbot clone, and I tried to pass on as many tips and tricks that I picked up as possible. Unfortunately, in doing so, I did have to list of lot of the problems that I and others faced with the makerbot. When they made good improvements, I did try to reflect that such as the positive changes that they made on support material etc. I suppose I am just trying to say that I did not go out of my way to intentionally target makerbot, but when a company suddenly become the 400 pound gorilla of hobbyist and commercial FDM, they are clearly going to attract a lot of comments and feedback from actual users.

I did write to them at Thingiverse to ask about the moderation process on the PDF version but still no response as yet.
Re: Adventures in 3D Printing - Free PDF Version
January 21, 2014 10:51AM
thanks for sharing
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