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I've put almost 1400 hours on my AD5X since November. I've had some great prints off of it and really like the machine...but I've also had 4 different tech tickets open that resulted in replacement parts. How has your experience been?

Congratulations! 🎉 This post won 2 filament spools in the Contribute to Win - March 2026 giveaway. We will contact you shortly to arrange the delivery of two SUNLU filament spools. Giveaway Rules: https://3dwithus.com/forum/topic/973-contribute-to-win-monthly-giveaway

Wanted to share a real-world example of 3D printing actually making a difference — not just in a lab, but in the market. I came across this while reading The 3D Printing Handbook: Technologies, design and applications, and it really stuck with me. The Rehook project. Their goal was straightforward: bring a bicycle chain reattachment tool to market. The catch? They had under €5,000 to do it. Using 3D printing they managed to develop the product, test it with real customers, and launch it — all in about 10 weeks. That kind of timeline would of been nearly impossible with traditional manufacturing. Tooling alone would've eaten most of that budget before they even knew if anyone wanted the thing. And it worked. Within 12 months from starting the design, they sold several thousand units. I think what's easy to overlook here isn't just the cost saving — its the ability to fail fast and cheap before committing to anything. That's were 3D printing really changes the game for small teams. If you want to dig deeper, the book also has a lot more calculations and charts on this — I've dropped a link for anyone interested. Factor 3D Printing Injection Molding Initial Cost ~ €520 ~ €8,200 (with mold) Production Time ~ 10 days ~ 110 days total Flexibility Very high Low (fixed mold) Best For Small–medium runs Large-scale production Design Changes Easy & fast Expensive & slow "

well, its better much better than my qidi 4 plus with its faulty box!

Pretty impressed with the choice of test models included. Could not stop printing one after another. Might give some clues on how to slice my own models. Featured models: Snapmaker, Lucky13toys, JINQITOYS

I both designed and printed some models for easter. Mine are a little bit simpler than others, but they came out well and as expected: These first 3 are my designs: Layered Egg Fidget: Articulated Twist Open Egg Containers: I made a mistake while modeling them. The left hand is backwards as you can see on the picture. Since then i updated the design and the issue is fixed. Simple Twist Open Egg (Original version): This was my first time modeling threads for 3D printing. They came out acceptable. The smallest one can slip but still holds the egg together securely. Other sizes are fine. Twisty Dragon Egg Fidget: (This design is not mine) I also made a showcase video for this to enter Snapmaker's easter giveaway: https://x.com/Marcidy_3D/status/2037489182990385450 (The theme might be familiar to some people :D) Happy Easter!

Congratulations! 🎉 This thread has won two filament spools in the Contribute to Win - March 2026 giveaway. We will contact you shortly to arrange the delivery of two SUNLU filament spools. Giveaway Rules: https://3dwithus.com/forum/topic/973-contribute-to-win-monthly-giveaway

🎉 March Giveaway Completed — April Giveaway Is On The Way! Huge thanks to our forum supporters! We're excited to award our filament prize to forum contributors 🙌 🏆 Winning contributions: EIBOS Filament Dryer Issue & Support Response: https://3dwithus.com/forum/topic/1006-eibos-filament-dryer-disaster/#comment-1196 Guide-Inspired Print & Feedback: https://3dwithus.com/forum/topic/1005-how-to-design-text-flips-discussion/#findComment-1194 Two SUNLU filament spools are now on their way 🎁 What's Next✅ The April giveaway is live ✅ SUNLU filament spools will be awarded to 1–4 contributors whose posts or comments add the most value to the community and forum. ✅ All helpful & creative contributions count Share your projects, tips, questions, fails & wins. Every contribution helps grow the community and puts you in the running. If you were considering posting but haven’t jumped in yet, this is the perfect time to start. Sign Up Here https://3dwithus.com/forum/register/

Updated Guide: Easter 3D Print Ideas https://3dwithus.com/easter-3d-print-ideas-and-gifts-decorative-and-functional Featured: Bugman_140, 3DPrintBunny, KOZADesign, davemakesstuff_, realNUKDDD and others.