What did you buy this week?

   / What did you buy this week? #1,703  
A beginner 3d printer for my son and I to play around with. He has always been a maker kid, seems like this is a good progression.
"Beginner" 3d printer, the cheaper ones take a bit more fiddling/experimenting/slicing set up then a Ender or similar. They are an example of a "starter" sometimes being a bad choice for a 1st time user.

Recommend PLA and PLA+ to get some good models built first, before trying the more frustrating filaments, and keep him intrested
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,705  
"Beginner" 3d printer, the cheaper ones take a bit more fiddling/experimenting/slicing set up then a Ender or similar. They are an example of a "starter" sometimes being a bad choice for a 1st time user.

Recommend PLA and PLA+ to get some good models built first, before trying the more frustrating filaments, and keep him intrested
It is one of the newest Ender models. It looks like overall they do take a little more fiddling, but from the sounds of it Creality has worked out a lot of the kinks. A few other things is there is a HUGE community of Ender users, thus every single issue, workaround and fix has been well documented. In addition there are tons of upgrades you can do to these machines as well. For this reason they say they are good machines for people who really want to get their hands dirty and learn about the mechanics of 3d printing because they do take a little bit of fiddling at times, they are simple to work on and there are endless upgrades, hacks and things to tinker with.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,706  
Bought a '90 Pete 379 yesterday.

Now waiting for a rebuilt 3406B and an 18 speed to be installed, getting it converted to a single axle, the cab and sleeper getting sound proofed, new paint, and a few other odds and ends.

All for about $10K more than a new Chevy Silverado 1500 2WD WT.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,708  
You know we have been paying tariffs for 5 years already right?
Correct, imposed by Trump in 2019. Subsequently prices in the US have increased by what 50% to 100%? Hum, I wonder why?
What could tariffs do that biden and harris didn't already do with their 30% increase over 4 yrs.
Can you be more specific? I see an increase of solar panels and electric vehicles from China.
Take the blinders and headphones off. You are getting bad information.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,711  
I’ve been buying parts for my van toolbox’s I’m building. The drawer slides haven’t been delivered yet but the construction is almost done.
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   / What did you buy this week? #1,712  
300 container grown slash pine seedlings to plant around the house perimeter. $45

Of course I needed a new single shank Subsoiler to loosen the hard ground first. $350. And a dibble. $25
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   / What did you buy this week? #1,713  
300 container grown slash pine seedlings to plant around the house perimeter. $45

Of course I needed a new single shank Subsoiler to loosen the hard ground first. $350. And a dibble. $25View attachment 2699801View attachment 2699804
Just some thoughts here because I did the exact same thing here 40+ years ago. Back then I just had a dibble bar. For privacy I did run a string line but used a 10ft conduit pipe to space. Over time, 12ft probably better. I should have run a second row staggered (like a triangle).
I didn't think about how close to the road I planted so last year highway department cut limbs back to the trunk up about 15 ft.
They were fantastic at about 20 years or so, limbs just touching then got too big.
Also choose an out of the way spot to plant 15-20 to replace any that die in first few years.
Those I put in sawdust+compost so easy to pull up.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,714  
Since I left my inverter generator up north, I picked up this one for our house in MA. Just enough to run a few things. We heard there was an ice storm coming and the wife actually suggested getting it.

4000W Inverter with CO Shield® – Champion Power Equipment

We were actually going to run over to Harbor Freight as the predator generators get good reviews, but for the same price the Predator was only 2000/1600 running watts. When did HF get so pricey? They used to be cheap. Anyway Amazon delivered next day.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,716  
This just arrived. The Dell laptop I ordered as well as DVD recorder.
Dell Inspiron 3520 15.6" Touchscreen i7 Laptop, 15.6" FHD Touchscreen, Intel Core i7-1255U, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Numeric Keypad, Webcam, SD Card Reader, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Windows 11 Home

20250219_170451.jpg
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,717  
This just arrived. The Dell laptop I ordered as well as DVD recorder.
Dell Inspiron 3520 15.6" Touchscreen i7 Laptop, 15.6" FHD Touchscreen, Intel Core i7-1255U, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Numeric Keypad, Webcam, SD Card Reader, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Windows 11 Home

View attachment 2750495
Is that a pretty good machine? Top, middle or budget? It has been so long since I spec'd a Windows machine that I have no idea what the hot gear is right now. I have been using Mac's provided by work for the last 10 years, that's how out of touch I am with the PC world.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,718  
Liberty Foundry fireplace grate from Menards; will be delivered next week.
View attachment 2707811
I had one of those and liked it but it didn’t last very long. If you don’t burn a lot of wood it will last a long time. I burn maybe a couple of chords of wood a year and the grate burned through in the middle after a couple of years.
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,719  
I had one of those and liked it but it didn’t last very long. If you don’t burn a lot of wood it will last a long time. I burn maybe a couple of chords of wood a year and the grate burned through in the middle after a couple of years.
I use a homemade grate using 1/2" rebar. It lasts about 10 yrs depending upon your burn rate and costs next to nothing to make
 
   / What did you buy this week? #1,720  
I had one of those and liked it but it didn’t last very long. If you don’t burn a lot of wood it will last a long time. I burn maybe a couple of chords of wood a year and the grate burned through in the middle after a couple of years.
Several places including Menards sell the Pleasant Hearth brand and they appeared lighter duty and lower build quality units. The Menards price on this one was $25 -$40 off other places. For example HD sells the same grate for ~$100. It is supposed to be HD, so went for it due to size, specs., price and web reviews.

Thanks for the input. We will probably burn between 1.5 to 2 chords a year based on this second winter living in our present home. I will continue to look for a heavy duty grate or perhaps get one custom made prior to this one getting totally shot. This hopefully works out for a few years.
 

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