Early days

First started out with 3D printing in 2017/18. Got a Tiko printer off Kickstarter — that never really worked. Bought an early Chinese clone of the Prusa i3, which worked well enough. Wanted to do larger prints, so bought a cheap Chinese Core-XY printer, which became a decent printer after a lot of upgrades.

Then a job took more of my attention, so I did very little with 3D printing for several years. Bought a Prusa MK3 kit, and an Ender-3 (a cheap Chinese Prusa clone).

The face shields

In the middle of COVID-19, protective gear for healthcare workers ran short. Joined a local group to help out using 3D printing. Bought another Ender-3. Turned out 1300-odd frames for protective face shields, which the group distributed to local healthcare.

The aim was always to print my own designs, so somewhere in there I learned a bit of CAD.