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Joined 9 days ago
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Cake day: July 29th, 2025

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  • Important thing to remember about the “console wars.”

    Other than the Nintendo Wii (iirc), most consoles sell at a loss at the beginning of the generation. They eventually turn a profit on console sales, but console sales aren’t the point.

    Game sales are.

    When each console was its own very specific architecture and games needed to be designed specifically for them, console sales matter a lot because that’s how you’d sell games.

    But now that architectures are similar (if not the same), cross-compilation has become easier than ever. It’s why you see Sony finally releasing first party titles on PC.

    Microsoft knows full well that their console sales aren’t great, but that’s okay for them. Their PC sales are. Many of their titles sell on Steam. And they sell some of their titles on PlayStation.

    They’ll continue to make some form of console because without it they lose out on millions of Game Pass subscriptions from people who don’t want to make the initial investment in a gaming PC, or deal with the complexity, but their goal of making that next console more and more like a PC fits perfectly in their model.

    It’s a shame the Series X has sold so poorly, it’s a great console, but I doubt Microsoft is too worried about “losing” the console wars to Sony. The game has changed.








  • As someone who replaced his Maker Select Plus with a Bambu Lab P1S a few months ago…if you do get a new printer, be prepared to be angry for a moment.

    I spent so much time and effort improving that thing over the years, and the modern printer was so much better right out of the box. 😅

    (Not that I don’t still have a fond place in my heart for my old bedslinger. A friend has it now, so it’s still chugging along.)











  • Enclosure makes printing some plastics much easier/safer, and it’s become common/inexpensive enough to be a “default” option, especially with options like the Carbon being so affordable.

    But the tool has to fit its purpose. If you only print PLA/PETG, then it’s not really necessary. I mostly leave the door off my printer, and only attach it when I need to print ASA or ABS.



  • Check your bed adhesion (clean the bed with detergent and hot water, and I recommend a quick wipe with 91% IPA before each print) to prevent the model rotation seen in this picture, but in general parts with that little bed contact can be difficult to print correctly. If you can’t find an orientation that fits on the bed with more surface area, then slow the print down to minimize forces pushing the print. While supports help, they don’t hold onto the print as firmly as the bed does (on purpose).

    I’ve run into some frustrating issues with small contact points with print beds. Another option is to use a smooth PEI plate and use a glue stick or Bed Weld or something to help improve adhesion.