Reddit reviews 13cm Length Black Anti-magnetic Straight Curved Tweezers 2 Pcs

A few things before you get started:

1. Be careful when cutting parts from the sprue.
   
   
2. Make sure you have the right tools for example, Xacto knife, some sandpaper/emery boards, model glue (have both thin and thick types), and filler.
   
   
3. Take your time and work under good light. A bright desklamp is very useful.
   
   
4. Thin your paint. Generally, 50/50 is good starting point. Buy paint brush cleaner and thinner at your local hardware store. Far cheaper and generally works fine as the ones from hobby store. For acrylic paints, use water or isopropyl alcohol as a thinner. For enamel, use paint thinner.
   
   
5. The kit directions aren't always the way to go. For example, when doing tanks/armor and most kits in general, I recommend following a modular approach. So for tanks, assemble and paint your road wheels, hull, etc before gluing it all together. This makes it a hell of a lot easier to paint and you can get to spots you won't be able to get to easily get to once assembled.
   
   
6. A few other useful items you should get either now or later, most of this you should have around the house already:
   

• A fine point tweezers. Something like this: http://smile.amazon.com/Length-Anti-magnetic-Straight-Curved-Tweezers/dp/B00BG8WW2Y/
  
• Toothpicks
  
• Cotton swabs
  
• Compressed air can
  
• If you don't have good light in where ever you setup to work, get a good desk lamp
  
• A cutting mat like this: http://www.amazon.com/Alvin-Professional-Cutting-Green-Black/dp/B0015AOIYI/
  
  

7. Don't expect your first model to be perfect. My first models were terrible but I learned a lot from the mistakes. I highly recommend getting some good, but cheap kits and just building them to get experience. You'll get better as you build more kits.
   
   
8. ALWAYS research the kit before buying. Look for reviews and get a kit based on that. Don't just rely on brand names. For example, most of Airfix's old mold kits are pretty bad, but their newer mold kits are quite good and good value for the money.

when i see this it is usually tamped into the port tightly enough that it's actually a bit difficult to remove. the best tool is curved, very sharp tweezers like these
https://www.amazon.com/Length-Anti-magnetic-Straight-Curved-Tweezers/dp/B00BG8WW2Y

SAFETY GLASSES. Depending on how youre removing support material, those tiny peices of plastic can go flying, and I've ended up being saved by my blinking reflex more than once. Just get a cheap pair and use them. Support material will go flying towards your eyes, its not a safety cliche.

Everyone says to use a heat gun to clean up stringing(which can still occur even with near-perfect retraction settings, its just the nature of plastic.), but i prefer a butane pocket torch. Just quickly flicking the switch will vaporize the strings, without waiting for a loud heat gun to heat up, potentially warp your parts if theyre thin, and set it down to cool. Just dont hold a flame to your parts, they will ignite. A very brief(fraction of a second) flame works perfectly. If youre just using your printer for functional parts right now, dont worry about this.

A pair of curved tweezers for picking plastic off of the nozzle before/during(if youre OCD)/after a print (depending on how your cooler is setup). Side note- if your nozzle is really dirty, heat it up to ~200c and brush it with a wet qtip. Works great without scraping the nozzle with a wire brush.

X-acto blades #17 and #11. #17 is great for removing support material. Just please make sure youre not pushing the blade in the direction of your hand/leg/chest/eye/other body part.

As far as finishing prints- I've only used sandpaper, but a resin like xtc-3d is also popular.

Calipers. Get a nice pair of calipers.

As far as modding your printer.... https://www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/ has all the nuts & bolts you might need for great prices.

As far as software goes, I used to use simplify3d but after switching to slic3r prusa edition i think its amazing. Join https://www.facebook.com/groups/prusacommunity/ and get chris warcocki's pretty PLA profiles for slic3r. Really great facebook group, they'll keep you updated on all the latest mk3 improvements/news

Oh, and get some isopropyl alcohol, at least 90%. Wipe down the bed with it after every single print. Occasionally wipe with acetone, but not too often.

As far as filament goes, everyone has different recommendations. Avoid makergeeks. Great filament, horrible company. Atomic is great, but $30/kg which is a bit much for daily PLA, especially if its just going to be used for light brackets or whatever. I've been trying lots of manufacturers and i just ordered some makeshaper, i'll update in a few days if its lives up to the expectations.


Youre going to love your mk3.

This is going to be one of the best prices you will find for quality tweezers online. http://astore.amazon.com/dantcomthinth-20/detail/B00BG8WW2Y

$4 tier

$3 tier

$2 tier

Ty for the contest!

I think if you're able to financially, you should try and get something more in the mid-range. I have a feeling that this 15 dollar iron is going to be wildly inconsistent in keeping it's temp up and make it extremely difficult for you to get good solder joints. I would recommend something like this.

As far as other accesories go, I would grab a "Helping Hands" a head band magnifier and some nice small tweezers.

These ones are $2...

http://www.amazon.com/Length-Anti-magnetic-Straight-Curved-Tweezers/dp/B00BG8WW2Y/

Looks just like the set I have. They're great.

Just my kitchen table. Helping hands is a must. Also, you want to invest in some of these and these.