Hate to say I called this years ago....

It is a shameful use of tech.

Real estate, Crypto and AI make up the 3 legged stool of US investment (from my perspective).

In my area which is over 1/3 retired people this is where the majority of their investments seem to lie. Those who are simply relying on 401k or other investments are also at risk due to the lack of diversification. Since their investments are tied to those 3 things.

If any of the legs of the stool go out...the whole thing goes down.

You forgot Big Oil and weapon industry.

yeah big oil was here long before AI and will be long after that bubble pops

they still call the shots in many states and much of canada

Might not get you far in life...but it'll get you to the next town.

To the OP...

Best wishes. You are an inspiration.

It's sarcasm.

Everyone who had coin in Mt.Gox lost it during a hack. A portion of that was returned to the users who had a loss about a year ago.

Yeah my 100 stolen bitcoins got me a cool $4k check from the settlement. Definitely made whole by that :|

I think you would have been much better off choosing the bitcoin option. You'd have gotten around 40 BTC back, I think.

I don't believe I had the option. I just filed my claim, and several years later a check showed up.

Hm no, at some point you were asked whether you want USD or BTC, plus (later) whether you want it guaranteed now or whether you want to wait for more.

That's what I remember, anyway.

Perhaps you should log in and verify. Maybe you missed the step about setting up an account on an exchange to get it transferred.

There was quite a few steps...maybe you still have something coming.

Thermal runaway protection does not help in certain failure modes.

Failed FET for instance. They tend to fail "on". Unless you have a highside FET shutting off the power (and that may fail too).

On my printer I have software watchdogs but I also have an entire "dumb" (no MCU) circuit that will shut off a large relay that goes to my heaters if any of it's failsafes are triggered. I have a smoke detector, secondary thermistors, etc.

There are a bit more things in the way of thermal fuses and heaters that are less likely to runaway on the newer commercial printers but I still think people need to take the risk more serious.

I have been building printers and printing since 2011 and I still prefer to not have my printer in my house where the family sleeps, even with the failsafes. It lives out in the shop with plenty of room around/above it in case of a fire.

I would never compare an inexpensive 3d printer to a household device which is designed to last decades.

It is closer to a toaster or an oven than a water heater or HVAC.

Also...my last lease specifically said that I was not allowed to use the washer/dryer or oven when I was not home. So it is not a stretch to believe that the property owners will use those types of agreements to go against you when the insurance company denies your claim (this does and has happened with 3d printer fires).

All that being said...I have run 135hr prints unattended on my printers (not bambu). The risk may be low but it is not zero and it certainly higher than a water heater or HVAC.

I work with the Smoothieware project. The V1 Smoothieboard was one of the first (the first I am aware of) with an ethernet connection.

It was always stated by our devs that it should never be connected to anything but a local network. Why? Because you are supposed to be there running the printer...it is a fire hazard otherwise. People do run unattended, myself included, but it should not be advised or hyped as a "good idea".

The possibility of a hack was always there too. What could a malicious actor do with access to your machine?

The advice was not only ignored...but used as an advertising point to show how innovative they are.

Amazing how fast everyone forgot the time Bambu forced a firmware update which caused a large number of printers to begin printing uncommanded which in some cases caused damage due to completed prints still sitting on the bed. [1]

V2 Smoothieware has the ability to auto update firmware via network...but it is a command that requires the user to send.

At any rate...this matters to me little anymore. My printer is a decade old and going strong still. I have no desire to "purchase" any printer. I would just build another if needed.

The biggest lie sold by the marketers is that working on your printer is "lost time". Personally...I am glad I had the 2011 RepRap struggles. I would never give up my opensource hardware for a "cheaper" machine.

[1] I searched for old webpages on this...can't seem to find them anymore using google. It was a very well known issue in the 3d printing community at the time though.

Oh good...

Now they can make websites full of info to back up their misinformation.

Which will feed future generations of AI.

Finally we are back to "You can't believe everything you read online".

Second that, Not only respect other businesses but when I am working for one I am aware that every penny they pay me is a negative for their company. So I make sure my work is done as quickly as possible and I don't "milk the clock".

In my experience the worst clients you can spot right away. They are the ones who are trying to get a discount. The work is always too much and it is never good enough. I filter clients by letting them know costs in advance. If they complain or suggest that it is cheaper down the road I politely suggest they find someone else. Otherwise...you end up doing 2x the work for half the price.

Also, if someone advises you should "Do the work at a discount and then it will be good advertising for your company". I suggest either walking away immediately or asking exactly what type of "advertising" they are actually going to be doing. From my experience these people give the worst reviews.