My name is Logan... 32 years old. Majored in Entrepreneurial Management since I love both fixing processes(consulting) and would love to spend my time "inventing". I'm in an industry where I really don't get to use my skill set(automotive remarketing) however I have decided to use my free time to get back to what I enjoy. That being said, I'm probably in the minority on this board. I have great business sense, can build computers and networks(everybody can these days right???), however I have no engineering or programming experience. I decided that one of my product ideas could make me some money, probably not millions but enough to fund more product ideas or inventions so here I am... researching 3D printers and learning to model. I started with no experience in modeling Saturday evening and after a few hours here and there, I have four of the five required components of my first product invention! It's truly amazing how you can spend 15 minutes creating a single basic model, find that you made a critical error in the beginning, and find that the you can make the same model a second time within 2 minutes. Anyway, I hope to finish my first product in SketchUp by the end of the week and will be going to the 3D Printer World Expo this weekend to take a look at the Phoenix EZ 3D printer among others.

I understand the differences between SLS, SLA, and FDM, differences between available medias for FDM, pros/cons comparing FDM to injection molding or vacu-forming.... I know enough to say I know that FDM is the right option for my prototyping, and that I'd love to be able to print a working prototype that has moving parts... but need a good book or website to do my homework so that I can remain efficient. I don't want to be printing blindly if I can learn from other people's mistakes. From what I understand, I will most likely want dual extrusion so I can work with two medias, ABS as the main media and PLA as the support which will be dissolved away. I'm learning quick enough how to design my components... my question now is where do I go to learn more about slicing, printing fully assembled products, etc.

So... I have very little experience but learn very fast and retain just about everything I read or see in videos. Other forums I'm on have pages such as a "Hall of Wisdom"(ADVRider) which on one forum is the "go-to" page for newbies and veterans alike. It's a growing page with FAQ's, tutorials, and just about everything in between. In browsing this board it seems like it's not geared towards the beginner, so in hopes of becoming a member with contributions to this community(well, if I learn anything!), where should I start?

Thank you for the help and I'll return the help in kind at some point in the future!

Logan