World Domination, I just got my self a 3d Printer!!!

Some interesting things that have happened lately with 3d printing...

Stratasys purchased Makerbot, They are owning a big part of the market now, They also have 1000's of patents from what I have read.
Patents on things like how plastic parts will be cooled in a closed printing environment, how hotends works for FFF style printers, heated beds, patents galore, its crazy how they can patent so many things

All the big name printing companies like cannon, hp, have been wanting/waiting to get into the market and working on designs..

Stratasys sues Afinia oven patent breaches, Why Afinia when many other companies are already making the same thing?
I believe it is to mark their territory before the other big companies get on board.
Stratasys reminds me of Apple.
Trying to patent the rounded edges on phones ..

Markerbot/stratasys are now selling $6500 consumer grade printers, no doubt they are great, But most of the ideas look like they have came from the reprap project..
So for now until the standard of printing changes to lasers hardening materials or printing at the atomic level or something crazy, the repraps are the best way to go for fused filament fabrication, printing plastics..

The cool features of the new hi end makerbot model,
Larger build volume
Heated Chamber.
Inbuilt Camera on all models that automatically captures video and photo of prints, share it on the cloud
Easy to change hotend/extruder.
Increased connectivity, Wifi, Internet, Mobile apps
Check out their beast
http://store.makerbot.com/replicator-z18
 
My dream setup that's achievable would be....

- Large print area, Big enough to build furniture.
- Multiple Hot-ends on the one rail, Big nozzles, Fine nozzles ect.. One can do the infill, one can be used to do the outside layers, 3rd can be used for support material.. plus more for extra colours, other materials, I like the idea of combining Normal PLA to The Soft PLA, You could print a nice spot for your bum to rest on a fancy custom chair.
Printing multiple materials that can fuse together is pretty awesome, There would be so many uses for combining soft and hard plastics in a print.
-Recycle and extrude my own filament.
-Super fast print speeds, Print a chair in a day or less..
...


You think its just a matter of time before we send ultra cool robotic 3d printers into space and print buildings, ships ect.
Send some to mars and get them to build massive buildings
 
nechaus said:
You think its just a matter of time before we send ultra cool robotic 3d printers into space and print buildings, ships ect.
Send some to mars and get them to build massive buildings

In the 1990's there was a show "beyond 2000" that featured new technology... One the episodes featured a 3D printer that made buildings. It would lay a line of concrete that woukd stop at doorways and windows, and once it finished the first course it would ratchet up a few inches and lay another one. Very cool stuff.

-JD
 
This one took close to 4 hours to complete
No Support material was used, There is some blobbing over it tho
 

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Print quality looks pretty good otherwise!
Are you still fiddling with your printer alot and swapping out parts and changing settings or have you got it pretty well dialed in now ?
I'm still waiting to buy one once they get that liiiiiiiiittle bit more polished.
Seems there's been a few new ones to hit the market recently for around the $500 mark.
I saw this one earlier that's $499 full assembled.
I guess the downside is it'd cost a fair bit to ship to places like here in Australia if they're US based.

http://www.plasticscribbler.com/
 
Yeah man, I am familiar with all the settings and dialed it all in. Its been close to two years I think since i first started... cant remember ahh...

I still think for these types of printers ( plastic extrusion through a hotend), and what most people want to do with them, its best to build them, Get a open source kit..
Unless you have plenty of cash.
You think about it, they are only 3 axis,

once learning how it all works, Its hard to not get a good print like 99% of the time.
I remember the prints i sent down to you a while back, god they were terrible... Like brittle cardboard.

Edit:
I can print you the plastic parts for next to nothing, If you find a kit you like I can print all the plastic bits for you. Many places sell them for up to $100, I can do it for a hell of alot less.
 
nechaus said:
I can print you the plastic parts for next to nothing, If you find a kit you like I can print all the plastic bits for you. Many places sell them for up to $100, I can do it for a hell of alot less.
Cool man, thanks. I guess I'm just a bit reserved when it seems they're so fiddley as it is that making a DIY kit introduces an extra element of variability/potential headaches. As you say though they're a pretty simple device when you break it down so it's not rocket science.
What would you recommend is the best DIY kit these days ? What you're using or something else ? I see they're starting to become more popular now all over the place - dealextreme and hobbyking are starting to stock parts
 
yeah its pretty hectic how much the market is getting flooded....

I reckon a good model to build is the prusa i3, Would be the fastest one to build, You can buy all the motors, motherboard from dx or where ever you can find it to be the cheapest. I think its best to source the parts individually if you can to get it cheaper.


The cheapest kit I have found is http://store.quintessentialuniversalbuildingdevice.com/product.php?id_product=144
$199 and thats everything you need, its a small print area, but I am thinking of getting one of these myself.
Bilbycnc.com.au is local they sell parts and premade printers
markerfarm.com another place I have shopped at before.
http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/3d-printer-kits/prusa-i3-kit.html < kit

In saying that, There would be more documentation and support with the prusa i3 over the other cheaper $200 printer...
 
prusa mendel iteration 2 waiting already 6 months to be constructed :?
hope to get the time .... too many things :roll:
but already printed microcomponents in 2007 on a professional one. really cool result.
hope the mendel will be comparably easy :eek:

have (replicated) fun !
 
I've been printing some modular wind turbine blades - as NACA aerfoil shapes are a PITA to make by hand.
http://instagram.com/p/pqZ8WPSYQ9/?modal=true
914402_668560253213582_1749417167_n.jpg

Still using mine for torque plates too. Makes a good proof test before sending files to a laser cutter.
10005468_650986354988501_1389732073_n.jpg

914418_337811409699603_247132529_n.jpg
 
I had a bad run with cheap black filament man. Hot blocks where the ABS toasted inside the nozzle. I could back it out of the nozzle and there would be this ball of hard goo on the end of the filament infeed. Looked like cooked Araldite.

I swapped to good clear filament from BilbyCNC and it worked a treat, and I dropped the melt temp right down as Solidoodle units tend to run hotter than estmated anyways. And I stopped the platform from hovering just below the nozzle while heating up - I think that was cooking the small amount of ABS inside the nozzle while the unit waited for the platform to heat up to 85 degrees...

And I stopped laying down huge rafts for adhesion, and insulated the case instead. Seems to keep most stuff stuck to the platform.

It sounds like most dark filaments have a lot of sh*t recycled into them, so by using clear I was guaranteed a good run. It's not worth making pain for yourself trying to save $12 bucks on a roll of filament, and I do like using clear, you can see what is going on inside the structure.
 
I feel like I have a 3D printer fever coming, exciting stuff. I've been looking around for 2'x2' or so CNC router kits but it seems like the best way to get the biggest bang for your buck is to just source the parts yourself. A lot of the CNC kits I come across aren't designed to have much for a Z axis. This might be a hard to answer question or maybe even not the right place to ask it but, would it be bad to have a really large Z axis? Say a machine was made 2'x2'x4' or taller, would that make things radically more difficult to print? Or do you just use more scaffolding in prints?

As far as surface finish goes, is simply spraying on a thick layer or two of clear spray paint an option? I've seen a lot of really crazy stuff people go for when trying to create a nice finish.

Has anyone tried painting a part in epoxy? I've tried to find the video I saw where this guy spoke about 3D printing model rocket parts with a layer of epoxy like it was paint. I thought that was extremely exciting. He goes on to say that a 3D model rocket part would be a single use part, but would last several times when coating with a layer of epoxy. It sounds like you could end up with an impressive level of strength for a 3d printed part if it is paired with epoxy paint or something similar.
 
you can have unlimited Z height with a CNC, you just was rigid parts.


I have tried painting parts, I tried spray painting. works okay i guess...
if you want smooth parts just use abs and acetone works well...

you can print really thin layers.. like .1mm and it will be fairly smooth like that..
 
Samd said:
I had a bad run with cheap black filament man. Hot blocks where the ABS toasted inside the nozzle. I could back it out of the nozzle and there would be this ball of hard goo on the end of the filament infeed. Looked like cooked Araldite.

I swapped to good clear filament from BilbyCNC and it worked a treat, and I dropped the melt temp right down as Solidoodle units tend to run hotter than estmated anyways. And I stopped the platform from hovering just below the nozzle while heating up - I think that was cooking the small amount of ABS inside the nozzle while the unit waited for the platform to heat up to 85 degrees...

And I stopped laying down huge rafts for adhesion, and insulated the case instead. Seems to keep most stuff stuck to the platform.

It sounds like most dark filaments have a lot of sh*t recycled into them, so by using clear I was guaranteed a good run. It's not worth making pain for yourself trying to save $12 bucks on a roll of filament, and I do like using clear, you can see what is going on inside the structure.


Sorry I thought you had the makerbot, I remember now!! you printed those awesome end caps man.

what else have you been working on?
 
nechaus said:
what else have you been working on?

Almost ready to finalise the design on a better version of the Dyson DC35 handheld vacuum - check it out. 3s lipo to s 2200kV outrunner, need to get it balanced, sounds like a jet taking off :)

http://instagram.com/p/nIgbHdSYWd/?modal=true
 
Ok, I got a time problem but $1000 dollars to purchase a 3D printer and fix the problem.....from your experience what printer in the $1000 USA range would you buy that is as out of the box and ready to go as possible? I don't have time to fool around with much else other the loading a .stl into the slicing software and pressing print.

Thanks!
 
I'd probably still buy a solidoodle if I didnt have time to build my own printer. The new lineup from SD looks pretty cool.

But your problem is in the last sentence of your post - 3d printing is still really empirical - how many shells to add, material variance and temp calibration. If you 'just press print' you will probably not get what you need first go.
 
Well, somehow I talked my client into purchasing a LulzBot TAZ 4 and 2 kilos of black PLA. It is going to be parked at my place for the foreseeable future and I didn't spend a penny.... :shock: :twisted:

Now I got to learn to run the thing "right-quick."

:D
 
nechaus said:
that is awesome, get yourself ready, A nice chair, food, coffee, big tv and youtube!

Not to mention the internet so I can read this whole thread again!

BTW, what is (are) the best 3D forum(s) around?

:D
 
e-beach said:
nechaus said:
that is awesome, get yourself ready, A nice chair, food, coffee, big tv and youtube!

Not to mention the internet so I can read this whole thread again!

BTW, what is (are) the best 3D forum(s) around?

:D


I would not use this thread to learn, I have made many mistakes and I might not of explained it very well haha... ( I was guided by a shit company called 3dstuffmaker... They made it out as if it was me that is having the difficulty, But it was actually their crappy equipment that's now well documented by mutiple people)
Use the TAZ forums and forums.reprap.org.. they are the best, I remember spending hours at work using that forum and learning alot of helpful stuff.
 
nechaus said:
......Use the TAZ forums and forums.reprap.org.. they are the best, I remember spending hours at work using that forum and learning alot of helpful stuff.

Thanks!

:D
 
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