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

[Hyena]

How are you finding your printer Sam ? (you posting anywhere else or is this now the designated 3D printer thread?)

I'm still keen to get one but am deterred by all the teething problems Nechaus has described. As soon as someone points to one that works out of the box as it should I'll be all over it.
I usually like tinkering with things but a printer that doesn't print right ain't one of them

 

[Samd]

Hey good fella, just saw your note. Its less Beta-release than I thought it'd be. I'd happily order another another solidoodle. There's a long delay but you cop it. Although the $2k units online in Aus look ok.
I'm just running some 0.15 test print in transparent ABS. Tonight is my first run with hairspray on the base, needed something wide to test, so gimme fifteen minutes. Yeah i got some looks buying hairspray mang
I'm balder than this guy ->

 

[Samd]

Couldnt resist.

It ran in about 6 mins, but my windows pc rebooted midway in the first. Screw you adobe update!

 

[Hyena]

the $2k units online in Aus look ok.

When I said I was keen I'm not THAT keen :lol:
I dont mind buying it in 100 pieces, as long as it'll print OK once it's all together.
I assume your model is the V2 ? $500 odd ?

Tonight is my first run with hairspray on the base

Is that to stop the base layer drifting and causing a jagged print subsequent ?

Yeah i got some looks buying hairspray mang

heh, you diffuse the akward look the girl at the counter gives you by saying "got a hot date tonight, gotta make sure my hair is imacculate" *gaze down* *wink* :lol:

Couldnt resist.

haha, what a waste of plastic
Looks like the print head itself is a printed part. Is that right ? I'm guessing the heated extruder is well insulated for it not to heat up and deform on long prints.

What else have you been printing ? Got some close up shots of the sort of finish you're achieving ?

It ran in about 6 mins, but my windows pc rebooted midway in the first. Screw you adobe update!

Bastard! Don't you hate it when that happens. Reminds me of the early days of CD burning where if you forgot to disable the screen saver it'd usually crash the burn it if kicked in.
Edit: what sort of hardware does it take to drive these things ? Not too much I'm guessing. Worth a dedicated box to run it ? I guess a random reboot like that would be pretty rare if that's the only thing that upsets them

 

[Samd]

Yeah mine was the $500 solidoodle 2, plus another 80 or 100 for the heated base (a must). I didnt get the casing for another hundred, but would now recommend fitting your own walls to keep the heat in to help adhesion on the base.

I don't think i'd get a SD3, its got an extra coupla inches build size, but you can just make things modular anyways.


Last night I was getting the base/raft lifting every time the aircon in the room blew 18 degree air thru the area. Although this went away once I used the hairspray on the base for adhesion.

Actually the red part is like an anderson plug that holds the extrusion head heating wires in. The actual head is brass due to the 200c heat.

I popped the letters off the backing raft last night - you can make some really crass things with those letters! I'll stay classy.

I wanna get me a half a dozen machines and house em in one of these!
http://www.soliforum.com/post/13084/#p13084

 

[Qwiksand]

3D Printer Pen

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1351910088/3doodler-the-worlds-first-3d-printing-pen

Looks like a cool way to add color to printed projects, fix prints/ weld parts or just doodle with.

 

[Kin]

I am happy people responded well to the 3D pen (all power to the creators and potential), but I hope consumer expectations are not too high. I expect what they showed on the kickstarter will be harder to replicate than you might expect, just based on my 3D printer experience and seeing how bridging, melting, and not clogging can be complicated.

Most welding on my parts is done with an brush and acetone.

 

[Samd]

Cant believe how strong and light this stuff is. When converting from 3d file to gcode you can set the internal density. Even only ten percent creates a tough internal matrix that is ninety percent air. And you can set the internal fill shape.

Solved adhesion for once and for all. By adding hairspray and small outlying objects the raft is just so huge the piece sticks like gum to a blanket.

 

[Qwiksand]

I've moved away from the Kapton tape entirely and am using hairspray on heated glass for ABS and getting superb results. If you can be patient enough to let the glass cool fully, the print just pops off like it's only being held by a static charge. If you are impatient and try to force the part before it cools enough, I've had chunks of glass come off- it sticks that well. If I really need to turn over parts that quickly, I use multiple glass plates (the $1.99 8x10" photo glass you get at lowes or home depot- don't know what you Aussies have 8) ) and just hot-swap 'em.

 

[heathyoung]

Don't know if you guys are aware, but there is a lot of interest in 3D printing slip-over belt sprockets for the GNG mid-drive kit.

User 'Bee' is making these, and is OK with sharing the code used to generate these - I take it you need G-Code to print these off? I would be interested in arranging a print or two from someone local in Aus, if you are interested, and I would say there are quite a few GNG users who would be interested in the same as well.

 

[full-throttle]

I spoke to a colleague with a 3D printer. He will try to make one. If it goes well we'll discuss it further.

 

[Samd]

Happy to mash one up. If you give me the gear parameters I can bang one in the mail this week.

 

[full-throttle]

Sam, have a read through these 2 posts
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=42785&start=1485#p706314
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=42785&start=1515#p707232

 

[bee]

I've moved away from the Kapton tape entirely and am using hairspray on heated glass for ABS and getting superb results. If you can be patient enough to let the glass cool fully, the print just pops off like it's only being held by a static charge. If you are impatient and try to force the part before it cools enough, I've had chunks of glass come off- it sticks that well. If I really need to turn over parts that quickly, I use multiple glass plates (the $1.99 8x10" photo glass you get at lowes or home depot- don't know what you Aussies have 8) ) and just hot-swap 'em.

This is the way to go. If you're in a hurry you can flip a can of compressed air upside down and spray the print and heat bed with the ice stream which makes the print pop off quickly

 

[Samd]

Openscad makes parametric design real easy. Here's your gear F-T.

I reckon I'd be trying one printed in brass infused stainless by Shapeways if i were you guys.
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/steel

How many you want in ABS?

 

[mikebikerad]

I am up and running! Now I just need a few free hours to dial in the settings. This thread pushed me to bite the bullet, thanks everyone!

 

[Kin]

I like your printer. I wasn't sure about the y-axis platform, but the Prusa guy uses one like that; I generally think he has his shit together.

 

[Samd]

GNG pinions came out ok. Will put em in the mail f-t.

 

[Thud]

been following along here & thought i would add a little content.

I drew up a rh & lh rotation cooling fan for the 80mm turnigy style outrunners.
here are the stl files if any one wants to have a go at them.

just save them on your computer & re-name the file removing th dot-PDF prefix i added to the end of the file to get it uploaded onto the forum.
they look like this:


View attachment 1
View attachment 80mm fan.stl.pdf

these are drawn in imperial units so they may need to be scaled x25.4 to be correct in metric.

I been looking into making an extruder head to add onto my little cnc machine....this has been a fun thread to watch.
let me know if you have any design requests..i may be ale to help you out.

another vote for the additional methods & materials Miles

 

[Samd]

They look great. I'll happily post you a few when i get a few other things done, i think it is abouut $2.40AUD only for an international airmail letter.
You may want to rethink those top rails, as the ropes of extruded hot plastic may collapse as the go from top of fin to top of fin. You can use supports but better to design the need for it out of the model.

 

[full-throttle]

GNG pinions came out ok. Will put em in the mail f-t.

Thanks Sam!

Meantime, I have the ones my colleague made. PLA on the left and ABS on the right. ABS is not useable, the printhead needs a fan..


Unrelated: some nice thermal camera images here

 

[Hyena]

How do you reckon they'll go in a high load situation like that ? I'd be worried about them heating up and deforming.
They looks a bit messy all round. I'm not sure if the belt would wear it into shape or if they'd promptly get chewed up

 

[Samd]

The ABS extruder is set to 200 celsius melt temp, should be pretty good. On the GNG thread, I think user 'bee' ran his at about 1900 watts or so on the weekend and the pulley held up ok - although it did pop off! http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=42785&start=1525#p708884

Mine might be a bit rough looking at the photos f-t, although the PLA on the left has a much lower melt temp. I am still getting 0.1mm printing under my belt, but you could also do the acetone trick and smooth it.

 

[Hyena]

The ABS extruder is set to 200 celsius melt temp, should be pretty good.

I'm not sure what material nechaus sent me but on some samples they were quite soft. He printed some text (similar to your team hyena one) and it was quite jagged. I waves my head gun over it a few times and it the letters all deformed straight away and the whole plate started to sag. So what ever it was must have had quite a low melting temp.

On the GNG thread, I think user 'bee' ran his at about 1900 watts or so on the weekend and the pulley held up ok - although it did pop off!

A slight issue I guess... :lol:

 

[Kin]

I think nechaus sent you PLA, which begins softening quite low, 60-80 celsius. The printing temp is above that, but I'm not sure what because I don't print with it (150-190C if I was to guess from memory).

ABS begins to soften around 100C (Its probably weaker in the 90-100C region), and flows good for printing around 200-250 celsius, but typically 205-230.)