How about a 3D printer section?

[markz]

Is that really "retirement" if you still working "two remaining jobs" ?
On one hand I'd like to retire to a 3rd world country, live like a king for dirt cheap. Lots do it.

On topic:
3D printing will consume your time and money on fillaments & nozzles & programming.
You could turn it into a business, like the one guy online classifieds making mud fenders for bicycles.
Other ideas - Bicycle lights (F&R) could get you into l.e.d.'s and optics for lenses. Not sure how lucrative small bits like that would be, perhaps compared to a more profitable mainstream idea's I will keep to myself.

Spit balling idea's here: Where the money is at?
"Do gooder" - Maybe a community 3D printer, cheap rates aside from consumables, wear and tear. Thats if you want strangers in your home.
- Maybe a "consultant" to small businesses that need prototypes. Be good if you have the gift of the bag (a good talker/salesperson [gosh I've become pc] ), good networker and connections. I know around my parts, a local bank has a "Do gooder" program where they bring in speakers. Done a few of those, free. ATB - https://atbentrepreneurcentre.com/locations/atb-entrepreneur-centre-calgary/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=lpm&utm_campaign=ATBfinancial
They are on Meetup or Meetups dot com. Not sure why I put that in there, its on Zoom so thats why maybe.

Which printer did you end up getting?

It was a gift two years ago, and I actually don't remember which model.

Sometimes I feel like I have three jobs. When I retire, maybe I can squeeze some fun projects in between the two remaining jobs...

 

[goatman]

using a 0.6mm h/steel nozzle on that carbon fiber it jammed again. little further along in the print
didnt really want to make a 2 piece part but i think i can invert and change the pad thicknesses of the sketch so it interlocks together like male and female and i wont have a half printed part but a whole part from 2 pieces.
i think in cura you can flip the print so it prints from bottom up instead of top up also.
its just whether free cad co-operates

 

[markz]

Ouch, thats like $2k worth of labor

It looks like wen I'm indoors this winter, I will have some time to finally unbox my 3D printer.

What drawing programs are you all using? And/or recommend?

im using freecad, its good for quick little items but for bigger designs if a mistake is made you cant just go back and fix it without something breaking. its fixable but its easier to just delete and start over, ive probably deleted 40hrs of design

 

[e-beach]

ive probably deleted 40hrs of design

Yea, I miss my Lulzbot Taz that I had on loan for 3 years, but sadly it went back to the A$$#*!! that loaned it to me. However 3D printing can be a tinkers nightmare, no question. It has got to be a labor-of-love.

 

[goatman]

Ouch, thats like $2k worth of labor

It looks like wen I'm indoors this winter, I will have some time to finally unbox my 3D printer.

What drawing programs are you all using? And/or recommend?

im using freecad, its good for quick little items but for bigger designs if a mistake is made you cant just go back and fix it without something breaking. its fixable but its easier to just delete and start over, ive probably deleted 40hrs of design

everyone pays for an education, one way or another
besides i kinda like doing cad its a good brain challenge
managed to invert the free cad design to build a 2 piece part to salvage the misprints
have to go to Gonzos 3d printed car thread to figure out what glue to use

 

[kauaicycler]

I just found out my library has a makers space with a 3d printer. I just have to pay for the material I use. I've been interested in 3d printing and now that I have access to it who knows what I might make. Game Changer! Another new thing I get to learn. Any advice to get started?

 

[Alan B]

I use OpenSCAD. It is truly free, like FreeCAD. Blender is also free, for those who want to make that type of object. These programs run in your machine, they don't require "the cloud". Fusion360 is partially "cloud" based. It's not really under your control.

AutoDesk keeps changing the licensing rules for Fusion360. It's not really free. The hobby license is not universally available, and they can change the licensing any time. It is tethered via the internet so more than a brief period offline and it will stop working. If you decide to sell something you designed in Fusion 360 you'll have to pay commercial rates to use the software. Licensing terms and costs have changed dramatically for it over the years. It's a software bait and switch.

100% infill is likely to cause jams and wastes tons of filament. Most of the strength of an object is generated from the inner and outer skins. The material inside contributes little beyond a certain point, aside from adding weight, print time and cost.

 

[captain387]

I just found out my library has a makers space with a 3d printer. I just have to pay for the material I use. I've been interested in 3d printing and now that I have access to it who knows what I might make. Game Changer! Another new thing I get to learn. Any advice to get started?

Might want to check on the allowable print time at the library, I can't exactly remember how many hours were allowed at my library but sometime between 1 and 3 hours max.

 

[Alan B]

Limiting print time to an hour, or even three really puts a limit on what you can make.

 

[kauaicycler]

I just found out my library has a makers space with a 3d printer. I just have to pay for the material I use. I've been interested in 3d printing and now that I have access to it who knows what I might make. Game Changer! Another new thing I get to learn. Any advice to get started?

Might want to check on the allowable print time at the library, I can't exactly remember how many hours were allowed at my library but sometime between 1 and 3 hours max.

Thanks! I just stumbled on this yesterday so I'll need to investigate further. It might only be useful as a way to get my feet wet and see if I want to pursue it. Even in the digital age libraries are still useful, maybe more so.

 

[goatman]

didnt adjust for 0.8mm nozzle and got stringing, print time dropped to 12.5hrs for 360grams



GonZo mentioned, Dichloromethane for glue, did a search and found Tensol cement, was hoping to find Dichloromethane as an ingredient in sika flex. need to glue it together now



once bolted together, left side was 64.7mm, right side 64.8mm, i can fix that with a scuff of sandpaper

 

[HrKlev]

I like this thread

I bought a 3d printer to print battery and controller box, but ended up wishing I would have bought it before! Such a useful machine. Learnt enough Fusion 360 through youtube that I can print most of what I need. It is free for personal use, you just need to find the correct link and renew the agreement every year. Its on their site, but they are not making it easy to find!

Best thing Ive printed so far is some gears for my robomover. One of the gearboxes broke last year, and the problem was 4 tiny plastic gears. Price for a new gearbox was $500 something. So I bought a roll of Taulman nylon filament (dont remember exactly wich one right now), a 0.2 nozzle, and found a gear add-in for Fusion 360. After a couple of tries I figured I was close enough. I am slightly surprised that the mover has been working all season. Those parts paid for the 3d printer alone

 

[stan.distortion]

I use OpenSCAD. It is truly free, like FreeCAD. Blender is also free, for those who want to make that type of object. These programs run in your machine, they don't require "the cloud". Fusion360 is partially "cloud" based. It's not really under your control.
....

+1 to OpenSCAD too, probably not for everyone as it's more a programming language than a GUI driven app and the initial learning curve is quite steep but it levels out fast. Well worth taking some time on a few tutorials, if you get on well with it then it makes a GUI feel clunky.

 

[DogDipstick]

You people are so good. I am just gonna lurk some more but wanted to say this. Yall so much better than me at traditional CAD development and design, and I even grew up with the programming being designed. I can do it.. but... its like math. I dont want to. but I can, and I'm ok at it.

So I saw this Formlabs3 printing stuff at this manufacturers convention. Friggin ridiculous right out of science fiction.... the Representative was standing on a 3" square cube of something printed.. That "X" truss lattice of a printed cube.. like 30 grams of material looked like... jumping up and down.

I got to see it all... sintered metal, laser, 3d Printers, taking machined chips and turning them into .... product. Laser welds an inch thick. About 100 manufacturing houses. A million in stamping and a million in drawing:, and $33K Epilogs. Multitoyo was there. Robot arms and stuff. I got to try a 108$ 3d scanner... a CreaForm3D HandyscanPro. It was silly fast.

Lol. So... What this is getting to...

I cannot believe they sell a Formlabs3 for 6,000$ but the Formlabs2 can be had on eBay for 500$? Lol. Thats all I wanna say.

Back to lurking.

 

[goatman]

maybe you can trade your lightning rod for it :lol: :lol: :lol:

bought some more duramic pla plus because i needed some strength for a part, ordered the marble
print temp 223c
bed 60
retraction was 7mm, little stringing going try 8mm
0.8mm nozzle for a quick print





its cheaper than regular pla on amazon

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Okay so I've been sitting waiting for weeks to pull the trigger on a 3D printer purchase. I said to myself 'wait for black friday" but apparently most places have their black friday discounts in effect.

I just can't decide what printer to buy. The ender 3 V2 ($324.00), the Ender 3 max ($333.00), or the BIQU B1 ($305.00) all shipped from within Canada and can arrive in days.

220x220x250, 300x300x340, 235x235x270

What would you buy? and perhaps why?

 

[goatman]

bigger build plate so you dont have to split designs into multiple parts
ender 3 v2 i can print only upto 10s cell holders
ender5 plus i could do 17s cell holders in one print and it has auto levelling

right now im printing all sorts of parts using 0.2mm,0.4mm,0.5mm,0.6mm and 0.8mm nozzles, auto leveling would be nice but its not a big deal on the small bed plate but i heard larger plates are a bit of a pain to do

 

[nicobie]

I think I'd still start with the ender3 v2. You can get them from Banggood in about a week for <260 usd. Add an all metal hotend and a steel nozzle and you'll be good to print carbon fiber/nylon parts. Update the firmware to Myers. It's free and well worth the trouble.

Down the road if you think you'll need a bigger build plate get an Ender Extender kit. They have 300*300 and 400*400 for ~$160.

I just got done adding x and y axis linear guides to mine. Totally unnecessary, but fun. I'm getting beautiful prints from it.

 

[Alan B]

If you want to spend your time fixing, upgrading and modifying your machine (or you just cannot afford more) buy a low end machine.

If you want to use your machine the way it came out of the box (rather than work on it), have a machine that runs for thousands and thousands of prints with minimal problems and have lots of support from the manufacturer and huge user community get a Prusa.

I would buy the Prusa MK3S+ due to the quality of machine and support. My older Prusa MK3 just keeps on going with minimal trouble. Prusa has improved it many times since I got it, most improvements have been simple firmware or software downloads. They also have hardware upgrades but I haven't found them necessary. But it is excellent to be able to upgrade rather than having to buy a new model, and it is still supported by the manufacturer over the long term rather than being dropped after a few years.

Either way, have fun and enjoy! The 3d printer is the best tool I have ever purchased.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

thank you people for the feedback.

I pulled the trigger on the biggest build area I could afford right now... the Ender 3 max for 269 USD all in. I guess already having a plan to print that is about 9" in diameter made the choice easier.

As far as better brands I'd have loved to be able to buy a better product from the start, but I need to prove to my spouse that 3D printers are worth the investment as a real tool.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

If you want to spend your time fixing, upgrading and modifying your machine (or you just cannot afford more) buy a low end machine.

My brother and I bought a 13" x 37" lathe as an upgrade from our previous literal antique lathe that was originally manually powered thru a pedal crank.

I replaced the tool post with a modern quick change tool post. I made a ER40 collect chuck for it. My brother made a 5C collet chuck for it. I made a indexing attachment for the back end of the spindle. My brother made a tool post grinder for it.

We're about ready to convert it to a 3 phase motor with variable frequency drive which ic longer overdue. I want to be able to turn at really low rpms... as well as higher than the current max of 1200 rpm. We're just awaiting the arrival of the new motor.

Next plan is to convert to an electronic lead screw and cross slide so we can add simple numerical control for threading, radius turning and tapers.

I like owning machine tools to improve them, since there is no better way for me to learn how to use them. My original desire was to build an entire 3D printer but I just dont have the space or time right now.

 

[nicobie]

I like owning machine tools to improve them, since there is no better way for me to learn how to use them. My original desire was to build an entire 3D printer but I just dont have the space or time right now.

That's how I look at it too.

I'm thinking hard about building a Voron 3d printer but am having trouble justifying the $1000 when my heavily modded Ender will do most everything a Voron will do. It will just take longer to print and won't be able to print quite as big. I don't think the Voron will do a better job than my Ender.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I'm thinking hard about building a Voron 3d printer but am having trouble justifying the $1000 when my heavily modded Ender will do most everything a Voron will do. It will just take longer to print and won't be able to print quite as big. I don't think the Voron will do a better job than my Ender.

2021-11-08 12_46_47-Photo - Google Photos.png

2021-11-08 12_48_49-Photo - Google Photos.png

I have been thinking for a long time about building the largest Voron 2 model and optimizing it to print fiber reinforced nylon among other things. That just got a lot closer I think. Problem is a cnc router plasma cutter is also high on my list of needs.

 

[goatman]

heavily modified

only thing youre missing is a camera :lol:

is that the upgraded firmware on the display

 

[nicobie]

heavily modified

only thing youre missing is a camera :lol:

is that the upgraded firmware on the display

Yes it is. The screen is showing the leveling mesh. I haven't gotten around to re-tramming the bed since adding a bed insulating pad.

Don't need a camera, but might add a raspberry pi so I can try out Klipper.

Jyers with a BL touch is the cat's meow.