3D Printing

[Captainant 28634]

38 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Mine was Charles Perkins.  Wood was head of engineering graphics back then, which assumed a larger role as CAD came into play.

In our pre-project class, we had to use NASTRAN on a VAX and you had to enter the material data in a "comma matrix" form for each element of the structure.  It was horribad just from a data entry/error standpoint.  You'd submit your model to the processor in a batch-processing mode and then watch it complete or error out.  Lotsa "fuuuuuuucks" and "yessss" while watching that.

It's funny how the same patterns of computing can emerge across different disciplines. There's a lot of processes like model training or large deployments that are still "submit and sit" where there's not much for you to do, but it can be helpful to be on hand to terminate early or catch a late error due to some deep buried parameters 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

6 hours ago, Captainant said:

$600 to be able to print CF nylon with a heated chamber is pretty hard to beat. One thing to consider is that Nylon, ABS, and a few other materials off gas VOC's when heated for printing, so be sure to have excellent ventilation or not set it up where people tend to be. 

I found a pretty thorough review of that printer, and it looks like it'll be a solid prototyping machine. 

https://www.3dsourced.com/3d-printer-reviews/qidi-tech-x-plus-3-review/

Do you have much experience with FDM 3D printing?

None. Probably going to try starting out with some Christmas ornaments and hot wheels ramps and stuff. 

6 hours ago, Captainant said:

$600 to be able to print CF nylon with a heated chamber is pretty hard to beat. One thing to consider is that Nylon, ABS, and a few other materials off gas VOC's when heated for printing, so be sure to have excellent ventilation or not set it up where people tend to be. 

I found a pretty thorough review of that printer, and it looks like it'll be a solid prototyping machine. 

https://www.3dsourced.com/3d-printer-reviews/qidi-tech-x-plus-3-review/

Do you have much experience with FDM 3D printing?

None. Probably going to try starting out with some Christmas ornaments and hot wheels ramps and stuff. 

[Zone Read 300]

On 10/30/2024 at 3:26 AM, 52-80 said:

thats dope shit.  where are you getting the models from?  ive got orange filament right now, and been printing a ton of halloween related decorations and accessories

Most of these were kind of generic ones off of thingiverse or printables, but I made a lot of modifications.  Mostly adding the colors. Painting the stadium was a bitch.  Putting in the "1" in the tower was also pretty time consuming.  I think I remember paying for the DKR original file on some website that sold STLs, think it was like 3 bucks. I can see if I still have the files of the finished models if you want.

[Captainant 28634]

2 minutes ago, Zone Read said:

Most of these were kind of generic ones off of thingiverse or printables, but I made a lot of modifications.  Mostly adding the colors. Painting the stadium was a bitch.  Putting in the "1" in the tower was also pretty time consuming.  I think I remember paying for the DKR original file on some website that sold STLs, think it was like 3 bucks. I can see if I still have the files of the finished models if you want.

I'll be damned, I should check out Cults3D more often! Added to cart

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/architecture/darrell-k-royal-texas-stadium

If you have the filament painted version handy that would be allsome to have

[Zone Read 300]

3 minutes ago, Captainant said:

I'll be damned, I should check out Cults3D more often! Added to cart

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/architecture/darrell-k-royal-texas-stadium

If you have the filament painted version handy that would be allsome to have

Yep, that's the one I got.  3 bucks, just like I remembered.  I'll see if I can dig up the file. 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

 

 

This thing is bigger than I had pictured in my head. 

 

[Zone Read 300]

On 11/5/2024 at 8:16 PM, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

 

 

This thing is bigger than I had pictured in my head. 

 

That's a beast.  I've seen some really good reviews on this model.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

Did my first print of something that wasn't preloaded on the printer last night. Took me a bit because the flash drive that came with it was corrupted and wouldn't even format. Anyhow,  I eventually found another one and was able to download the firmware updates and stuff and figure out how to use the slicer to print this guy. The first time I tried to print it without supports because I didn't think about the hands or back of the helmet hanging down. Stopped it and resliced it and got a pretty decent print. Gonna have to figure out how to fine tube the settings, but so far it has been pretty much plug and play. 

[Da Fino 2822]

So what’s the melting point of the finished product? Could you use this for lost wax casting?

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

Look up lost PLA casting. 

[Captainant 28634]

2 hours ago, Da Fino said:

So what’s the melting point of the finished product? Could you use this for lost wax casting?

Oh man, there's a BUNCH of YouTube videos on this. Everything from PLA to some tailor-blended filaments for burn-out. But yeah aluminum, copper, and bronze all play really nicely with the process

 

The really crazy stuff is the SLA (stereolithography) printers that get micron layer heights. 

3 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Gonna have to figure out how to fine tube the settings, but so far it has been pretty much plug and play. 

I really recommend OrcaSlicer for its built in tuning prints that are really helpful for building a filament profile. Covers everything from temperature towers, to pressure advance, to max flow rate calibrations. That's definitely more nitty gritty, but it's nice for tuning 

Edited November 9 by Captainant

[Da Fino 2822]

15 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Oh man, there's a BUNCH of YouTube videos on this. Everything from PLA to some tailor-blended filaments for burn-out. But yeah aluminum, copper, and bronze all play really nicely with the process

This could be a huge opportunity for someone. I’m involved in a niche hobby that relies on castings. And the suppliers and people that know how to do it are all retiring or passing on.  

[Captainant 28634]

Just now, Da Fino said:

This could be a huge opportunity for someone. I’m involved in a niche hobby that relies on castings. And the suppliers and people that know how to do it are all retiring or passing on.  

If you're in the Houston area I'd be happy to run some prints for you, or chat with you on how to get it set up yourself. Bambu's A1 is awesome at $250, and has a filament switcher bundle option for $400 if you need multicolor or multi filament

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

58 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Oh man, there's a BUNCH of YouTube videos on this. Everything from PLA to some tailor-blended filaments for burn-out. But yeah aluminum, copper, and bronze all play really nicely with the process

 

The really crazy stuff is the SLA (stereolithography) printers that get micron layer heights. 

I really recommend OrcaSlicer for its built in tuning prints that are really helpful for building a filament profile. Covers everything from temperature towers, to pressure advance, to max flow rate calibrations. That's definitely more nitty gritty, but it's nice for tuning 

I figure I'll mess around with the native software enough to kinda get a feel for things and then venture out to the other stuff once I've got an idea of what I'm doing. 

[Captainant 28634]

8 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

I figure I'll mess around with the native software enough to kinda get a feel for things and then venture out to the other stuff once I've got an idea of what I'm doing. 

Check out some of the advanced settings in your slicer - one that Orca and Bambu slicer have that I LOVE is variable layer heights. So for each model, it will dynamically adjust layer height to best suit the geometry. If it's a curve, it gets really thin layers - straight walls get thicker layers. It's shaved nearly an hour off of prints in some cases for me, without negatively impacting quality or strength 

Edited November 9 by Captainant

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

ftFresh off the printer. 

 

[Captainant 28634]

Prusa just announced their CoreXY printer, and in true fashion, are offering an upgrade path for Mk4S owners. Temp controlled chamber is a nice feature

 

[Captainant 28634]

Nice little home repair project - while visiting my in laws for Christmas I noticed a bracket broke in their fridge that held a drawer's front onto the glass shelf, and they had it bodged with some binder clips. Luckily they still had the broken piece so I took a reference picture and some critical measurements and CAD'ed up a new one in Fusion.

I did have to cut the part in half to fit it in my printer, but that won't affect function one bit

EDIT: lmao had bed ahesion issues with the 1/2 length part. So instead I chopped it up into 1/8th length peices and giving it another rip. Faster print time too, so that's nice

Edited yesterday at 03:42 PM by Captainant

[B00M 6744]

Cool thread. I too remember Dr Wood. When I went through, his was a SolidWorks course with a bit of hand drawing/drafting. We had access to an SLS printer that made damn decent parts. 

I’ve got an ender3 pro and a 5 plus. The 3 is upgraded to do CF nylon but I’m a bit demotivated by the time & temperature required to dehydrate the shit. It feels pretty dangerous to leave unattended. Even once it’s dry, you gotta keep drying it while printing. And your ventilation setup needs to be good. Meanwhile PLA+ just steady fucks with basic drying and ventilation. 

Anyway, these are foam blasters made from PLA+... I think the pistol is a zinc v1 that shoots about 150 fps. The rifle is a Skewer that shoots about 200 fps. The build kits for these were both around $30-$50. 

Edited Thursday at 11:23 PM by B00M

[B00M 6744]

Next printer will almost certainly be a multi filament Bambu. For better or worse, China is completely dominating the FDM consumer market. 

[Captainant 28634]

7 minutes ago, B00M said:

Next printer will almost certainly be a multi filament Bambu. For better or worse, China is completely dominating the FDM consumer market. 

The A1 mini with AMS is $310 through Jan 4. I just picked up a super tack build plate and they have some good sales rn

[Hamttx 438]

I don’t know anything about this tech. Is there a commercial possibility for these machines? Or are they only intended for the hobbyist?

[TwiceHorn 32159]

1 hour ago, Hamttx said:

I don’t know anything about this tech. Is there a commercial possibility for these machines? Or are they only intended for the hobbyist?

They're in fairly massive use in industry for prototyping parts and have been for a decade or more.  A few companies make small runs of production parts using them, as well.

[Hamttx 438]

4 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

They're in fairly massive use in industry for prototyping parts and have been for a decade or more.  A few companies make small runs of production parts using them, as well.

What’s the initial investment to purchase everything needed to print something in the 4”x5” size? Not looking for specifics, just a general idea what type of financial commitment it takes to produce small items. Over/inder $5k

[TwiceHorn 32159]

5 minutes ago, Hamttx said:

What’s the initial investment to purchase everything needed to print something in the 4”x5” size? Not looking for specifics, just a general idea what type of financial commitment it takes to produce small items. Over/inder $5k

Significantly under.  The guys above can fill you in on the latest and greatest for home use.

[Hamttx 438]

Just now, TwiceHorn said:

Significantly under.  The guys above can fill you in on the latest and greatest for home use.

Thanks! 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5006]

Qidi X-plus3 runs about $500 and is pretty much plug and play with the capability to print carbon fiber reenforced nylon. 1kg of PLA runs about $20-30. The more engineering grade materials will run twice that or more, and many of them will need to be dried in a dehydrator before and possibly during printing. But you can print out all the parts you need to roll your own stuff for things like that if you can force heating elements and other electronic bits. 

[Captainant 28634]

14 hours ago, Hamttx said:

I don’t know anything about this tech. Is there a commercial possibility for these machines? Or are they only intended for the hobbyist?

10 years ago it was really just hobbyists, but there's all sorts of businesses popping up as 3D print farms for hire. They get a bunch of business for creating custom tooling jigs, short run products, and all sorts of etsy shit. And there's a ton of real practical engineering-grade peices that are built using FDM 3D printing, not to mention that basically every tooth implant is SLA 3D printed now because of the speed, low cost, and minimal post processing required.

13 hours ago, Hamttx said:

What’s the initial investment to purchase everything needed to print something in the 4”x5” size? Not looking for specifics, just a general idea what type of financial commitment it takes to produce small items. Over/inder $5k

Literally Bambu's A1 mini is the sweet spot for this with a 180mm^3 (7 in^3) build volume. You can get just the printer for $200, or the combo with the 4 filament switcher for multi material printing for $350. I've got a high end Bambu printer for almost a couple years now, and it's been more of an appliance than a tool. I made model or get file, and printer makes it. Simple as. The A1 printers are every bit as fast as the high end printers, they just don't have an enclosure so they aren't really suited to printing engineering materials. But it'll print PLA, PETG, TPU, and probably even ASA with a $20 tent enclosure.

Edited yesterday at 03:50 PM by Captainant

[TwiceHorn 32159]

9 minutes ago, Captainant said:

10 years ago it was really just hobbyists, but there's all sorts of businesses popping up as 3D print farms for hire. They get a bunch of business for creating custom tooling jigs, short run products, and all sorts of etsy shit. And there's a ton of real practical engineering-grade peices that are built using FDM 3D printing, not to mention that basically every tooth implant is SLA 3D printed now because of the speed, low cost, and minimal post processing required.

Literally Bambu's A1 mini is the sweet spot for this with a 180mm^3 (7 in^3) build volume. You can get just the printer for $200, or the combo with the 4 filament switcher for multi material printing for $350. I've got a high end Bambu printer for almost a couple years now, and it's been more of an appliance than a tool. I made model or get file, and printer makes it. Simple as. The A1 printers are every bit as fast as the high end printers, they just don't have an enclosure so they aren't really suited to printing engineering materials. But it'll print PLA, PETG, TPU, and probably even ASA with a $20 tent enclosure.

What's the issue with "engineering materials"? Outgassing?

It seems that using filaments is the enabling basic technology.  That's a pretty good idea.  As I have mentioned, I did some patent work in this area probably 25 years ago and the state of the art was attempting to form planar layers.  I wonder who came up with the filament thing?

Edited yesterday at 04:00 PM by TwiceHorn

[Captainant 28634]

6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

What's the issue with "engineering materials"? Outgassing?

The A1 mini's heat bed doesn't get hot enough so ABS and Nylon just warp right off the build plate, plus that material usually needs a heated enclosure AND a HOT heated bed, like 85 or 90C. The A1 mini's max build plate temp is 80C, and in practice it's not consistent past 70C.

The engineering materials also tend to be a little rougher on internal parts, so something like the X1 with its hardened steel gears and filament advance system are preferred. Carbon fiber or glass reinforced materials are incredibly tough - like production strength swing arms on cars tough - but they're hell on not hardened parts. Not to say you couldn't just upgrade your own printer to handle it, but honestly I'd rather just get the warranty on the equipment out of the box. 

Edited yesterday at 04:04 PM by Captainant

[Captainant 28634]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

It seems that using filaments is the enabling basic technology.  That's a pretty good idea.  As I have mentioned, I did some patent work in this area probably 25 years ago and the state of the art was attempting to form planar layers.  I wonder who came up with the filament thing?

Eh, the filament is just a convenient way to get a consistent stream of material to deposit. The real juice is in the print head and axis that you're printing on

 

[B00M 6744]

6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

What's the issue with "engineering materials"? Outgassing?

It seems that using filaments is the enabling basic technology.  That's a pretty good idea.  As I have mentioned, I did some patent work in this area probably 25 years ago and the state of the art was attempting to form planar layers.  I wonder who came up with the filament thing?

dude these things aren’t a huge investment. Buy a good one that’s popular so all your questions will already be answered. Then use it to build functional shit. There are tons of amazing, free designs out there.

Edited 18 hours ago by B00M