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Things I would like to 3D print

jmtd.net

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Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#41

I love 3d printing, but I really desire to have the ability to print metals. As a simple dij solution not feasible at this point. I really wish to print replacement parts for my old exotic cars. Bearings, wishbones etc

Would 3d printing work there? Isn't there a whole bunch of crystallization hoo-ha around metals and how they are made to make sure they can handle high stresses? e.g. knives being folded many times; rotor blades in jet engines grown from a single piece.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or get a small desktop machine to do it for you :) I've had a 'D.I.WirePro' from Pensa Labs on my wishlist for a wee while now... https://www.pensalabs.com/

I would hope that only people who really need such a machine would get one, rather than just another tech toy that will end up being a net contribution to waste, plastic waste, and e-waste. The ethos I was tuning into with my parent comment was more stuff like this: https://www.amazon.com/Home-Made-Contemporary-Russian-Folk-A...

If you mean me, I run a shop with various machines that produce things as a business.

Irrespective of who you mean, you should perhaps keep your sanctimony closer to your chest, it grates here.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#43
post #19

FYI a 3D printer is super affordable nowadays. Heres a quick guide for home usage: FDM printers: They use a spool of plastic as filament which is heated and layed down layer by layer in a small string, are the cheapest, safest, have a large print volume. On the downside they often break down (e.g. the filament gets jammed) and have a coarse resolution (the smallest details are around 0.1mm). Most popular ones are the…

https://www.reddit.com/r/PrintedMinis/ Woah. That's way better that I would've expected.

DLP resin printers are making it down to consumer pricing, and the LCD based printers are now getting 8k screens - after priming and painting, you'll have a hard time distinguishing from a miniature printed with these from one cast.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hope that only people who really need such a machine would get one, rather than just another tech toy that will end up being a net contribution to waste, plastic waste, and e-waste. The ethos I was tuning into with my parent comment was more stuff like this: https://www.amazon.com/Home-Made-Contemporary-Russian-Folk-A...

If you mean me, I run a shop with various machines that produce things as a business. Irrespective of who you mean, you should perhaps keep your sanctimony closer to your chest, it grates here.

detritus:

> If you mean me, I run a shop with various machines that produce things as a business.

> Irrespective of who you mean, you should perhaps keep your sanctimony closer to your chest, it grates here.

I meant anyone. There's no need to attack. The ancestor comment wanted to 3d print a bottle drying stick, someone replied and said just make it out of wire, and I endorsed that idea, and clarified by saying that a machine is a waste when your needs are simple. Identifying use cases where specialized machines are not appropriate is worthy of discussion. I really meant bending wire hangers and pointed out that it would be bad to get a machine when literally bending wire hangers would work.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#45
post #5

I got a 3D printer earlier this year for no other reason that it was on sale. I cannot even begin to describe how much fun I've been having with it. Funny enough, I've had to print some of the things on the list. I have a pile of ~10 keyboard legs right next to me on the shelf, they often take a hit when I'm angry at something.

Years ago I owned and worked with tons of different FDM printers. They were always needing a height calibration or nozzle unclogging or something else. Does yours seem to work reliably? Honestly I got to the point where I just thought FDM would never be a reliable tech but I would love it if I was wrong. If yours is reliable, can you tell me what brand it is?

My bed slingers (Ender 3 style) have been fairly reliable. Keys there are making the PTFE reliably locked to the inside of the nozzle*1, stronger springs well pre-loaded, careful bed tramming, spring steel print sheets, and doing a long retraction at the end of a print (and corresponding longer prime line and skirt around the print).

My monoprice clone of the flash forge creator pro runs for many months like a laser printer. I can send a print job to it from upstairs and pick up the print when it’s done. That holy grail came from using a glass print bed, ABS slurry, enclosure, and a dial indicator to really nail the bed tramming.

I’ve since added auto-bed-leveling probes on the bed slingers and they reduce the fiddling significantly. I may add it on the monoprice just for consistency/convenience but it doesn’t seem to need it as much.

1 - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7tCxO17XZtw

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#46

I love 3d printing, but I really desire to have the ability to print metals. As a simple dij solution not feasible at this point. I really wish to print replacement parts for my old exotic cars. Bearings, wishbones etc

Would 3d printing work there? Isn't there a whole bunch of crystallization hoo-ha around metals and how they are made to make sure they can handle high stresses? e.g. knives being folded many times; rotor blades in jet engines grown from a single piece.

Exactly. 3D printing makes an approximation of the 3D space occupied by a given part, and nothing more. For some parts this is sufficient, for most it is not.

There is a whole history of materials science and production techniques to get to the 'stuff' we have today, 3D printing is rather 1 dimensional in comparison.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#47
Funny story.

I bought a printer for my kids this year. An Anycubic Mega Zero with a magnetic base.

It stays pretty calibrated but I have struggled with base adhesion once a few prints have been through it. IPA and abrasives have not fixed it...maybe I will get around to some other things...there have been a few random failures, but not many.

We printed a few novelties items that came out OK. The real learning curve is about the options in the slicer, the trade off between printing time and accuracy etc.

At some stage my kids printed some toy guns. Apparently one of those toys looked real to the phone engineer, the only person who had been in my house over lockdown. Later there was a knock on my door whereupon 4 police officers arrested me and began to search my house for 'section 1 prohibited firearms'. Just as officer 1 finished telling me this, the plastic gun was found. Officer 1 proceeded to give me a ticking off about the dangers of realistic models...while officers 2-4 marvelled at the 3d printer, much to the annoyance of officer 1. Officer 2 asked me if I had tried realistic finishing like with rub n buff, and got chatting about Adam Savage. I had to get a steam punk top hat I made with foam to demonstrate rub n buff to the others. This annoyed Officer 1 enough that he decided it was time to go! I am not quite sure whether I find the episode funny or not. It was pretty scary to begin with.

I actually haven't found anything I wanted to print for a while. I make a lot of things but 3d printing is not always the best tool for the job.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#48
post #19

FYI a 3D printer is super affordable nowadays. Heres a quick guide for home usage: FDM printers: They use a spool of plastic as filament which is heated and layed down layer by layer in a small string, are the cheapest, safest, have a large print volume. On the downside they often break down (e.g. the filament gets jammed) and have a coarse resolution (the smallest details are around 0.1mm). Most popular ones are the…

> FYI a 3D printer is super affordable nowadays This seriously cannot be understated enough. When I was in my final year of high school (2012) my shop teacher was the first person in the entire school board to get a 3D printer, one of the cheapest machines on the market (I can't remember the brand, or the name, only the number at the bottom of the invoice - $11,374.38). He got the machine in February and tasked me to…

>When I bought an Ender 3 V2 around November

This is 100% my recommendation for a first time 3D printer. I bought a wanhou i3 about 4 years ago and it was endless frustration. The Ender 2 V2 has been a completely different experience. I have probably 200 hrs of prints through it and just a handful of relatively minor issues.

I did have trouble with Octoprint however. I stopped tinkering pretty quickly but IIRC there is some limitation to how the communication protocol works with the board and it caused me to miss steps here and there and generally resulted in poor prints. If that has been resolved would love to hear about it.

Re: Things I would like to 3D print

#49
My advice for people contemplating 3D printing is similar to software dev: if you can buy exactly what you want off the shelf, you should do that. If it has to be custom, consider what parts could come off the shelf or if it all has to be custom.

I’ve printed many usable and useful things around the house and with the kids. It’s been incredibly fun and even educational, but I generally don’t do it for things that you can pretty easily buy.

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