I found a reddit post of someone using that exact printer with printing minis and i think I'd be happy with it. The 20 micron price jump is a little much for my first one and what we're wanting to do.
Thanks for the response!
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I found a reddit post of someone using that exact printer with printing minis and i think I'd be happy with it. The 20 micron price jump is a little much for my first one and what we're wanting to do.
Thanks for the response!
Just printed the last set of ABS+ parts for my Voron upgrade. Somehow I set the temperature to 220F which I use for PLA+. The parts printed but have no layer strength at all. They fall apart if you look at them funny. Reprinting at 240F.
Always double check your temps if you switch material often!
Always double check your temps if you switch material often!
Does anyone have a 3d scanner? I have a hot toys Iron Man figure that has a piece missing on one of its arms, so I was thinking about 3d scanning the piece from the other arm, reverting it and then 3d printing it.
Is it feasible?
Is it feasible?
Photogrammetry with just your phone camera - From Prusa.
Have a look at this article and video from Prusa they just put out a day or so ago. I don't know how well it will work for a small part like the arm on the figurine but if you can remove it and mount it on a cocktail stick then that may work. There's a bit of tidying up required so it may be worth looking on Sketchfab or Thingiverse for a "homage" figure and see if any bits can be adapted.
So far my Ender-2 has been fantastic and simple to use. I need to tighten a belt and relevel the bed but i'm impressed with my experiments so far and excited to get some knowledge to make my prints better still as there's room for improvement. So far i've printed a calibration cube, Walter the Wobot, Bacchante Couchee Petit Palais Paris and a Queen from the Lewis Chess set. The British Museum, amongst others, have released scanned models of many artiacts which is ace but i need to work out how to add more detail to the objects from the textures as the underlying models are quite simple when printed.
Been on hiatus for printing for a bit because I ran out of filament. Picked up some 'silky' pink and green for the kids and a giant roll of black for myself and I'm not even sure yet what I plan on making. Might just mess around with a chess set or something small and fun. Also planning on printing out some school aids which should be fun.
Are there any good intro to casting kits?
Looking for something that lets me do a couple casts, includes all or almost all of what I need to create a cast from a 3d print, and is priced decently. Good instructions would be a plus.
Looking for something that lets me do a couple casts, includes all or almost all of what I need to create a cast from a 3d print, and is priced decently. Good instructions would be a plus.
How big are we talking? If it's for small parts then Blue Stuff is an easy recommend. It's idiot-proof.
Would use to cast from my 3d printer, so max size 200mmx200mmx180mm.
I'll check out that recommendation, thanks!
EDIT: Very cool, looks perfect for miniatures or replacement parts.
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Oh cool, I was looking for that thread.
I have a cr10mini and it's great, although you have to keep your expectations in check going in. I was a bit taken aback by the number of problems I had after the first few prints. With time I eventually got to the point where I'm satisfied but I still have intermittent under extrusion. I think my pla is not that regular. There are so many variables, it's difficult and time consuming, but still, so satisfying when it works :)
I have a cr10mini and it's great, although you have to keep your expectations in check going in. I was a bit taken aback by the number of problems I had after the first few prints. With time I eventually got to the point where I'm satisfied but I still have intermittent under extrusion. I think my pla is not that regular. There are so many variables, it's difficult and time consuming, but still, so satisfying when it works :)
You can also 3D print molds. You 3D print negatives of the molds you want and pour silicone into them, then cast from those.
A lot of it, yes.
A lot of it, yes.
http://reprap.org
Obviously you have to toss in a couple other things (motors, control board) but the majority of it can be 3D printed, yes.
I have a Makerbot 5th gen at work but after a year, I can't get the damn thing to print correctly. I replaced the nozzle and cleaned the extruder but it won't print well after the base and maybe 1/4 inch of the job. I think the whole extruder needs replacing.
Modular portal companion cube at 150% scale
Ran out of pink so have some yellow and green hearts
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:173570
Ran out of pink so have some yellow and green hearts
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:173570
Oh hey, I can actually comment on this! I've been following this thread for a while now in case I could add something substantive, since I took additive manufacturing as part of my grad school program and know a thing or two about 3D printing.
So the first thing to note is-- this is, indeed, pretty cool. Print qualities have improved to the point that you can reliably expect a print to come out not only decent, but watertight enough for investment processes. Didn't use to be that way. I will point out, though. There's better things than PLA for investment casting in the 3D Printing world. So for one-- you may notice in the burnout phase, he had to take his sweet time to remove as many carbon deposits as possible, and he got an unusable casting out of it because of that. You need to be very careful in your selection of PLA for investment casting-- different additives will modify its qualities on burnout and may make it take longer to perform the operation. To my knowledge, as long as you're using PLA you don't have to worry about it not burning out, but still, something to keep in mind. Also worth noting that he didn't use his support structures as sprues for his device-- likely because of their porous nature. Someone probably makes a PLA filament designed to be specifically super casting friendly but I have no idea which it is.
If anybody's looking at 3D printing as a tool specifically for investment casting, however, I would be remiss not to mention the fact that FDM printers are probably not your best choice. FDM printers are the ones that use filament. Instead, you're going to want to use an SLA or DLP printer for that. I saw a little bit of talk about them towards the beginning of the thread, but not much. There are specific castable resin blends that have been designed for investment casting, and they've been around for years. The reason they're better, typically, is because you get much higher resolution on them than you do with regular 3D printers, particularly with the SLA ones where you don't get pixel artifacts from your projections. The supports, also, can be used as sprues much more readily, though you might still have to fuck with your model or with your slicer. You can do some buckwild shit with SLA printers and casting. Though I should point out, since I haven't seen it mentioned here before-- the resin for resin 3D printers is cancer juice. I'm talking extremely toxic. Learn how to use it safely if you get one because that shit is no joke. Avoid skin contact with the resin at all costs until it is completely cured. Don't touch it without gloves when it comes out of the printer, don't touch it without gloves when it comes out of the solvent bath, don't put your hand in the solvent bath without gloves ever, don't pour the solvent bath down the sink-- make sure you've got the right KIND of gloves to handle this stuff, and only use a pair once. Wait until it's cured completely before handling it with bare skin, that's when it's safe. Don't drink out of anything you print in this method, either.
Lastly, I'd like to share another technique you can use to get metal parts with 3D printing that can work with FDM printers. There's metal-rich filaments out there that are designed to be put in an oven to burn out and sinter-- Filamet brand filament in particular makes their stuff around this principle. They've got bronze, copper, and stainless steel. The way it works is you've got a PLA matrix with 85% metal content. You have a burnout phase, then you raise the temperature until the part sinters together. This means that you're going to need a refractory to use as a support material in the kiln, as well as a kiln with reasonably high temperature, but if you get the timing right you can apparently get some good shit going. For making really structural parts, you'd probably want to find someone that does HIP, or Hot Isostatic Pressing, so in the long run the casting method would be more cost-effective for functional pieces, but the sintering method would probably be more convenient for metal pieces that are just for show. If you want to screw around with a more exotic metal selection, you could try GMASS filament that has tungsten in it, but the density they have tells me there's a lot more PLA in there than there is tungsten, and you kinda have to get really, really hot to sinter tungsten. So like... good fucking luck. It's also staggeringly brittle for what it is without sintering, but it has a metal-like weight to it and polishes up nice too, just like these other metal-rich filaments.
So yeah. Glad I could finally contribute to this thread! I can't really afford a printer right now so the best I can do is give advice now that I'm away from our campus' printers. So... I guess I'll be lurking around to see more of those.
That's all really reallly helpful, thanks!
There appear to be multiple filaments specifically designed for lost casting. A quick google for wax casting filament shows quite a few.
Thanks for the warning on SLA resin. I'm going to stick with FDM as that's what I have. I'm wondering if smoothing a model before moulding would help (e.g. acetone smoothing for ABS), but I don't really want to burn ABS in my yard).
On a different note, a friend of mine just got a engineering job at Desktop Metal. Wonder if I could send him a few parts to print for me.
There appear to be multiple filaments specifically designed for lost casting. A quick google for wax casting filament shows quite a few.
Thanks for the warning on SLA resin. I'm going to stick with FDM as that's what I have. I'm wondering if smoothing a model before moulding would help (e.g. acetone smoothing for ABS), but I don't really want to burn ABS in my yard).
On a different note, a friend of mine just got a engineering job at Desktop Metal. Wonder if I could send him a few parts to print for me.
Casting wax is probably even more preferable to work with than PLA, so I'd go with that if you're gonna go the FDM route. How to smooth that, though. Pass with a heat gun with a high airflow setting? Might take some experimentation to figure out the parameters which will just smooth the part without deforming it.
Why would you have to burn ABS in your yard? PLA can be smoothed as well. Of course, materials are a tad harder to come by-- namely, PLA is smoothed (rather effectively, in fact) with chloroform, of all things, rather than acetone. I dunno whether you'd want to vapor-bath that or gently mist the part, though, so you'd need to experiment. Would drive up the cost somewhat, but that's... that's what's needed, I guess, if you wanna be just like the ocean under the moon.
Word of warning about your friend-- 3D printing places can either be real, real chill about letting people make metal parts, or they'll fire people for misusing the printers. So make sure your friend checks to see which one of those two he works at before he does anything. Also, you should know that sintered parts, while not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, will not be quite as strong as solid machined parts. Also, your friend will likely have to alter your part to make sure that it's got the right dimensions after sintering, so that could be an involved job-- something that is going to make him more likely to cooperate is if you ask him what kind of adjustments you should make to your model to get it to sinter at the right dimensions. If you can engage in some after-furnace machining, that will likely be the best option for you, depending on what it is you're planning to do.
This is the best thread I could find to ask hope I'm in the right place. I'm having something 3D printed in PLA plastic and I'll need to put in some screws in it. Rather than attempt to inaccurately put in screw holes on the model I figure I would just tap in the screws afterwards.
Question is, is this safe? Will it destroy the plastic? Are there any potential problems I'm not seeing with this? Thanks
Question is, is this safe? Will it destroy the plastic? Are there any potential problems I'm not seeing with this? Thanks
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Tapping the screws is fine but you should still add holes to the 3d model. I usually make my hole diameter around 60-80% the size of the screw.
I've actually change my mind I think I'm going to go with hot glue the print ended up being thinner and flimsier than I expected. Thanks for the information though!
I've come to the point where I think I am ready to upgrade from my Printrbot Play to another machine. It's a good starter machine but I would like a heated bed. Are there any recommendations in the $500-$600 range?
Same. I wonder if 200 will get me a good one, or should I hold off for the technology to advance a little further before spending money on it.
I did end up picking up a $200 one and I got a lot of fun and use out of it... but I don't use it much anymore. Besides making toys, it's hard to do anything serious with any that don't have a heated bed.
I thought about kind of BSing a heated bed onto mine, but I can't find a good way to fandangle it and even less to to have it temperature controlled. It's really best to save up a little more and get a $300 one with a heated bed unless you're okay with making slightly lopsided toys.
Not gonna lie, this has me hella tempted to jump on this train.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2525047
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2525047
So question for all the 3D Printer folks. I ordered some really great D-pad addons for my switch using resin, and they're basically smooth.
Is there any way to get actual smooth products on a consumer grade printer right now? Or will they always require sanding or industrial grade stuff to get that?
Is there any way to get actual smooth products on a consumer grade printer right now? Or will they always require sanding or industrial grade stuff to get that?
Smooth prints right off of a printer? Not really. There are definitely a variety of DIY and commercial products that can help you smooth prints afterwards however.
For example:
http://www.polymaker.com/shop/polysmoothpolysher/
https://www.matterhackers.com/news/how-to-smooth-and-finish-your-pla-prints
https://www.smooth-on.com/product-line/xtc-3d/
Also SLA printers result in smoother prints
For example:
http://www.polymaker.com/shop/polysmoothpolysher/
https://www.matterhackers.com/news/how-to-smooth-and-finish-your-pla-prints
https://www.smooth-on.com/product-line/xtc-3d/
Also SLA printers result in smoother prints
I've been dealing with this kinda thing too as I'm new to 3d printing. It seems to depend on your filament. I use PLA and have heard adding some acetone to its surface helps. I've also heard that using XTC-3D is helpful. Otherwise, I've heard that spraying the print with automotive high build primer helps fill in the grooves of the print layers, which can then be sanded to smooth it out. I've done the latter (primer + sanding) and it works, but it's not easy and in my very limited experience it's messy and requires a LOT of spray primer and a LOT of sanding. I'm printing at 0.2 mm layer height btw.
the anycubic photon is a consumer priced resin printer that people have great results with
If you print in ABS you can then use acetone (vapor) to smooth the prints. Can work really well. I've dipped prints in acetone liquid for a quick test. There's YouTube videos on how to do it safely.
Acetone nail polish remover (as long as it's 100% acetone) from CVS or from a paint store work.
Acetone nail polish remover (as long as it's 100% acetone) from CVS or from a paint store work.
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Prusa have announced a SLA printer.
https://www.prusaprinters.org/intro...l1-open-source-sla-3d-printer-by-josef-prusa/
https://www.prusaprinters.org/intro...l1-open-source-sla-3d-printer-by-josef-prusa/
The tilt bed and auto calibration are nice but are they really worth the $1000 over an Anycubic Photon?
I'll be picking up a creality cr-s5 after tax season. Meant for massive prints. The goal is for me to make some more arcade cabinet stuff, small assembly furniture, things of that nature. I wish I could afforad DLMS (Direct Laser Metal Sintering) which is basically 3d printing under vacuum with a bucket of metal filament and a soldering iron. Stuff can 3d print industrial grade strength metals in whatever shape you can come up with. To get into that though costs stupid money and you really need a large machine. If I were to do that I'd have to justify it with a business and start making motorcycle parts or something for hobbyists or I'd never be able to get my money back out of it. Still...its damned cool to know you can 3d print metal.
Keep it super dry. Dehumidifier and then dry box. I've seen comments that it can get too damp in 24 hours.
I know, I've dried it out in a dehydrator so I don't think that's the problem. A heated enclosure is probably the answer but I think that would have an adverse effect on a printer with an acrylic frame, it is in an enclosure to stop drafts though.
I got a pei sheet to print on (which it stuck to great) but it just pulled it off the glass (overcoming the 3M adhesive) as it warped and ruined it.
Edit: Well, PVA is a revelation, I was using a glue stick which had been recommended but on a whim tried some trade PVA I had. Works a dream, been struggling with this for a week!
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Had my library print a few parts for me, is it normal that something straight edged vertical down is noticeable wider at the base than a mm above?
So I return to this topic. I finally bought a nozzle cleaning kit with a few needles, set aside an afternoon, and finally cleaned and cleared out the nozzle jam. Filament now can pass through the extruder and nozzle, so I'm pretty sure I'm good to go on my next print.
I want to try and print the cat.gcode model that came with the printer and I plan to set aside tomorrow afternoon to doing just that. Before I try printing, however, I want some advice on how exactly to setup my printing bed. I use a monoprice select mini 3D printer, which has a manual leveling bed and not much else on it. I have a cut-to-size borosilicate glass bed which I want to install, but I want to make sure everything is set up correctly. Do I need to lay down some masking tape on the metal bed before putting the glass bed on top using clips, or can I forgo masking tape all together? In the past, my problem has been that my prints don't stick to the bed at all, so I'm guessing it's A) a problem with the bed being leveled incorrectly and B) I was trying to print directly onto the metal bed with nothing on top. So I'm thinking the glass bed will solve both problems. I have a couple of cans of aquanet hair spray that I plan on coating the glass bed with, if I use that, do I need masking tape at all?
I want to try and print the cat.gcode model that came with the printer and I plan to set aside tomorrow afternoon to doing just that. Before I try printing, however, I want some advice on how exactly to setup my printing bed. I use a monoprice select mini 3D printer, which has a manual leveling bed and not much else on it. I have a cut-to-size borosilicate glass bed which I want to install, but I want to make sure everything is set up correctly. Do I need to lay down some masking tape on the metal bed before putting the glass bed on top using clips, or can I forgo masking tape all together? In the past, my problem has been that my prints don't stick to the bed at all, so I'm guessing it's A) a problem with the bed being leveled incorrectly and B) I was trying to print directly onto the metal bed with nothing on top. So I'm thinking the glass bed will solve both problems. I have a couple of cans of aquanet hair spray that I plan on coating the glass bed with, if I use that, do I need masking tape at all?
No masking tape required. Just clip the glass to the bed.
Hairspray isn't required if you print with PLA filament in my experience. A clean glass surface is all you need. Last time I used hairspray with PLA, the printed piece bonded so well with the glass, I nearly shattered it and cut my hand trying to separate them.
Here's the last thing I printed with my Mini:
I flipped this thing upside so you can see how well the PLA stuck to the glass bed. Nice, flat, and shiny.
Got this on the weekend:
https://all3dp.com/aldi-australia-selling-299-desktop-3d-printer-starting-next-week/
Trying to think of what to make. Apart from designing my own things in Blender anyone got some good recommendations of small, simple, useful things we can do with it?
https://all3dp.com/aldi-australia-selling-299-desktop-3d-printer-starting-next-week/
Trying to think of what to make. Apart from designing my own things in Blender anyone got some good recommendations of small, simple, useful things we can do with it?
So, I had something printed out. It is 4 pieces, a top, bottom, front, and back. The purple front and back turned out great. But, I ordered the grey top and bottoms from someone else, and I am pretty disappointed with how they turned out:
I've never ordered or seen anything 3D printed before. All the pieces were PLA, which seems to be the cheapest shit. Is that just normal quality for that? Didn't know if I should complain, or if that is to be expected for the price point? How much better quality is stepping up to PTGA? It costs a good chunk more, but now I feel like I wasted the money on this PLA shell and should have just sprung for the more expensive option.
I've never ordered or seen anything 3D printed before. All the pieces were PLA, which seems to be the cheapest shit. Is that just normal quality for that? Didn't know if I should complain, or if that is to be expected for the price point? How much better quality is stepping up to PTGA? It costs a good chunk more, but now I feel like I wasted the money on this PLA shell and should have just sprung for the more expensive option.
No that is not normal. I'd complain.So, I had something printed out. It is 4 pieces, a top, bottom, front, and back. The purple front and back turned out great. But, I ordered the grey top and bottoms from someone else, and I am pretty disappointed with how they turned out:
I've never ordered or seen anything 3D printed before. All the pieces were PLA, which seems to be the cheapest shit. Is that just normal quality for that? Didn't know if I should complain, or if that is to be expected for the price point? How much better quality is stepping up to PTGA? It costs a good chunk more, but now I feel like I wasted the money on this PLA shell and should have just sprung for the more expensive option.
Has anyone come across any files for SNES (UK)/Super Famicom cart dust covers? There are a few out there for the US versions but I havent been able to find any for UK Snes or Super Famicom. I ended up printing some for my Mega Drive carts and they worked great.