What 3D printer...

[brewdexta]

Whereas I am being very boring and printing only practical things first.

Point taken, now onto essential practical things, next up the deluxe Tardis

 

[Screwdriver]

Have you seen the full skeletons available also?? Like a 3d printed kit so to speak.

I did a window art wolf head early on for the Mrs and that was about 15hrs as made it thicker for strength.
But the creality doesn't do a bad job of printing straight out of the box.

I have the glass bed but as of now still havent used it as nothing has been hyper critical measurements etc.

I am really trying hard to resist printing everything on Thingiverse!

The key issue for me is to design a thing, model it in Fusion and print it. My first project will be enclosures fro a bunch of 12v power supply units I bought off here. They are superb quality units but searching for a case the right size has proved fruitless bearing in mind anything over a fiver is out of the question. Plus I might want to have a nice on/off switch and possibly even a variable voltage. Very easy to do with all the cheap stuff coming out of China but tricky to build a nice looking unit that is fit for purpose.

(Couldn't resist printing out a nice looking, simple iPhone bracket though...)

 

[Ruffian]

I am really trying hard to resist printing everything on Thingiverse!

The key issue for me is to design a thing, model it in Fusion and print it. My first project will be enclosures fro a bunch of 12v power supply units I bought off here. They are superb quality units but searching for a case the right size has proved fruitless bearing in mind anything over a fiver is out of the question. Plus I might want to have a nice on/off switch and possibly even a variable voltage. Very easy to do with all the cheap stuff coming out of China but tricky to build a nice looking unit that is fit for purpose.

(Couldn't resist printing out a nice looking, simple iPhone bracket though...)

That is what makes it so good though.
You can design your case. To your size, with mounts to suit your application is etc etc.

I needed a wheel the other day for a sofa. Noticed it was broken at 9pm. By midnight I had designed, sliced, printed a new one. All without leaving the house. Was easier to print one the correct size than trying to find one.

 

[Ruffian]

Said wheel.

 

[brewdexta]

My first proper useful print will be a 1U 19" bracket for rack mounting raspberry pi, they are printed in sections. I'll have to modify them a bit as the one I found is designed to take the PoE hat that I'm not wanting, so will need a recess for the power socket.

The kids want me to put the printer in my office so will build a 25mm box table and enclosure to take all the filament, bits and bobs, keep it quieter and let me print ABS occasionally.

 

[ukracer]

Said wheel.

What was that printed in?

 

[Ruffian]

What was that printed in?

Pet-g. But on a 8 layer outer top and sides with cubic infill at 40% also. Trying to put strength into it. Was going to print another one and put it in the hydraulic press to see how much load it will take.

 

[Screwdriver]

I am very happy with the quality so far.

Little iPhone holder which already had a 1/4 20 thread in the bottom so I could screw a tripod mount right onto it. Dovetail slider and I just had to fit a spring between them.

This one on the other hand is an all nighter!

Can you tell what it is yet?

 

[Screwdriver]

Well since nobody asked, it's this:

I hope it comes in handy because I'm not sure if those two parts are going to be finished by tomorrow!

Only got this far after several hours.

Still, be a good test for the printer. I reckon I can hack the jaw inserts to have shaped parts or unusual "fingers" for use with a soldering station. Should be light enough (I hope) to keep with the soldering kit and I can always add metal parts for the hot end. I upped the fill to 40% though so it might end up being pretty chunky!

Be interesting to see how those threads come out. They get printed vertically as shown.

It's called "Yet another vice" from the engineering section on Thingiverse.

 

[Screwdriver]

80% done this morning. Sheesh, couple more hours I should expect.

At least it didn't burst into flames or turn into a tangled mess. It actually looks pretty amazing.

 

[Screwdriver]

Well it took 16 hours to make this part, doing the moving jaw now, with threads.

The thing is rock hard too with lovely crisp flat edges.

It might not be a dinosaur skull but I am still very happy with it.

 

[Screwdriver]

Threads are coming along nicely:

But I am printing at 0.12 mm per layer rather than 0.2 so they will take ages. Hopefully finished by tonight then I can set off the last parts overnight.

 

[BelgiqueB]

Good looking prints, looks better than the ones I get with my anycubic.

When you start doing longer prints you might want to install a camera so you can monitor printing. If the extruder or something else fails 1 hour into a 100 hour print you could have a real mess on your hands. I've got a cheap cam and phone operated electricity plug so I can monitor it and if needed turn the whole thing off from a distance.

This was 90 hours I think:

 

[Screwdriver]

Good looking prints, looks better than the ones I get with my anycubic.

When you start doing longer prints you might want to install a camera so you can monitor printing. If the extruder or something else fails 1 hour into a 100 hour print you could have a real mess on your hands. I've got a cheap cam and phone operated electricity plug so I can monitor it and if needed turn the whole thing off from a distance.

This was 90 hours I think:

View attachment 244596

100 hours! Zoiks!!

I had a quick look at my twin towers...

...and 80% done almost had a heart attack when I saw that bit of fluff on the side. It is some "lost" plastic and I'm sure there's a word for it but whatever it is, it looks harmless. I'm guessing an hour or two and it's done. Then onto the gears.

 

[ukracer]

Good looking prints, looks better than the ones I get with my anycubic.

When you start doing longer prints you might want to install a camera so you can monitor printing. If the extruder or something else fails 1 hour into a 100 hour print you could have a real mess on your hands. I've got a cheap cam and phone operated electricity plug so I can monitor it and if needed turn the whole thing off from a distance.

This was 90 hours I think:

View attachment 244596

is that phone switch a Belgium thing? I cant see any in ebay...

 

[Screwdriver]

Second section done.

It has some issues with stringing off the threads but they should clean up ok, I could even run a die down it but I am making up the "nuts" now. I chose this print because I like the look of the design.

Once dialled in it should give a good firm grip even on the edges without racking and like I said, the jaw section is removable so I ought to be able to come up with some interesting shaped jaw features.

Starting to get the hang of Fusion and almost finished the first "design" (lol, it's a box!) but need to figure out the relationship between components and bodies.

The enclosure is done based on the size of my PSU's with standoffs for the preexisting mounting holes. Now I just need to model a lid so I'm trying to figure out how to "separate" the top profile so I can extrude from the existing model to make a separate lid. Should be easy but it's only easy when you know how. As we speak, I don't know how!

 

[ukracer]

Second section done.

It has some issues with stringing off the threads but they should clean up ok, I could even run a die down it but I am making up the "nuts" now. I chose this print because I like the look of the design.

Once dialled in it should give a good firm grip even on the edges without racking and like I said, the jaw section is removable so I ought to be able to come up with some interesting shaped jaw features.

Starting to get the hang of Fusion and almost finished the first "design" (lol, it's a box!) but need to figure out the relationship between components and bodies.

The enclosure is done based on the size of my PSU's with standoffs for the preexisting mounting holes. Now I just need to model a lid so I'm trying to figure out how to "separate" the top profile so I can extrude from the existing model to make a separate lid. Should be easy but it's only easy when you know how. As we speak, I don't know how!

Know how you feel. I keep learning how to do something and then forgetting when I feel its time to move on.

My latest is thinking its easier to create a model with dimensions using a sketch and another smaller sketch but trying to do it in reality is harder than I thought it should be. I am thorougly enjoying learning fusion but finding it very hard work.

 

[brewdexta]

When you start doing longer prints you might want to install a camera so you can monitor printing. If the extruder or something else fails 1 hour into a 100 hour print you could have a real mess on your hands. ]

if you use Octoprint to monitor and control the printer remotely, then you can add Octolapse which takes time lapse pictures which is pretty cool. I've bought the raspberry pi and the camera for this but will have to wait until the novelty has worn off with the kids as its non-stop printing at the moment.

Once they have their first project done then i will move the printer into my office, and add the auto-bed leveller and the Octoprint pi before letting them loose on it again.

Here's a vid of Octolapse in action, Its clever enough to take a pic when the print head is out of the way.

 

[Seadog]

Its clever enough to take a pic when the print head is out of the way.

I saw some time-lapse 3D printing recently. I wondered what software they'd used

 

[Onoff]

Good looking prints, looks better than the ones I get with my anycubic.

Same here. I've public cursed the bloke who recommended the Anycubic to me but he hasn't answered back!