# Adventures in 3D printing



## koenbro (Dec 6, 2021)

I am stepping into 3D printing and in this thread I will chronicle my learning about design, materials, and projects. I expect to make a lot of errors along the way, and that is both inevitable, and part of the fun. By way of background, I do have some experience with woodworking, and basic metal working. Have just finished converting a PM 728 VT mill to CNC, and documented it in another thread. Also have very basic familiarity with Fusion 360.

As I was deciding which 3D printer to buy, I was initially set on the Prusa filament, then the Prusa resin, then the Formlabs Form 3. I know nothing about 3D printing (or generally additive processes), but ultimately decided on a Makerbot MethodX printer, because of the wide range of materials it is capable of printing, including metal. More about this later.


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## 7milesup (Dec 6, 2021)

koenbro said:


> Makerbot MethodX


I guess you are jumping in with both feet...
That printer is a lonnnnnnnng way from the Prusa filament.


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## John281 (Dec 6, 2021)

I have a Prusa MK3S+ with the MMU2S multi-material unit and like it now that I have it working as it should.  There was (still is) a learning curve to these things but tech support is really good.  At work we have an older Makerbot that doesn't get used much any more and we have a FormLabs 2 (I believe).  The FormLabs machines are fantastic and have very good resolution, but of course, the material selection is more limited.  A buddy of mine has a Creality Ender 3 Pro and he's done a number of upgrades that rival my Prusa for a lot less overall cost.
You probably already found that there are a ton of things you can print to help your metalworking and other hobbies.  Good luck!


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## koenbro (Dec 6, 2021)

Here are a few photos as I set it up. Much to my surprise there is no filament provided with the machine (I should have asked, I know), so I couldn't fire it up beyond the basic setup (and firmware update). So have ordered some ABS and soluble support, and will wait.


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## 7milesup (Dec 6, 2021)

John281 said:


> I have a Prusa MK3S+ with the MMU2S multi-material unit and like it now that I have it working as it should.  There was (still is) a learning curve to these things but tech support is really good.  At work we have an older Makerbot that doesn't get used much any more and we have a FormLabs 2 (I believe).  The FormLabs machines are fantastic and have very good resolution, but of course, the material selection is more limited.  A buddy of mine has a Creality Ender 3 Pro and he's done a number of upgrades that rival my Prusa for a lot less overall cost.
> You probably already found that there are a ton of things you can print to help your metalworking and other hobbies.  Good luck!



I am curious if you realize that the OP's printer is $4800 or so... on sale.


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## koenbro (Dec 6, 2021)

I think printing metal is not quite ready for primetime. The BASF material needs to be scaled up 20% in axes x and y and 26% in the axis z. Then will be sent in for sintering. There are size limitations IIRC of 100mm in each direction. Not sure how easily machined the output part is. 

Apart from that, the ability to print composites is very exciting.


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## koenbro (Dec 15, 2021)

I have received the first batch of filament and completed my first 3D print job ever. Have downloaded a TTS toolholder to attach to a DIN rail from Thingiverse, and set out to build it out of ABS-R and RapidRinse support. Leveling the plate and loading the material was easy, just following instructions on the screen. 
The printer originally estimated it will take 9 hours for the job. This morning I woke up excited and the print completed without errors or drama. Then I rinsed it in a cup in the kitchen sink -- sorry, not best practices, but do not yet have a proper rinsing station -- and in a few minutes, the part was ready. 
Dimensionally accurate to about 0.1-0.2mm by a quick caliper measurement. Very impressed. Will start exploring other filaments and build other tool supports.


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## koenbro (Dec 17, 2021)

Ok this seems to work well. The design even has room for a slide-in label in the front with a slit that came out amazingly well. 







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## koenbro (Jan 2, 2022)

So by now I've printed out 16 of these toolholders, and have created my very first design, to mount the holders directly unto the 8020 profile, and skip the DIN rail. 

Have also created an adapter to mount my festool dust extraction hose from the tool to the Oneida cycle without intermediaries:










Works quite well. Will move next to cable organization. Needless to say, I am enjoying my new toy!


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## 7milesup (Jan 2, 2022)

Love it!!  
Awesome job.  I have a bunch of 8020 laying around here which now gives me an idea for my mill and my lathe.  Thank you!


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## brino (Jan 2, 2022)

Excellent!
Thanks for sharing those pictures.
Brian


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## koenbro (Apr 14, 2022)

Made a holder for the vice. Initially out of nylon but that got bent under the weight, so reprinted it from nylon/carbon fiber. 


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## koenbro (Apr 15, 2022)

Fan cover for the control cabinet


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## Pierre52 (Apr 16, 2022)

You shouldn't need supports for that fan cover.  Most printers (if set up properly) should be able to print at angles up to 60 degrees without supports.


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## koenbro (Apr 16, 2022)

Pierre52 said:


> You shouldn't need supports for that fan cover. Most printers (if set up properly) should be able to print at angles up to 60 degrees without supports.



Agree that support takes time to print and dissolve and is more expensive. My printer also has the 60 degree feature, but I wanted to have the blades cover the opening and at 60 deg they have to be much longer, or print more of them. At 45 degrees a 7 mm protrusion will result in a 10mm blade. 

Still learning. 


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## hudstr (Apr 17, 2022)

I think you are thinking about the overhang incorrectly. People normally talk about overhang compared to the z axis, not the x/y axis (printer bed). You can get away with 60 degrees pretty easy and can go higher if you have enough fan cooling or are fine with it not turning out perfect.


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## koenbro (Apr 18, 2022)

There is a good chance I’m misunderstanding something. 

In your drawing, a vertical structure (Z axis) does not need support, but as you flatten it towards the bed (XY plane) at some point the material will not hold itself up, and that’s when you need the support. 

I thought it is more likely that the angle is 30° from z axis or 60° from the XY plane. 

Otherwise why would the slicing software recommend (and insert) support for a 45° structure while it doesn’t recommend support for a vertical structure?


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## hudstr (Apr 18, 2022)

I only looked at the second page and didn't realize you have the makerbot so anything I was going to say doesn't affect you. I cant tell if it has part cooling fans and if it does then they seem pretty anemic. You are probably also locked into their slicer and filament so they might not even let you change the support settings. 

I'll say this anyway if someone else can use the info, 45 degrees is a reasonable point where it will work and look the same as if there were support. 20-45 degrees from x/y or 45-70 degrees from z will still work but will sag and not look pretty and probably be structurally weaker. This depends and has a lot of things that will change your results as you'd imagine. If you can cool the plastic as soon as it is placed then it wont have time to sag and ruin the part. You need part cooling fans on full blast for overhangs but some filaments don't like to be cooled quickly and will shrink and warp. 

The fan cover would print well without support because it has a wide footprint and wont fall over its own weight, it doesn't need to be structurally strong so if the overhang is weaker it is ok and any surface defect will be hidden on the underside which you wont see when it is mounted.


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## Pierre52 (Apr 18, 2022)

hudstr has it exactly correct.  What I should have said in my first post was that that part should print without supports on a well tuned machine.  Supports have their place but if you don't need them you save time, material and the post processing annoyance of removing them.


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## koenbro (Apr 18, 2022)

hudstr said:


> I only looked at the second page and didn't realize you have the makerbot so anything I was going to say doesn't affect you. I cant tell if it has part cooling fans and if it does then they seem pretty anemic. You are probably also locked into their slicer and filament so they might not even let you change the support settings.
> 
> .



First, and to state the obvious, I am a novice at 3-D printing. 

That out of the way, the Makerbot Method X is an EXCEPTIONAL printer. It does not have part cooling fans (whether anaemic or not), because the whole chamber is heated. So this is not a hot plate type of technology. The chamber can be heated and maintained at 80 or maybe even 100°C. Then, when the print is finished, the whole chamber gradually cools down to room temperature. Because of this the parts are very accurate and dimensionally stable. 

Yes you likely are locked into their slicer, but I don’t have sufficient knowledge about this to say definitively. However, the software is very flexible and it allows for countless variables to be adjusted. I generally go with defaults  and they do work well. One exception was when I had stringing on the support material on the last two projects and the troubleshooting guide on the website suggested increasing the support extruder’s Z offset by 0.1 mm, which I did, solving the problem. Again, I have never used any other slicer but theirs is full of adjustments much more so than one could need, and the factory settings which the printer matches to the material work great out of the box. I’m not sure why this yearning for another software. 

It uses two extruders, one for the material, and the second for the support. There are several types of extruders; I have 5, including the so-called LABS extruder which allows for a variety of advanced filaments including carbon fibre and metal, and that is the extruder that I am using for this project. There is a pretty rapid calibration routine whenever swapping the extruder . The machine recognises automatically the presence of the LABS extruder and opens up additional menu settings. 

It is completely inaccurate to state that you are locked into their materials. It is however true that their materials are excellent and the parameters work very well out of the box. Nonetheless I have used third-party materials that can be fed easily through an auxiliary side port, and the various parameters can be set according to the material manufacturers recommendations . The OEM Materials offer the additional advantage of having a microchip that is read wirelessly by the printer and thus the printer knows at all times   how much is left on the spool (pretty accurate), And what exact material have you loaded in the first place so that it sets the parameters to what the company has tested out to be optimal. 

Other interesting features are a built-in camera that allows to monitor the progress via the cloud; sealed chambers for OEM spools only, features to dry the material, or to anneal  the cf/nylon (for example) after printing.  I actually like how I can export from fusion and then load and start the print via the cloud all in one step. 

Probably lots of all the features that I am forgetting.

I probably sound like a fanboy but I thought it’s important to set the record right regarding the capabilities of this printer. I am frankly surprised at some of the hate I see on Reddit and elsewhere on the Internet regarding Makerbot. 

As for messing with the various experimental settings you’re suggesting : I am afraid that, on balance, it is not worth the time and effort, to get an unsightly, dimensionally distorted, and mechanically unsound output. Oh and by the way I realise now the printer can set the degrees threshold at which the material support is deployed - I always left it at default, And that’s why I never noticed.


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## hudstr (Apr 18, 2022)

I'm not hating, I was just trying to say any tinkering knowledge I was going to say is meaningless to you because I didn't read the first post but I already typed everything out so I posted it anyway for anyone who passes by.

Makerbot and the like get hate because of the cost and low amount of features for that cost. You can buy a makerbot for $5k, take it out of the box and hit a button and out pops a perfect print. To businesses and people who don't want to spend 100's of hours messing around the price makes sense. The type of people who post online are the ones who will spend 1/2 the amount of money and 100's of hours to build their exact machine with the features they want.


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## koenbro (Apr 18, 2022)

hudstr said:


> .
> Makerbot and the like get hate because of the cost and low amount of features for that cost. You can buy a makerbot for $5k, take it out of the box and hit a button and out pops a perfect print. To businesses and people who don't want to spend 100's of hours messing around the price makes sense. The type of people who post online are the ones who will spend 1/2 the amount of money and 100's of hours to build their exact machine with the features they want.



When I was researching out what printer to buy I Got the sense that part of the hate might have been due to the fact that Makerbot was in the open source movement and then backed out of it to make as you pointed out accurately an expensive product. 

Now to some of its drawbacks: 
1. small print size of about 6.5-7” in each direction . I think a lot of people who build their own make it bigger. That was out of the question for me as I have never used a printer before. 

2. Another is the price of the printer (which I believe is justified because of the quality you get but that’s a subjective judgement) and the cost of materials (which I think again represent a good quality-to-cost relationship). 

3. I used customer support once after I broke the clip that feeds the support material into the second extruder (because clumsy noob). I frankly wanted to buy the clip, but they wanted to send it out for free on the warranty but it took them a painfully long amount of time about six weeks or so to do that. So I think they could move a little faster on that. 



On balance though I think this is a superb printer.


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## koenbro (May 1, 2022)

Just printed these from Nylon/CF for my video rig:


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## koenbro (May 1, 2022)

I printed the three parts in the previous post to hold two Voltaic V25 batteries. Functional criteria were:

allow the batteries to cool (ventilate) while charging;
access the cables, on-off buttons, and LED display;
attach to the mirrorless camera and Tascam DR-70D audio recorder that will sit on top of this box;
allow the whole system to sit on a tripod via a built-in tripod attachment at the bottom.
when not on the tripod, sit safely on a surface like a table, with feet as tall as the tripod attachment;

Hopefully will look like this:





The middle piece will have heat set inserts for M4 screws ffrom both top and bottom (12 inserts) and the lids will sandwich on.






And this is the assembled system; imagine a small camera on top.







Will still need to design and print an attachment for the Røde GO II receiver and the no-name Amazon bluetoooth transmitter I use to monitor the sound.


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## 7milesup (May 1, 2022)

What are you using the video equipment for?  Just curious.

EDIT:  Very nice work BTW!


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## koenbro (May 1, 2022)

7milesup said:


> What are you using the video equipment for?  Just curious.
> 
> EDIT:  Very nice work BTW!



Family trips. We have one coming up in June and a second in September. Lots of anticipatory excitement. I have started doing video (short clips) and very quickly realised that sound is a problem. Nobody notices good sound, but bad sounds immediately ruins a video. My setup, with the camera on top of the audio recorder:







It is actually quite portable (sorry, cellphone action shot):


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## 7milesup (May 1, 2022)

Very cool.  I have a Sony a6000 that I am starting to do more with.  The wife wants to do more trips and I need to learn more about photography!


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## koenbro (May 3, 2022)

Looks good; have only used 2 inserts per side. Am already working on version 2.0 That will only accommodate one battery but will have cable management. 


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## koenbro (May 4, 2022)

Then there is this:








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## 7milesup (May 4, 2022)

koenbro said:


> Then there is this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh dear...


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## brino (May 5, 2022)

Yep.
Feces occurs.

It is very disappointing to come back to a "spaghetti print" like that.
Hopefully it wasn't expensive filament.

Brian


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## koenbro (May 13, 2022)

Version 3 of the video camera accessory being built. I abandoned v2 without printing. 



















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## koenbro (May 13, 2022)

MODS FROM V1: 

added cable management (if there is a slot or cut that doesn't make sense, it is for cable management); 
removed material from the walls and replaced with hexagon cells; 
added room for a noname Bluetooth transmitter so I can monitor sound wirelessly); 
added attachment for hotshoe to secure the Rode GO II receiver.

Now the print is in the solvent bath to remove the support material, then will anneal for about 5 hours to remove humidity. This was the rendering.


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## koenbro (May 13, 2022)




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## koenbro (May 14, 2022)

After 16 hours of printing, I dissolved the supports (1 hr), then annealed the print for about 6 hours.

Here it’s with heat set inserts and the cold shoe for the mic receiver (bottom Center). There was some plastic rising from the heat displacement around the insets, so I ground it down for a flush mount. The carbon fiber-nylon is too hard to just cut down with a knife.







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## koenbro (May 14, 2022)

And here it is, assembled including the dead cat. The unit is self contained with the mic receiver, battery,  BT transmitter. Can be used as a standalone for interviews, or attached at the bottom of the camera. Can sit on a desk or attaches to a Manfrotto style tripod with a built in tripod adapter. Ony one wire is needed to connect to the camera, to feed sound into the camera (useful for synch-ing the sound in post, although the ****ty sound off the camera mics can alse be used to synch, and then discard). The white wire is the USB-C charger (the two Rode mics and the receiver also use USB-C, so I only need one cable to charge them all, which I would have on me anyways for the laptop). I can monitor the charge status on the bottom through a slit. Needless to say, I am tickled pink by how it came out.


























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## koenbro (May 22, 2022)

Made some clamps to hold thin stock on the LMS fixturing plate. 

The other day I had to cut some 1/8 inch aluminium plate and instead of doing it on the CNC router which has an MDF sacrificial top (but is now configured as a plasma cutter with the water tray), I wanted to do it on the mill. I very quickly discovered that the clamps are optimised for thicker stock. So I took @clough42 ‘s  design and shortened it to 2", adapting the height and screw hole (to 1/4") as well. This test version is from ABS (with SR-30 support) but will reprint from nylon-carbon fiber.



















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## sdavilla (May 22, 2022)

I'm addicted to Jame's Clough42 channel. He's very good. I just bought the QIDI i-fast 3D printer based on his review/comments. Been waiting for him get a new 3D Printer. 






A simple electronics tray in PLA for a Mesa 7i92M/7i76 combination for a 5-axis controller using LinuxCNC.


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## koenbro (May 22, 2022)

sdavilla said:


> I'm addicted to Jame's Clough42 channel. He's very good. I just bought the QIDI i-fast 3D printer based on his review/comments. Been waiting for him get a new 3D Printer. [...]



Yeah I follow James, too, and like his projects:  they are neat, well thought out, nicely presented, and I enjoy his  style.

How do you like your printer? I checked the website and was impressed by the large print size.

What kind of materials can you print? Will it do engineering materials? I am very new to 3D printing, having completed only a few projects and am very eager to connect with other 3D print-makers.


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## sdavilla (May 23, 2022)

koenbro said:


> What kind of materials can you print? Will it do engineering materials? I am very new to 3D printing, having completed only a few projects and am very eager to connect with other 3D print-makers.



Right now, just diddling around with inexpensive PLA+ but I'll be moving to ABS, CF/PETG and CF/Nylon. so yes on engineering materials.

EDIT:
Love the printer  The only bad prints so far were when I was trying to push 150mm/s. PLA. Still thinking on which filament to try next.


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## jarhead (May 23, 2022)

pretty interesting subject. Is the filament expensive?


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## koenbro (May 23, 2022)

jarhead said:


> pretty interesting subject. Is the filament expensive?


Yes, I do think so, and would not be commercially viable to make volume production because of this cost and the time it takes for printing. However, for a one-time part,  fixture,  prototype, or custom application 3D printing is an amazing technology.

More on the cost. Low-end materials are fairly cheap. I buy discontinued/on-sale material off Matterhackers, where you can score PLA at around 40-50 dollars a kilo. BTW you need to pay attention as some spools are only 0.35 kg, others 0.5x or 0.75 kg so compare prices with this in mind. I actually don't like PLA at all, just as I avoid PVA.

Engineering materials like carbon fiber/nylon print with much greater accuracy (in my limited experience FWIW), but are more expensive. I would say my favorites so far are:
- CF/N12 that is $208/kg (!!!),
- Jabil SEBS-95A which is a rubber like soft material is $86/kg, and
- PETG,  which is chemical resistant, and is about $100/kg. 
Kimya PEKK CF is now *ON SALE* at Matterhackers for* $900 / kg*, but read up on its properties: top shelf engineering stuff. That said, ABS and ABS-R will do 90% of what I need.

For supports, SR-30 and RapidRinse are amazing and in a different league than PVA; the cost is an eye-watering $264/kg $$$. Check out prices on the Makerbot website  here.

And then there is metal: BASF Ultrafuse is $450 for a 3kg spool,  but that includes debinding and sintering.

That said you don't use a lot of material. My prints are generally 20-40 grams and the biggest part so far was 110 grams (the video accessory shown a few posts above); so a 0.75 kg spool goes far.  I have gotten a stash of filament and I need to stop buying:


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## koenbro (May 23, 2022)

sdavilla said:


> Still thinking on which filament to try next.



I just got a spool of  rosewood Filamentum Timberfill and that will be my next experiment.


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## sdavilla (May 23, 2022)

eSun PLA+ @$24/kg, eSun ABS @$22/kg, CF PTEG @$45/kg and QDID CF PA12 (nylon) @99/kg.

Just printed 57 grams of PLA, about $1.36 in PLA. Dirt cheap.


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## koenbro (May 23, 2022)

What kind of projects do you print? Will check out eSun, for sure!


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## pdentrem (May 23, 2022)

Are you guys storing your thread in a dry box?


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## koenbro (May 23, 2022)

pdentrem said:


> Are you guys storing your thread in a dry box?



Yes spools are in Mylar bags with several bags of desiccant each. Plus I am in Arizona. 


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## sdavilla (May 24, 2022)

koenbro said:


> What kind of projects do you print? Will check out eSun, for sure!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro



Latest. CNC bits for a PM-30MV mill. Three tries  First was left, wrong dim on two front mounts. Second was back, goofed moving the mounts and now three are off. Hahaha. Last was right, with electronics mounted.






This is up next I think. X-Axis stepper mount. The real mount will come with the CNC kit some time. Until then, this will work fine for a power x-axis.







CF Nylon or CF PETG or ABS. Can't decide. Any means swapping to the high temp extruder on my QIDI i-fast.


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## sdavilla (May 24, 2022)

pdentrem said:


> Are you guys storing your thread in a dry box?



Yes, pretty much everything I watch and read about 3D printing says humidity == bad for filaments.


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## pdentrem (May 24, 2022)

I mentioned the dry box as I am sure not everyone would know about this. 
Pierre


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## matthewsx (May 25, 2022)

Just downloading Fusion 360 now, I have a CNC mill project and can probably access some very good printers at work. Time to get started....

John


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## matthewsx (May 25, 2022)

Additive vs. subtractive, anyone have tips?


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## koenbro (May 25, 2022)

matthewsx said:


> Additive vs. subtractive, anyone have tips?


Do you mean to build your own mill? I would go substractive.


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## sdavilla (May 26, 2022)

pdentrem said:


> I mentioned the dry box as I am sure not everyone would know about this.
> Pierre



My soon to be dry box for filaments. Have find a home for the electron microscopy stubs/samples. From another life.


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## slodat (May 26, 2022)

sdavilla said:


> I'm addicted to Jame's Clough42 channel. He's very good. I just bought the QIDI i-fast 3D printer based on his review/comments. Been waiting for him get a new 3D Printer.
> 
> View attachment 407722
> 
> ...


How do you like the iFast so far?


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## slodat (May 26, 2022)

I have had great luck with Overture PETG on my Prusa printer. I've been through many rolls of it without issue. Right about $20/kg shipped direct from their website.


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## sdavilla (May 27, 2022)

slodat said:


> How do you like the iFast so far?



Very much


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## slodat (May 28, 2022)

sdavilla said:


> Very much


Any thoughts or feedback to share? Do you recommend it? What filaments are you using with it? I’m thinking of buying one. It’s always nice to hear from folks that have used it. Thank you!


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## sdavilla (May 28, 2022)

slodat said:


> Any thoughts or feedback to share? Do you recommend it? What filaments are you using with it? I’m thinking of buying one. It’s always nice to hear from folks that have used it. Thank you!



The i-fast is pricier than others but so far, works just fine with default slicer settings. I've tweaked them to print faster, layer height from 0.2 to 0.25, base speed from 75mm/s to 100mm/s. If it vanished overnight, I'd get another one the next day. For filaments, mostly PLA using the supplied 1kg red roll. Changing to CF/nylon once drybox to i-fast PTFE tubing comes in. Then I'll switch to the high-temp extruder.

The only real change I'd make is to make the front door removable. It's open for PLA and some others, closed for high-temp filaments. Tends to get in my way. But as I'll be moving to high-temp filaments, it will be a non-issue then.

I will say that this is my 1st 3D printer so still learning but I wanted a printer that works well out of the box and requires little modification to get usable parts. Not interested in printing tiny decorative items  This 3D printer will be making parts/mounts type items. The large print bed is great to have too. And if James (Clough42) likes his, that stamp of approval goes a long way in deciding which 3D printer to get.


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## slodat (May 30, 2022)

What extruder(s) are included with the iFast? Do you have a link to the filament box and PTFE tube you are using? I'm pretty close to buying one.


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## sdavilla (May 30, 2022)

slodat said:


> What extruder(s) are included with the iFast? Do you have a link to the filament box and PTFE tube you are using? I'm pretty close to buying one.



Dual normal and Dual High-temp extruders are included. One filament drybox is also included but not listed on their "included" packing list.

I'm still diddling around with PTFE tubing sizes. 6mm OD fits tight if the metal sleeves is removed.


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## koenbro (Jun 1, 2022)

sdavilla said:


> Dual normal and Dual High-temp extruders are included. One filament drybox is also included but not listed on their "included" packing list.
> 
> I'm still diddling around with PTFE tubing sizes. 6mm OD fits tight if the metal sleeves is removed.



I don’t understand what you mean about PTFE tubing and their size. Can pls elaborate perhaps with photos? 


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## sdavilla (Jun 1, 2022)

Sure







This is 6mm OD, have to remove the metal sleeve to fit and it fits snug.






Same size hole in drybox. With metal sleeve inserted. This is 5mm OD. It's a loose fit.

So riddle me this, which size push-to-fit tubbing fitting would fit in hole, with or without metal sleeve ?


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## koenbro (Jul 17, 2022)

New Project: Geared wheels

I am building an attachment for my Omron encoder to the spindle, which is complicated by the power draw bar air cylinder. So I cannot mount the encoder on axis, have to go sideways. Currently deciding between pulleys + belt vs geared wheels.

In the first version,  I went ahead and printed a wheel out of ABS to attach to the top of the spindle, out of ABS. 50 teeth, Module 1.5mm, Pressure angle 14.5 deg, Helix angle 15 deg. The resulting wheel OD is 78mm. I printed in 20 mm thickness, using GF Gear Generator.





Wanted to build a second identical wheel for the encoder, but space is tight, and just in case there is some interference, I printed an intermediate idler wheel as well, 25 teeth, same module, angles, thickness. These last two wheels were printed from Nylon-CF 12.











Plan to use 680 bearings left over from a skateboard project (OD 22mm, ID 8mm, thickness 7mm).











The challenge is now to calculate the precise distance between centers.


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## jwmelvin (Jul 17, 2022)

koenbro said:


> The challenge is now to calculate the precise distance between centers.



Your gears look great, thank you for sharing. Why not provide a lash adjustment?


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## koenbro (Jul 17, 2022)

jwmelvin said:


> Your gears look great, thank you for sharing. Why not provide a lash adjustment?




Not sure how to do that;  can you please show a link to an example? BTW I learned that the OC distance is easy to calculate, but a spring adjustment (which I hope the lash adjustment is) might be better.


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## jwmelvin (Jul 17, 2022)

koenbro said:


> Not sure how to do that; can you please show a link to an example? … a spring adjustment (which I hope the lash adjustment is) might be better.



How about making one encoder screw go in a slot? For sure one could go fancier with some flexure and adjusting screw in the mount housing, but I’m not sure it’s worth it for something that shouldn’t need much adjustment.


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## koenbro (Jul 18, 2022)

Have finished the encoder cassette. I made the bottom plate out of 1/8" aluminum. Have used heat inserts in the side skirt so I can open for service. The wheels spin well. I wonder how noisy it will be under regular use - -when the spindle is running at 4000 rpm, the middle wheel will do 8000 rpm. That is part of the reason I wanted the wheels enclosed. Now I have to make a bracket to attach it on top of the spindle housing. 

*What grease should I use on the wheels? *


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## 7milesup (Jul 19, 2022)

I don't think I would use any grease.  At 8000 RPM I would be a little surprised if anything would stick.  I realize there are lubricants that would stick, but I'm not sure how much you want to spend.  I have similar gears in my large RC helicopter, and I do not put anything on them.


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## koenbro (Sep 7, 2022)

A few more printing projects for my truck. Both are shown with 1/4"-20 heat set threaded inserts. 






The left one is a bracket to attach a small camera inside the front bumper to act as a trail view camera.


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## MikeWi (Sep 7, 2022)

@koenbro Nice! You've really got that printer dialed in.


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## koenbro (Sep 8, 2022)

Next project was a panel to mount Contura switches in the dash, in the space gained after removing the ashtray.


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## koenbro (Dec 4, 2022)

This weekend I printed 90-degree elbows to help lift the transmission breathers on my truck. Long story short the front diff and the transfer case breathers are elevated from the factory into the engine compartment, but the rear diff and the transmission are not. The rear was easy to do and needed no printing. 

This project is about the transmission, which has not one, but two breathers. After popping the cap off there is an 11 mm OD nipple about 5 mm high, so one cannot just easily clamp a hose onto it.

So I designed a 90-degree elbow with a barbed end for 3/8" ID hose. The other end pops unto the transmission body nipple. 
	

		
			
		

		
	





I took advantage of a groove on the nipple, so this adaptor pops unto the nipple and is held in place.




I printed three of them (in case one breaks during install) sideways so they are strong and not shear off. 






They came out great and with a firm push popped unto the nipple but still rotated.














Once clamped down they don't move and will likely be water tight for this application.





Material: Nylon CF 12


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