Finally made the jump to 3D-Printing.......

[brino]

I saved up and wanted to buy a 3D Printer earlier this year. The problem was there were too many options! In March I gave up looking, overwhelmed by too much information.

I probably could have started building one but the amount of work for that would have been even bigger than researching to buy one.

Why do I want one?
Many reasons really (but some may just be me justify the purchase) here they are:

1. Both of my kids are currently in post-secondary education, and both are using 3D printers on campus. For one it's an integral part of his program (Industrial Design) for the other (Math & Computer Science) it's out of interest at the campus "Maker space". Greater access to a 3D printing machine should be good for them.
   
2. I always want to add new capabilities to what I can build. Is plastic strong enough for some things I want to build......I guess we'll see.
3. It would finally force me to learn a 3D CAD tool. I installed AutoDesk Fusion 360 a long time ago (yes it's free for home use! ; see here and here). It would be very useful to have complete prints when I'm standing at my 1916 milling machine or 1937 lathe. I love the juxtaposition.
   
4. As an intro to "CNC". It may be a stretch for some, but I see 3D printing squarely in the CNC camp....you draw the part and you hit "print" and a computer moves the head around and extrudes plastic. Sure it's "additive" rather than "subtractive" but it's still CNC. I could see a distant future where I build a CNC router or plasma table.....and this counts as research......right?

Maybe it was the kids getting back to school that gave me the kick in the pants I needed.
I dove in and purchased a 3D printer. It arrived last Thursday.

This is getting a little long already.
Stay tuned for more.

-brino

 

[mikey]

Cool, Brino. Please keep us posted on your progress. It would be neat if you could print in metal and then heat treat it to toughen it into a useful tool.

 

[brino]

What features did I want in a 3D printer?
-decent size print bed (my son likes to make various models from video game weapons to masks, etc. I wanted to support his creativity)
-easy to repair with no (or few) custom parts
-one I could fully "own", ie. ability to tweak (hardware or software) short-comings and not dependant on custom software or controller
-easy to upgrade and expandability; can I use new types of filaments with higher required nozzle and bed temperatures

A home-made one would be right up my alley.......but time is too short.

I found it strange that the printer was actually cheaper on amazon.ca than directly from the supplier.
I also added a few small spools of different colour filament to the shopping cart.
I chose PLA filament, expecting the ABS to smell too bad for use in the house.

So I am now one week in with a 3D printer in my basement.

first impressions....

• I waited 'til after the kids were home to even open the box (I want them to feel some ownership too)
  
• it went together very quickly with no extra tools
• there were also a number of tools supplied in a tool kit (exacto-knife, a decent set of tweezers, larger "prying" knife, etc.)
• we were printing in minutes from the models on the supplied SD card.

first projects...
we first printed a few items from the SD card; a key chain, some little trinkets, etc.

what shocked me was the fish skeleton
I just figured that it was a standard flat print......but no!
When I went to pry it off the print bed with the included knife I thought I broke it, only the y-shaped tail popped off.
I went along the "bones" popping them off the bed and realized that this model was actually printed with joints in it.
The fish was articulated!!! Holy Crap!

You can find the fish skeleton .stl model here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1276095
and a decent free stl viewer here: https://www.3d-tool.com/en_update.htm
(look for the title "Free STL and 3D-Tool DDD Viewer", I have already uploaded it to VirusTotal to prove it's safe, see here)

Here's a couple screen shots from the viewer:

....and just one vertabrae

This whole fish prints as ONE object!
This is NOT printing multiple things and snapping them together.
It is printed as one object with joints.

Still more to come............

-brino

 

[brino]

Okay, so how about a couple more neat objects from "the web".......

Once I learned it was possible, I wanted to explore what was possible in terms of "bridging", that is, jumping the gap over top of a previous layers without having the extruded material droop into the void.

I printed a crocodile: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:941177
Here's the model:

That squiggly base material is known as a support structure or "raft".
Since the crocodile feet stick out from the body it needs support under the head and tail to print properly.
The support material is meant to be break-away, and come off easily without damaging the model.
I found it not quite so.....

The top side looked great:

But the bottom side was pretty rough after pulling away the "raft":

There are holes in the side of the face under the eye and in the tail.

However, the designer supplied a few versions.
One has the feet embedded into the body of the croc:

This version printed flat on the bed with no need for support material , and NO defects.
I guess the support material is something I need to learn more about.
It appears to be part of the .stl (stereo-lithography) file, yet I can still turn it on or off in the printer software.

This model is one piece, but the upper jaw and head are attached to the feet via a thin neck thru a square hole in the lower jaws.

The mouth springs open when you pinch from belly to back.
Most people I showed it to describe it as a "clothes pin".

I also printed a "minisaur": https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2476792
Here's the model:

This thing is also one piece. The mouth opens, but it is "sprung".
The back legs act as a lever to the lower jaw, and that is attached inside the tail somewhere.....
You pinch the back legs to the tail to open the mouth.

Since it is one piece the stl viewer cannot show the different parts.
Right now the printer is busy, but tomorrow I'll try to load that model into the "slicer" software and grab some screen shots of the internal layers.

Good night!
-brino

 

[tweinke]

I think 3D printing would be a good way to learn CNC/ and the drawing side of the game so like you I have considered to try to find a printer and do a bit of learning

 

[brino]

I am still learning tool flow, file types, print features, material differences, etc. and will be for a long time.

These .stl files can be directly loaded into the free "Cura" software that has a profile for the specific printer.
You can rotate, scale, and use "ghost", "x-ray" and "layer" views of the model.

Here's layer 1 of that "minisaur":

and layer 9:

In that last one you can see the lower jaw connected thru the body to the tail.
Note also the semi-circle about midway that is the hip that connects it to the back leg as a kind of lever for moving the lower jaw.

Within this software you can select the print quality, trading off detail vs. print speed.
I need to do a couple prints at different ends of the spectrum for comparison......

-brino

 

[Shepherd]

I bought one two years ago for my son, but he lost interest pretty quickly....just got it up and running again. It's 50% science, and 50% art...be prepared for a lot of experimentation with settings, and a lot of wasted prints. Just started figuring out ABS, which is much trickier than PLA, but far tougher in the final product.

And warning: Browsing Thingiverse is a huge time suck from which countless hours of productivity is lost....

 

[brino]

A little trouble:

I wanted an object printed in another colour so I followed the instructions to change filaments (turn the nozzle temp up, loosen the feed clamp, pull out the old, insert the new, re-clamp)

I tried a print but it turned out a MESS!

I left the printer for a few minutes and came back to a model stuck to the head and the bed moving around underneath it.
The nozzle kept spewing molten plastic as a string of gnarly "rope" as it dragged the model around the table.

Hmmmmm.....what I did I change?
I thought that I had only changed the filament colour.
When I bought filament I searched on "PLA" , so it should all be the same material just different colours, right?

NOT so right........this package says it's "co-polymer". Wait, that's different than the previous "PLA" filament!
Looking up the vendor specs on that filament showed it was very different.

The PLA material wants a nozzle temperature of 205 deg. C. and a bed temperature of 60 deg. C.
This "co-poly" stuff want a nozzle temperature of 230 deg. C and a bed temperature around 85 deg. C.

That made a huge difference.
But there are also other tricks......

The filament vendors web site also suggested another aid to getting better bed adhesion.
They suggest using a simple Elmers rub-on type glue stick, like kids use for paper crafts.
So I found an old one that wasn't hardened and gave the print area a coating.
Yeah that helps too, but is a little messy as it leaves a crusty film on the bed that needs to be scraped off.

My son suggested another option he had seen used at school; masking tape.
I first tried plain old green painters tape.
You stick it down to the printer bed, and the extruded plastic sticks to the back-side of the tape.
Experimentation showed that it did help, but often the edges of the tape were lifting too.

So we tried a better "Pro" blue masking tape. That worked even better.

Lessons:
-you gotta know your material, don't assume anything
-there are a host of tricks available to help workaround problems.

Still lots to learn!

-brino

 

[f350ca]

Welcome to the 21st century Brino. I can see where having one would open up a lot of possibilities. We need a picture of the machine though, or it never happened.
Could have used one this past week to make a control cam for the totally plastic transaxle in my Sears riding mower. You could print me a new rear end for it.

Greg

 

[Firestopper]

Anything to do with learning along side your children is great. Once they grow you'll miss those special days. Thanks for sharing your experiences and like Greg wrote, post up some photos of your printer.