3D printer thread - what have you been printing?

[Zero-Point]

As for gaming minis, an FDM printer (the cheap, widely available and easy to use printers that use plastic filament) may not give you quite enough detail for gaming minis of, say, 40K scale, unless you do some light sculpting on top of it to add in finer details and to mask the layers. For that kind of detail, you're going to want an SLA printer, which are expensive, fiddly (they use liquid resin that's cured with UV light), and even toxic (until cured).

[Snickerdoodle]

I will say though, I've been very impressed with what I've been able to get away with on an FDM printer with a 0.2mm nozzle.

[BAZ]

My Ender-3 has arrived! After almost 4 weeks since I pre-ordered.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/703/fa5cda0f-ee80-415c-844a-e4eed1fc4fb3/31189900_10156066979141839_5535143414867165184_n.png

and the upgrades alone...

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/703/f1b16400-1423-41b8-b9f5-573bbe0e64ee/image.png

Upgrades:
TriangleLabs V6 All-metal Hotend clone 0.4mm
Silicone Sock
Capricon PTFE Bowden Tube
SUNON Maglev 24V 4020 Fans (Hotend + Board)
60mm Gelit Silent 6 fan (PSU)
Stepper dampers
Borosilicate Glass
Frame clips for the glass bed
Rubber Feet
Raspberry Pi 3B+

... but i'm going to the pub quiz tonight so i'll have to build it tomorrow!

[Zero-Point]

I've discovered in my perusal of potential fan replacement candidates that you can get the popular 5015-style blowers (of which I lucked out and happened to find one for my part-fan in an old battery charger, what're the odds? ) in a 4-pin configuration. What this could mean, at least in my experimentation with that other 4-pin 5V fan that's now dead, is that you can get much finer control over the fan speed (as in set the speed to much lower than 40%, a speed which some people have reported having difficulties doing as they don't seem to want to spin at that low of a duty-cycle) by using the PWM input pin rather than applying PWM directly to the power leads as before...

[Zero-Point]

@LoneWolf_Recon I don't suppose you have any tricks for eliminating Z-banding on this infernal machine? I've done my damndest to align everything correctly and have tried a simple "stabilizer" from Thingiverse that basically just clamps the spring-coupling but it actually makes the Z-axis perform absolutely terribly, causing it to very noticably jerk when moving the axis up and down even when homing slowly.

[LoneWolf_Recon]

When I flashed new Marlin firmware onto mine I turned down the jerk/acceleration on the Z-axis. I slowed just about all travel motions on my machine but bumped up deposition/feed rate on the extruder.

I haven't noticed any major banding before nor after said tweaks.

You're using the metal Z-axis bracket replacement yeah?

[Zero-Point]

Can't afford the metal brackets just yet, but I printed a new one that *should* be much sturdier than the old one was, but either due to how the frame is assembled or some other factor I can't seem to deduce, the coupling always seems a little "off" in its rotation on the threaded-rod side. I'm starting to worry that the rod itself has a slight bend to it, in which case I'll just have to buy a new one, but with an anti-backlash nut this time, as this rod moves a bit too freely in the included nut for my liking. But my tweaks have at least gotten the damn thing to stop squealing like a Japanese porn-star as it moves, which is good.
I'm going to try printing an inverted mount for the Z-axis motor and see if that doesn't help it any, but I have my doubts.

[LoneWolf_Recon]

Honestly the next best thing is to add a smooth rod with stiff brackets on the other end of the carriage from the threaded rod just to keep a good reference. The stepper/threaded rod coupler should have enough give in it that you have a fair bit of fudge factor to line up the rod.

It kinda sucks to have a slower print but really that's the only way I've found to have decent to good prints on the Tevo. Hell the Phaser toke six hours to print but really the only thing that is nerve wracking is the first few layers and then the last few layers (Last few due to how I did my cable harnessing that resisted against the carriage from ascending anymore)

[Zero-Point]

I mean the prints are coming out decent enough, good enough that mechanical tolerances for the parts I've printed to be fully functional, but the damned carriage seems to prefer to randomly loosen its fasteners no matter how much I tighten them (the little tiny L-pieces that fit inside the slots? Yeah, one of the grub screws is totally stripped in one of them now. Joy.), I could get this thing stiffer than a Wall Street executive in a no-rules titty-bar, and after a few days it's as loose as *insert disturbing mental image here* again. For a "complete kit" it sure does rely on you to use up the free filament they give you to make up for their engineering short-comings. Like FFS, it doesn't even include a part-cooling fan which adds, what, another $10 in parts costs at the most, and yet is pretty much essential for good quality prints with PLA.
Another problem is that, as I've said, the nut has an excessive amount of "wobble" when mounted on the rod, making it a bear to align with anything, but on top of that, the coupling isn't exactly centered on the rod to start with. I've noticed that no matter how I adjust it, the rod seems just a smidge smaller than the bore it's meant to fit in. Might try to see if I can alleviate this with maybe some tape or something, but other than that, the only other conclusion I can reach with how this rod "wobbles" as the axis moves up and down (and it's audible, too, slightly mis-align it and it screeches, get it as lined-up as you humanly can and there's still an easily audible "wumm-wumm-wumm" as it moves) is that the acme rod is bent.

[Snickerdoodle]

I can't wait for my parts to come in the mail. I ordered some 8 diode smoothers for my Wanhao i3 Plus to do away with the salmon skin pattern that shows up, and a teflon tube to keep the filament from pulling at the extruder.

[Paul-Simon]

Making this overly complicated phone clamp to mount on my bike

http://puu.sh/AeSlo.png

I'll report back when I inevitably break my phone (and my bike)

[ElectricSquid]

You should really think about sanding those down a bit and doing some other finishing so that the step lines aren't as clearly visible. It really helps with the final quality/appearance of your stuff. I often don't have a chance to do this because my prints are small and detailed and would break if I sanded them too much.

[Paul-Simon]

https://puu.sh/AfzIz.png

Testing today.

[BAZ]

I've spent today replacing all the fans on my printer, mounting a fang and designing and printing a new control box cover.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/703/f34fdcdc-c080-4419-a000-d84d16258cc7/image.png

All the fans are maglev, I had to step down to 12v for the blower but it was worth it.

I designed the cover since the original air inlet was actually smaller than the fan blades which lead to some weird turbulence effect. I also gave myself some more room for the taller fan. It all works with the stock hardware too if that's what you're after. The new cover should let out the hot air from the board when the fan isn't spinning too.

Quieter + Cooler Ender

[Snickerdoodle]

Finally got around to building a stand today

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/619/15cdb9ee-b22b-46d0-9280-61e745d0cb47/yimlqpgalcw01.jpg

[Zero-Point]

Friend asked me to print him a "Big Decision Die" with an Ork theme: where a "1" is the Ork glyph for "Zog" (no good) and "6" is "WAAAGH!" (watch out!). He was even nice enough to purchase the color of filament he wanted for it:

https://i.imgur.com/UqxRYP4.jpg

Left is an older design, right is the latest with accurately placed 1 and pips (they were backwards on the old design, oops ) and more rounded corners to facilitate rolling better. They're 25mm across.

And since I still have this big ol' roll of green filament, I grabbed a saguaro pen-holder off of Thingiverse and printed one for my great-aunt, who used to live in Arizona and misses the saguaros very much.

https://i.imgur.com/6zryX3k.jpg

Had a couple of small boogers, some sightly Z-seams, and some obvious Z-wobble, but she loves it anyway. It's the biggest thing I've printed on this thing so far. 122 grams of plastic, and it took 15 hours to print.

[BAZ]

So I discovered the topology optimisation feature in Fusion and though i'd design a headphone bracket based around it.

Here's the process:

http://i.cubeupload.com/sgBUEo.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/8qOsOd.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/9foKTH.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/v4k3eP.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/sdPds1.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/6kmtlT.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/ErQfLb.jpg

and then as a bonus

http://i.cubeupload.com/8XB19W.jpg

[Paul-Simon]

I've been meaning to play with that. Cool shit.

[Snickerdoodle]

How does the end product compare to the original version in terms of filament use? With any other manufacturing method, this would be a clear improvement but with the whole shells+infill curveball, I can't tell if more or less filement winds up being used.

[Zero-Point]

As it physically reduces the amount of volume you need to cover for a given strength, I'd say it saves a fair bit.
CNC Kitchen discusses the process in somewhat more detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAGFkWkqocI

[NoRegard]

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132317/2f04f8a4-1979-4343-b35e-9131aba3b31b/image.png

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132317/537ab65a-2eb4-4daa-8c7a-5116160fd8d0/image.png

A button case that will be mounted to the wall, for this

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Dome-Push-Button-Red/dp/B00CYGTH9I

[Paul-Simon]

Small Items Drawer (With label inserts) by PaulTheSimon

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/490/2aabf125-be6f-428a-82c8-506873aa4eac/image.png

[Zero-Point]

Made my mom a planter for Mother's Day and put a Red Heart Hens and Chicks in it (didn't think to get a picture of it with a plant in it but oh well). She loved it, but insists on calling it a cat.

https://i.imgur.com/P3ckl6V.jpg

[Snickerdoodle]

I did it. I finally finished up the enclosure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFXGeavgKEg

[Zero-Point]

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132319/2aec8f24-7856-4429-8ae0-d6b37ceed4c9/32474732_10214294611111909_1246789406430330880_o.jpg

With plent.

[Robber]

I recently got a 3D printer (CR-10) and I hope it's okay if I bump this thread with some content.

I'm running a D&D campaign and since I just got my 3D printer I decided playing on hand "drawn" 2D maps wasn't as visually exciting as it should be.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/801dec83-415d-41c0-84f9-a9a4cad63d61/drawn.jpg

For my campaign's main hub I wanted a few buildings surrounded by palisades. Since I couldn't find any in the excellent OpenForge collection (Link) I decided to try my hand at designing it myself. This was the first result:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/ef52e2a1-c539-4672-9a3f-e9dba531308e/first_result.jpg

Since I needed over 30 tiles to complete the map and printing them took forever I wanted to try using a plaster cast. As you can see it's obviously impossible to cast the entire tile as in one go. My first idea was the separate the bottom and top parts, but it still seemed like cast that would be very hard to do correctly (also my print warped for unrelated reasons).

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/9a26267e-ad7e-4e3c-ba6d-5d0b0e516fea/separated.jpg

In addition I wasn't sure if using plaster for super thin things like the palisade wall was possible. I tried a thicker version of the wall, but that looked like shit:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/3490777a-bbd4-41a1-a2bf-aa9d4369e8f6/thicc.jpg

So in the end I printed the thin wall and top floor and produced molds with them.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/18d447ea-f596-4156-bfeb-ca5a1fdf7c71/top_and_wall.jpg

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/5efbdd05-faac-4371-8c60-80eaa62b0d24/molds.jpg

This is the result before I painted over the glue (which I used too much of):

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/bc95ca87-c5ea-4575-b4fb-2ebbebebadb8/finished.jpg

(ignore the shitty quality, I don't think that's related to the model, but I fucked up the mold and created far too many bubbles in the plaster. I'll create a new one with two parts in one mold anyway to produce more of them faster.

In addition I'm using a magnet based openlock system and will have to print the bottom floor anyway.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/b15c5542-5833-4f4e-8f43-f281521b221c/magnet.jpg

I used OpenSCAD for designing everything since I have very little experience with CAD software, beginner software like TinkerCAD felt too limiting and I already am used to coding. (TODO image here)
It's a great piece of software.

Bonus: I also printed and cast some OpenForge tiles:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/143242/9e6f9c47-c7b0-495b-bf5b-2ea2f7352c17/openforge.jpg

That's a mixture of printed and plaster parts.

[ElectricSquid]

I've wanted to print terrain for wargames and DnD for a while but the printer I use doesn't have good enough resolution (I think) to handle the level of detail I'd want. That's super cool that you got it to work, though!

[DonRobo]

What resolution does your printer have? I've had a lot of success with 0.1mm layer height which seems to be the standard for cheap printers.

[ElectricSquid]

I honestly have no idea. This is the store page for the printer: Afinia H800+ 3D Printer » Afinia 3D Printer listing "0.1(100 micron)/0.15/0.20/0.25/0.30/0.35mm" as the layer thickness, but I don't know which one of those it is and I can't actually tinker with the printer (my school library operates it) to get better results. Whatever res it is, it's not *terrible*, but it doesn't handle small or complex detail to my satisfaction.

[Zero-Point]

Layer thickness can typically be set in your slicer. It's nozzle diameter that you'd have to actually alter the printer for.