3D printer thread - what have you been printing? - Creationism Corner

Oh hey I didn't know this thread existed. I'm planning to build a Reprap, still reading about it though. I see loads of people selling parts on Ebay, so I'll probably order from there.

I've been slowly collecting parts for a 3d printer for short while, and currently only have some of the electronics. I am planning on building a prusa i3, but wondering if there are any cheaper alternatives that'll be just as good for a beginner? Considering I don't really know what I'll use it for, I'd rather not spend a huge amount on it.

Just ordered printed parts for a box model Prusa i3. I'm going to build this one slow like how I did with my quadcopter. It's fun to have something on the side to work on.

Related: For those in the UK, just watched an episode of 'Click' on BBC News all about 3D printing Link [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03k5tjr/Click_23_11_2013/"]here[/URL] and [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01lf8x4/Click_3D_Printing/"]here[/URL] As a part time prop maker I was strangely intrigued about using 3D printers for prosthetic limbs. Also, there was a 3D printing convention on in the UK, Paris and New York. Link [URL="http://3dprintshow.com/london2013/venue/"]here[/URL].

Anybody know where I can find the documentation to build one of these things on the cheap?

[QUOTE=woolio1;42980267]Anybody know where I can find the documentation to build one of these things on the cheap?[/QUOTE] reprap.org

Just printed my first model: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9D945WWNL0[/media] It's a platform extension for my Quadrocopter, so I can attach a camera to it. Sadly, I made it a wee bit too small so it doesn't fit as nicely.

anybody try out ninjaflex?

[QUOTE=DrDevil;42985963]Just printed my first model: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9D945WWNL0[/media] It's a platform extension for my Quadrocopter, so I can attach a camera to it. Sadly, I made it a wee bit too small so it doesn't fit as nicely.[/QUOTE] Your bed is too close to your nozzle by just a little bit. Getting the z-level alignment right is a pain in the ass, but it's one of the most important factors in the bottom ~10 layer's quality. I can tell that it is too close because the bottom layer is totally translucent, it should squish down some, but not to the point where it's razor thin and you can easily see through it. Try giving your z-set screw a quarter turn. Plus when it squishes that much on the bottom layer, you are building back-pressure in the hot end and the extruder gear is working harder to push it out. This can lead to stripped filament, a failed print, and a headache trying to get the filament out sometimes. Also, It's not incredibly important to keep fresh kapton tape on the bed, but it looks like you have enough buildup on there to make it un-level during prints, I would change it. Personally I really liked the glass with hairspray and no kapton. It was much easier to just switch out pieces of glass than trying to get the tape on there without bubbles. Plus you can just put the glass in the dishwasher, and you can set up a glass pre-warmer to make the bed heat up faster. these are my opinions, and not fact.

[QUOTE=frozensoda;42992030]Your bed is too close to your nozzle by just a little bit. Getting the z-level alignment right is a pain in the ass, but it's one of the most important factors in the bottom ~10 layer's quality. I can tell that it is too close because the bottom layer is totally translucent, it should squish down some, but not to the point where it's razor thin and you can easily see through it. Try giving your z-set screw a quarter turn. Plus when it squishes that much on the bottom layer, you are building back-pressure in the hot end and the extruder gear is working harder to push it out. This can lead to stripped filament, a failed print, and a headache trying to get the filament out sometimes. Also, It's not incredibly important to keep fresh kapton tape on the bed, but it looks like you have enough buildup on there to make it un-level during prints, I would change it. Personally I really liked the glass with hairspray and no kapton. It was much easier to just switch out pieces of glass than trying to get the tape on there without bubbles. Plus you can just put the glass in the dishwasher, and you can set up a glass pre-warmer to make the bed heat up faster. these are my opinions, and not fact.[/QUOTE] We calibrate the printer before each printing session (and sometimes even inbetween), and our test-print came out good, it's just kinda hard to see in the video because the filament itself was transparent. The kapton (?) tape indeed needs a changing, but it's really terrible to get that stuff on. We're currently in the process to install an inductivity sensor (LDC1000 by Texas Instruments) to accurantely determine the distance of the heating bed to the nozzle. The accuracy is somewhere in the area of microns. We want to embed the sensor next to the nozzle, below the fan.

I recently found out my uni has a 3d printer, what are some cool small things I could print if I ever figure out who to contact about using it?

I'm planning on buying a Printrbot with the expansion, but I'm curious: how strong is the material? I've heard PLA decays over time since it's an organic-derived compound, but what about ABS? Does the melting and subsequent printing degrade its structural strength? I'm planning on using it to build some props and the like, and I'm hoping it'll be able to withstand some abuse.

Have an update on the MA37 because, y'know. [t]http://i.imgur.com/THwBmKz.jpg[/t] I might print it a wall mount too.

[QUOTE=seba079;43105082]I recently found out my uni has a 3d printer, what are some cool small things I could print if I ever figure out who to contact about using it?[/QUOTE] Do you use Arduinos/other smallish circuit boards? I like to print little bumpers/mounting brackets for them. Fairly simple to design and print, but very satisfying when you get it right. [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3798635/2012-12-27%2021.49.21.jpg[/t] [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3798635/2013-01-30%2008.55.16.jpg[/t] [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3798635/2013-01-30%2008.55.56.jpg[/t] [editline]9th December 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=ramirez!;43117391]I'm planning on buying a Printrbot with the expansion, but I'm curious: how strong is the material? I've heard PLA decays over time since it's an organic-derived compound, but what about ABS? Does the melting and subsequent printing degrade its structural strength? I'm planning on using it to build some props and the like, and I'm hoping it'll be able to withstand some abuse.[/QUOTE] There are a lot of variables that govern strength, infill density, outer wall thickness etc. I think you will be able to make something that will take a bit of punishment if you design it carefully. ABS is pretty robist as a material anyway. I'm not a materials engineer so I can't really tell you more, but I have designed a lever for opening windows and printed it in PLA which was plenty strong enough to provide the force necessary to push in a window button.

I just ordered parts for a RepRap i3 from reprapworld.com, haven't recieved any updates on my order since the paypal e-mail though :-( Has anyone here had any experiences with them?

There was a con in my town recently. So I brought over my Solidoodle and started printing keychains at a booth I shared with my friends. It was pretty awesome. A lot of people got interested in one and when I told them the price of RepRaps and Solidoodles most of them were surprised to find out how cheap they were. A guy requested for some customized keychains so I took out the [url=http://tinkercad.com] the quickest and easiest CAD [/url] I could find and designed it live. Looked back and there was a crowd watching me design. All I did was make a square with words and a hole on it. :v:

Got my replacement wiring sheath for my printer, It's absolutely flawless now. I'm currently starting some of the larger prints I never was able to before.

[IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/d0/29/1b/fe/6f/100_0453_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/18/91/40/d9/ee/100_0456_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/fb/69/62/a4/0d/100_0461_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/9e/ea/37/85/12/100_0460_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/b7/ad/d0/a5/52/100_0472_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/14/be/b0/df/3d/100_0475_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/13/f1/e6/92/98/100_0535_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] some toys for my son. He loves industrial equipment and space ships [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/2c/a9/d1/8c/5e/100_0480_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/ab/4a/3f/47/ea/100_0476_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/b8/6b/5e/7e/64/100_0466_preview_card.jpg[/IMG] I printed two other space ships too, and we painted them all together on Christmas. It was a fun day. This summer, I am going to print a bunch of model rockets and get some of those rocket motors so we can do rocket launches once a week. I'm getting really good quality out of my machine lately(imo) and for all the newbies I just say trial and error is the best learning tool I have found for this. You really start to get a 'feel' for your machine and what settings need to be changed to fix certain problems, to the point wher eyou don't even need measuring tools anymore. I also printed a lithophane for a present for my wife's mom [T]https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1527119_620612474652753_580251050_n.jpg[/T] I think I can do more to ease the fuzziness on this one, but I haven't tried yet. I'll post another pic if I do. (although IMHO it looks pretty damn good for what it is.) another angle for perspective [t]https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1532111_620612467986087_1971233614_n.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=frozensoda;43439199]-pics-[/QUOTE] Didn't you have to sell your printer?

[QUOTE=joshjet;43444809]Didn't you have to sell your printer?[/QUOTE] I ended up with ownership again after some unfortunate events. The buyer received a full refund.

Maybe its because of the smaller picture but those looked very well done. And here I can't even print anything finer than 0.28 and any software other than Solidoodle Pronterface 4.3 wont connect to the printer.

[QUOTE=adam1172;43449975]Maybe its because of the smaller picture but those looked very well done. And here I can't even print anything finer than 0.28 and any software other than Solidoodle Pronterface 4.3 wont connect to the printer.[/QUOTE] I use 0.0933 layer height most of the time.

[QUOTE=frozensoda;43450994]I use 0.0933 layer height most of the time.[/QUOTE] I use 0.25 quite a lot, I'm mostly printing mounts and stuff which are only to the half mm so I find it an acceptable tradeoff between between accuracy and speed. Never tried anything smaller than 0.1, I get pretty fed up with it taking ages to print since I don't trust it to run by itself without me checking various things every 10 mins or so.

[QUOTE=metallics;43451143]I use 0.25 quite a lot, I'm mostly printing mounts and stuff which are only to the half mm so I find it an acceptable tradeoff between between accuracy and speed. Never tried anything smaller than 0.1, I get pretty fed up with it taking ages to print since I don't trust it to run by itself without me checking various things every 10 mins or so.[/QUOTE] lol yeah I mainly seem to print flat things so 0.0933 is worth the extra time for the quality. When I print other stuff that doesn't have as much detail I use 0.25 as well. also, I chose 0.0933 because of some post I saw on the soliforum about getting better quality if your layer height is a multiple of the smallest step the motor can make. I have no idea if it's true or not but I already got into the habit.

[QUOTE=frozensoda;43451278]lol yeah I mainly seem to print flat things so 0.0933 is worth the extra time for the quality. When I print other stuff that doesn't have as much detail I use 0.25 as well. also, I chose 0.0933 because of some post I saw on the soliforum about getting better quality if your layer height is a multiple of the smallest step the motor can make. I have no idea if it's true or not but I already got into the habit.[/QUOTE] It's true, assuming you know the pitch of the thread and all that. Ours is set up to do that but I round when talking to make life easy.

[QUOTE=metallics;43451396]It's true, assuming you know the pitch of the thread and all that. Ours is set up to do that but I round when talking to make life easy.[/QUOTE] Point taken :) 0.1 it is

I have access to a replicator 2 and 2x, I've been using soft pla here and there but I find it doesn't have the elastic properties that I want. So I bit the bullet and ordered a roll of ninjaflex, (it's tpe, rubber). [url]http://www.fennerdrives.com/ninjaflex3dprinting/_/3d/[/url] I don't know when it'll come in, but in the mean time ask what tests or settings I should try out with the makerbot, better yet if you want to send me an stl file or some common solid geometry model which I could print in a makerbot that will be great. (within reason though, I do not want to take 10 hours for a print or risk ruining a printer) I'm not an expert at 3d printing, so I don't have the knowledge as someone in the reprap community, however I'm able to make educated guesses. My plan with ninjaflex besides (crossing my fingers), printing a shoe is use the rubber at places where in a kinematic object might pinch a finger or two making it slightly safer.

[QUOTE=Ithon;43479445]I have access to a replicator 2 and 2x, I've been using soft pla here and there but I find it doesn't have the elastic properties that I want. So I bit the bullet and ordered a roll of ninjaflex, (it's tpe, rubber). [url]http://www.fennerdrives.com/ninjaflex3dprinting/_/3d/[/url] I don't know when it'll come in, but in the mean time ask what tests or settings I should try out with the makerbot, better yet if you want to send me an stl file or some common solid geometry model which I could print in a makerbot that will be great. (within reason though, I do not want to take 10 hours for a print or risk ruining a printer) I'm not an expert at 3d printing, so I don't have the knowledge as someone in the reprap community, however I'm able to make educated guesses. My plan with ninjaflex besides (crossing my fingers), printing a shoe is use the rubber at places where in a kinematic object might pinch a finger or two making it slightly safer.[/QUOTE] post results, i'm interested in this material

[QUOTE=Ithon;43479445]I have access to a replicator 2 and 2x, I've been using soft pla here and there but I find it doesn't have the elastic properties that I want. So I bit the bullet and ordered a roll of ninjaflex, (it's tpe, rubber). [url]http://www.fennerdrives.com/ninjaflex3dprinting/_/3d/[/url] I don't know when it'll come in, but in the mean time ask what tests or settings I should try out with the makerbot, better yet if you want to send me an stl file or some common solid geometry model which I could print in a makerbot that will be great. (within reason though, I do not want to take 10 hours for a print or risk ruining a printer) I'm not an expert at 3d printing, so I don't have the knowledge as someone in the reprap community, however I'm able to make educated guesses. My plan with ninjaflex besides (crossing my fingers), printing a shoe is use the rubber at places where in a kinematic object might pinch a finger or two making it slightly safer.[/QUOTE] [img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1521533_10153697698245137_1361805574_n.jpg[/img] ? [editline]12th January 2014[/editline] Do it!

[QUOTE=adam1172;43498538][img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1521533_10153697698245137_1361805574_n.jpg[/img] ? [editline]12th January 2014[/editline] Do it![/QUOTE] that print is too big, would take hours like 8 or so with just normal pla/abs. I could make a smaller print. Also what the hell is that UI, the soft button on the 2x is fine.