(NA) Who knows about 3D printing?

[CJones]

Damn it. Now I'm gonna have to do that... And my wife said I should throw out the harmonicas...

Throw in a Raspberry Pi that's measuring the air pressure and dynamically open/closes a baffle to let more or less air in and you can play a song every time you land.

Could be an interesting training aid for students - if the song doesn't sound right, you're either too fast or too slow on landing.

 

[rwellner98]

Throw in a Raspberry Pi that's measuring the air pressure and dynamically open/closes a baffle to let more or less air in and you can play a song every time you land.

Could be an interesting training aid for students - if the song doesn't sound right, you're either too fast or too slow on landing.

The original plan, abandoned long ago, was to program gates at each hole to open and close and thus be able to play songs.

 

[wanttaja]

I'm using EAA's free version of Solidworks. This is a professional package that does little hand-holding

I understand that it is no longer free.

True, and there are a lot of complaints about the "Experience" version that replaced it.

However, Solidworks does have a fantastic program for veterans. For $20 a year, you get the educational version of SW (same as the students get).

I haven't done much 3D printing for a while. Recently took on a little job, and it was daunting trying to remember how to do stuff in Solidworks again. I do have another package, but all my initial experience was in SW and I have trouble transitioning.

I used it, and my 3D printer, earlier this year for the first time in 18 months or so. The airport replaced all its lighting, and invited folks to come through and grab any of the old lights they wanted. I got a ratty old taxiway light and built a stand for it....

Yes, it looks like a toilet plunger. I built the silver base from a wooden disk and a wooden "bun foot" base, and repainted the pole and the light mount. Having the pole just come out of the top of the wooden "bun foot" looked crude, so I used SW and the printer to make that little "adapter" that sits on top.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Throw in a Raspberry Pi that's measuring the air pressure and dynamically open/closes a baffle to let more or less air in and you can play a song every time you land.

This reminds me of the runway at Disney World that would play a song upon landing, only better!

Could be an interesting training aid for students - if the song doesn't sound right, you're either too fast or too slow on landing.

Or if you got it to play a different song!

On speed: Walking on Sunshine
Too slow: Don't Fear The Reaper
Too fast: Bat Out of Hell

The original plan, abandoned long ago, was to program gates at each hole to open and close and thus be able to play songs.

That would be super cool... But yes, very difficult! It might be easier to just use enough harmonicas that each one has its own notes/chords and then block or enable the whole harmonica at once.

 

[Albany Tom]

This reminds me of the runway at Disney World that would play a song upon landing, only better!

Or if you got it to play a different song!

On speed: Walking on Sunshine
Too slow: Don't Fear The Reaper
Too fast: Bat Out of Hell


That would be super cool... But yes, very difficult! It might be easier to just use enough harmonicas that each one has its own notes/chords and then block or enable the whole harmonica at once.

...and if you have time to hear "The End" by the Doors, then perhaps you shouldn't be doing those 20 mile straight in finals anymore.

 

[CJones]

...and if you have time to hear "The End" by the Doors, then perhaps you shouldn't be doing those 20 mile straight in finals anymore.

Maybe some Foo Fighters "Learning to Fly" for initial lessons and "Wheels" for retract training.

 

[charheep]

I got my kid the FlashForge 5. We have been printing on it almost every day. Lots of free things on thingverse. I am thinking of looking at multi color options as the next purchase. Big learning curve with orcaslicer and 3d printing in the beginning with all the options available, but now almost everything is printed with default settings and coming over great.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

...and if you have time to hear "The End" by the Doors, then perhaps you shouldn't be doing those 20 mile straight in finals anymore.

That reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me about a night in college when he and some friends went to a bar. It was packed and the jukebox was playing all the favorites, some people dancing, etc. A friend of his went to the jukebox and sunk a bunch of quarters and selected The End to play over and over multiple times. He said that place cleared out cuz they had killed the entire party vibe of the bar, lol!

 

[WWFeldman]

I purchased one of the new Bambu Labs carbon X1 printers. You can also get a unit that plugs into it that holds 4 separate spools of filament and it will switch back and forth between them allowing you to have different colors in your 3d print.

I designed and printed up new wheel covers for my 172 out of PETG with it. The Bambu Labs printers are really good and really easy to use, I recommend them to anyone.

 

[CJones]

I purchased one of the new Bambu Labs carbon X1 printers. You can also get a unit that plugs into it that holds 4 separate spools of filament and it will switch back and forth between them allowing you to have different colors in your 3d print.

I designed and printed up new wheel covers for my 172 out of PETG with it. The Bambu Labs printers are really good and really easy to use, I recommend them to anyone.

I'm THIIIIIS close to pulling the trigger on an AMS Lite for my A1 Mini, but I'm trying to decide how long I'm going to wait to go to a X1 Carbon, which would use a full AMS. I guess TWO fully-loaded systems wouldn't be a BAD thing, though.

 

[WWFeldman]

I'm THIIIIIS close to pulling the trigger on an AMS Lite for my A1 Mini, but I'm trying to decide how long I'm going to wait to go to a X1 Carbon, which would use a full AMS. I guess TWO fully-loaded systems wouldn't be a BAD thing, though.

Hold off on the carbon till they introduce their new printer sometime this year. Everyone assumes they'll drop the prices on them as soon as the new one launches.

 

[CJones]

Hold off on the carbon till they introduce their new printer sometime this year. Everyone assumes they'll drop the prices on them as soon as the new one launches.

Good to know. I'm not in any rush. I'm only in tinker mode at this point.

I was looking at the AMS Lite and they're not shipping until end of month (at best). Then I looked at the A1 Combo, and I can get the A1 (with larger bed than my current mini) AND AMS Lite for only $240 more than JUST the AMS Lite for my A1 Mini. Basically, buying the A1 Combo means getting the A1 printer for $150. I mean...it's almost like MAKING money buying it as a combo, right?... RIGHT?!

 

[WWFeldman]

Good to know. I'm not in any rush. I'm only in tinker mode at this point.

I was looking at the AMS Lite and they're not shipping until end of month (at best). Then I looked at the A1 Combo, and I can get the A1 (with larger bed than my current mini) AND AMS Lite for only $240 more than JUST the AMS Lite for my A1 Mini. Basically, buying the A1 Combo means getting the A1 printer for $150. I mean...it's almost like MAKING money buying it as a combo, right?... RIGHT?!

Absolutely! I went and looked and that's a good price on that combo. I've been so impressed with the X1, I thought a lot of their early claims were total BS, but it's everything they said it would be. Really interested to see what their new one is going to be like. I've heard it's bigger, but that's the only thing I've seen leaked so far.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I was looking at the AMS Lite and they're not shipping until end of month (at best). Then I looked at the A1 Combo, and I can get the A1 (with larger bed than my current mini) AND AMS Lite for only $240 more than JUST the AMS Lite for my A1 Mini. Basically, buying the A1 Combo means getting the A1 printer for $150. I mean...it's almost like MAKING money buying it as a combo, right?... RIGHT?!

"Think of the savings!" This is how my co-owner and I buy avionics. And that's why I'm poor.

Absolutely! I went and looked and that's a good price on that combo. I've been so impressed with the X1, I thought a lot of their early claims were total BS, but it's everything they said it would be. Really interested to see what their new one is going to be like. I've heard it's bigger, but that's the only thing I've seen leaked so far.

Bambu is so far ahead of most of the rest of the industry already that it gets hard to imagine what they're going to do next.

I suppose one could take some guesses based on reasons why you might still buy something else:

1) Size. My printer is larger than any of the Bambu ones. Though I haven't printed any single items that were too large for the Bambu's 256^3 volume, I have been able to print more things at once that way. This one is pretty obvious which is probably why it's out there.
2) Faster filament changes. I honestly don't know how long the X1C MMS takes but I was speaking with the owner of a filament company at a recent Maker Faire and he was showing me how far back the X1C MMS has to pull the filament, and that takes a fair bit of time away from a printer that hangs its hat on speed. The A1 MMS Lite is actually much better in this regard.
3) Less filament waste - The Prusa XL's technique of using multiple tool heads rather than switching and purging is far superior if you do a lot of multi-material printing. It seems like multicolor especially, as well as multi-material, have gotten very popular in the past year or two with all of the MMS units available, but you can sure waste a lot of filament that way.

And for Bambu, it seems like bringing 3D printing to a much wider audience is a primary goal, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them take more steps to make 3D printing even more accessible.

 

[Albany Tom]

Savings? Well, 3D printing is cheaper than flying, unless you're getting paid to fly. But as far as hobbies goes, it's a pretty inexpensive one.

Oh, and all my experience has been with the melty filament type. No experience with the uv setting resin type. Those, from what I understand, are way messier and have more fumes, and generally a smaller print area but more detail.

 

[asicer]

Oh, and all my experience has been with the melty filament type. No experience with the uv setting resin type. Those, from what I understand, are way messier and have more fumes, and generally a smaller print area but more detail.

I have access to a Form 3. Fumes from the resin itself aren't bad at all. However, prints need a isopropyl alcohol bath and you probably already know what that's like. You only really notice it when the lid is open, though. As far as mess, Form Labs use a cartridge system which unless you carelessly spill, keeps things quite neat. Print volume on the one I use is certainly smaller than any filament-based printer I've ever used. They do make different size printers, though.

And yes, the visual quality is way better than filament.