(NA) Who knows about 3D printing?

flyingcheesehead said:
I've been wondering how many people are using 3D printing to make test models before making the actual objects using a CNC milling machine...
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I'm using my 3D printer to make a CNC milling machine. It ain't gonna mill metal very well, but I figure I might be able to use it for some woodworking projects.
 
Arm3 said:
I haven’t ventured beyond using PLA and PETG filaments and will probably stick with those until I have a need for something different.

Do you have any experience with ASA? It’s supposed to be the successor to ABS with better UV tolerance and lower fumes when printing. I’d experiment with it myself but it’s more expensive by 50% or more over PLA/PETG/ABS. I could see using it in the future but will probably wait until I have an actual use case for it.

I’d also like to try and use one of the flexible filaments or the wood infused types that can be sanded and stained.
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So I got the ASA in and have made a few parts with it. It seems a little denser and harder than PETG. Parts seem quite a bit stronger too. It certainly has a bit more smell to it than PETG, but it's not horrible. You can print it in smaller layers and it gives a nice finish. I was wrong about the bridging though, it likes bridging even less than PETG does. The only other drawback I've seen with it is its doesn't like to stick to the plate. I ended up using blue painter's tape and spraying that with a spritz of rubbing alcohol to get it to stick. Haven't tried finishing parts with acetone vapor yet, but that's still on my to do list.

All in all I like it for making durable parts, I'll probably use it more than PETG.
 
I had completely forgotten about this thread in the intervening two years, but it popped up in a search. Prusa released their mk4 model this spring, and that was the nudge i needed to jump in. It arrived a bit over a week ago and it's already become one of those "how did I live without this?" things. It's so fun to have an idea or need and transform that into a physical object in a couple hours. The Prusa does in fact "just work". I bought the pre-assembled version, plugged it in, loaded the filament, and printed one of the parts that came pre-loaded on the flash drive. It worked flawlessly. I had to do no setup or tuning. Absolutely amazing. There's a bit of a learning curve with using the slicer software, but it's pretty easy. I have started making some things in tinkercad, and my oldest did as well, designing a toy and then printing it. The kids are fascinated by the thing and it's become quite the entertainment for them. Most of the stuff I've wanted has been available in some form on thingiverse or printables.com.

The short version is, I highly recommend the Prusa mk4; it just works. 3D printing in my opinion has matured to the point you can use it as a tool and not have to invest hobby-level time to do so.IMG_20230620_104706457.jpg
 
that's purty. My pimped ender 3 is like a datsun 510 at this point (and I just added a whambam flexi build plate to help PETG pop off of the build plate) , but it still runs and get it done :)

As soon as it breaks, though, I see where I'm headed.
 
Thanks for the feed back. My wife calls it the modern fish bowl. Where one can sit and watch it print for hours.

I have couple Creality printers an Ender 3 and A CR-10s. These do require more tuning to get to print well. but they are significantly cheaper. The ender 3 is a great cheap little printer to start with, especially if you are only going to print with PLA. I don't think they require a lot of tinkering if you don't start modifying them right away like I did. I like printing on Glass Plates, which I added to both printers. Some may now come with them. But it did require some re-adjustment for the extra thickness of the glass.

Printing with PLA seems to work very well. Main disadvantage of PLA is that is a lower temp material and will soften in direct sunlight or where it can warm up. PETG is more stable at warmer temperatures as is ABS. ABS tends to print better for me, but will tend to warp or detach from the bed especially on larger parts. PETG, doesn't warp as bad, but tends to leave strings on the print and I tend to have some nozzle plugging issues.

I am threatening to try a direct extruder, like your Prusa MK4 has,to see if it helps with some the stringing and nozzle issues I have seen with PETG.

I have found it to be in indispensable tool, I can barely hang a photo now without printing some sort of jig or tool or template to assist with doing so. I find it impressive how many things I use it for.

As mentioned perhaps one of the largest roadblocks is creating the 3D drawings to print. I already had extensive experience creating 3D drawings so this wasn't much of an issue for me, Although I have worked on learning a few different applications for various reasons.

Brian
 
Jim K said:
I had completely forgotten about this thread in the intervening two years, but it popped up in a search. Prusa released their mk4 model this spring, and that was the nudge i needed to jump in.
...
I have started making some things in tinkercad, and my oldest did as well, designing a toy and then printing it. The kids are fascinated by the thing and it's become quite the entertainment for them. Most of the stuff I've wanted has been available in some form on thingiverse or printables.com.

The short version is, I highly recommend the Prusa mk4; it just works. 3D printing in my opinion has matured to the point you can use it as a tool and not have to invest hobby-level time to do so.View attachment 118236
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Very cool! I gave up waiting on Prusa to release the mk4, and I was already a bit iffy on the price, so I bought an Anycubic Kobra Plus. It's not as fiddly as the low end machines thanks to things like dual Z axis and auto-leveling, and it's got a larger-than-normal print volume by about 50% in all axes. One thing it does NOT have is support for the GCode command for "Resume" so I can't switch filament in the middle of a print.

What pushed me over the edge to buy it was the discovery that you can download, sometimes for free, STL files to print radio controlled airplane parts. Then, when you crash, you just reprint the broken parts, rebuild and go fly again!

In sharing that with my 6-year-old, he's gotten very into the whole 3D printing thing, and one day out of the blue he said "Daddy, I want to learn CAD." (He knew what that was thanks to some 3D printing-related YouTube channels we watch - ProjectAir is probably the most likely to be of interest to folks here.)

So, we got into TinkerCAD and designed some 3D printed parts that let us make toilet paper and/or paper towel tubes into model rockets and we've been launching those. Fun! :) Next step will be to do the same in a more "serious" CAD program like Fusion360, but TinkerCAD is a great way to start for kids of all ages; I think it took us about an hour of watching a tutorial on YouTube to be able to jump in and make those rockets, so definitely not a significant time investment.

A 3D printer is definitely one of the better and more useful "toys" I've ever purchased.
 
If you do get a 3D Printer, consider adding a Raspberry Pi based server [Octoprint] to control the print jobs. Add a web camera and you can watch progress remotely and it can terminate the job if it detects problems with the print. Octoprint is free software although donations to the developer is encouraged.
 
I have converted two of my printers to Klipper and I can't see ever going back...

Besides the web connection with mainsail and the extra speed, the convenience of doing it all from one chair makes it fun and easy.

Klipper and Octoprint are basically servers that take over the complex math of the print job, freeing up the printer's electronics for simply running the stepper motors. I have Klipper running on a $20 converted TV box, so the cost of entry is super low and a good printer can be found for around $200. The cost of filament will surpass the initial costs of the hardware within a few weeks of printing stuff...
 
One of the features of the mk4 is built in wifi. They also have software to allow control in a browser on the local network. Prusaslicer will also send the gcode directly to the printer, and start it if the printer is in the ready state. I think the software will allow access from outside the local network if you set it up that way, but I haven't felt the need to do that. I also think there is a way to remotely control and monitor multiple printers, which I presume they developed to operate their own internal print farm.
 
brcase said:
What kind of material? I have been having similar issues with PETG, PLA rarely has issues.

Brian
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That was PLA. I failed two more prints before I figured out that one of my parts was like 1mm off the bed :frown2:
 
I bought a Prusa mini a couple of years ago to get started in printing. Just recently spent the money to buy the new Bambulabs X1 Carbon with the AMS. It works so well it's ridiculous. Multi color prints are a breeze, the fault detection works great.

Had a storm Sunday night that knocked my power out for a bit. I had a print running but had forgot about it. About 15 mins after the power came back up I get a notice on my phone, it's the printer asking me if I want it to continue from where it left off when power was interrupted. I tell it yes and the the print finishes with no issues.

I printed these out for the wife when I first got it.

20230416_184101.jpg 20230417_035658.jpg

Then I printed these out for me to replace those ancient hubcaps that I had to remove anytime I need to add air to a tire.

20230613_164553.jpg
 
OK. Going to revive this one.

My wife surprised me with a Bambu A1 Mini for Christmas this year. Stupid simple to get set up. I had the first print running in less than 30 minutes from when I cut the packing tape on the box. I had it running nearly all day every day (and eventually overnight) after Christmas until I had to go back to work this week.

Since this thread is over a year old, anybody made any interesting progress on in the 3D printing world? So far, I've only done PLA stuff, but thinking of getting some PETG or ASA to try to make a RPi-powered bird feeder camera for my wife. Yes, I know I can buy them on Amazon, but where's the fun in that!?
 
My wife actually said that she is glad that I got a 3D printer. I make little **** here and there for her or the shop. Made some parts to replace broken or missing parts on a tripod, laundry organizer thing, new feet for outdoor furniture, tablet mount for the airplane, blah blah blah.

When my wife was a kid, she had a music box that would play a tune and had a rotating Christmas tree on it. She wanted that in full scale...

Last I checked, I have over 2000 hours on the printer.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Using stuff that makes stuff to make stuff that makes stuff! I like it! :D
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GUYS! This is how the machines are going to take over! Don't encourage it!

CJones said:
OK. Going to revive this one.

My wife surprised me with a Bambu A1 Mini for Christmas this year. Stupid simple to get set up. I had the first print running in less than 30 minutes from when I cut the packing tape on the box. I had it running nearly all day every day (and eventually overnight) after Christmas until I had to go back to work this week.

Since this thread is over a year old, anybody made any interesting progress on in the 3D printing world? So far, I've only done PLA stuff, but thinking of getting some PETG or ASA to try to make a RPi-powered bird feeder camera for my wife. Yes, I know I can buy them on Amazon, but where's the fun in that!?
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I have two enders and have never done anything except PLA. I like having them around. And for the price I can justify (barely) them. I've made camera mounts for the strut on my plane. I made a fake youtube award as a prop on one of my videos. I made clips to hold fairy lights to my tent. I, just a few days ago, made a bunch of clips to tack a LED strip light to the edge of my deck so that the woods would glow when I'm chilling out in the hot tub. I made a big shuttlecock with a GoPro mount that will chase objects thrown from a plane down to the ground and film the crash. I bought a hundred harmonicas and built a mount to attach them to the plane so that they would drone like a bagpipe on landing. That one was a bummer when it turned out that even landing speed was too much for the harmonicas to work. But I had fun with the experiment! I made an SD card holder so they aren't loose in my bag. I made a model tensegrity table of a design I intend to build full scale for my porch some day.

It's been fun.
 
CJones said:
OK. Going to revive this one.

My wife surprised me with a Bambu A1 Mini for Christmas this year. Stupid simple to get set up. I had the first print running in less than 30 minutes from when I cut the packing tape on the box. I had it running nearly all day every day (and eventually overnight) after Christmas until I had to go back to work this week.

Since this thread is over a year old, anybody made any interesting progress on in the 3D printing world? So far, I've only done PLA stuff, but thinking of getting some PETG or ASA to try to make a RPi-powered bird feeder camera for my wife. Yes, I know I can buy them on Amazon, but where's the fun in that!?
Click to expand...
I was just thinking about this thread a couple days ago as I was setting my printer up for another run. I used it a fair bit, and taught my oldest daughter the basics. She used the heck out of it, but eventually couldn't get anything to print, so it sat for a few months. After harvest, I spent a bunch of time cleaning it up and getting it working again, largely because I wanted to print some cover plates for the engine overhaul project. That lead me to teach myself enough Fusion to get by, and since then the printer has hardly stopped. It's running right now. It just finished up the last of the trestles for the train table, and I just started it on printing some templates for bending the leading edge of the rudder on the RV.

At this point, I wouldn't be without one. I've learned a lot about what it can and can't do. Overall I'm VERY happy with it. There's lots of support online for it, and generally speaking, it's pretty trouble free. PLA is mostly push button-get part. PETG can be more finicky with different brands. I printed a roll of wood-fiber PLA for the trestles that looked really cool.

I think learning some real 3D modeling software is the key to making it work. Fusion is free (with some limitations that really shouldn't affect hobbyists), and also has lots of support from forums and youtube. Every time I've had a hard time figuring something out I've been able to find a video explaining it, often from Autodesk themselves. Here's one of my more ambitious projects...a hood for the indicator for a Lionel track switch:

switch indicator hood v7 2.jpgswitch indicator hood v7.jpg

Kinda silly, but a good learning experience. Also a very good project to learn about thinking ahead to printing while making the model.
 
CJones said:
but thinking of getting some PETG
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PETG can be stringy, but otherwise not a big deal. A filament drier is supposed to help.

Another option, rather than owning / maintaining a printer is to send your files to one of the many only manufacture on demand places - send cut send, xometry, etc.
 
Jim K said:
I was just thinking about this thread a couple days ago as I was setting my printer up for another run. I used it a fair bit, and taught my oldest daughter the basics. She used the heck out of it, but eventually couldn't get anything to print, so it sat for a few months. After harvest, I spent a bunch of time cleaning it up and getting it working again, largely because I wanted to print some cover plates for the engine overhaul project. That lead me to teach myself enough Fusion to get by, and since then the printer has hardly stopped. It's running right now. It just finished up the last of the trestles for the train table, and I just started it on printing some templates for bending the leading edge of the rudder on the RV.

At this point, I wouldn't be without one. I've learned a lot about what it can and can't do. Overall I'm VERY happy with it. There's lots of support online for it, and generally speaking, it's pretty trouble free. PLA is mostly push button-get part. PETG can be more finicky with different brands. I printed a roll of wood-fiber PLA for the trestles that looked really cool.

I think learning some real 3D modeling software is the key to making it work. Fusion is free (with some limitations that really shouldn't affect hobbyists), and also has lots of support from forums and youtube. Every time I've had a hard time figuring something out I've been able to find a video explaining it, often from Autodesk themselves. Here's one of my more ambitious projects...a hood for the indicator for a Lionel track switch:

View attachment 136950View attachment 136951

Kinda silly, but a good learning experience. Also a very good project to learn about thinking ahead to printing while making the model.
Click to expand...
If only you print a camshaft. :)
 
wanttaja said:
I'm using EAA's free version of Solidworks. This is a professional package that does little hand-holding for new users.
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I understand that it is no longer free.

I use freecad because it is open source and not subject to the "get them hooked then raise the price" model used by many of the commercial sources. Yes, it can be quirky at times, but it works. LOTS of how-to content on youtube.

IMG_0240.JPG
 
Jim K said:
I was just thinking about this thread a couple days ago as I was setting my printer up for another run. I used it a fair bit, and taught my oldest daughter the basics. She used the heck out of it, but eventually couldn't get anything to print, so it sat for a few months. After harvest, I spent a bunch of time cleaning it up and getting it working again, largely because I wanted to print some cover plates for the engine overhaul project. That lead me to teach myself enough Fusion to get by, and since then the printer has hardly stopped. It's running right now. It just finished up the last of the trestles for the train table, and I just started it on printing some templates for bending the leading edge of the rudder on the RV.

At this point, I wouldn't be without one. I've learned a lot about what it can and can't do. Overall I'm VERY happy with it. There's lots of support online for it, and generally speaking, it's pretty trouble free. PLA is mostly push button-get part. PETG can be more finicky with different brands. I printed a roll of wood-fiber PLA for the trestles that looked really cool.

I think learning some real 3D modeling software is the key to making it work. Fusion is free (with some limitations that really shouldn't affect hobbyists), and also has lots of support from forums and youtube. Every time I've had a hard time figuring something out I've been able to find a video explaining it, often from Autodesk themselves. Here's one of my more ambitious projects...a hood for the indicator for a Lionel track switch:

View attachment 136950View attachment 136951

Kinda silly, but a good learning experience. Also a very good project to learn about thinking ahead to printing while making the model.
Click to expand...

I've used the 3D printer as an excuse to force myself to learn Fusion. It has a somewhat steep learning curve (or maybe that's just 3D modeling in general), but once you get over the hump, it's definitely fun to tinker with. My wife has started sending me links to Etsy or Pinterest do-dads saying "Can you do something like this?" and my son saw my printing some of the Threadboard stuff and asked if I could do some for him (he's about to get to learn how do that himself), so the whole family is bought in already. I saw Kent's post about printing stuff for RC airplanes, and I see there is a "PLA-Aero" available, so might have to look into that more, too.

Fun stuff for sure for perpetual tinkerers.
 
Dave Theisen said:
If only you print a camshaft. :)
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Briggs&Stratton puts plastic cams and cam gears in their small engines. They're press-fit onto a steel shaft, and a suddent stoppage will cause the cams or cam gear to slip, requiring a camshaft replacement.
 
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donjohnston said:
Yeah, it's not free. But $24 per year is pretty good.
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I seem to recall there was a step in between free and the $24 it is now where it was not available through EAA...? Regardless, when it became unfree I switched to Fusion360 and would not go back. The simulation capability alone made it worth the pain of the transition. It also runs much better on a Mac than SW, but that's not a factor for everyone.

Nauga,
milling about smartly
 
nauga said:
I seem to recall there was a step in between free and the $24 it is now where it was not available through EAA...? Regardless, when it became unfree I switched to Fusion360 and would not go back. The simulation capability alone made it worth the pain of the transition. It also runs much better on a Mac than SW, but that's not a factor for everyone.

Nauga,
milling about smartly
Click to expand...

It's been 50ish the last few years. I had some prior experience with it and for $50, I'm totally fine paying it. I can't get my head around Fusion, and really was only using it the one winter I tried to play with my little 3018 cnc. I'm even more fine at $24. It really extends the utility of having an FDM machine for me.

@Jim K - do you have any other bed sheets or only the smooth one? The sheet matters a lot when you print different materials. PLA won't stick to the textured Prusa sheet, and PETG won't work well with smooth. Prusa came out with that satin they claimed is the solution to everything. I am a dope and have all 3 types *laugh*
 
bentmettle said:
It's been 50ish the last few years. I had some prior experience with it and for $50, I'm totally fine paying it. I can't get my head around Fusion, and really was only using it the one winter I tried to play with my little 3018 cnc. I'm even more fine at $24. It really extends the utility of having an FDM machine for me.

@Jim K - do you have any other bed sheets or only the smooth one? The sheet matters a lot when you print different materials. PLA won't stick to the textured Prusa sheet, and PETG won't work well with smooth. Prusa came out with that satin they claimed is the solution to everything. I am a dope and have all 3 types *laugh*
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yeah, I bought a smooth and a textured. I have some bargain basement PETG at the moment that wouldn't stick to the textured sheet, so I tried the smooth. It stuck so well that it peeled the coating off the sheet with it :rolleyes:. Thankfully they have two side. A light scuffing and VERY thorough cleaning of the textured sheet, and I was able to get my job done, but it's still just barely sticking. Just when I think I have it figured out, I find a new wrinkle.

My last SNAFU was a drill bit tray I was printing that was nearly the size of the build plate. About halfway through, the corners would lift (PLA). I eventually found the right combination of temperatures, fan, and brim to get it done, but it took me half a dozen tries. I think the room temperature was part of it as well. It's surprising how much difference 20 degrees of ambient temperature can make, although humidity could be part of that was well. The temperature thing is one advantage the new enclosed models like the Bambu have.
 
I haven't made anything all that cool, to many things going on, but my mk3 prusa has been a lot of fun and handy. Best thing ever to make little fiddly plastic replacement parts for things. A cylindrical snap clip for a manual rotating food grater, a holder for the ezpass thing for the window of a car, small custom sized boxes for electronic components, etc.

I also use freecad, not always intuitive but it works fine, and the prusa slicer. Mostly in PLA, once or twice in ASA. For ASA, I just print a windscreen around the part in a cylinder shape, and that seems to keep the part hot enough that I don't have to put the printer in an enclosure. Higher ambient temps help...I haven't trying printing ASA below 70F room temp. ASA is good partly because it's a bit stronger, but more because it will withstand temps inside a car or airplane without getting soft. PLA is more like a 100F max thing if your lucky kind of thing, in my experience.

One thing I want to try next is making some positive molds from PLA and doing small sand casts in aluminum. For things like small brackets or mechanical fittings where printed plastic just isn't strong enough.
 
CJones said:
My wife surprised me with a Bambu A1 Mini for Christmas this year.
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Nice! It seems that the A1 Mini is a really great way to start - It's as inexpensive to purchase as the Enders were, but it works about a thousand times better, with no "fiddling" necessary while the Enders were kinda something you bought to fiddle.
CJones said:
Stupid simple to get set up. I had the first print running in less than 30 minutes from when I cut the packing tape on the box. I had it running nearly all day every day (and eventually overnight) after Christmas until I had to go back to work this week.
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And that is what it's all about, and something the Ender types can't do out of the box. Plus, with the Bambu stuff you have the option of adding a multi-material unit as you get more advanced.
CJones said:
Since this thread is over a year old, anybody made any interesting progress on in the 3D printing world? So far, I've only done PLA stuff, but thinking of getting some PETG or ASA to try to make a RPi-powered bird feeder camera for my wife. Yes, I know I can buy them on Amazon, but where's the fun in that!?
Click to expand...
I finally got some TPU (rubbery) filament and I've used it to print a few things. Most recently, the case for my iPhone started falling apart so I printed a new one from TPU. I'll also use the TPU to print tires for that airplane eventually.
rwellner98 said:
I made a big shuttlecock with a GoPro mount that will chase objects thrown from a plane down to the ground and film the crash.
Click to expand...
Ooooh, I want to see this!
rwellner98 said:
I bought a hundred harmonicas and built a mount to attach them to the plane so that they would drone like a bagpipe on landing. That one was a bummer when it turned out that even landing speed was too much for the harmonicas to work. But I had fun with the experiment!
Click to expand...
:rofl: That's awesome! I think what you need now is to repeat the experiment by making, um, "Harmonica nacelles" with an SR-71 style inlet spike and adjust until they work. :D
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Ooooh, I want to see this!
Click to expand...

Here's a photo of it after a flight.
1736529461915.jpeg


Here's the mount I designed. The feathers I got from an unknown source. I can pass along gcode or stl files to anyone interested. The basic idea is that it has a pool of fishing line in between the feathers. The spool keeps the fishing line under control during take off. Then when you toss it out the window with the payload, the drag on the feathers causes the fishing line to unspool and then follow the payload down once it reaches the end of the line.

Onshape

Sign in to Onshape, the #1 fastest growing CAD system in the world with over 4 million users.
cad.onshape.com cad.onshape.com
 
Ah, here we go. Here's the feathers I used. Everything else I redesigned for this purpose.


www.thingiverse.com

Chase cam for paragliding - On spot assembly without screws or zip ties by BeriBGood

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE DESCRIPTION INCLUDING THE EDITS IN THE ENDOriginal postI have been using a "PET bottle" chasecam for the last 4 years made of a standard PET bottle and a Gopro surf mount. It was working well but the drag was never enough and the camera was always too close to me for...
www.thingiverse.com www.thingiverse.com
 
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