I quite fancy, for a bit of fun, building one of these sub-£100 3-D printer kits.
My wife (I'm careful, she's mean) wants to know what use it is. Looking on the internet they mostly seem to be used to print improved parts for the 3-D printer so that, presumably, you can 3-D print even better parts. Needless to say this isn't going to work with my wife (I'm rational, she's awkward).
Any suggestions?
Another Dave
First one looks a more rickety design that usual (only one support in each axis).
Surely a small pink spacerocket or some armour-plating for your cat, as per the advert, will be sufficient to win her over?
Apparently not. It contains some metal rather than just acrylic. Besides, if it were perfect, I'd have no enhanced parts to print ...
Another Dave
Erm...
I've just broken some 40 year old plastic door handles on a cupboard. Could print identical looking replacements.
I need a spacer to raise the back of a turntable tonearm to match taller cartridges.
I have an old fluke DMM with a broken slide switch. I have a casio music keyboard with a broken key.
I've seen a screw on device that aerates water from the tap, reducing consumption when washing hands...
. .New Christmas fairy for the top of the tree?
Get some Milliput, instead :-)
Daughters ex has asked me if I could print some large chainsaw chain cutter models for show_and_tell for his class (he used to be able to buy them from Oregon).
As has been mentioned elsewhere, I can do so easily, subject to the size required and the suitability to 3D printing etc but he would have to either get the 3D model file off them Oregon (if they have such and are willing etc) or get the vernier calipers out and Sketchup on a PC and get drawing. ;-)
But the list of 'handy things' that I often couldn't just buy that I have printed is too long to mention.
The last was some little plastic feet to allow daughter to raise her wooden pet rabbit hutch / run to stand just off the concrete to stop it sitting in water (and going rotten quickly) but low enough to not let sawdust and stuff to bow out.
She's just bought a multi-panel steel framed run that comes powered coated but I fear will lose it's coating underneath (and go rusty etc) if dragged over the concrete. So, I intend to design and print some clip on feet, two per panel to both keep it just off the ground and therefore stop it getting damaged (like the concrete blocks you see on temporary fencing round building sites etc). It won't matter if the rabbits chew them as I generally use PLA and I believe that's made from corn starch or some such?
The next job for the spring is to design and print a square mast foot for the folding / sailing dinghy and a matching mast step insert to help prevent the mast rotating under use / sail.
The biggest thing I've designed and printed was a 90 Deg corner bracket to allow me to mount an outside light designed to go on a flat wall on the corner of a wall instead (and so lighting down both sides). I couldn't find a corner lamp fitting with the features I needed in the price range I wanted.
Oh, and I printed all the plastic parts to build two more printers. ;-)
Even after a couple of years using the 3D printer (after building it), I still get a buzz out of thinking of something in the morning and having it in my hand as a solid plastic object a couple of hours later. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
My car club had some no longer available plastic brackets made up. Since they do break in time, fair to assume the originals only just adequate. The printed ones lasted five minutes in use.
So I'd be wary of assuming something printed is as strong as a part made by traditional means, if identical dimensions.
Print your own Christmas fairy for the tree ?.
Or for the impoverished people, download the Ken Bruce effigy from the BBC R2 website and use an entire ink cartridge to print it.
try Thingverse and see if you can find something to suit. Ornaments? Jewellry moulds as lost plastic casting.
The first thing I got 3D printed was a digital sundial. Basically something you can only realistically make with 3D printing!
But sometimes printed things can be (much) stronger than the things they are replacing.
A neighbour has a big 'D cell' Maglight type torch and it came with a shoulder strap held onto the torch by two big plastic clamp / loops.
He had one replaced under warranty and then the other one failed and he was quoted £15 inc to get a replacement.
It was a simple design / print job so I made one from the dimensions and (broken) sample he gave., but it was a bit too small (his dimensions were out) so his son tried to break the replacement (as it was of no use).
He is a big lad and only after quite a bit of bending and twisting was he able to break it and the replacements have been on the torch for nearly two years now with no sign of breaking.
So, a few things come into play when considering printing 'replacement' items:
1) Is it easy to do with a straight 3D printer (without a dual extruder printer and 'lost' support filament etc)? 2) Are you using the most suitable plastic (eg, it can get very hot in a car in the summer and some of these filament materials have a fairly low melting point (and still soften below that))? 3) Is the printer setup and printing properly? 4) Are you printing the job with the printing 'grain' in mind re strength?On that last one, I have had print jobs fall apart because the extruder was too cold and the layers not bonding to each other etc.
On the whole though, one of the things most people say when you show them a print job for the first time is 'how strong it is'. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
Do you have any idea how much time and cost it will be to 'make' these hand les ?
I wouldn't bother I'd get some new handles.
That's what they all say it is ;-)
But honestly I wouldn't bother.
The time and effor envolved even if you do managed to be able to download t he part.
That is prooably the best reason for getting one, as long as you know that it;ll just be in one boring colour not very smooth, low detail and take 4 h ours+ to print.
But ti can be fun if you have nothjing to do for teh next few months but le arn the design software and how to use it.
It's a bit like making your own nuts and bolts.
But yuo didnlt design it yourself did you. It's like getting a poster or painting done. You can buy a printer, capture the image from the website and print your ow n colour printer or go to anthena or other shop and buy a ready made poster .
Yes you can do door handles and all sorts of other small things from what I recall, but actually creating the 3D file it needs to do it is going to be the biggest challenge and possibly cost if you need to use some kind of 3D scanning system or laser hologram maker.
Brian
About 15 quid for a 1kg roll of PLA filament. That will print about
1kg worth of objects and many can be made hollow (so use less material down to about 5%).Cheers, T i m
I have been printing models for N scale railways. The first world war tanks go like hotcakes. Recently started doing mkIV with retractable sponsons so they are as they were railed to the front. I had to cut up a thingiverese model using fusion 360 to make them.
Print the part.. make a silicon mould.. cast the part with glass filled epoxy.. job done.
Just whats neede hollow stuff, to fix parts that are broken.
This is one of teh problems with 3D printing your own spares the plastic genrallly speaking just insn't the quality required for fixing much other than replacement pens tops ansd small objects of little use.
But fun if you like doing that sort of thing, liek making your own xmas cards and birthday cards, but after a year I got fed up with that too so went back to buying them when needed.
Yes, we could print an exact replica of your brain and it would work better than the one you have now! ;-)
As usual the subtly of my reply to Brian re the cost of filament and the typical usage range has whooshed you and I'm not going to be dragged into another pointless discussion with you on anything.
Especially since we have already established you know about as much about 3D printing as you do electricity or thermodynamics! ;-(
Cheers, T i m
I know a bloke who does that, to get things to the proper scale on his model steam engines.
For first several years, I only saw 3-D printers printing more
3-D printers. Found myself humming The Sourcer's Apprentice...I visit quite a few maker/hack spaces, and nowadays they are usually very busy printing parts for someone's project, and pieces of artwork.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.