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3D Printers


Thalestris24

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Have been browsing again and found the PocketMaker 3D Printer and the Createbot Super Mini 3D printer that fit the bill size wise but have no idea if they are any good, there does seem to be a lack of small printers on the market.

Alan

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They both look very pretty, and even though they've been around for some time, there isn't much on-line info\reviews on them....

The problem is that with any printer, especially smaller ones, is that you will just want\need to print a slightly bigger part than can safely be printed, without the head running into top or sides etc. that's why the 200x200 size is almost a standard, as it will cover 80% of most peoples needs.

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Some years ago when |I had the little UP Plus 2 with 130mm x 130mm print area I found it decidedly limiting.  My smallest working printer now has a 200mm x 200mm bed.  There is very little to be gained by going smaller even if you only ever want to print small parts.  Going smaller means going non-standard and will cost more.

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As James said, you can't make certain parts any smaller.  My Mini printer has a footprint of 400mm x 360mm.  It may be possible to get it a bit smaller but not much without sacrificing accuracy.

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Oooh, I have just printed out a box with a latch and an "in place" hinge, so the two halves of the box close together, but there is no break in the hinge that joins them and they cannot be separated.  That really is rather cool.  It was only a small test piece to see if it would work (planning ahead for my box of driver bits as mentioned above), but now I can see lots of potential uses.

What would be very handy now would be the ability to add text to a design in openscad, so I can make labels for the lids.

James

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Hi all,

I am waiting for my first printer "Anycubic i3 Mega 3D Printer", should be delivered today!!! 

I hope I will manage to hold myself till tomorrow as the 31st of December is not the best day for experiments! :)


P.S. I still have not managed to choose the software for design... TinkerCAD webapp looks very basic... AutoCad - too expensive, however, I do have it in the office, just in case.... a bit lost in this area.

any new starter advises are very very welcome! :)

(like web libs, soft, settings and "no no things" especially!) :)

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4 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

P.S. I still have not managed to choose the software for design... TinkerCAD webapp looks very basic... AutoCad - too expensive, however, I do have it in the office, just in case.... a bit lost in this area.

any new starter advises are very very welcome! :)

 

Fusion 360 seems to be the popular choice - https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

I don't have any experience of it though, there are some open source alternatives too but ill let someone more knowledgeable on those chime in.

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15 hours ago, JamesF said:

Oooh, I have just printed out a box with a latch and an "in place" hinge, so the two halves of the box close together, but there is no break in the hinge that joins them and they cannot be separated.  That really is rather cool.  It was only a small test piece to see if it would work (planning ahead for my box of driver bits as mentioned above), but now I can see lots of potential uses.

What would be very handy now would be the ability to add text to a design in openscad, so I can make labels for the lids.

James

Print in place hinges and joints are very handy. Some of my early design experiments used them

It looks like 3D text should be possible. Looking at the cheat sheet and manual I think it would be via a linear extrude of 2D text. I've yet to try it though. Maybe a job for later today

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Regarding design software, as previously noted, I use OpenSCAD which uses constructive solid geometry to create objects.  It's a bit like Sketchup (which some people also use for 3d printing design), but whereas Sketchup uses a GUI to create objects, OpenSCAD uses a simple programming language.

FreeCAD is another that I've been meaning to get my head around.  I have the impression that it is perhaps a bit more like a traditional CAD package and somewhat more interoperable with them than OpenSCAD, but I may be entirely wrong there.

Whilst Neil isn't looking I'll also mention that if I've understood correctly, Model Engineer's Workshop is offering a free six month subscription for Alibre Atom3D at the moment and publishing tutorials for it in the magazine.

James

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1 minute ago, Mognet said:

Print in place hinges and joints are very handy. Some of my early design experiments used them

It looks like 3D text should be possible. Looking at the cheat sheet and manual I think it would be via a linear extrude of 2D text. I've yet to try it though. Maybe a job for later today

I'm definitely going to have to look at it at some point soon.  It would be nice to have an "engraved" label on containers, but it also struck me today that I could 3d print large plant labels for the veggie plot if text was easy to do.

James

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One cup of coffee later...embossed text in OpenSCad

$fn=1;

difference() {
    // Create block
    translate([-50, -5, -10]) cube([100, 10, 10]);
    
    // Subtract text
    translate([0, 0, -2])
        linear_extrude(height=2, center=false)
            text(text="Stargazer's Lounge", size=5, font="Courier New:style=Bold", halign="center", valign="center");
}

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22 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

I dont think anything bigger than an 80 mm bed size would fit on my coffee table and I cant imagine that I would want to print anything larger than about 40 mm anyway.

Alan

Take a look at the Ender 2, I have the Ender 3 and find it to be quite compact, but still not coffee table size really.
The model before it is a bit smaller though.

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Whilst on the subject of 3D printing and astronomy, I'm wondering if someone can print a good, viable aperture stop of about 100 - 116mm for a 152mm refractor, centre hole for solar use. Material and construction opaque, especially to visible and infrared of course. Obviously, it'll be more economical to ask someone to do it than purchase a setup for a single job.

By viable, I mean worthwhile, will stand up to the ultraviolet onslaught of exposure to sunlight for hours at a time and not soften and deform from sun's heat.

It's something I'm mulling over and even if it happens I'm in no rush atm.

 

Thoughts anyone?

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1 minute ago, Alien 13 said:

I have been thinking about 3D printer costs and was wondering what part takes up most of the cost?, after all a modern scanner copier is more complex with more moving parts but are very cheap.

Alan

But produced in vast numbers!

Edited by Gina
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4 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

I have been thinking about 3D printer costs and was wondering what part takes up most of the cost?, after all a modern scanner copier is more complex with more moving parts but are very cheap.

Alan

If you were self building the largest chunk of cost would probably be the mechanical parts - aluminium frames and connectors etc.
Followed by the electronics
Then the motors

But it depends on quality of each part - for example you could buy a £100 hot end or a £9 china clone, a £20 ramps board or a £200 duetwifi controller.

Edit: I think personally that machines like the Enders in their sub £200 price bracket are going to be the cheapest commercial units available that are actually half-decent. I doubt we will see good quality sub £100 for a few years yet.

Edited by upahill
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6 minutes ago, reezeh said:

Whilst on the subject of 3D printing and astronomy, I'm wondering if someone can print a good, viable aperture stop of about 100 - 116mm for a 152mm refractor, centre hole for solar use. Material and construction opaque, especially to visible and infrared of course. Obviously, it'll be more economical to ask someone to do it than purchase a setup for a single job.

By viable, I mean worthwhile, will stand up to the ultraviolet onslaught of exposure to sunlight for hours at a time and not soften and deform from sun's heat.

It's something I'm mulling over and even if it happens I'm in no rush atm.

 

Thoughts anyone?

Don't even think about it!  There is very great danger unless you really know what you're doing with solar.

For white solar, Baader solar film in front of the telescope is what's needed.  For Ha you need very specialised equipment - get it wrong and you can easily blind yourself!!

Wrong parts in the telescope can result in fire or explosion.

Edited by Gina
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2 minutes ago, reezeh said:

Whilst on the subject of 3D printing and astronomy, I'm wondering if someone can print a good, viable aperture stop of about 100 - 116mm for a 152mm refractor, centre hole for solar use. Material and construction opaque, especially to visible and infrared of course. Obviously, it'll be more economical to ask someone to do it than purchase a setup for a single job.

By viable, I mean worthwhile, will stand up to the ultraviolet onslaught of exposure to sunlight for hours at a time and not soften and deform from sun's heat.

It's something I'm mulling over and even if it happens I'm in no rush atm.

 

Thoughts anyone?

Easier / quicker / cheaper to make one from a bit of 3mm plasticard.

Dave

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