3D Printers

[reezeh]

3 minutes ago, reezeh said:

Altair Herschel wedge in the arsenal... ?

Which means there's a piccie or two of it I'll have to post up as it arrived today.

I'll just need to take piccies and email them to myself so I can put them up here (didn't I mention that I am seriously starting to hate Apple and iPads somewhere else yesterday?)

[reezeh]

5 minutes ago, Gina said:

Finder-scopes can blind you if pointed at the sun.  PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!!

Thank you for the concern Gina. A good chunk of my posts on here have been exactly what you're saying. I've no intention of having the finder anywhere near when I do that; I'll probably leave it in the house ?

I've long perfected shadow-aiming refractors at the sun and I'm thinking that safest way would be to assess the situation from a few feet away once everything is in place before eye goes to eyepiece.

The Altair model is one that's rated safe up to six inch, with ND filters and a variable polariser on the eyepiece side of the prism plus has a ceramic heat dispersion plate and air vents.

The reason for stopping down is to increase safety and to take into account that daytime seeing is never more than what that stop will give.

[JamesF]

25 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

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

Dave

That was my initial thought, too.  Use one of those compass circle cutter things to cut the plastic and it should be a doddle.

James

[reezeh]

29 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

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

Dave

I'd much prefer something that is like the proper end cap, with a removable central section AND grips into the dewcap rather than a botch-job that can fall off or be potentially pulled  casually off by a passing idiot.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

38 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

For all our bluster, scanners\copiers are made in the 10,000's whereas 3D printers are much small numbers, so it all comes down to economies of scale...

[reezeh]

3 minutes ago, JamesF said:

That was my initial thought, too.  Use one of those compass circle cutter things to cut the plastic and it should be a doddle.

James

For night scope use I'll go along with that but for something like solar I'd not trust some simple oversized piece of poo stuck on the end of the dewcap. I'd want something that can't just drop off anytime...

[Davey-T]

I have a similar refractor and made one that simply drops inside the dew shield, as it's not part of the safety system it won't do any harm if it falls out not likely though when aimed at the Sun and invisible to passers by.

Dave

[Gina]

I get worried when anyone starts mentioning telescopes and the sun particularly when it is suggested or hinted at of putting any sort of plastic within a telescope or at the eyepiece end.  This can be very dangerous. 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

3 minutes ago, reezeh said:

I'd much prefer something that is like the proper end cap, with a removable central section AND grips into the dewcap rather than a botch-job that can fall off or be potentially pulled  casually off by a passing idiot.

I've done something similar when I wanted a central pilot hole on the end of a circular wooden pole. It would just be scaling up...

This was done in Tinkercad, which is a free web based design tool made by Autodesk....

 

Pole Centre Hole.stl

[reezeh]

1 minute ago, Gina said:

I get worried when anyone starts mentioning telescopes and the sun particularly when it is suggested or hinted at of putting any sort of plastic within a telescope or at the eyepiece end.  This can be very dangerous. 

Indeed!

The stop I'm discussing is before any optics, that's why I asked if 3D printer materials would be stable to insolation as some plastics aren't.

I wouldn't dream of putting something that's not suitable for that behind the lens and I wouldn't use a reflector telescope like my SCT's with the sun either.

[Gina]

No offense meant and I hope none taken.  I'm afraid it's my mothering instincts coming out.

[reezeh]

Don't worry about it.

You'd have to be pretty old to be my mummy now! ?

And yes, even though I've not been on the forum for long (I still see myself as a new member) I'm not as green as people are tempted to assume from that.

I've long been connected with astronomy - it's work that got in the way a lot and still does. That's why to keep myself with it I'm getting an urge to enjoy it in daytime.

I can't stop up till 5am looking through a telescope if I've got to set off for work at quarter to eight... and before anyone suggests it; noway am I able to sleep from five in the afternoon to 1am.

I do get a fair bit of time off though working for a school! ?

Talking of which, I've mulled over the idea of arranging with the school an observing evening, but considering they're like gremlins (as in the film) I keep dismissing it.

[reezeh]

57 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

I have a similar refractor and made one that simply drops inside the dew shield, as it's not part of the safety system it won't do any harm if it falls out not likely though when aimed at the Sun and invisible to passers by.

Dave

Better than something simply tied to the end that's obviously there, but still I've misgivings about anything that isn't practically locked in place.

True, with precautions taken even full aperture should be as safe as it can be, considering you've got to be ocd about it, a stop would help make things safer.

Besides as I already mentioned earlier; there's no real advantage in using an aperture that doesn't add any more resolution to a seeing-limited situation. There's certainly no need for the extra light gathering ability in that situation either!

Edited December 31, 2018 by reezeh
Last paragraph added

[Davey-T]

Still can't see the problem, I use my 152mm refractor with / without aperture mask for solar so doesn't really matter if it falls off.

Dave

[reezeh]

12 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Still can't see the problem, I use my 152mm refractor with / without aperture mask for solar so doesn't really matter if it falls off.

Dave

True.

Just that my experience of aperture being more than necessary when seeing won't support it is that you see less of what you want and more of what you don't want.

 

You'll never see anyone with a 60mm telescope grumbling about bad seeing! ?

 

And of course this is all just something I've been wondering about and thought I'd ask in a thread about making in a 3D printer.

Edited December 31, 2018 by reezeh
Last sentence added.

[reezeh]

3 hours ago, Gina said:

No offense meant and I hope none taken.  I'm afraid it's my mothering instincts coming out.

I'd much rather see the warnings.

Can't overstress safety. It's a good thing you did; any newbie or inexperienced random browser might see them and stop to think. I'm wise enough to know beforehand it's a great help for others and hopefully will save their vision.

 

I have an analogy with telescopes pointed at the sun: their potential likelihood to do you permanent damage if you're not careful are the same as sharing a bath with a toaster whilst it's toasting your bread.

Edited December 31, 2018 by reezeh
changed wording of last sentence.

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, RolandKol said:

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!)

If you want parametric 3D Alibre Atom3D costs about £99 outright.

There's a free 6-month licence at www.alibre.com/mew/ but I should make it clear this is associated with the magazine I edit (but no purchase required).

 

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, RolandKol said:

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!)

If you want parametric 3D Alibre Atom3D costs about £99 outright.

There's a free 6-month licence at www.alibre.com/mew/ but I should make it clear this is associated with the magazine I edit (but no purchase required).

 

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, RolandKol said:

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!)

If you want parametric 3D Alibre Atom3D costs about £99 outright.

There's a free 6-month licence at www.alibre.com/mew/ but I should make it clear this is associated with the magazine I edit (but no purchase required).

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Argh! Sorry for the multiple post - computer was pretending to ignore my clicks!

[Chriske]

16 hours ago, Gina said:

I get worried when anyone starts mentioning telescopes and the sun particularly when it is suggested or hinted at of putting any sort of plastic within a telescope or at the eyepiece end.  This can be very dangerous. 

I made a (almost)fully printed 250mm f/6 Dob (Printsonian) I'm always careful working with it while observing the sun.

[Voyager Too]

Happy new year to you all.
I have been toying with various designs for a 3D printed front panel for my Raspberry Pi
media player. I have found that the infra-red signal from a remote control readily
passes through a panel printed with black PLA filament. Does this have safety implications
for those considering making 3D printed holders for Baader film solar filters, particularly
sub-aperture ones for larger telescopes?
Incidentally I use a Wanhao Duplicator i3 and am very satisfied with the results.

[Gina]

I think most black filament will pass IR.  This makes it unsuitable for a lot of astro applications.

[Chriske]

Yep, black is not the best choice to make telescope-parts when observing(to long) the sun
That"s why I print all outdoor applications in 'pristine' white using PLA.
PETG is far better for outdoor applications.

5 minutes ago, Gina said:

I think most black filament will pass IR.  This makes it unsuitable for a lot of astro applications.

 

[Chriske]

 2 years back I've tested different brands of PLA and also a few different types.
To make a long story short.
Hollow rings (150mm diameter) hanging in the burning sun all year long. Started with 0.5kg  weight and after a few days filled the bottles  to 1kg.
In the pictures were 2x PLA(black and white) another was nGEn and XT.
The absolute winner was PLA that had nearly no deformation after months in full sun.

 

The walls of the rings were only 0.8(!) mm thick.