First 3D print adventure

[silentrunning]

Having enquired on these forums about 3D printing, one kind member printing of my first design and some success printing a couple of items with a chap running a small print business round the corner I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a 3D printer!

Opted for the Ender 3 pro as it was recommended by the chap round the corner and the internet is full up with mostly high recommendations.

First print was a Benchy which looked perfect with no stringing, blobs or anything else. Then I printed my first custom built thingy. It's a inner  and outer threaded adaptor that allows me to attach aall sky lens to an old QHY5 camera I've had lying around for years. It took me some time to get familiar with metric thread profiles but once I had that down I used FreeCad to design it and export it to an STL file, this is it loaded into Cura slicer...

Saved that to the SD card and set it printing. 4 Minutes later and it's done. Amazing and a perfect fit on both threads, the inner one has a pitch of just 0.5mm and the print quality is amazing, printed at 0.1mm slices.

Here it is connecting the two parts together - lens needs a good clean...

And a picture through the camera of me and the new toy!

Will now either use as an All Sky Camera if I design an enclosure for it and/or put it in the obsy for keeping an eye on slews etc.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

The world is now your oyster.... as far as little things & repairs of broken bits are concerned

[Gina]

Yep, you'll love it (if you're anything like me).  Well done.  Welcome to the wonderful world of 3D printing 😀

Edited June 19, 2020 by Gina

[tekkydave]

You do realise you are now on two slippery slopes; astro and 3d printing 😱😊

[silentrunning]

20 minutes ago, tekkydave said:

You do realise you are now on two slippery slopes; astro and 3d printing 😱😊

Ooo yeah I can see the truth in that! 

Edited June 19, 2020 by silentrunning

[Xsubmariner]

Hi John,

Congratulations with your first printing experience and successful outcome. May I enquire if your STF file is available for others?  

I also recently acquired a 3D printer but sadly have not yet set it up.  The recent good weather resulted in Astro payback and my wife generated a substantial list of building and maintenance work that I am progressing.

I look at the printer repeatedly but must resist. Soon my precious you and I will build a new world. 😳

Martin

[silentrunning]

1 minute ago, Xsubmariner said:

Hi John,

Congratulations with your first printing experience and successful outcome. May I enquire if your STF file is available for others?  

I also recently acquired a 3D printer but sadly have not yet set it up.  The recent good weather resulted in Astro payback and my wife generated a substantial list of building and maintenance work that I am progressing.

I look at the printer repeatedly but must resist. Soon my precious you and I will build a new world. 😳

Martin

Haha, cheers Martin.

STL file attached...

QHY5Fish.stl

[Xsubmariner]

Thanks John, this will likely be my first print job. I plan to build an all sky camera and interestingly have a spare Qhy 5L- that needs reassigning. I was thinking I might try one of the all sky lenses that came with my ZWO 120 cameras. Yet another project for the schedule.

[silentrunning]

7 minutes ago, Xsubmariner said:

Thanks John, this will likely be my first print job. I plan to build an all sky camera and interestingly have a spare Qhy 5L- that needs reassigning. I was thinking I might try one of the all sky lenses that came with my ZWO 120 cameras. Yet another project for the schedule.

The QHY5L is a different beast to the QHY5 which is it's very ancient predecessor. I don't think this adaptor will be of use, it was made for the plate shown in the photo which is totally different from the QHY5L.

 

 

 

[Gina]

I have a feeling you may not need an adapter.

[Gina]

It's a matter of C or CS mount.

[badgerchap]

Welcome to 3D printing! Such a joy seeing your creations emerging upon the build plate before your very eyes! 

 

I'm impressed with the thread pitch you managed from an FDM printer, that's great going! I have a resin printer that can perhaps go a smidge smaller on a very, very good day, but would be a lot less rugged than what you'll have produced. Great work. Might have to get myself an Ender too.....  

[silentrunning]

On 19/06/2020 at 15:40, badgerchap said:

Welcome to 3D printing! Such a joy seeing your creations emerging upon the build plate before your very eyes! 

 

I'm impressed with the thread pitch you managed from an FDM printer, that's great going! I have a resin printer that can perhaps go a smidge smaller on a very, very good day, but would be a lot less rugged than what you'll have produced. Great work. Might have to get myself an Ender too.....  

Your right it's mesmerising watching this thing!!!..