Top 10 things to make with a 3D printer

[adyj1]

I have an ender 5 with a whole bunch of upgrades. The metal hot end and glass replacement bed mean I can print PETG, which works for me, with pla+ as a close 2nd.

I was just trying out the glass bed to see if it would cure my adhesion problems, and clipped it onto the base part of the magnetic bed (in other words with the removable magnetic bit removed. When I came to remove the glass bed to try the magnetic one again I found the glass was stuck solid! At least I sorted my adhesion out issues with the glass, and it means I don't need clamps anymore as it isn't going anywhere 😂 Hair spray is my adhesion weapon of choice... 

[powerlord]

Nobody much uses ABS there days if they can avoid it- there are better alternatives that are stronger, don't stink and don't warp as much. abs's one benefit is it sticks to beds well. that's about it.

A good all rounder is PC - and that's my goto really.

I would not use ABS for astro parts - you want rigidity - PLA or PC. not abs or petg or nylon.

I used to use ASA as my first substitute for ABS before the PC stuff came along, but I don't really use it now.

The nylon ones are awesome - but only suitable for parts that can bend a bit. but for stength they are amazing - I've printed bits that I can pull a car with.

For structural, lowish strength, but high rigidity parts - which is exactly what you want for astro - vixen mounts, samyang focusers, etc - PLA or PC is ideal.

If your complaining that PLA is cracking either you've not printed it right, or you are tightening something too much - it's not aluminium or deformable plastic - tighten to a bit more than finger tight and that's all you need with bolted parts.

PLA is also cheap, easy to print, good bed adhesion and easy to print quickly (a point worth noting is that most printers come with setups that are slower than  the second coming - ramp the speed up until it becomes unacceptable quality and back it off a bit).

tips:

- print at 0.3mm always. It's all you need for structural parts

- tune the profile for speed with acceptable quality. I can print something in 1 hour that out the box took 6 hours.

- settle on PLA or PC to start with and get your settings tuned in and get to know it. worry about other stuff like PETG only if you really need it later.

Also,  as a beginner don't get a self build or an old design unless tinkering with a 3d printer is what you want your new hobby to me, not actually designing and printing stuff. The days of having to swap hot ends, and reflash firmware are gone unless you want them.

that anycubic mega S I got and now use as my main printer works out the box with no modifications. I leveled the bed, and it works. done. get some uhu sticks for printing non PLA and you are rocking.

I've printed rubber braclets, nylon, PC, PETG, ASA, ABS, PC, Nylon all with no problems at all - and quick too. Some as hot as 280 degrees and 110 bed.

But yeh, to repeat:

- get yerself an anycubic mega s. it's good, cheap, and 'just works'.

- get a few rolls of PLA (I use there guys - https://shop.3dfilaprint.com/)

- print fast, at 0.3mm. quick fast prints lets you do lots of prototype interations easily

- do some tutorials on your cad tool of choice. and remember to design for printability (less supports, flat surfaces, flatter rather than higher when on bed for speed, etc)

- don't be afraid to split parts for pritability and glue them together after - this stuff is awesome: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174624696075?hash=item28a871670b:g:edsAAOSw~plgHCNR

- try to get parts from places like gradcad rather than thingiverse. you'll then have the actual part design and not just the STL - so much easier to edit and modify yourself in parametric CAD

- ping me a message if stuck. I've been printing 12 years - which must put me amongst the old guard experience wise, and happy to help if I can 🙂

 

 

stu

Edited February 25, 2022 by powerlord

[powerlord]

11 hours ago, Padraic M said:

I don't have a 3D printer (yet - and this thread is telling me I don't need yet another time-consuming hobby!!!) but I have designed a few things (custom project boxes) for printing in the local 3D print shop. They charge me €50 a go though, so I don't do it often 😲. At that price, printing my own would pay for itself in a few weeks if I don't charge for my time.

I use Fusion 360, because I had been using Eagle CAD for circuit boards for a few years before AutoCAD bought it and integrated it with Fusion 360. The two work well together - you can render a 3D model of your board layout and insert it into the box design.

that is mad! a good printer costs 150 quid !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224823321772?hash=item345883a4ac:g:pgAAAOSwyHhh~asz

[teoria_del_big_bang]

2 minutes ago, powerlord said:

A good all rounder is PC - and that's my goto really.

Something else I have been meaning to try but not really had call to yet.
I think because of the price being 50% more than PETG and so far not particularly needed rigidity as I have not printed anything that directly affects the scope such as spacers or clamps, most of my astro  stuff has been brackets things to neaten up my setup and I like PETG for that as the slight flex makes them less prone to breaking on a cold night (and its cheaper - can you tell I am a Yorkshireman 🙂 ).

But I should get some PC in in case I need something more rigid. What PC do you use ?

Steve

[powerlord]

6 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Something else I have been meaning to try but not really had call to yet.
I think because of the price being 50% more than PETG and so far not particularly needed rigidity as I have not printed anything that directly affects the scope such as spacers or clamps, most of my astro  stuff has been brackets things to neaten up my setup and I like PETG for that as the slight flex makes them less prone to breaking on a cold night (and its cheaper - can you tell I am a Yorkshireman 🙂 ).

But I should get some PC in in case I need something more rigid. What PC do you use ?

Steve

Unless I'm really really being picky - say designing parts for my paramotor, etc. the answer is 'the cheapest'.

But I really like Polymaker stuff - it's very good quality. But it costs. So just use it for that picky stuff. Otherwise, what ever is on sale at 3dfilaprint !

[vlaiv]

2 hours ago, powerlord said:

A good all rounder is PC - and that's my goto really.

PC requires quite high print temperature - often above 280C.

Do you have all metal hot end on that Anycubic Mega S?

 

[powerlord]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

PC requires quite high print temperature - often above 280C.

Do you have all metal hot end on that Anycubic Mega S?

 

nope, and the only thing I've ever printed that hot is nylon.

PC i print around 260. this is my favourite

https://shop.3dfilaprint.com/polymaker-polymax-tough-pc--175mm-white-polycarbonate-3d-printer-filament-without-buildtak-10736-p.asp

never had a problem not having an all metal hot end in the mega S, or my old flashforge - which is still on the original heads after 10 years.

[vlaiv]

2 minutes ago, powerlord said:

 

nope, and the only thing I've ever printed that hot is nylon.

PC i print around 260. this is my favourite

https://shop.3dfilaprint.com/polymaker-polymax-tough-pc--175mm-white-polycarbonate-3d-printer-filament-without-buildtak-10736-p.asp

never had a problem not having an all metal hot end in the mega S, or my old flashforge - which is still on the original heads after 10 years.

I don't have direct experience but I have seen multiple warnings that PTFE tube in hot end degrades / breaks up / whatever at temps higher than say 245C - which makes it shorter, stiffer and in general creates holes in assembly where filament can get stuck and create clogging.

I did read that people say - if you occasionally print high temp material - you'll be ok for year or two before needing to service hot end, but you seem to use that material almost exclusively.

[powerlord]

I've read the same. But its not something I've ever found to actually happen. And thats with all 4 printers I've owned. And most of my printing used to be higher than that on my flashforge.

With my mega I've mostly been printing PLA over the last year or so tbh, with occasional nylon, etc up to 280 so can't vouch for long term there.

But I have never once had an issue from the PTFE tube, never once had a clog and never once had to replace a hot end. That seems to much luck to be luck, but I suppose IF you intended to print at those sorts of temps all the time it would make sense to buy an all metal hot end, it's not like they are expensive. But my experience has been that they are not necessary at all.

[Alien 13]

I am a completer novice but have noticed that PLA filament does vary between manufacturers and different colours from the same one, for instance the white PLA I am using produces parts that are ok and strong but lack the surface detail of the matt black one for example. The finished parts also seem to have differing properties, the white is slightly more flexible but strong with the matt black being far more brittle although much stiffer. Holding a piece of each of the filaments and giving them a "twang" test shows this difference quite markedly..

Alan

[powerlord]

strange. can't say I've noticed difference across colours from same manufacturer myself.

 

stu

[Elp]

Not too concerned about colour variation, it's the physical properties which can be an issue. I've had prints break off their support structures/rafts fairly cleanly and others which stick to them like they're fused together rendering them unusable.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Elp

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 hour ago, Elp said:

Not too concerned about colour variation, it's the physical properties which can be an issue. I've had prints break off their support structures/rafts fairly cleanly and others which stick to them like they're fused together rendering them unusable.

Yes I find exactly the same.
I did have a 5 filament MMU attached for a while and to begin with worked well for supports as I could use any old filament for the supports and then use PVA for the last couple of layers before it connected to the actual print and being water soluble made really easy detachable supports.
But after a while the MMU gave some frustrating issues and after 3 years trying to get it reliable gave up.
I do have one of these on order which if it does what it promises will be a game changer regarding using PVA  for detaching supports as one of the tool-changer heads can be dedicated to it.

 

 

Steve

[Viktiste]

On 24/02/2022 at 19:48, vlaiv said:

I just figured out the way to "3d" print - circuit boards

Well, not really, but it did occur to me to use filament to create etching mask on PCB - and quick search online showed that it is really not feasible as filament won't stick well enough to PCB and etching usually fails.

However - if we combine two things - we can still get decent 3d printed circuit boards.

Most basic masking method - using black permanent marker to trace out leads on PCB prior to etching - like in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VenCNTvXqFc

and then we add a bit of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmgT__nU9po

It's just 3d printed magic marker holder that attaches next to hot end . In "drawing" mode - we don't heat the bed nor heat up the hot end - magic marker will be lower than hot end which we deal with z-offset.

Then it is just matter of "3d printing" our PCB traces on board

For DYI PCB's a laser/CNC engraver is an option. Google  CNC3018 - there are plenty of info online on how to make PCB's with it. 

[powerlord]

Hi chaps,

just an update - I got some free samples of Polymaker Polymide PA6. The CF (carbon fibre) and GF (glass fibre) versions.

Nylon is a bit of a pain to print usually but is about the strongest stuff you can make, but without something in it, prints are quite flexy. And warps like crazy usually.

As I've said before, I'm printing on a dirt cheap Anycubic mega. ptfe head, brass extruder. nowt special. This is the limit (well tbh well beyond what is supposed to be the limit) of what you can print with it.. but it printed fine - and very very strong.

Interestingly Polymaker themselves talk about just using brass extruders and replacing rather than using expensive tougher ones. They don't mention PTFE bit, but my view is much the same - get a foot of PTFE tube for a fiver and just replace the tube every now and again and avoid faffing with all metal hot ends.

I designed some new knobs for the hex bolts I have on my EQ5 after replacing the old ones which were all bent. I had previously printed these with PETG or PC but one snapped and broke off.

I printed a replacement in PA6-CF. It printed fine at 280, 45 bed and a bit of uhu stick on the table. No smell printing, and no warping.

I will say, 283 is the absolute top temp the Mega will go to, which is the bottom of the temp range polymaker recommend for printing.

Other than temp I changed nothing from my usually super fast .3mm settings I use for PC. It came out great, and is very very solid. I designed the hex inset to be a wee bit small, so just heated it a bit with heat gun, stuck a bit of gorrila glue in the hole and hammers the bolt into the end. I didn't bother anealing it (baking in over for an hour). Seems solid  - and back in the EQ5.

It's not cheap filament, but I do like polymaker stuff, and I'll be rationing these samples to use on thing I really need to be strong. It'd probably be good for stuff like threaded components too (though maybe use GF for those). I probably wouldn't try to use it on a part that required lots of supports as I think they'd be a right pain to get off (the docs say the same). And though my flashforge is dual extruder and I did experiment with disolveable supports and all that, but tbh it's a right PITA. I prefer to just design my parts to not need them if at all possible.

stu

[Chriske]

On 24/02/2022 at 19:49, vlaiv said:

As long as there are no requirements for high temperature resistance - it seems that PLA is really the best and easiest to work with.

correct, and PLA can even be used for outdoor use if parts are printed in white. Even when exposed to the sun all day long.
Not to be used during summer in a car, were heat accumulates..!

[pete_l]

I've had a 3D printer (Geeetech A10) for about a year. What I've used it for is to print some eyepiece "bottles" and cases for electronics projects, such as Raspberry Pi boxes that need extras, such as space for backup batteries, USB  accessories and such.

I have two observations. First, if you are budget-conscious, don't forget to account for the cost of the spools of material to print.

Second is that 3D printing is mind-numbingly slow. Several hours for anything of a significant size. Coupled with my experience that it always takes me several attempts to get the print right, it quickly becomes a chore. I have also found that quite a few of the ready-to-print designs you can download don't quite work. Maybe that is due to variation between printer types, materials or even having all three axes of the printer "square".

Edited April 6, 2022 by pete_l

[adyj1]

1 hour ago, Chriske said:

Not to be used during summer in a car, were heat accumulates..!

Nor, as I found, under a dark telescope cover...  ( I have a Cygnus cover which has served me well, but my focus motor mount - which was admittedly under a bit of tension from the belt - warped badly on one of the really hot UK days last year... )   

[Chriske]

All true guys...!

BUT, lots of posters on Thingiverse(or other sites) do not know how to draw things that needs to be strong. Lots of these guys see a part, any part, want to coy/print it and draw it exactly the same size as the original and expect that printed part to be as strong and stiff as that original. Parts made of aluminium or zamak are very strong, these part are made slimline to be very nice, and they all look very nice indeed.

Sorry to say so but lots of Thingiverse project are rubbish when it comes to be strong. In fact most of them.
When I started printing 10 years ago I was tempted too to use Thingiverse parts, but soon stopped copying and very soon started drawing my own parts and I still do.

When you want to make/print a part were force or tension is involved you need to make it bigger, lots bigger. And yes sometimes it does not look nice if i's not slimline. My point is I do not care whether that part looks nice or not. It must do it's job, and that's all it has to do. Most of the time these parts (during observing) are in the dark....!!!I
If there is not enough space to make a part bigger, print a hole in it and force and glue a piece of threaded rod in it(ore a few).

And as I said before if you do not want a part to bend in the heat of the sun, print it in white.

I have lots of parts for many years now in our garden, nothing happens, even during long heatwaves.
I have some pictures of a test I performed a few years back about PLA/Sun, Ill post them later on...

[adyj1]

28 minutes ago, Chriske said:

as I said before if you do not want a part to bend in the heat of the sun, print it in white.

I have lots of parts for many years now in our garden, nothing happens, even during long heatwaves.
I have some pictures of a test I performed a few years back about PLA/Sun, Ill post them later on..

Agree with you completely, but it turns out that leaving under a dark telescope cover in the height of summer is like leaving it in an oven - way worse than just leaving it in the sun... 😁 

[Chriske]

14 hours ago, adyj1 said:

Agree with you completely, but it turns out that leaving under a dark telescope cover in the height of summer is like leaving it in an oven - way worse than just leaving it in the sun... 😁 

Well you said it yourself 'under a dark cover'. With PLA it does not work.
Using PLA outside in the backing sun The only thing that works is 'White'.
The only place were it does not work is in a car or a greenhouse.

[Chriske]

This is one of the tests I performed with a few filaments.

Filaments were PLAblack - PLAwhite - ABS - nGen

These rings were very thin, the walls were only 0.8mm thick
They were all hung up outside in our garden facing south in direct sunlight(all day long)

To start I added 1/2 liter of water in the bottles, but after only a few weeks I filled them up to 1L.

Midsummer(we had a severe heatwave that year) it looked like this...

And at nearly the end of autumn this was the result...

One black and the blue were ABS and nGen

The other black was the big looser(as I expected).
And the winner is..... White PLA...!

As a matter of fact, PLA white was the only one to get (almost) back to it's original shape when I released the bottles from the rings. ABS and nGen did not.
After that test there was only 1 mm of difference in diameter with the PLA. The rings were about 150mm in diameter.

Problem on the internet is, the more you read about PLA not usable in the open and the sun the more people will believe it. (A huge problem with internet imo)
In the beginning, when I started printing, I also believed it but at least I did a test of my own to see if it was all true.

I'm sure not just white colour will do the job in the open/sun. One of these days maybe, just maybe, I'll try yellow or other lighter colours to see if they withstand the heat of the sun.
Dark colours are a 'no go' in the sun.

[Chriske]

Out of topic, sorry...

Companies building telescopes, why do some brands make black telescopes(at the outside) these days...???????
It is the most ridiculous thing to do imo.
At night it's ok to have black shiny telescopes but using a black telescope during daytime observing the sun....

In the old days telescopes were all pristine white. At least they knew why in those days..!
Why do some modern brands forgot about 'white' telescopes.???
Aaah, yes.... maybe it looks sexy... That's why...😄

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Chriske
corrections

[powerlord]

I've never heard that about PLA ? I'd always heard it was good outside. But that was a very good experiment for sure. Though for our stuff you are doing something wrong if you are using it in the daytime 🙂

I'd never use ABS these days as I've said before. PLA is a great all rounder for sure. And I agree, the best for astro parts nearly always. When I need something with a bit more give, PC. And when I need something massively strong, some sort of PA6. But I have a cupboard full or reels of all sorts, so PETG, etc or whatever is in the printer might get used just to avoid faffing.

I agree with previous comment made about thingiverse stuff too - a lot of it is rubbish. but sometimes you find a gem that saves you time building it yourself. I used to share my parts there, but got sick of the stupid comments I'd get (which cannot be deleted) telling me I should have done this or that, or this bit is rubbish, etc. I used to have tons on there with 100s of downloads but deleted my account because if the comments tbh.

Print times wise - if you find them long, do check you have tuned your profile as I've said before. Out the box profiles are usually slow as treacle. Unless you are printing out starwars toys, you can tune things to speed up massively.

- try print speed of 120mm/s+

- push the movement speeds even higher

- tweak the heating, extrusion, etc to compensate as you go until you can't go any faster.

- print .3mm layer size .most of the time it's all you need.

- pull that infill right down. 10-20% is enough for mounts, etc for our stuff

- add an extra external shell with low infills - it's quick

- don't use rafts

From a default profile you could find a 2 hour print, goes down to 20 mins easy.

And Not only does that make it quicker to get a print, but more importantly, if you are designing your own stuff, it allows you to quickly prototype again and again without it being a PITA.

stu

 

 

[Chriske]

Until now I've printed 5(if Im' not mistaken) telescopes. All white, and yes I can leave them outside in the sun all day. Except for my very first Newt, I printed I've printed black.
Most of these telescope and mounts are rather large. The last one I also posted here is a 152mm binocular refractor. There was also a 250 f/24 Gregorian, a 125mm f/31 Kutter binoscope, and also a smaller Kutter, all printed in pristine white. You can look them up here at SGL.
And no these scopes are not show-pieces, the do work. The Kutter bino's optics only need coatings to have it fully operational.

To be clear, these scope I've printed are not 'all printed' of course. I always start with a frame, most of the time aluminium on which I start adding lots of printed parts. It is a delicate balance between strong stiff aluminium and lots of printed parts. I'm a mechanical engineer so I know were to add reinforcements if needed. With my background it makes it lots easier to assemble a light, yet stiff telescope.
As a matter of fact with most of my scopes there's no visible trace at all of these aluminium parts. I always try to give the impression that the scope is 'all printed' but as I said, non of my scopes is.
It wouldn't work...!