MakerBots, RepRaps and UP!s: It's 3D printers!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > MakerBots, RepRaps and UP!s: It's 3D printers!

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Videodrome posted:

Waiting on my Thingomatic is getting infuriating. I keep watching Skeinlayer run simulations of my gcode and thinking "Wow, this will be cool as hell when there is a machine actually doing this!"

I had been wanting a 3D printer for years now, and had been debating building a Cupcake for the last year. This thread, along with a project idea I had at Christmas, convinced me to finally pull the trigger on the new ToM. Now I'm dying from waiting on it to actually ship.

Do you know how fast they're shipping? The store page says 7 weeks, my (very recent) order says "processing - waiting to be packed." :confused:

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Jan 23, 2011

# ¿ Jan 23, 2011 00:31

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 12:17

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Videodrome posted:

My order was on "processing - waiting to be packed" for 2 weeks. Last week it changed to "in production", whatever that means. Originally ordered on Jan. 4.

Weird. That's what mine says now too, at least. I asked their support folks and they did confirm that it will take up to 7 weeks. :sigh:

Mister Sinewave posted:

I have a MakerBot (cupcake model, no heated build platform) and had I known then what I know now, I would have purchased an UP! instead. The UP! is more suited for "just print it" but the MakerBot's more suited to modding and endless tinkering and such. I am far more interested in the printing and end products than the rest of the process itself, so the mod-ability of the MakerBot's more of a hindrance than anything for me.

I've never heard of the UP! before this thread, that's a really cute printer. I did a lot of reading on the MakerBot before I got one, and I decided to look at it more as a hobby in a box (which happens to be a 3D printer). The best comment I saw was: "Only attempt this project if you�re the type of person that wakes up with ideas on the order of, 'I think I�ll build an air conditioner this weekend'." All the press MakerBot gets seems to gloss over what they actually mean by DIY, although it's great that the boards come more preassembled now.

Also, Skeinforge should be the new poster child for bad open source GUIs.

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Jan 28, 2011

# ¿ Jan 28, 2011 17:50

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Mister Sinewave posted:

I did look forward to (and enjoyed) the building of the MakerBot, just for the record. It's the endless tweaking/babysitting that always seems to get in the way of any actual printing that bugs me.

That's fair, I didn't mean to come across that way. I actually know two very mechanically-inclined people with non-working RepRaps (a Cupcake and a Darwin), which is more what I was thinking about. Out of curiosity, what sort of printing bugs ~~should I fear~~ do you run into?

Mister Sinewave posted:

I'm OK with tweaking and setting and calibrating, but when it feels like I get through it once only to just have to do it all over again the next time around...

Ah, OK. I can see that getting really annoying.

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Jan 28, 2011

# ¿ Jan 28, 2011 18:13

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Mister Sinewave posted:

This is all compounded when you're doing an iterative process. Like, print your object, see after a couple minutes that no, that's not going well and I need to change something, abort the print, and do all that junk in between. (Maybe you're fiddling with a print design, maybe you're calibrating skeinforge settings.)

So, while I've had only one seriously print-busting bug, the little glitches and their workarounds/overall maintenance and babysitting really gets very tiresome.

That does sound obnoxious. Hopefully the v5 extruder is better, but it's also good to hear a little bit more about what to realistically expect.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2011 18:29

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

The Adama posted:

So, that's just some of the excitement potentially waiting for you.

Now if only it would get here. Only another month. :sigh:

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Feb 11, 2011

# ¿ Feb 11, 2011 17:10

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

techknight posted:

I know how to build one I just wanted to see yours.

I'm also enjoying the photos, keep them coming.

They released the MK6 today: it's (unsurprisingly) a stepper motor upgrade, with some extra parts so you can set it up for 1.75mm filament instead of 3mm. It looks like you'd have to disassemble the entire extruder to swap filament widths, though. I also can't tell if they actually trademarked "StepStruder" or are being sarcastic.

I might get the chance to chat with someone at a large CAD company about DIYers with personal 3D printers. I was planning on talking about what exists for CAD software (Blender, Sketchup, OpenSCAD), a little about the open source community, popular machines (Mendel, Makerbot, UP!, etc) and some of the more interesting prints I've seen. Anything else I should talk about?

# ¿ Feb 15, 2011 19:11

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Videodrome posted:

Copyright issues might be an interesting topic. For example, I'm currently trying to convert World of Warcraft character models into usable STL files specifically so I can print out 3D figurines for friends. Once painted it will be essentially the same thing these guys charge $130 dollars for: http://www.figureprints.com/

Oh yeah, copyright's a good one. Thanks.

As a side note, if you came up with a method to capture models that didn't require tons and tons of post-processing, you should share. That would be awesome.

Any comments or complaints on CAD software I could bring up? I'm curious what other people who have been into this longer think, especially since I haven't gotten to actually print any homemade models yet. I'd like to address a little bit of what is actually needed by hobbyists doing this at home (with a printer or Shapeways). I was planning on emphasizing the need for real parametric editing, but without the crazy simulation and enterprise tools in, say, a $5000 copy of Autodesk.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2011 19:06

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

techknight posted:

Yup, it's crazy.. However, since Thingiverse wants DMCA safe harbour protection, they have to comply with takedown notices as part of the process. Hopefully a counter-notice will be filed where appropriate.

Apparently it's back up: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/21/3d-printings-first-c.html

Also, thanks for the comments about CAD software. I've never heard of Wings3D before. I'm hoping to convince this guy that DIY printing is an interesting group to look into - or at least to open up cheap, non-pro licenses to people who aren't students. I just hope my printer gets here soon enough to show off some models so I don't sound like a crazy futurist.

I'm excited to see what the first CAD equivalent of iMovie or MS Word looks like in 5 years. Sketchup is good, but not that good yet.

Edit: Aaand there's my shipping notice. Awesome. If anyone else is ordering one, that puts their lead time at a little over 4 weeks, including the MK6.

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Feb 21, 2011

# ¿ Feb 21, 2011 19:07

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Still interested in build photos?

I'll try and get some shots of the MK6.

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Feb 23, 2011

# ¿ Feb 23, 2011 14:42

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Mister Sinewave posted:

You know, you've actually hit the nail on the head here - perhaps without realizing it.

No one cares about copying something by carving it out of wood by hand (for example). Once people think you can just hit a button and BAM done, then it's a problem. Same reason the original "copy-right" on the printed word only reached proportions when printing presses showed up. Because suddenly it's easy to crank stuff out, whereas before it was a non-issue because the only option was to sit down and literally write out each copy by hand - and who's going to do that? (OK, besides monks making copies of the bible but I trust you get my point.)

Has anyone brought up the paper It will be awesome if they don't screw it up (PDF)? It's a quick read and does a good job introducing the different IP laws and how they do or don't apply to 3D printing. Skip to page 6 to get to the good stuff.

quote:

The personal computer revolution also casts light on some potential pitfalls that may be in store for the growth of 3D printing. When entrenched interested began to understand just how disruptive personal computing could be (especially massively networked personal computing) they organized in Washington, D.C. to protect their incumbent power. Rallying under the banner of combating piracy and theft, these interests pushed through laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that made it harder to use computers in new and innovative ways. In response, the general public learned once-obscure terms like "fair use" and worked hard to defend their ability to discuss, create, and innovate.

Of course, computers were not the first time that incumbents welcomed new technologies by attempting to restrict them. The arrival of the printing press resulted in new censorship and licensing laws designed to slow the spread of information. The music industry claimed that home taping would destroy it. And, perhaps most memorably, the movie industry compared the VCR to the Boston Strangler preying on a woman home alone.

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Feb 24, 2011

# ¿ Feb 24, 2011 20:48

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

How loud (and hot) is the z stepper supposed to be? Mine sounds OK going up, but makes an awful noise going down. It's also way too hot to touch - but it's not skipping steps or otherwise screwing with prints. Normal or do I need to tinker with the stepper potentiometers?

# ¿ Feb 28, 2011 02:30

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Claes Oldenburger posted:

I always love seeing people use these printers for real world applications. People probably do it a lot more than they post, but it just feels SO cool that someone needs something in plastic and just...well...prints it.

Agreed - my first thought when I saw the lens cap was, "holy poo poo, that's one less thing I need to worry about losing." One of my favorite applications so far are these drywall anchors.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2011 14:42

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

I got a good Stanford rabbit out of mine so far. The stepper extruder did a great job, I only had a few strings below the steepest overhangs.

I've been trying to print this Vica Illusion Sculpture and have been having terrible luck. I got one really crappy print out of 6 or 7 attempts - the print head keeps plowing into the model, so it either skips or (on the one successful print) mushes it all up. Is there some trick to tall and skinny prints? I have cool enabled, which worked great on the rabbit. I also added a larger raft and reduced my Z height by 0.1mm, but this one curled edge caught the model 3 prints in a row.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2011 17:53

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Cakefool posted:

Take it apart & sell it as a kit. Where are you?

How much of a market for Mendel printed parts is there these days? I see them on eBay but can't tell if they're really selling.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2011 13:33

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

Obsurveyor posted:

There is a checkbox after you search on the left under "Show Only" that lets you see completed listings and whether they sold and for how much.

I wonder how I lived my life without knowing that. Thanks

# ¿ Mar 17, 2011 17:26

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

ChrisDKK posted:

Thanks for answering this, I finished my ABP last week and was pretty scared I was going to break the drat thing getting the rollers in place. Unfortunately after finishing my Thing-o-Matic and powering it up for the first time the Arduino Mega popped and released it's magic blue smoke. New ToM Motherboard comes Friday, then we'll see if my tight belt actually turns.

Also ABP related, is the belt supposed to go under the nozzle wiper in the right hand corner? It seems like the included belts are too wide.

I ended up sticking the belt under the nozzle, since it was loose enough anyways. I was also worried about the belt tightness when I built it (I cracked the wood a little) but the motor worked fine after I tightened the gear screws. However, once my belt started to warp I gave up, unplugged the ABP motor and taped the whole belt flat with kapton tape.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2011 17:59

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 12:17

Cuddlebottom: Feb 17, 2004; Butt dance.

ChrisDKK posted:

Are you using the nozzle wiper then? I'm not sure what setting I missed but my nozzle never gets wiped. The print head starts over the nozzle wiper during warm up but then it just goes straight to the start of the box outline for my raft without wiping off the plastic boogers. I've been grabbing them with tweezers since I'm not sure what I missed, is there a check box somewhere to make sure it wipes before it starts building the raft?

I usually have to rotate the wiper each time to make sure that the nozzle will hit it, but otherwise it does it automatically. It gets the extra plastic maybe half the time. Also, nice whistle.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2011 16:49

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > MakerBots, RepRaps and UP!s: It's 3D printers!