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Oh man 3D printing. As a painter/sculptor/3D modeller/concept art person these machines always make me really happy and hopeful for the near future. And looking at the latest machines, they're starting to get GOOD and staying affordable. I need to dig into all of this more in 2011. I'm glad I saw the banner ad! (I hope I don't start wearing little rectangle glasses and recording myself uncomfortably close to videocameras though  I kid! )
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Jan 9, 2011 10:38
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Claes Oldenburger posted:I would have no problem dropping a couple grand on something like this. No kidding. That's mindblowing quality, and I'd throw in $2K easy, even though I'm just a hobbyist in terms of 3D/sculptural art.
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Apr 11, 2011 01:11
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ickna posted:It's a fun though experiment, but I want to know how they plan on making it work in microgravity. all the deposition techniques I've seen thus far don't seem like they would work properly. Throw it in a big centrifuge. Obviously less efficient, but that's the simplest solution to anything that normally needs gravity. Or just pressurize the liquid I guess, but that would depend more on the specific materials.
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Jul 10, 2011 06:40
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Linux Assassin posted:https://www.hive76.org/insane-3d-printing-resolution-ultimaker-under-the-micro (yes, the layers are more then 5x thinner then the grooves in his fingerprints) Well crap. That's about the level of detail I told myself I would wait for, before shelling out bucks for a machine... I guess I'll wait until they're below $1,000? Still tempted though.
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Jan 28, 2012 03:57
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How do you guys feel about the TangiBot? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2117793364/the-tangibot-3d-printer-the-affordable-makerbot-re Basically a guy with industry connections and experience took the open-source Makerbot Replicator designs, and is getting ready to create them using overseas labor at 2/3rds the price. For example, his duel-extruder model clone using the same software and hardware as the Replicator is on the kickstarter for $1,299. I don't like exploiting third world countries or encouraging companies that do... but it's hard to argue with the price, if he can pull it off. Locus fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Aug 9, 2012 |
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Aug 9, 2012 19:01
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Yeah, after thinking about it more, I think I'd rather pay more and support the guys who actually put work into creating the design. Now to figure out when I want to invest in one of these...
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Aug 9, 2012 22:36
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I'm just sitting here with several 3D printer sites and my bank balance open in different tabs. I'm probably going to buy something this year. Maybe I should wait just a little longer... Finally a use for this emoticon: 
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Aug 11, 2012 23:39
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Linux Assassin posted:Which ones are you debating? Part of me wants a Replicator, but the other part says "No, spend $500-$800 instead, and upgrade later on." I don't know where the second option would leave me, but I guess I'll do more research. It's exciting to see people like you buying stuff though, so I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on the thread in the future. I'm especially interested in seeing any casting you do. Foundry stuff was awesome back when I tried it out in school.
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Aug 12, 2012 01:19
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Midjack posted:Read this sentence and think about what was just said there. Anyway, as I said, my feelings about the guy are a lot less mild after thinking more about what he's trying to do. Hopefully people's feelings within/about the general "maker" community will dry up the Kickstarter and inform anyone ignorant about the companies and innovation involved.
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Aug 12, 2012 04:12
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Taking UberVexer's advice on the last page to look at a RepRap kit, I'm seeing this one, which looks pretty nice. The kits are $1,300. http://airwolf3d.com/ I mean, the name is ridiculous, but I like the look and features of it. Hmm. Anyone have any information or gut reactions about it?
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Sep 12, 2012 21:51
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Obsurveyor posted:If you're going to assemble a kit. Get a Hadron ORD Bot kit. For an extruder, all you need is to buy a Wade's extruder from ebay and a J-Head from the maker. For electronics, you can get a RAMPS assembled kit for $185 from Ultimachine. Add a $35 30A power supply and a MK1(don't buy a MK2 they are bad) heated bed. You can even save some more money and get a Chinese Arduino MEGA1280 off ebay and the drivers from pololu and just stick them on an assembled RAMPS board. drat, that does look pretty great. I'll have to think about it (and sit down to do a couple hours of research), but the Hadron ORD seems like the best bet right now.
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Sep 13, 2012 14:42
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The Replicator 2 does look pretty nice, but I'm still happy with the features of existing open-source designs. It seems like they made a far more specialized but limited machine. In other news, I ended up ordering a Hadron Ord Bot frame. It should be here tomorrow. Thanks for the tip, Obsurveyor, I think I'll be happiest with this thing in terms of performance, price range, and aesthetics. It should be interesting to put a printer together over the next month or so with zero experience. I know how to solder, have done sculpture, am handy with tools, and have done some electronics kit building as a kid, but that's about it.
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Sep 20, 2012 14:42
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If my printer has two Z-axis motors (Hadron), should I get a RAMPS board with two Z-axis connectors, or just wire up both motors to a single connection? http://ultimachine.com/ramps-pre-assembled-kit-complete I've also seen cheaper printer motherboards, but it seems like it might be better to go with something more modular like the RAMPS.
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Sep 24, 2012 20:51
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Well, I just ordered most of the stuff I'll need for this Hadron. It hurt my wallet, and I know I've missed some odds and ends (bolts, spacers for the heat bed, silicon thermal paste, probably a few misc wires, etc), but it's still coming in at under half of the cost of a Replicator, so I'm happy. I still haven't done a full inventory of the mechanical kit from Automation Technology Inc. The major parts seem to line up with the design docs, although I can't quite figure out how it only has 4 MakerSlide pieces when I look at the picture... time to dig into the design documents more. *edit* And I have one intermediate MakerSlide between 330 and 420. Huh. *edit2* How DO you do this with four pieces of slide?  
Locus fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Sep 25, 2012 |
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Sep 25, 2012 17:08
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Obsurveyor posted:2 for the Z axis, 1 for the X, 1 for the Y. The gantry's bottom is just a 20x40 piece of extrusion from Misumi. The Makerslide V-rails would get in the way if you tried to use Makerslide for that. Ah, I see. Ok, looks like I am missing a piece of 330mm MakerSlide then. I mistook the 370mm 20x40 Misumi extrusion for one of them. *edit* Automation Technology emailed me back a couple hours later and they're sending me the missing piece. I also grabbed a RAMPS board from them, very nice pricing, and it has 5 stepper drivers on it (not that I'm planning on installing a dual extruder anytime soon though). Locus fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Sep 25, 2012 |
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Sep 25, 2012 17:38
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Update on my Ord Bot Hadron build: Death by a thousand cuts to my wallet and patience. The completed structure is sitting there taunting me while I constantly find new parts I need. Machine screws, little wire connectors (gave up on this after Radio Shack/Hobby stores, just gonna solder wires -*edit* not onto the RAMPS, don't worry- or hack up a Dell motherboard and power supply I got for $5 at GoodWill). Today I wanted to get the RAMPS board mounted and the motors spinning, but that got foiled by the machine screws not QUITE fitting the holes. Aside from that though, I think I actually do have everything I need to print at this point, it's just not hacksawed, assembled, soldered, taped, and connected. I'm still looking for something to put on the bottom of the heated bed sandwich. Right now I'm planning on: Glass Aluminum sheet (How thick is too thick? And how thin?) Mk1 Prusa Heated Bed Silicone Oven Mat 8.5x8.5 piece of thin wood or steel cut from a computer/VHS player case. Locus fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Oct 9, 2012 |
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Oct 9, 2012 01:58
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Quick question: Does anyone know of a good source for 5x8mm flexible couplers? Like this: The only ones I'm seeing online are from China, with the associated shipping times. My ORD Bot is working pretty good so far (I haven't sorted a good power supply out yet, so I've only been running the motors, not an extruder/heatbed), but I'm leery about the Z-axis. I have it squared pretty well, but occasionally one motor will bind up a tiny bit, make the gantry uneven, then lock everything up. Also gently caress the imperial measurement system, we should have switched to metric decades ago.  techknight posted:Check out this awesome variant of the Bukobot Flyer by Andrew Plumb - made by printing PLA directly onto tissue paper: That's really clever! I imagine that kind of concept could apply to a lot of different construction techniques, not just with tissue paper and airplanes.
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Oct 22, 2012 18:10
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People do circuit board etching with 3D printers. Rather than using the actual extruder, you can just do 2D plotting with the right etch-resist marker. http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Automated_Circuitry_Making http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Plotting In other news, I've got my ORD Bot with a freshly assembled extruder/hot end sitting here ready to be plugged into two modified PC power supplies. I don't 100% trust the power supplies, as I had to really jam the wiring in to close them back up... but regardless, the moment of truth will arrive soon. Locus fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Oct 29, 2012 |
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Oct 29, 2012 21:42
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Well poo poo. My RAMPS board won't turn on any more. I don't think it was even the power supply, my multitester was reading about 12 volts stable, and I had used that supply with the RAMPS board before rewiring it with binding posts and a switch. The only other thing that changed between this time, and the last time I used it was plugging in the hot end, extruder motor, and extruder thermistor. What should I do? It's not responding to USB or 12v power. *edit* Quadruple checked that I hadn't reversed the polarity. Nope. Power resistor cables read something like 6.4 ohms which sounds right, and I don't THINK the RAMPS board just shoots power through that thing on startup anyway... What the heck. *edit* Ok, I was right. it wasn't the power supply, it was the extruder motor being plugged in. I unplugged the stepper driver (which I suspect might be of low quality, as the potentiometer has no stop, and can turn freely forever, not sure?), and now it starts up. I'm relieved, but wary of frying more. I only have one extra left, as the board came with 5. *edit2* Nope I was right about the power supply (which is golden), but wrong about the real problem. The stepper driver is fine. I must have inadvertently switched some wires on an endstop when I installed the extruder, and apparently connecting a closed switch to the SIG/GND instead of VCC/GND pins can cause the board to simply not work. Problem solved though. Locus fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Oct 30, 2012 |
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Oct 30, 2012 05:11
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Does anyone here use Marlin and a max Z-axis endstop? I'm trying to figure out if there's a more graceful method than "Hit your max Z endstop, then go down by 10mm increments until your hot-end is touching the print surface, then call M114, and do some math to get a new max Z distance to enter in the firmware" etc. I had assumed it (pronterface) would generate its own max Z-distance each time I reset the RAMPS board, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Homing it just informs the software that it is now at the max Z-height as defined in the firmware, travel distance ignored. Yes I've smashed the hot end into the bed several times and had to put new tape on it.
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Oct 31, 2012 02:49
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Half my posts seem to be complaining about things in this thread, now that I'm building a printer, but honestly I'm having a lot of fun, and the process is very intellectually stimulating. I got my first printing started, and have problems to solve with wonky 5mm-walled squares. But, back on the negative side, my Z-axis stepper driver started malfunctioning (locking, going in random directions), so I replaced it with my only spare driver. Replaced it the wrong way around.  So I'll be fine-tuning the printing process once I order another A4988 and it gets delivered.Linux Assassin posted:Edit: Wait- when you go to your max Z distance it is well above the board? Yeah, exactly. I actually am starting to like this system now that it's dialed in correctly, and I guess the method I was asking about earlier is best. The logic in putting your endstop at max (numerically speaking) Z distance is that you can adjust numbers in software rather than moving the endstop pin (what the switch hits). I don't know about other printer designs, but on the ORD Bot, these pins are impossible to reach when the carrier plates are over them. So you'd have to run the Z-axis down, wait for it to click, check the distance, run the Z-axis back up, unscrew the pin, slide it down a tiny bit, and just keep repeating that until it's properly aligned. Both methods are a pain in the rear end actually, but there's less fiddling here I think.
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Oct 31, 2012 20:55
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You know, I was actually misremembering the endstop pin locations on this ORD Bot. The Z-axis pin is always accessible, it's just the X and Y pins that get covered by plates. So a Z-min endstop could work easily. I'll have to experiment, but for now I do like having software control of the distance to the bed.Obsurveyor posted:I believe Hall effect sensors alleviate having to move anything, you can just turn the pot up or down. I haven't installed mine yet. I really need to make some time to work on getting ORD back up and running. Huh, that's cool. Adjusting a potentiometer until it trips, with your hot end sitting at the right spot sounds great. Maybe I'll try to set one up for my Z-axis some day. I guess this thing is about the only packaged device floating around right now? - http://reprap.org/wiki/Hall-%CE%98 I can't tell if they're sold anywhere but the Netherlands supplier. Also, it yesterday it clicked why my first stepper driver burned out. My cable setup was temporary and crude, and the Z-axis motor connector had gotten loose and disconnected a little bit while it was running. Apparently that can build up a charge in the drivers. I'll clamp everything down when it's back up and running.
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Nov 1, 2012 14:35
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"Man, this calibration stuff is really hard." "For this fifteenth 5mm square, let's turn on 'Cooling' in Slic3r so that it'll slow down the print for small layers."  "Oh." I've still got some issues to deal with. Mainly the extruder. there's either a quality issue, some sort of retraction problem, a miscalculation for feeding/stretching the filament, or something else I haven't thought of:  You can probably see the zig-zag easier in the failed squares above this, but basically at about the halfway point on the walls, the filament narrows, making that diagonal line on the Z-axis. It's also tapering off too much as it ends each layer. *edit* Oh yeah, and it's missing the start of my 3-layer skirt! That must be a case of too much retraction, as it extrudes and retracts as part of the initialization process for prints. *edit2* It's normal for a Wade's Extruder stepper motor to get hot enough to be painful to touch, right? I tried a 100% infill cube just now, and it started out almost too filled, and ended too wispy and hollow. I'm thinking that the Z-axis might be scaled wrong in a subtle way, but it's not taller than these thin-walled squares, so it could also be the extruder petering out. Hmm. *edit3* Yup, heat issue. Either the stepper driver or the motor was overheating (I think it was the motor since the driver should have paused). After adjusting the pot, an underfilled scrawny test cube is now an overflowing test cube that needs a bit of tuning. The earlier problem got a tiny bit better after reducing retraction to 0.5mm, but it's still there. Locus fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Nov 5, 2012 |
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Nov 5, 2012 18:40
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While we're on the topic, anyone happen to know the stats of recycling average ABS and PLA that's already been used in a 3D printer? I read some debate about that, which basically said that it gets heavily degraded with use to the point that it'll stop being structurally sound pretty quickly. Making your own filament out of factory-sourced stuff like pellets might be the main thing for these type of machines. greenman100, that thing looks pretty sweet, and I think you have an edge with your DIY/no welding angle.
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Nov 17, 2012 15:40
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I'm very happy with my ORD Bot (which I believe is available in kit form outside the U.S. from some suppliers), but it is a DIY hobby thing. I was leisurely about putting mine together (at least on some days, others I worked all day at it), and it took a month or so to source the parts, put it together, and get things printing. Also it looks like a squirrel nest, as I didn't do the "clean" build, and my wiring doesn't fit inside the springs.
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Nov 29, 2012 15:26
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Does anyone happen to know how to disable the hot-end heat requirements in Pronterface without disabling the extruder motor? Basically I'm trying to run a simple GCode program that "extrudes" a stylus downwards, draws some lines, then retracts it, but Pronterface just sits there doing its temperature countdown thing forever, regardless of what I try. *edit* For clarification, I can manually do everything I want with the extruder by entering G-Code commands into the console in Pronterface (I've disabled the safe extrude setting in Marlin to allow this), but something about hitting "Print" sets it into a different routine. *edit2* Nevermind, my vector to g-code generator was using incorrect commenting code, and screwed it up in the file! Get stuck, ask question on internet > take break > find solution myself as soon as I come back.
Locus fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Nov 30, 2012 |
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Nov 30, 2012 00:06
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Boiling acetone is kind of the opposite of what I want to do when it comes to the realm of at-home 3D printing. Yikes. Sanding and filling things in with Bondo works, but Bondo is also pretty toxic, so I'm going to give Apoxie Sculpt a try later this week.
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Feb 27, 2013 19:33
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Young Freud posted:Anyone know how I can prevent warping with PLA? I tried to print off some stunner shades yesterday, but the shades and one of the arms started warping off the pad? I've been using the same tape from my previous prints this week, should I replace the tape? I did print with a 5% infill, so should I up the infill to prevent it? Have you tried printing with a brim? I use Slic3r, not sure how it's handled in other programs. That should work for thin objects. If it's bigger, and still warping with a brim, I think you'll need to slow down your print speed. This is where a heated bed comes in handy, but I haven't bothered with one yet, due to my focus on PLA, which needs it less.
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Mar 12, 2013 02:42
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I've personally had more luck with genetic modification than 3D printing. You just need to splice stuff until you've got something like aphids carrying the THC and cannabinoids, and then screw with the prey collection and web-spinning structures of the "brain" in something like a garden spider to get them to spin joints out of the little guys (pro-tip: find a species where you can exploit its young-feeding preparations). Haven't tried doing an all-in one setup where its venom is replaced by THC though... and that whole meth-bee thing that the guy on reddit did, doesn't instill confidence in the prospect. Seriously though, I think that guy has the right idea, in terms of starting to figure this stuff out now... we would have laughed about the concept of kids and grandmas stealing theater-res hollywood movies back in the 28.8K modem days. He's still silly for thinking that it can be controlled like border protection though. 
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Apr 18, 2013 13:51
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In addition to what others are saying, I've also had nozzle clogging symptoms from: -The nuts on my extruder bolt coming loose, causing the teeth to slip past the filament. -Overheating of my extruder motor (voltage too high - although the opposite would be similar)
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May 17, 2013 13:34
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Fatal posted:I ask them if they've ever used a glue gun. Then I tell em it's like a miniature version of one that squirts out plastic very precisely and accurately layer by layer to build something. Bingo. That's what I do.
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May 20, 2013 20:10
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w00tmonger posted:Will try all this when I get home. I just made my spool holder out of PVC pipes from the hardware store.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:38
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