I have a new toy er I mean tool

[DaveL]

I blame Dr Al and Novocaine for this [emoji849]

 

[DaveL]

Well I am quite pleased. Unboxed, assembled and now doing a test print.

 

[DaveL]

And here is the finished food clip.

 

[Dr.Al]

Awesome. I'll look forward to seeing all your creations

 

[novocaine]

Yey. Cracking little machine.

This is worth printing for it

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4942388

As is this.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5265940

I have a new version of it if you modify the printer for mesh bed levelling with a 3d touch.

I also have a filament guide that fits on top of the z axis to help prevent it wearing the guide on the print head. I'll upload that later when I'm on a computer.

Mine now has a glass bed so I can print hotter stuff, worthy modification and easy to do. Will say there is nothing wrong with the stock print surface.

A good choice my man. :eusa-dance:

 

[novocaine]

filament guide.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5432393

 

[AndyP]

Nice, white plastic is a bit boring though how about some nice bright colours?

I can see these fast becoming the tool of the year.

 

[DaveL]

Nice, white plastic is a bit boring though how about some nice bright colours?

I can see these fast becoming the tool of the year.

The white plastic is the supplied test filament, I have bought some nice blue that will be next on machine.

 

[DaveL]

filament guide.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5432393

That comes up with a 404 error [emoji33]

 

[DaveL]

I have downloaded a spool holder that fits on the top of the printer and have ordered a bit of PTFE tube to fit in the top of the print head, I have seen a few utube videos with that fitted.

 

[Mike G]

Oooooh, Dave, we might just have to have a chat.....

 

[Dr.Al]

Nice, white plastic is a bit boring though how about some nice bright colours?

I can see these fast becoming the tool of the year.

The white plastic is the supplied test filament, I have bought some nice blue that will be next on machine.

In case it helps, this stuff (PETG) seems quite good for the price. I bought several reels of it and it's what I use for most things at the moment.

 

[novocaine]

change the print surface before you use PETG, whilst it claims to be capable, I'm not sure, I haven't tried it but decided it was sensible modification to make and saves ripping out chuncks of it with PETG (which sticks better to the print surface apparantly)

I have a roll of PETG now which I'm using for most things, still use PLA for non stressed and low temperature (in car) parts for now, but intend to buy PETG from now on. you will have to tune the settings for PETG if you do use it, default settings didn't quite work perfectly for me, I can share my CURA profile for it if you need it.

PLA on it though, you can run it surprisingly fast.

this works with the Kp3S, minor setup and a flash of the firmware is all that's needed. (along with printing the fittings)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09 ... UTF8&psc=1

 

[Woodster]

I was quite interested when these first came out. After a little research though a few things became apparent. I’m wondering though if things have changed in recent years?
The issues mentioned by users at the time were.

1. Painfully slow
2. Poor surface finish
3. Parts are not as *durable as injection moulded items.
4. Cost of material

I suppose the only real interest for me is making parts that can’t otherwise easily be made by traditional methods.

*They 3D printed part of a prosthetic on TV and I was unsurprised to see that it broke easily on first use.

 

[Mike G]

........3. Parts are not as *durable as injection moulded items.....

You're comparing apples with pears, though. To have anything injection moulded means having a mould machined, which can cost thousands and thousands of pounds. Injection moulding, therefore, is only suitable for production runs. If you need a one-off, 3D printing is just about your only choice.

 

[novocaine]

I was quite interested when these first came out. After a little research though a few things became apparent. I’m wondering though if things have changed in recent years?
The issues mentioned by users at the time were.

1. Painfully slow
2. Poor surface finish
3. Parts are not as *durable as injection moulded items.
4. Cost of material

I suppose the only real interest for me is making parts that can’t otherwise easily be made by traditional methods.

*They 3D printed part of a prosthetic on TV and I was unsurprised to see that it broke easily on first use.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail

this is no different.
1. painfully slow.

no not really, and it's displaced time, you don't have to sit and watch it, so it's speed is almost irrelevant. mine is running right now printing wheel nut covers for the car in PETG (PLA failed due to heat weakening).
if you want a high quality print, yer it's slow, if all you need is good enough, it's not that bad.

2. poor surface finish.
all parts can be sanded, although I rarely bother as at 0.12mm layers it's pretty darned good for most things and if you want a really good side you put it on the build plate.

3. Parts are not as *durable as injection moulded items.
no they aren't, but I don't have an injection moulding system in my office, nor do I have a couple of million sat around to buy one. the materials used are different as well (well not that different). PLA is an environmentally sourced plastic made from plant matter, it degrades over time, which is a plus as well as a minus.
PETG is what bottles are made from, it's recycleable and lasts much longer than PLA, it's also stronger if printed corrected and has a high glass temperature so won't degrade due to normal heating (stick it in the oven though and it's gone, strange that).
you can print ABS and reinforced materials as well.

horses for courses really, a 3d printer isn't intended to replace IM, not yet anyway.

4. cost of materials
18 quid for a 1kg roll of PLA or PETG, how many things can that make? a lot. I've had the printer since christmas and I'm yet to have used a full roll. remember that most parts aren't solid, they are a 2-3mm skin with a hollow core. you can setup most slicers to tell you how much a print costs in terms of material. most of my printers are in the pennies region. it's a damn sight cheaper than welding wire I know that much.

I printed a few plastic carabiners recently, mainly for hanging cables or lines up, I won't be using them to hold a hammock or for survival dependant tasks, but for simply stuff they are perfect, light and dirt cheap.

edit to add, I printed something for a friend in PLA recently, he used it as a casting bung for an aluminium part. it would have taken him hours to make by hand and wouldn't have been as good. it took me 1/2 hour to draw it and 2 hours to print it (while we went and had a drink or two). the part is now on his car and working faultlessly, he has been asked to make a few more for others and what else can we do.

 

[Woodster]

You're comparing apples with pears, though. To have anything injection moulded means having a mould machined, which can cost thousands and thousands of pounds.

You’re missing the point though. Classic example above, a bag clip. These cost pennies to buy in the shop so why bother 3D printing one, even as a test?!

On a model forum I used to visit they had high hopes for cheap 3D printers but the accuracy and finish just wasn’t up to the job. On an engineering forum folks have tried to make small jigs with them but they don’t last. One guy on a wood turning forum is making chuck jaws with one, I wonder for how long if they fail part way through a turning job?

These things are great for prototyping but I’m not convinced they’re any good for working items unless very lightly stressed? Apparently the surface finish can be improved with post production treatment so possibly ok for small toy's.

 

[Dr.Al]

I was quite interested when these first came out. After a little research though a few things became apparent. I’m wondering though if things have changed in recent years?
The issues mentioned by users at the time were.

1. Painfully slow

This is a bit debatable. It's very slow, yes. If you want lots and lots of parts, it's not a good option. Most of the parts I end up printing take between 1 and 12 hours (sometimes that's with lots of parts spread out to fill the bed). That sort of printing time means I'll usually set it running in the evening and the print will be finished when I get up in the morning. In that sense, it's arguably quicker than any other method as the speed at which I can hand plane stuff in the garage while I'm asleep in the bedroom is really quite limited :lol:

2. Poor surface finish

Someone (either on this forum or on the mig-welding one, I can't remember) asked me recently what the surface finish was like on 3D printed parts with no post-processing (sanding or whatever). When that question popped up, I'd just finished printing a holder for some brace bit adaptors so I photographed it close up to show the finish (note that it was upside down in this photo, hence the lack of holes for the adaptors!). It's not exactly polished, but I wouldn't call it poor:

3. Parts are not as *durable as injection moulded items.

No, probably not, although that depends. If you're talking about PLA (which I never use) then the parts are quite brittle. PETG is close to injection moulded strength along the XY plane of printing but weaker in Z. 3D printing allows some very complex internal structures that add a lot of strength in ways that wouldn't be practical for injection moulded parts.

If you only want one of them, the cost of an injection moulded part would be horrendous though, so 3D printing may be the only option.

4. Cost of material

PETG is £15 (delivered) for 1 kg. You can make a lot of parts out of 1 kg. Of course it's more expensive than injection moulding (if you ignore the tooling and machine cost), but it's not expensive. For some of the earlier parts, I tried to work out the material cost (ignoring electricity, which probably shouldn't be ignored) and most parts I was printing at the time were significantly less than £1.

 

[novocaine]

In case it helps, this stuff (PETG) seems quite good for the price. I bought several reels of it and it's what I use for most things at the moment.

I've just got a roll of that, works well, strong enough and only minor changes to the settings to get it working darned well.

 

[DaveL]

Well here is the blue, just for Andy[emoji3]

 

[AndyP]

Aye, Aye, Captain.

 

[novocaine]

Boaty mcboatface.

Can't complain about that print.

 

[Raymedullary]

At school we sometimes show the students a video of the 3d printers that we have making 3d printers.
Now, just to inject a bit of philosophy into DesignTechnology lessons we ask questions such as....
"With an infinite number of 3d printers working for an infinite amount of time, would they make a bookcase that would be exactly the correct size for the entire works of Shakespeare?"

 

[DaveL]

Boaty mcboatface.

Can't complain about that print.

Yes I am pleased with that but the spool holder turned into a bit of a problem![emoji33]

Not sure why that happened.

 

[novocaine]

Looks like it moved or lifted off the bed. Try adding a brim.

I always do a skirt or a brim, mainly to start the print on something that doesn't matter.

Edit nowait. Actually it looks like you need support for that print. Care to link to the file so I can take a look?

 

[DaveL]

Hi Dave

Here are the files for the spool holder, on Thingiverse

 

[novocaine]

doesn't fit inside the print bed of the KP3S in the orientation you've shown it.
it needs printing stood up and with support. which to me is a waste of time and effort.

try this one instead.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4890598

this should work now for a filiment guide instead of a spool holder.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5433367

my filament roll sits on the windowsill behind the printer.

 

[DaveL]

I have increased the hot end temperature by 5 degrees and am now printing a box for the controller on my CNC
Ooznest do sell one as an upgrade but it is £45 + p&p so this is over a third of the cost of the printer recouped [emoji3]