I can CNC but as you said it's a flip milling operation. I would much rather prototype quickly and measure a few guides rather than setting up jigs multiple times. After the prototype is done and measured I can machine nice guides in walnut.
The reason I am doing this is that I have 2 OEM customers banging at the door, asking for GRT with the guides and Dmitri is going to take another 6 month to set up casting operation for aluminum. Of course, cast powder-coated guides will be less $ but I need a solution rather quickly.
Yes, they will be. The cast al version is way away but ones the prototype is tested, I can either send you a file for 3D machining or machine a pair myself.
Dmitri thinks it would be easier to attach the guide to the flat face-plate. I think the face-plate should be replaced by the guide and attach directly to the casing. Anyway, enough with GRT. It's a thread about 3D printing.
How is your 3d printer journey going? I went to check out a laser cutter/engraver at a local guys house and he had two 3d printers running. He just ordered another one too. Im considering getting one and a lower end laser engraver instead of going 4x8 with my cnc. I dont have a ton of use for a 3d printer but ill find some. They are under $500 now for pretty decent quality model. His prints looked good on models that were 200, 300 and 350 bucks. The laser seems like alot of work but a fun learning experience. Plus its hot a fuck in my garage at the moment and not fun to be put there cncing!
I actually have a friend who works in 3D printing. It has allot of limitations. He is not impressed. It is slow and expensive. His biggest complaint is that it is too slow.
Yes anything you print on a reasonable scale will be a 10-24 hour print. Would be cool for wave guides and just messing around with it. Making mounts or fixtures for stuff is a good option for them. Im looking forward to getting a small laser.
One day turnaround is still a very rapid prototype, for production purposes, 3D printing outside of very expensive or highly complex items is not viable.
For tinkerers like ourselves, it is a pretty fucking cool thing to be able to do - but if I wanted to go into even limited production on something I proved out on a printer I would pony up for a mold and convert things to injection or roto molded.
Well I finished a sign job and ended up ordering a K40 laser engraver and an Anycubic Kossel linear plus. Its a delta style printer with linear rails and i think a work area of 9wx9dx11h. Bed heats to 100c and it looks to be able to print 4 types of filament. Abs, pla, flex and i forgot the other. Its super hot my in garage and hasnt been pleasant these 2 will be in myncold basement and will be more enjoyallble to use. The k40 is going to be alot more time consuming to upgrade etc.
Wow, printers sure have come down in price in last few years. The same basic kit my son bought 2-3 years ago is now about 1/2 the price - only $185! Sadly, we found out why it was one of the cheapest printers at the time. He says it's a pain to keep table level.
Got my 3d printer last week. I assembled it in 1 day but i havent gotten to mess with it since last week. Hopefully in 2 weeks i can progress on this and the laser engraver.
I had some firmware issues with this machine. I had a friend come give me a hand on this thing. I guess its a known problem and a guy wrote his own firmware and tuning for the machine. The stock stuff doesnt save the Zaxis settings so it will plunge into tbe bed or print above it too high. I ran the first benchy on the free filament that came with the machine (its cheap, and has imperfections in the filament), it was set to 0.2 (not the highest quality) but its the first print on my machine!
This 3d printer is a complete pain the fucking ass. The hours I've spent trying to get this thing tuned is pretty significant. The firmware is terrible and it can't hold the z-axis height correctly so sometimes it's so close to the bed that the nozzle wont let filament out and others its printing high off the bed. Real pain in the ass.
Sorry to rant but ya know its frustrating with random issues.
Ok, got tired of messing with the other printer. Ill sideline it until i have time to sit down and focus on it. I bought a new Cartesian style printer and assembled it. First test came out nicely. Took 5:23 hours/mins to make it. So its not super fast but it works nicely it seems.
I bought a Crealty CR-10 Mini, but it is still in the box. I am not going to assemble it until I learn some 3d software, as that is kind of the whole point for me. Starting to feel like learning new software is a pain. Is this what getting old feels like?
I'll post pics of test prints and the machine here when it is up and running soon.
Sorry to hear about that first machine Mike
= Howard Stark: "This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out."
There are so many models on thingiverse you may not need to design anything aside from a waveguide which i think if someone makes an stl you should be able to import it. I've been using "cura" for the slicing software. Its free to use so that is a plus. I got the ender 3 Jason so its pretty similar to the cr10's the cura profile i use is for the cr10.
Below is some prints I did to make an adjustable bed for my laser. Aluminum angle fits into those triangles and 5/16's nuts and threaded rod fit in the holes. The bed mounts on the gears and its belt driven (manually by hand with the gesr shaped knob) to move the bed uo and down.
I bought some stepper motor isolators for it which did quiet it down significantly. Its about a 5db drop.
definitely do not use Sketchup for 3D printing - it will only end in frustration. Try fusion 3D for the modeling, then you can use cura for slicing. There are online tools to check and make the model solid, so definitely use those, else you will have a mess, where the vectors are not joined
I'm starting to make some progress learning FreeCAD. Seems nice, just a steep learning curve. I wish I could remember the AutoCAD I learned in college ('93) to compare, but I've forgotten all of that at this point.
Since I'm close to being able to print what I want, I took some time to setup the printer.
I'm interested in creating a deflector for an omni tweeter. Do you think this shape would better 3D printed or CNC'ed from??? My backup plan is to make these from plaster using a plaster sledging technique.
Probably 3d printed. It would be a multi sided cnc job that is a little more akward to secure. I'm definately not good at custom shaped 3d modeling so i'm not able to model it.
I could probably figure it out design and cut it. Is that a vector or cad drawing? If you the 2d drawing of the cone I can try ti see what i can make of it.
After several successful prints, I ran into the dreaded bed adhesion issues which others have had with the CR-10 mini. Turns out: if you use paper to bed level, it needs to be pretty tight on it and just able to move under the nozzle, and the glass plate that comes with the bed ain't that flat. I ended up putting paper under the center to compensate for a bow in the plate. Odd. Back on track now, but that was pretty much a wasted day of frustration over what came to be nothing...
in other news, I have a set of all size nozzles coming (want to try larger diameters for slightly faster low-res prints), and smoothers for the stepper motors.
Did I mention yet I'm bringing a 3d printed speaker to Iowa? Well the shell will be 3d printed, and then a resin surface over that with support via designed channels inside:
A fifth of the bass module, the rough print is from before I tightened the XY belts on the printer.
= Howard Stark: "This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out."
The bed leveling and belt/alignment stuff is a big head ache. Mine stuff doesnt like to stick on the first outer passes for some reason. The i dont know the actual height it needs to be at from the bed to the nozzle. The paper thing seems like its too high for me still.
The bed adhesion thing you have is from the glass. You have to use hair spray or glue stick on it where you are going to print. Which is kind of dumb because the benefit of the glass is a ultra smooth bottom surface but if you spray with hair spray you might as well just not use the glass. I bought a removeable magnetic pad to try next. Sometimes my prints stick so hard i have to pry it off and tweak the bed.
Comments
Anyway, enough with GRT. It's a thread about 3D printing.
For tinkerers like ourselves, it is a pretty fucking cool thing to be able to do - but if I wanted to go into even limited production on something I proved out on a printer I would pony up for a mold and convert things to injection or roto molded.
Got my 3d printer last week. I assembled it in 1 day but i havent gotten to mess with it since last week. Hopefully in 2 weeks i can progress on this and the laser engraver.
Below is some prints I did to make an adjustable bed for my laser. Aluminum angle fits into those triangles and 5/16's nuts and threaded rod fit in the holes. The bed mounts on the gears and its belt driven (manually by hand with the gesr shaped knob) to move the bed uo and down.
I bought some stepper motor isolators for it which did quiet it down significantly. Its about a 5db drop.
I'm interested in creating a deflector for an omni tweeter. Do you think this shape would better 3D printed or CNC'ed from??? My backup plan is to make these from plaster using a plaster sledging technique.
The bed adhesion thing you have is from the glass. You have to use hair spray or glue stick on it where you are going to print. Which is kind of dumb because the benefit of the glass is a ultra smooth bottom surface but if you spray with hair spray you might as well just not use the glass. I bought a removeable magnetic pad to try next. Sometimes my prints stick so hard i have to pry it off and tweak the bed.
That's an awesome project btw. Should be fun.