D.i.y 3D Printing

[Rook3]

I looked at the RepRap quite a while ago.



Using the machine you have, can you get it to do solid parts? I mean, the first few pieces

you showed pictures of have a lot of open space with visible matrix.



Can you do more solid surface pieces as well?



Would you recommend this type of machine for doing subtractive milling or would

you suggest a "regular" CNC setup for that?



Looking forward to seeing if it will do the SMG sight.

 

[Sniperbaas]

Suddenly, I feel like drooling... I can't wait to see what else you churn out with your "cupcake"



I really liked the flaming ODST symbols.

Would you be doing a run on those, or possibly the UNSCDEF symbol?



Once I figure out what my school has in terms of SW, rapid prototyping, and cnc machines, I may have several hundred questions for you if that is all right.





Cheers!

 

[Belakor]

What dimensions is your RepRap gonna have?

As apposed to the 10cm x 10cm x 13 cm of a Makerbot?



and wouldn't setting a Dremel to CNC require different tolerances and movement speeds in proportion to the bits and Dremel speed?

The Darwin (Gen 1 RepRap) has a work area of 230mm x 230mm x 100mm but I've since started printing some parts for Mendel (Gen 2) which is 200mm x 200mm x 140mm, eventually I'll probably end up with one of each… just for the fun of it really, it's more for experimenting and seeing what can be done with the machines



There would be some adjustments you'd need to make, mostly for the bit size and movement speed is easy enough to adjust

No, but it will torque everything in the frame in a way it's not supposed to.



Additive machining is advantageous and doable because it doesn't require the big, rigid frame of a CNC milling machine.

True, mounting a flex-shaft instead of the actual Dremel might reduce the torque and using a soft material (foam?) might help with that too. It's not something I'll be playing with yet, I'll probably save the experiments for the next machine

I looked at the RepRap quite a while ago.



Using the machine you have, can you get it to do solid parts? I mean, the first few pieces

you showed pictures of have a lot of open space with visible matrix.



Can you do more solid surface pieces as well?



Would you recommend this type of machine for doing subtractive milling or would

you suggest a "regular" CNC setup for that?



Looking forward to seeing if it will do the SMG sight.

Totally! The first prints I was still trying to figure out Skeinforge, the software that converts 3D models (STLs mostly) to Gcode, it's pretty confusing to start with but now that Iknow what I'm doing (sort of) I can make almost totally solid objects.

I've got a few comparisons, I can't remember what solidity ratio they are but I haven't gone as high as 100% just because it uses more plastic.



This is probably the best example:



Left is the earlier, more open pulley and right is the newer more solid pulley. From memory the right one is 0.3 infill solidity, 0.1 being very open and 1.0 being solid



And another piece that I recently printed



again left is old, right is new. The left one is really weak and flexes all over the place but the right one is pretty solid… too bad I can't use either, they're fan mounts for the stepper motor driver boards but I didn't realize they are for slightly different boards and wont fit on mine.



I think you'd probably be better going with a more traditional CNC for subtractive work, the Cupcake would probably do it eventually (once someone starts working on it probably) but there are some cheap DIY CNC kits out there. At one point Rockcliff was doing kits for something like $1000 (or maybe $2000) that had everything you would need to build one, they only have the plans up there now (for $175) but there's bound to be more out there.

I found some plans to build your own CNC from MDF/Triboard a while ago online… somewhere but I'm not sure where they are now.





The first attempt of that sight failed pretty bad but that was expected, settings were bad and the model needs some tweaking to make it more printable.

Suddenly, I feel like drooling... I can't wait to see what else you churn out with your "cupcake"



I really liked the flaming ODST symbols.

Would you be doing a run on those, or possibly the UNSCDEF symbol?



Once I figure out what my school has in terms of SW, rapid prototyping, and cnc machines, I may have several hundred questions for you if that is all right.





Cheers!

Honestly? I'm not sure. I've only just started experimenting with what it can do, it can do some pretty insane things though. None of these models are mine but I printed a pair of pliers the other day





and also a PCB vise for working on circuit boards:



The vise still needs more (bought) parts and to be assembled.



Thanks, I must try printing out a new version of that skull with better settings for something more solid.

As for doing a run of them, I'm not sure haven't really thought of it.



Fire away, I'll do what I can to answer whatever I can about SW and such.







Some more prints:



Screwable jewlery box and a cupcake printed on a cupcake



Another pulley, a pair of tweezers (made using popsicle sticks) new Trek command badge, and two MakerBeams. Also a few parts for Mendel.



I spent most of the weekend adjusting and modifying things, should be printing some new and cool stuff during the week





Edit: Small update, did a short video of a UMD case being printed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belakor/4002829364/

 

[Belakor]

Had my first real failure this morning



Wasn't paying attention as I feed some new plastic into the extruder, which I had just rebuilt and hadn't lined up properly, and it got stuck on the insulator/insulator retainer and kept pushing which led to the cracks pictured above. Glued it together again and printed some spares for when it finally gives way:





That's what I love about this whole thing, if you need a new part you can just print it... as long as it's not a part that you need to actually print, that's when you have problems But that's also why you need to stock up on spare parts



Now everything is back to normal (I'm running the glued retainer until it breaks) and I've been busy printing new stuff.



Some Makerbot coins:



Another version of the ODST logo which I've coated with some epoxy to see if it'll fill in the few gaps easily:





Also printed another cupcake with my new blue ABS:





And a few skulls in the new white and blue ABS:





The really cool thing about the skull is it's actually someones skull that was scanned and then converted to STL so it can be printed! That's something I've wanted to do for ages, it'd be cool to have my own skull sitting on a coffee table or something just to creep people out :lol



More cool stuff to come. Will probably be taking the machine with me to Armageddon this weekend, maybe print some stuff for people