My first astro related 3D print

[pluto]

We've had a 3D printer (Makerbot 5th gen) at work for a few months now and I've finally gotten around to printing something useful!

I wanted to use my SV finderscope with the Tak bracket on my RC8 so I've printed up a little adapter which I can bolt the finder to that slips into the slot on the RC8. I just threaded some 6mm bolts through and it attaches really solidly.
It's a solid (100% infill) PLA print and it used probably a bit less than $2 worth of filament.

:D

[Astroman]

wow terrific, looks great, can imagine all the other things that could be made with one of those things... wish my work had one :D

[Poita]

If anyone ever wants anything 3D printed, just let me know, if it is astro related I'm happy to do it for the cost of filament plus postage for any members here.

I've found the 3D printer to be incredibly handy, I'm too useless to use a lathe, so it is my go-to device for making adapters and other bits and pieces for the scope.

[2stroke]

Cheers peter, thinking about grabbing one myself since there under $1k for a pretty decent small sized abs layer printer now. Guess the only thing putting me off is i don't think i would see my moneys worth out of it as i don't need to much done. Might take you up on the offer though at some point as i need a lighter weight housing for the dsi. What is the maximum layer height you can print to?

[alistairsam]

hi Peter,

I might contact you for printing a few Truss joints. Which software do you use to create the drawings?

Cheers
Alistair

[traveller]

Very generous of you Peter,
I have a small project which I will email you later.
Thanks
Bo

[scopemankit]

Very clever. I'm sure that 3D printing will flourish in ATM circles.

[Poita]

Happy to do it.

[ZeroID]

You looking at the Da Vinci 3D printer ?
Was impressed that it could manage a 7.8" cube ( 20 cm ? ), a resonably useful size but limited to ABS only.
At ~$1000 or less it is becoming a possible workshop 'toy' but I'll agree, finding enough to justify buying it is one thing. Also the need to learn some serious CAD skills to design your own projects.
I'm working on both ... slowly. :rolleyes:

[Logieberra]

Cool. I see that Planewave are going down this path too. 3d printed central Baffles in their CDKs.

[Bassnut]

THATS the gotcha, very non trivial :P.