3-D Printer for Sale (@ Aldi)

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Thanks Bojan. Whether the whole rig works or not is another thing. Point is, like you say,a 3D print can often be just like a metal one. This application would be a fair test of the limits strength wise. I frigged around for ages trying to find adaptors. Designing this took about 15min, was trivial, the print took about 2hrs. I recently tried a new ABS filament (from 3d systems) that is so stable and strong, no warp, that it replaced an extruded aluminium equipment box (100mm*100mm*40mm) in an application I have for 5 times less cost. It was smooth and slightly glossy, filaments are getting very sophisticated.

[xelasnave]

I am excited about where 3d printing may go when in the hands of near everybody.
Imagination and a 3d printer in the hands of kids could see a fad we can not imagine.
Could anyone here print out a working mechanical clock.. Say a cuckoo clock including the chain.
Maybe a think tank or a add to list as a sticky where members can ask re a clock for example but mainly to list stuff to do with a 3d printer.

[xelasnave]

Being the best astronmy forum we need to lead into the future 3d printing maybe needs a seperate section but I suspect we are at the tip of the future almost like when the tandy 16k hit the deck. Folk laughed at me. My opposition didnot understand. I could run rings around them when I got the osbourne 64k and printer they took years to catch up.
I hope someone understands my points here.. I am not in a good place where I can think without interuption.. Yes other humans nearby.

[bojan]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I am excited about where 3d printing may go when in the hands of near everybody.
Imagination and a 3d printer in the hands of kids could see a fad we can not imagine.
Could anyone here print out a working mechanical clock.. Say a cuckoo clock including the chain.
Maybe a think tank or a add to list as a sticky where members can ask re a clock for example but mainly to list stuff to do with a 3d printer.

Watch this space, Alex..
I am finishing work on planisphere design, which will show both local mean and sideral time (in a form of rotating skychart).
Long time ago I had that on my wall in flat where we used to live before we migrated to Australia.. couldn't' bring it with me but wantet to have it again ever since.
Now I can make it..

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by bojan

Watch this space, Alex..
I am finishing work on planisphere design, which will show both local mean and sideral time (in a form of rotating skychart).
Long time ago I had that on my wall in flat where we used to live before we migrated to Australia.. couldn't' bring it with me but wantet to have it again ever since.
Now I can make it..

Now thats what I am talking about. Fantastic.
In time we will order our houses cars boats body parts etc and bunnings will print them out.. Sounds bizarre. But I would put money on it or a near similar approach uunder another retailer.
Think about the cuckoo clock possible or not.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Funny you should mention pendulum clocks Alex. I saw a utube (cant find it now) of a clock printed with 2 materials, the second a support structure that melted away in a liquid bath leaving gears etc seperated from each other. He pulled it out of the bath, pushed the pendulum and off it went. The design was utterly impossible to produce in any other way, nothing was removable or replaceable, no screws anywhere.

I sent off a simple design off to an online 3D printing service for a quote (a disk basically). 4 pages came back of the materials they could print with. Amongst others were, stainless steel, ceramic, glass, wood, cake!.

Having said that, home 3D printing is still a bit of a toy. Very few ppl other than hobbyists would need bits printed in plastic, AND, its the design of the object you want to print thats the hard part, its not a trivial excerise designing in 3D, its a huge learning curve, and good design software is quite expensive. Sure there are free apps, but as usual, you get what you pay for.

[xelasnave]

Thanks Fred seems the future is here. I think the cuckoo clock could be done chain and all mmm maybe a new obsession to occupy my spare moments.
I could print a mask so I can leave the house.

[xelasnave]

The more I think about it the cuckoo clock would be a snap particularly when you can flush material away.
And a mask that melts in the rain to play a hidious practical joke I just thought of...
Some attachement on legs and arms as old age diminishes ones strenght. Thats doable I will knock up some plans.

[bugeater (Marty)]

Once you have one of these machines, actually producing intricate items from plastic becomes possible. The next step is altering how you think to factor this into your problem solving. "A man with a hammer sees everything as a nail" shouldn't necessarily be a criticism. Certainly not with a hammer with this much potential.

Problem at the moment is they aren't plug and play. It requires a fair amount of experimentation to work out the parameters of the materials. I'm still trying to print large ABS items without it delaminating.

[xelasnave]

Yes but it wont be long and you will have a simple app on a smart phone and you speak instructions to print a cool chess set (with the queen carrying a working cuckoo clock).
I wont get one until it works from a play station.
Now theres an idea.. A game and you print out the characters.

[drylander (Peter)]

Originally Posted by bojan

Fred, this looks awesome.
Let us know how it behaves in terms of thermal stability - I am guessing this may be only area where we can expect issues, but not very likely if f-ratio is above 6.

Couple of days ago I printed tubing for laser collimator (based on thingiverse design, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27972).
Works like the metal one.

I made one as well and bought a cheap pen laser and it works well. As for clocks I have printed out 2 so far and now in the process of fitting them together (both from 'Thingiverse'
Pete

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Thanks Fred seems the future is here. I think the cuckoo clock could be done chain and all

Alex,
There are quite a few working clock mechanisms that you can download and print - eg:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:328569
On this design, everything is 3d-printed (even the spiral spring), except for a few screws and pins, the cord, and the lead for the weight.

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

It is ABS though, I dont think PLA would cut it.

From an engineering perspective, 3D-printed PLA is typically stronger and stiffer than 3D-printed ABS, but ABS is typically tougher (more impact-resistant). (Of course, getting your printer settings just right is critical, and just changing to a different brand of filament can make a big difference, let alone switching between ABS & PLA.)

E.g. take a look at https://www.lulzbot.com/learn/in-the...erial-strength

In a recent study, Pearce and his team examined the basic and tensile strength and elastic modulus of printed materials in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA) using a range of open source hardware. They found average tensile strengths of 28.5 MPa (megapascals) for ABS and 56.6 MPa for PLA, with average elastic moduli of 1807 MPa for ABS and 3368 MPa for PLA.

The study concludes, "It is clear from these results that parts printed from tuned, low-cost, open-source RepRap 3-D printers can be considered as mechanically functional in tensile applications as those from commercial vendors."
[My emphasis]

Copy of full paper here: https://www.academia.edu/6209168/Mec...tal_conditions

[drylander (Peter)]

A problem with PLA is that it will degrade in time as its bio-degradable but really shows its ability to break down fast in our weather, especially in the summer sun which also needs to be taken into consideration.
Pete