Crius

Hi Guys. I looked and looked and couldn't find a 3D printing thread here so I thought I'd start one. if one already exists and I missed it, give me a link or thread title and I'll move this stuff there and close this thread, K?

Anyway, I've been running the printer tirelessly and this weekend I'm doing wood. I'd like to get opinions and I have a few samples so take a look at the video and please let me know what you think about this new filament and it's possibilities. I think it would also be good for windows and doors in battlefield buildings, but I don't know how the wood filament will stand the weather compared to a solid plastic.


I'd like to see this thread used for anything and everything 3D printing, so if guys want to post projects, ideas, files whatever, it's fine with me.

RC_BobM

Gary I think the crates are a good idea. I was planning something similar either crates or fuel drums to hide the battery in my Asiatam Opel Blitz. They look great.
As for the little speaker box, can you flip the speaker over and put holes in the bottom of the crate? That way the top of crate would be free of holes. I would raise the bottom of the crate up a bit (looks like you aready have) so it doesn't sit flat. Just a thought.

I love the idea of the average joe printing his own models and parts!
Great stuff, always enjoy your videos.
Bob

Crius

Thanks, Bob. I like the speaker idea, I'll have to investigate that.

I also have an asiatam opel blitz and I got it with the stock control board. I've had two of them burn up on me and it's rather frustrating. What electronics are you running in yours? I really wanted to use all the features in the board, like turn signals and what-not, so hopefully I'll be able to use a separate ESC (that's what burned up on both boards).

Anyway, here's a bit more on just how easy to use this PLA is if you have the right glue.

Airbrushler

Hey Gary maybe you can change up the printing on the top part of the crate leave a bit of a gap between slats just a fast mock up

herrmill

A buddy of mine is about to start printing the T-35 that Dean R was kind enough to put up as Open Source. As you can see from the photos on the link, its a beast in 1/16.

3D Printed T-35A

Crius

A beast indeed. Imagine what Wayne's t35 is going to look like. He's printing it in 1/6 scale.

Imex-Erik

So what slicer are you using to do these prints? I used to print wood a few years ago and had it setup so that every few layers the temperature would go up or down a few degrees which would add darker and lighter rings as it printed Here I have some 100% fill TPU prints with Cura (yes the prints are 30+ hours, it is for a 2 meter+ drone for a friend) and the stringing is minimal even on one of the softest materials to print.

I use a combination between Simplify3D and Cura for my printer at home (Ender 3 Pro with flexible build platform, essentially a Prusa clone). Simplify I found works real good for things needing support and such, but Cura gives me much quicker and cleaner prints. For use with TPU I use Cura only, even with printing supports. Not sure why but no matter what settings I play with I always get stringing with Simplify3D versus Cura with both PETG and TPU which are my two favorite materials to print in. I've messed with retraction settings, z-hop, temperatures, etc but Cura with just a few minor tweaks gives me great results. However to do the layer by temperature change it is best to do via Simplify3D.

Send me a message Gary, I'll show you how I do it

Crius

I pretty much stick with Cura. Us old guys ain't great with change so once we find something that works we tend to stick with it.

The stringy part doesn't really bother me, but if it ever does Wayne told me about combing, and that's supposed to reduce the stringy part.

Imex-Erik

Yea with Cura I seem to have little to no issues with retraction, even with minimal settings. I specialize in TPU printing here so I ALWAYS have TPU ready at the house. I like to print with the some of the softest TPU: Sainsmart. It is a bit harder to print on a bowden style printer but I have mine setup just right for it. I would say around 80% of my prints are TPU. Tires and things that need to grip are great with Sainsmart's TPU. Now when I use Simplify I like to use hard plastics. Yes the slicer does cost $150 but it is worth it
I just recently got another printer (we have a nice dual extruder here at work) so I could do some stuff like Nylon/PC printing at the house. I'm looking at some water cooled extruders now but printing with Nylon looks like it will be a bigger PITA than any kind of results I would get out of it. Anyone here printing Nylon or any other rare filaments? I would be interested in picking your brain on a few things...

Crius

That's a great idea for the top of the crate, Greg, I'm looking into that.

Here's a shot of a window frame. One of the cool things about Cura is that I can scale these things to any size I want. The crates in the photo are 30x20x10 mm but I can make them whatever height, length and width needed. I think one of the crates to hold electronics ended up at 150x55x25. Same with windows, i can make whatever size i need and i think they'll be great for battlefield buildings. I've got doors, too, some even have knobs. WooHoo.



I think EVERYONE needs a 3D printer!!

Crius

I've also been thinking about adding another printer. I have about a G set aside and I'm waiting for Black Friday, less than four weeks away. I am seriously, I mean seriously, thinking about getting an SLA printer, mainly for tires and small detail items, like headlight buckets and mirrors.

RC_BobM

Formlabs make an excellent desk top SLA machine. But its expensive and the resin is a bit messy too. But excellent detail and quality of parts. The SLA process is more involved due to cleaning and removing support material. These machines have small build volume - but would be good for small detail parts.
https://formlabs.com/store/us/form-2...SABEgKWTPD_BwE

That T-35 is awesome! Would love to see more pix. Its like a land battleship.

Bob

Imex-Erik

Yea SLA is the way to go for the high detail stuff. The new LCD printers are pretty nice too but I can't have resin in my house with my dog. He sheds constantly, I would just be digging hairs out of my resin every time I messed with it. I also have a little dog that will lick anything so I'm hesitant to try resin.

Crius

I'll have to research the difference between SLA and LCD. I know they both use resin but that's about all I know right now. I need to find out if the printer I get will be able to print the flexible rubber type resin needed to make tires. That's the main thing I want the SLA printer for, is tires. The quality is just so much better. Creality has an LCD printer that's within my price range. It's a little under $700 right now and I expect to see it for around $400 on Black Friday. Does anyone know anything about the creality LCD printers? Do you know if they'll print the flexible type resin?

maillemaker

So how do you get those super-smooth printouts without little ridges in it? We have an Einscan 3D printer at work that prints PLA. But even at the finest quality there are little steps in the part.

Crius

Is the einscan a resin printer?

maillemaker

I'm afraid I don't know the terminology. It uses a spool of plastic that looks like weed eater cord. You can get it in different colors. It is "PLA" - Polyactic Acid. Not SLA I will have to correct my other post.

Steve

Imex-Erik

That is FFM printing, not SLA printing. SLA uses light (laser or LCD type of thing) to cure the resin. FFM is cheaper and the most commonly used atm. To get rid of those striations when you print the best thing to do is decrease the layer height. When you start getting down to .1mm heights or smaller is when it gets harder to see if it was 3d printed. If you are looking to make it look like it was injection molded I would check out something like the XTC-3D self leveling epoxy. You can paint it on and it will eliminate a lot of the post processing you would normally do. If you have to do post processing I would suggest ABS as vapor bathing is simple and cheap, but printing it is not near as easy as PLA or PETG.

Crius

Hey Steve, Erik covered most of it. You're gonna find they have more letters to memorize, like, FDM, SLA, LCD, SLS, then you can shake a big stick at. I saw a good technique where the guy used spray paint, and then used fast drying, spray polyurethane and it worked great. In fact, here's the video


I still haven't tried that yet but I plan to. Right now I'm looking at SLA or LCD printers, which print with liquid resin instead of the spool of filament. The print quality with resin is light years better than FDM, They make excellent tires, if I can figger out which printer to get and the right kind of resin. Another education provided by the RC Tank hobby. Anyway, the thing to remember about 3D printing is that there's several different types, like FDM, what you have at work, and resin, like SLA (stereo-lithographic something or other) which use light to harden each layer, and one advantage there is that some printers harden an entire layer at a time so prints can actually be quicker for some items. And they have printers that use a powder solidified by lasers, and industrial printers that weld metal onto a piece and then machine it to shape. They even have printers that make stuff you can eat.

thedonut

I have a Peopoly Moai SLA printer which is great for small detailed parts. I attached a couple of pics of test prints for my WPL truck. Note that these are just rough prints that have not been sanded, filled, etc.. For the tires, I used flexible resin (Photocentric UV Flexible). One thing about this particular flexible resin is it bends and flexes but hardly stretches. It feels and acts like rubber except for the stretching part. Stretch it even just a little and it will break which is why I'm still on the lookout for better flexible resin. Good thing tires don't need to stretch. I also have a FlashForge FDM printer which is better for large and durable printouts that don't require much detail.

Crius

Those look really great, and that's exactly what I'm after. What size is the print bed on your SLA printer? Do you mind if I ask what it cost? I'm hoping to get a significant discount on Black Friday.

thedonut

You can check it out here --> https://peopoly.net/products/moai

They're coming out with the Moai 2 which has a larger build plate. You should check out the Moai group in Facebook to see all the fantastic things being printed with this printer (Moai Laser SLA 3D Printer Owners).

Imex-Erik

I feel like I found a new Xmas present...

thedonut

Fresh out of the vat.

Crius

How long does it take to print one of those, and why don't you print it laying down flat?