irongland

Hey guys I looked into leveling beds, and one sensor you might want to check out is a LVDT. I did a lab back in college where we used one to measure thicknesses of playing cards and found the thinnest. I don't know if the software/ hardware would be compatible, it needs to use an alternating current to work. Also I saw the video of a delta printer using sensors to "level" the platform, I really like how those work since the entire system does not need to actuate the build plate.

Once I was helping a friend get his faulty replicator 2 working (this was brand new a month or so after the release). Due to the previous design, a lot of friction was being generated. One of the suggestions that worked there was using less than a drop of corn oil (or something with as high of a smoke point as possible) to reduce the friction generated by their silly derlin plunger design. I mention this because there were no discernible effects on the print. I tried comparing parts printed on another printer with similar filament, but I couldn't see any difference. We ran the machine through an entire roll and a half on this method before we acquired the parts to make a better extruder head. Also if you try this with an ultimaker, be careful to not get any on your knurled bolt.

I like your support piece maurice! clever clever. If I didn't have an imperial piece of glass I would definitely use your very clever device. instead I'm using something like: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/z-material-add-on to good results As far as your experiments are concerned could you post some pictures? I'm awfully curious about your warping issues and the finish you are achieving on your glue stick on glass parts. With the dilute glue I have achieved nearly mirror finishes (some lines are present still). I guess the glue stick must make thicker layers of glue, but I would love to see what it looks like

Nifty trick! I'll have to give it a try.

Just double checking, this is pla right? that white reminds me of some abs I have seen. I don't think it's possible to print abs at the temperatures we are talking about, but some times some one has to ask the dumb questions!

Hey guys Another day another try. So here is what I came up with by printing three at once. Thanks for this tip guys. It's definitely better. Next I wonder if my layer heights are too small, this is the same profile I use to print DnD minis, so I thought it would work. What do you guys think?

I have experimented a bit with the dilute PVA aka glue solution and a non heated bed with very good results. I personally tried three different concentrations of glue to water. Albeit I'm sure it varies due to the formula of glue, but I didn't find a noticeable difference between a 30% solution and a 50% solution (disclaimer: I wasn't too scientific about applying the solution to the glass, just kinda smeared it on). Either way it's worth a shot, and the pva solution also dissolves in water too for easy removal and cleaning. And the finish on the bottoms of the pieces are absolutely amazingly flat and shiny. Super jealous of the UM2 owners with their heated glass beds! Also, how do these force readings compare with standard blue tape minus the alcohol treatment?

Thanks guys Like said, this is going to require some experience aka you guys! hehehe seriously thanks guys. Ill get back to this thread in the morning with some fresh results.

I agree with everything you said gr5, I'm positive we can print these parts, but it will take a little experience to print. Ill try again tomorrow. I also must admit that I have not dialed down my retraction and need to put some time into figureing that out. One thing I am a little afraid of is their stability when the print head comes back and "brushes" the part. these parts have a rounded tip, the only way I am keeping them standing is with a rather large brim. Also that looks like a great grumpy pumpkin print in the background!

Hi Sanjay I have to say I was contemplating why we don't try water cooling our heads the other day! Admittedly I was thinking of using a premade water cooler for a computer processor, which would add a lot of extra bulk opposed to just milling out a path where the filament travels. I think it's awesome that you are trying this on a four head system!. I wish you and E3D luck on developing it! If I ever need another hot end Ill surely buy one from you guys due to this thread and all the helpful ultimaker brethren that helped develop nice hot end mounts.

Illuminarti was correct. The piece was too small and I had difficulty obtaining adiquit cooling. The piece looks like a very small spiraled hose barb with two groves running down the center. The side not facing the fan had significant blobing issues. I tried two other versions and this was the best result. It's not that the ultimaker can't handle the detail, it's that the cross section is too small. The overhangs didn't bother the printer too much since the tapers of the barbs were going upwards. It seemed to be mostly cooling and oozing issues. I feel it would be possible to print this on a modified ultimaker, but a lot of love, care, and experience would be required to print it. Either way it was a fun challenge. I would recommend looking at some printing services that have some very large and expensive printers (sls and all that stuff). Because the part is so small it wouldn't be that expensive to get made. I could have it made by shapeco for about 8 dollars in aluminide or a resin. At that price it might be wort it to try ordering a couple. as is you could by 350 of them made out of aluminide from a service before it would cost that of an ultimaker. Food for thought. If you scale this model up by 50% I think it would be printable. Oh by the way Whitt, that big flat thing on the right side of the screw like print is known as a brim, it's to help hold the part to the platform, it shaves off with a knife or your finger nail fairly easily.

Alright I have the file and am going to go ahead and print it. It does look tricky, Ill be back with some photos.

Hehe we might have gotten a little off topic, but I'm downloading design spark, looks similar to autodesk inventor, solidworks, pro e, and all those other guys. I guess there are only so many ways to dress up a cad program! Thanks for pointing out a real nice looking piece of software! Also +1 for mesh mixer!

Ill check those out! As far as the autodesk programs are concerned they let just about anyone download the education versions. you can do this because they have certification tests for their different software. They want to make sure people can thus learn their software, hence it's not just for educators but for people that just want to learn it (this was made clear to me at an autodesk booth at a convention I was at). I don't know about the legaity of using it thusly for hobby type work and then sharing that work. If it's for your own personal use and growth though, it's fine. Don't use educational copies for work under any conditions! But you are right, there are so many free cad and modeling packages out there that you don't even need the big expensive ones anymore!

I was thinking the same thing too illuminarti, and if this is for the workplace whitt can probably scrounge up the money for a resin based printer and it's supplies. One issue I have heard with the resin printers is their parts are not as mechanically strong as our FDM type printers; depending on the type of prototype needed this might not be a problem. Whitt, a good way to see if your part is 3d printable would be to actually download Cura, and have it slice up the model. Then switch it over to layer view so you can see the path the printer will print in. if those lines don't have anything supporting or if there is too much overhang there is a good chance that it would be a very difficult print. Also look at the overhang view option if you need help identifying overhang.

I wouldn't ask for money in this case since the material cost is going to be about 10 cents... and Ill just post some pictures and dimensions my caliper measured. As far as getting me the model, I think an stp file should work, but you can also export it as a .stl or .obj with your cad program, and then I know it will work. As far as getting me the model, I would bet there is a nifty way to send these types of files on this forum, but I haven't figured that part out. Just send it to thestooges4000 at gmail.com it's my spam email so it's not a good contact method, but it'll work for this.

Also there are 2 types of modeling software, one where it treats the model as surfaces (sketchup) and others that treat them as solids (many cad programs) If you are looking for a simple to use solid modeling program you could use 123d Design (the one you download not the online one) and it treats the models as solid models. This makes sure they are pretty much always watertight. Also you can get a lot of the more expensive software such as 3ds max and autodesk inventor for free as long as you use them for your own learning of the software, just don't use them for business. Just sign up on their education website.

If you cant see them, first click on Expert>Switch to Full Settings Then on the basic tab under the quality section there will be layer height, and shell thickness Shell thickness: make sure its a multiple of your nozzle diameter (ultimakers are .4mm) so use 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6... ect Under Fill there is Bottom / top thickness and Fill density. Bottom/top thickness: This needs to be a multiple of your layer height. so if you are printing at 0.2mm try 1.0, 1.2, 1.4... ect When I print structural parts I like to make the shell thickness and top and bottom thickness larger to increase the strength. Infill can add strength, but an extra layer of the shell will make it much stronger than an increase in infil. Still if you want a part "solid" go for a large shell and top/bottom thickness, and if you REALY want a solid core you could try 50% infil, this will make it look almost solid, but will give you a little lee-way for other problems (like if you are over extruding). I don't know what type of handle you are printing, but the Ultimaker handle (handle for your printer: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ultimaker-handle#!design-information) I would print at 1.6mm shell thickness and 1.6 mm top and bottom thickness with only 20% infil and .2mm layerheight. I bet this would result in a much larger safety factor than x9 or so (overkill!).

Hi Whitt Do you have a cad file you would like to see printed. this sounds like a small print I, or some one else, could give it a go (I print up a lot of little cubes to test different pla, so I figure I can just print something of use to some one else instead of a cube) I am currently using an original ultimaker, I have it running fairly smoothly, but I have never tried to print tight tolerances. I guess if I can do it within your desired tolerances I would safely say that any run of the mill ultimaker could.

wow zeno, nice print. I especially like the clouds at the bottom! The look real nice in that gray.

I too have been going back and forth between blue tape and glass, PeggyB's little clip makes it easy. You have a point though, I could add blue tape to the glass instead and bypass using the acrilic bed altogether. Another trick I figured out is to coat both sides of the glass, once one side is sufficiently used you just need to flip it over. In general I think of this glass trick as another trick in the toolbox. For some people I help out with their 3d printers, this trick has replaced blue tape since they use their printers in a school classroom/shop environment (and I replaced their printbed with glass already). They just happen to have brushes and glue laying around ALL THE TIME. For me though I keep my printer in my bedroom, and do the glass and glue trick with my glass plates in the garage. As such Ill use the glass trick if the bottom is going to be used (like an Iphone case). With something like the Venus de Milo, I would print on tape rubed in isopropel since I still get a better adhesion. Also if you can get other non pla plastics to stick (nylon abs ect) then Ill be using glue and glass much more often when I get some different plastics. Side note but related to this topic: Has anyone done a comparison between glue sticks and the glue/water solution?

A job is a job, and prototyping is a job. There are entire firms/machine shops where all they do is prototype stuff. But like roberti mentioned you have to pay taxes on income (or at least you do where I live). We even have some fancy names such as "independent contracting" that we can label this type of work. If this is going to be a real source of income, you should definitely talk to a tax guy, he'll straighten everything out and should make sure you are given the correct documentation so no one can get in trouble for money stuff. I myself do a little bit of independent contracting where I use my ultimaker every once and a while for business (when it's not printing me awesome things). One of the laws I did run into though is a city law that states "you are not allowed to produce products from your house if signs of the production (sound, smell, ect) leave the premise". But Ill bet your laws differ, so you could check those out. Generally though if no one can hear, smell, or see your production most of these types of zoning laws don't apply, some even have exceptions to things like prototypes for engineering and design type work. Again, if this is going to be a real source of income you could head on down to your city hall, and ask the people in charge of small business licences, they will know all the ins and outs for this type of work.

Hi guys, sorry for the late update. Hey PeggyB, that's a really good idea! I already printed up a pair after I adjusted it to my glass's thickness, Thanks! Here is the glue I'm using, though I imagine any similarly cheap generic craft glue (like the ones in schools with the orange nozzles) will work. Once more my reasoning is that the more generic it is the more basic it is (less addetives) and closer to PVAc. I'll see if I can't get a good shot of my results.

I'm quite familiar with many of the great members on these forums, I have been following the activities on both the google group and this forum ever since I thought about getting a printer eight months ago. I only recently made an account though. Already you have saved/helped me with a couple of your insightful posts Illuminarti, so I have to give you a belated thank you!

I'm sure everyone knows of richrap, but his new delta printer design (the 3DR) uses some sort of wound line instead of timing belts. I think he has versions for belts too. http://richrap.blogspot.com/ I have lots of respect for that guy, and his design looks very well thought out and simple.