elastomeric / rubber print material?

[aj-solutions 0]

Hi guys,

Incredible project. :!:

I would like to print hand stamps with such a machine. Is there a material other than hard plastic

that can be used with the 3d printer?

It has to be rubber-like; compressible and approx. 55 degrees shore a. Also it has to be UV resistant

otherwise it will dry out completely on your desk in a few months. And ofcoase it has to transfer

ink.

Normally used material for this is photopolymer (like the Objet machines use) to be cured with UV light

and ofcoarse natural and vulcanized rubber.

I know that there are companies that can easily make the little balls for extruding machines that have

the characteristics. They contain chalk powder also which is a filling component. Is this usable with the ultimaker? (Balls and powder containing material)

Please let me know, thanks!!

[Daid 306]

Flexible PLA might do what you want. It's a bit more expensive the normal PLA, and is a bit more stiff then rubber, but lot less stiff then normal plastics.

[aj-solutions 0]

I have googles this and found a german company selling this stuff..

Anyone have a machine and this flexible material to do some tests? :oops:

[jeremy 0]

I am also interested in getting a wider variety of materials to work on the Ultimaker - but I can't see how such as soft material would be possible without a complete redesign of the extrusion mechanism. The Ultimaker uses a Bowden tube through which it pushes a plastic filament. If the filament compresses, it will expand radially and jam itself in the tube. I don't doubt that you could get something a bit softer than PLA to work, but I can't see 55 shore A as doable. :?

[Daid 306]

How about chocolate?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14421

I've got the chance to see and touch some printed soft PLA parts, and those are really interesting. It is harder to print with the soft stuff then the normal hard PLA I have been told. But so far I have been unable to find a seller that has it in stock. PLA seems to be out of stock a lot... and not a lot of shops sell the flexible stuff.

[aj-solutions 0]

www.2printbeta.de

this guy can deliver the soft pla in black colour.

They indeed say that you have to play a bit with the temperature and the speed to get things

looking allright, but it is possible. Printing on a cold / cooled surface should help.

For what I see is that when you want t print a hand stamp, you need a perfect smooth top

surface. you have to print with that so when you see the lines the print head makes it is

a disaster.

will it be possible to print the hand stamp upside down? in this way the print surface will take

over the surface of the table which is perfectly smooth.

Another question; when printing small text and characters; is the machine capable of doing this?

for example this is a fine detailed rubber stamp;

These are things I need to know before buying such a machine....quality-repreatibility-material.

[Daid 306]

http://www.2printbeta.de

this guy can deliver the soft pla in black colour.

Good tip.

 

They indeed say that you have to play a bit with the temperature and the speed to get things

looking allright, but it is possible. Printing on a cold / cooled surface should help.

For what I see is that when you want t print a hand stamp, you need a perfect smooth top

surface. you have to print with that so when you see the lines the print head makes it is

a disaster.

will it be possible to print the hand stamp upside down? in this way the print surface will take

over the surface of the table which is perfectly smooth.

It would be better not to print upside down. You are printing on scotch tape, which has a slight texture on it. You can see this in the print surface. Small layers with a properly tweaked extrusion will make perfect top sides.

 

Another question; when printing small text and characters; is the machine capable of doing this?

for example this is a fine detailed rubber stamp;

[Ximg]http://redlaserstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rubber.jpg[/img]

These are things I need to know before buying such a machine....quality-repreatibility-material.

No.

Unless that stamp is a lot larger then I imagine you won't be able to pull that off. The nozzle lays 0.4mm lines. So you get lines which are 0.4mm width and corners with a 0.2mm circle radius. Makergear sells 0.25mm nozzles which can be used to improve this. But those details are just to small.

Try drawing your design with a 0.4mm marker, never crossing the same line (even if you put 2 lines parallel they should only touch, not overlap), that's what the printer does. So you'll also get problems with the infill on small details.

[aj-solutions 0]

Thank you for your response! I learn a lot with these answers.

The stamp I showed is laser engraved rubber, and probably one of the most

idiotic stamps ever produced in terms of small detail. :mrgreen: Most of the stamps

are text and line work, maybe a small logo sometimes.

So let me put it another way;

if you print text (for example Arial font); what is the smallest font size it

will print holding the font and text nice and smooth?

[Daid 306]

Well, for fonts... it kind of depends

I had trouble with a 1.8mm width item. It had 2 printed lines on both sides, so that's 0.4*4=1.6mm, so there was 0.2mm left, which was not filled up by the software as there didn't fit any 0.4mm line in it. But that might be fixable with some settings. Only doing 1 outside line for example could fix it.

While this photo isn't mine:

http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:14726

it shows the same problem I had with the same model.

[aj-solutions 0]

I know i may be a pain in the ass, but anyy chance

That someone can do a print test with normal material and post a photo of the details here?

Just some text with different font sizes from 4pt. Up to 12 pt. Arial.. total of approx.2 mm height, with shoulders on the sides of the text to prevent them from bending over..

[Daid 306]

12pt? that's only about 4mm in height. At that size the lines of a font are about 0.4mm in thickness, which is about the limit of the printer. So I can tell you now, the results won't be pretty for 12pt. For 4pt the results will be unreadable (if the printer prints anything at all)

[IRobertI 520]

I doubt you'll get the results you hope for. Due to the way the Ultimaker works it has issues with stringing when moving through open air. Since letters tend to have space in between them that then means that there will be small strings between each letter which requires clean up. The software can do clever things like trying to move over areas that will have plastic in them regardless but when it comes to spaces there isn't much the software can do, it's gotta go where it's gotta go.

And then there's the physical limit of how thin the printer can print like others have already mentioned.

[mr_seeker 0]

I would recommend using a CNC or lasercutter for making stamps. A FDM-printer (like the ultimaker) would make too much strings and it would not be perfectly flat on top. The printer is designed for making 3d objects, flat 2d objects would be very hard to make (not impossible, just hard).

[aj-solutions 0]

I know that laser is the best way to make stamps, I have sold these machines (ULS)

for a few years.

However, you have to buy a complete rubber plate and burn away the parts you dont need.

This takes forever and costs material which is evaporated. Next to this the machines are costly.

Not the chinese ones but that is always a quality issue. :mrgreen:

Bummer it won't work with the ultimaker... :cry:

[Daid 306]

Maybe if you stuck a laser on the ultimater printer head...

[mr_seeker 0]

Bummer it won't work with the ultimaker... :cry:

I didnt say "won't", I said "will be very hard". If you put a dremel on the Ultimaker, then you have in fact a CNC machine

[aj-solutions 0]

Yeah a combination of ultimaker with a laserhead will also do the job... :idea:

[ddurant 0]

I didnt say "won't", I said "will be very hard". If you put a dremel on the Ultimaker, then you have in fact a CNC machine

On my loooong todo list!! Actually started working on this a few months ago - a mount for a dremel - but got sidetracked..

[Daid 306]

I have thought about the dremel mount, but taking another look at the mechanics of the ultimaker, and the amount of stress put on a machine by a dremel this didn't seem wise. I would love to have a PCB mill. Doesn't even has to be large, only 100x100mm.

I do have ordered a laser not sure if I will attached it to my Ultimaker or build a 2nd X/Y bed. For anyone thinking about this option, read about laser safety first. And look at this pretty picture of someone who got hit in the eye with a 1W laser. topic. Laser safety is no joke, and I spend about 30% of my budget on quality safety glasses.

[mr_seeker 0]

I spend about 30% of my budget on quality safety glasses.

2nd that. I got hit by schrapnel on my safety glasses while using a lathe (while a guy standing next to me, not wearing any safety glasses glasses, asked me why I was always wearing army-approved shotgun resistant safety glasses), seen (and heard) about people losing eyes due to exploding fireworks, and many more ugly things. I am always using safety glasses when I am working with objects that can explode, provide free laser surgery or create flying objects. Better be safe than sorry. Try climbing stairs with one eye, or catching a ball... You cant.