Hello from The Netherlands

[robin-van-der-molen 0]

Hello all,

im Robin van der Molen an dutch (mechanical) engineer.

for a living i make technical drawings (and models) of all sorts of buildings, machines etc.

 

Since about 5 - 6 years ago I came in contact with 3D printing, but back then you would have to pay an small fortune for that kind of equipment.

but recently I realized 3D printing was growing in quality, speed and affordability!

I have to admit: I still do not yet own a 3D printer, but it is on my wishlist (high priority! ^^).

With this machine I hope to do some household engineering, like optimising current machines and do some goofy normally impossible products.

(and I am a warhammer fan!! ^^)

Software I work with:

Inventor

AutoCAD

Solidworks

Rapidform

Experimenting with:

Blender

Rhinoceros

Cura

Are there owners living in the neighbourhood of Alkmaar (noord-holland)? I'd love to see the printer in action since the local Fablab doesn't respond to my mails :(

 

[jameshs 42]

Hi Robin,

You are well positioned to make full use of a 3D printer as you already have the software knowledge.

It kind of seems crazy, but I thought about it for a year before I jumped in and am glad that I did because it was worth doing the research and get to an Ultimaker (I would otherwise have bought a makerbot).

I have spent the first month just doing really basic experiments with a 30mm box and lid, to understand what PLA can do and what tolerances the UM works to to generate things like an interference fit and nesting objects etc and how this varies depending on orientation ........ plus print speed, temperature cura settings.

Then downloading thingiverse stuff, printing it and seeing what works and what does not (loads does not!)

Now onto phase 2 where I am designing in 3D and printing - which is way more interesting but very time consuming.

I am hoping to move into inventor as I use Revit for architectural projects and it is not so happy at 0.5mm level - it does not like lines of that length, so about to download a trial of inventor and see if it offers more at this stage than 123D design (I am sure it will .

Update us on your progress - but there is nothing like having the machine next to you and just printing away !

James

 

[robin-van-der-molen 0]

James, for "prototyping" software i am told Solid Edge is the software to go! (still on my to-do list to learn)

since inventor is not really that great if you are still in the designing phase of a construction.

That said: inventor is still the most adopted software our customers (from my engineering bureau) use.

mainly because you can buy it with a discount in combination with AutoCAD and 3D studio max.

One of the things i do at work is working with a Faro Photon 120 3D Laser scanner and editing 3D pointclouds into workable models

<Snap! cant post pictures!! URL:http://s203.photobucket.com/user/FrANTICxl/media/Naamloos.png.html>

(a small example of an processed 3D scan made by me, rendered in Inventor 2012 with raytracing (on the ribbon: view tab) on highest quality)

Currently though i am interested into starting a new "hobby", like making instruction videos for small engineering projects, since i cant do this at work, and not for customers we have at my office, i will aim this more into startups and household-engineers.. and do this in spare time. hopefully i can extend this plan.. but at its current state i can not yet reveal to much. (tough i'd love to do a brainstorm session on skype with people who are really interested but it is not yet mature enough for public forums).

Also i am still looking for an affordable Laser cutter for wood, plastics, cardboard and papers.

 

and a 3D scanner with a decent resolution.

if someone is building one of these and needs some feedback about it don't hesitate to ask!!

you can contact me on:

PM

linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/robin-van-der-molen/21/5b1/920

or Skype: franticxl

 

[mennosmit 0]

Hey Robin,

My name is Menno Smit living in Purmerend

Intrested in 3d printing sinds a year or so.

Sinds 4 weeks i own a Ultimaker

Experimenting a lot and now i'm working on a "project" Raspberry pi / octoprint for wireless controling my Ultimaker .

I'ts good to know about the fablab Alkmaar, becouse i build my Ultimaker at the protospace fablab Utrecht.

My full intrest is now on 3d drawing becouse i'm working on 3d printing with a fanuc industrial robotic arm.

Gr Menno Smit

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Hello Robin,

Perhaps i can advise you to see if there are local 3D hubs meeting( organized for example @ meetup.com).

In Eindhoven it is often in the Fablab, however it is not always over there.

Regards,

Lennart