First printer – advice please

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

An update – have successfully printed loads of bits for the printer itself – filament guides, Z-Axis winding knob and quite a few other things. However, althogh printed perfectly, not all were as useful as I had imagined so were soon scrapped.

Have actually drawn from scratch (using Solid Edge, an adventure in itself, and more stuff learned) an improved filament guide based on a Thingiverse design. Everything seem to be printing well now, fingers crossed. Discovered a number of things that needed tweaking, for example the drive gear on the extruder was a bit far up the shaft so was sometimes not properly feeding the filament.

But this evening, after thus far only printing stuff for the printer itself, I was delighted to find a design for some visor screws for my Shoei crash helmet, normally around a fiver, just printed four for an estimated cost of 3p. 🙂

And I think I’m going to be able to keep it in the house, the wife is getting quite attached to it now. I foresee some IKEA Lack tables in the near future, seems to be a popular way to make an enclosure for the Ender 3 series.

So thanks again to all of you for your advice. I’m now a confirmed 3D-printing enthusiast.

Rob

 

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Can’t remember what area of modelling you are interested in but you could consider G1; there are lots of designs for locos and rolling stock, and yes 3D printed wheels do run well and don’t wear because they are rolling. Also G3 (and of course G2) and even some stuff being printed for 5in gauge, even commercially.
If you are more into workshop equipment changewheels and division plates are on Thingiverse. And there is a thread dial indicator too. All low stress parts so plastic is fine.

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

I printed an orrery off Thingiverse for my grandson at Christmas. Works pretty well, after a couple of very minor mods. But make sure you have plenty of filament in a few different colours! Quite a talking-point – I need to make another one for myself!

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

The orrery sounds an interesting project. Not much into modelling, but the workshop equipment idea is good – a friend of a friend had already printed a thread dial indicator for my Boxford a while ago, which was one factor in deciding to get a 3D printer for myself. I’m fitting an electronic leadscrew to the lathe, so it’ll be mounting brackets and suchlike rather than changeweels I need. Improving the design side of things is where I need to concentrate now – I’m sure the chaps using CAD on a daily basis would have produced in minutes what took me hours the other day. But as they say, practice makes perfect (or at least, not quite so bad).

Rob

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

AH, Boxford. If you have the tiny dials how about that. I got as far as lots of tick marks of different lengths but got bogged down on the numbers. Must pick it up again but would really need a resin print for detail.

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

I have a lathe with a metric leadscrew which means that it needs three different gears on the TDI to cover the full range of metric pitches. Second-hand, it came with just one, although that was the one covering quite a lot of pitches. 3D printing is ideal for something like that – awkward to machine (helical gear) but easy to draw with 3D CAD, low load, wear, and speed. If it ever does wear out, I can make a replacement quickly and cheaply. I call that an engineering solution!

[Grindstone Cowboy]

On Grindstone Cowboy Said:

 

But this evening, after thus far only printing stuff for the printer itself, I was delighted to find a design for some visor screws for my Shoei crash helmet, normally around a fiver, just printed four for an estimated cost of 3p. 🙂

It’s a revelation when you need a spare part and discover how easy it is to make one, either self designed or off the web. One of my brothers sends me a link every so often for things like case locking clips!

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