3d printer would solve alot of problems

Any miscellaneous pieces and parts that don't fit in the above forums.
Zaibach
Posts: 48
Joined: Aug 13th, 2013, 9:50 am

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by Zaibach »

It all depends what you are using it for.

As far as 3D printers go, personally I think fused deposition printers in the 2-3k range are a ripoff. If I was going to shell out that much money for a hobby level device it would be for a liquid resin printer. You can find a decent FDM printer for under 1k and no matter what hobby level 3D printer you buy there is going to be a period of acclimation to get your settings dialed in. My best advice would be to do a lot of homework before you settle on anything.

I probably wouldn't trust any hobby level 3D printer to make a part that will withstand any amount of serious pressure. So as long as you aren't using printed parts for anything that is meant to be "load bearing" (keep the ocean out of your ROV) you should be OK. That said I have been entertaining the thought of using 3D printed parts as blanks for sand molds for Aluminum castings, they would still need some additional machining but those I would probably trust vs PSI but that is a whole other kettle of fish.

I will say that they are really nice for hammering out a part you don't have or that might not exist. For example I'm working on a custom pan/tilt system for a usb camera, as most of the pan/tilt systems I had looked at were just a bit on the "too big" or "not quite right" side.
marcane
Posts: 12
Joined: Feb 26th, 2012, 4:42 pm
Location: Norway

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by marcane »

Hi, I have the solidoodle 2 3d printer for m ROV project. But fount out that it is just not good enought for very accurate shapes. So to be able to make my thruster housings I had to fist 3d-print them just a little to big, and use a lathe to finish it of. For smaller brackets (ect inside the hull to hold print-cards) it will do the job just fine..

Marcus
DavidF
Posts: 101
Joined: Aug 27th, 2012, 1:15 pm
Location: Delaware

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by DavidF »

I was working on a project that required some parts fabricated and the topic of 3d printing and investment casting came up. Having done some investment casting I was curious about how well this would work out so I located a local printer to run some samples.
I had seen some 3d printed parts in the past and wasnt very impressed, but when I recieved these parts I was very surprised at the quality of the print. The lost pla investment casting works very well for rapid prototyping parts and is very cost effective when it comes to the unusual shapes that would require hours of machine time. If you need something printed or printed and cast I would recommend http://printedsolid.com/
Zaibach
Posts: 48
Joined: Aug 13th, 2013, 9:50 am

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by Zaibach »

marcane wrote:Hi, I have the solidoodle 2 3d printer for m ROV project. But fount out that it is just not good enought for very accurate shapes. So to be able to make my thruster housings I had to fist 3d-print them just a little to big, and use a lathe to finish it of. For smaller brackets (ect inside the hull to hold print-cards) it will do the job just fine..

Marcus
Cool beans I also have a Solidoodle 2 :)

Admittedly I have no idea what tolerance you are going for or what you have tried.
If you haven't you might want to try dial back the extrusion multiplier. You also might want to slightly scale up your stl to compensate for ABS shrinkage.

I do know from what I have read and from experience that Solidoodles tend to overextrude right out of the box. I'm assuming you are using ABS. ABS tends to have some slight issues with shrinkage that could also be part of the issue. It is my understanding PLA doesn't have quite the same issue with shrinkage or warping, tho I have not tried PLA myself.
a_shorething
Posts: 289
Joined: Sep 10th, 2013, 5:26 pm
Location: New Jersey Shore

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by a_shorething »

I agree with all of the above. Like many 'emerging technologies' it's a big investment to get in. Either it's going to cost time or money (and often both).

I've got one that I built from a kit from makerfarm.com and it works great. It took me a really LOOOONG time to get it to that point, but for $500-600 it's worth it to me. I also learned a lot in the process and that helps me with other projects.

I've prototyped my new thruster design about a dozen times in the past couple of weeks and every time I come up with a new idea it's about 12-24 hours from concept to tangible thing I can test and touch.

True, you have to think like a 3D printer. It can't print anything and the stuff it prints is not going to hold up to much pressure. But there are LOTS of bits and bobs involved in a project like an ROV and most of them don't need to withstand 100psi or support a tremendous amount of force. You're talking about housings and brackets and fiddly little holders and housings that could be done other ways maybe, but work really well when they're designed for the purpose and fit perfectly.

If anyone needs anything 3D printed and has a measured drawing or (better yet) an .stl file they want me to try I'm game for it. My printer bed is 7" square and about 3-4" high.

Let me know.
sigplyrn
Posts: 7
Joined: Apr 24th, 2013, 1:10 pm

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by sigplyrn »

It's possible to get 3d printed in different kinds of material here. Just supply your 3d design model :)

http://i.materialise.com/
User avatar
Lomax
Posts: 21
Joined: Dec 3rd, 2013, 8:18 am
Location: Sussex, England

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by Lomax »

Personally, I would much rather get a CNC router as that would allow me to make parts out of a variety of different materials; nylon, acrylic and aluminium being the most interesting ones. For a couple of years now I've been hovering over the "buy" button at YooCNC, specifically the 6040 model - maybe building a ROV is the excuse I have been waiting for. Another benefit vs. 3D printers would be the ability to make large parts, such as frame sections, enclosures and other structural elements. In fact, while you could easily make most of the parts for a 3D printer on a CNC router, the reverse would be impossible. No doubt the learning curve will be similar to that of using a 3D printer, perhaps even steeper, but for the reasons above a 3D printer comes second on my CAM machinery list.
User avatar
rvanscotter
Posts: 36
Joined: Jul 31st, 2012, 4:15 pm

Re: 3d printer would solve alot of problems

Post by rvanscotter »

I would avoid Makerbot's, the layer thickness (print resolution) only goes down to 100 microns and the hot heads aren't as consistent as others. Ultimately, it is hot head and print resolution that will determine the how good of a print can be created. I use an Airwolf 3D XL, $1900 as a kit. Functionally it out performs all its competition with 50 micron resolution and their new hot hot is very consistent. They also have a $1200 kit version for their smaller platform, which produces the same quality. The one thing that truly sucks about 3d printing is the overall quality of rapid prototyped parts. In order to get, functional parts you need high resolution print capabilities. Just my opinion
Post Reply