Category: 3D Printing

Well 3D printing of course

3D print meeting wrap-up, March 21, 2016

Last nights ‘3D print design’ meet up was attended by just two guests! Enric and Don. Nonetheless, we had a very productive session.

Don was a complete newcomer and simply wanted an introduction to it all. I printed a bevel gear and walked him through the process. The gear was created by a Fusion360 macro I’ve been working on… I’ll show it off at an upcoming open-house when it’s done.

3D-1-nascent-bevel-gear

 

Enric had a very interesting project that really shows off 3D printing’s potential for solving everyday problems. Several of the windows latches in his house have broken. Unfortunately the parts aren’t manufactured anymore.

He found one that is still intact, removed it from his window and brought it along. After some careful measurements (Enric brought his calipers too), we were able to create an accurate model in Fusion360 and print it.

3D-2-window-latch-first

The part fit on the very first try (the gray part in the photos). I feared that the small projection used to slide the latch might be a bit weak, and upon examination we found that the housing would allow us to simply enlarge that portion. It gave us a good excuse to revise our model and reprint, showing off the benefits of a parametric modeler to best advantage. We switched to a better color while we were at it. The new piece seems to fit just as well as the first.

3D-4-window-latch-revised3D-3-window-latch-assembled

But, does it work? It seemed okay in the lab, but we’ll have to wait for Enric’s installation report! Enric?

Here’s the Fusion360 model if you want to have a closer look.

3D print meeting wrap-up, March 7, 2016

Monday was the first meeting of the ‘3D printing Tinker Group.’ I think it was a roaring success.

I brought my delta and had it running for demonstrations, and we had seven guests who brought a total of 3 printers along.

James brought his in-progress delta, which is almost ready to go. His belts were installed funny, a glance at mine cleared that up; but he decided to reinstall the belts later when he’s comfortably sitting at his own tool bench. He was also annoyed by power-supply noise and is already thinking about a replacement. I think we can look forward to first print very soon. James, please keep us posted! (I’ll send you my switch plate STL separately).

Rosalind, Natalie and Susie brought the Replicator II that Susie’s students use at school. A slightly warped bed seemed to be the culprit here; simply flipping it over and a bit of practice leveling got it going. Their Rep II has a small fan duct that embraces the nozzle. They reported that this duct occasionally slams into the work, either dislodging the work or breaking the duct itself. I recommended simply removing it if it causes trouble again… our Rep II has no such duct, and the fan still cools the work just fine. Susie reported a lot of frustration working with Makerbot support <sigh>. Sorry to hear about that. Please spread the word that we’re here to help.

Enric brought his nice Ultimaker. A walkthrough on bed leveling was all it took to print out a nice high-resolution print. Enric is particularly interested in printing custom cases for his Arduino projects, so if you have any info he’d appreciate it. Enric, I searched Thingiverse for ‘customizable box’ and these two jumped out. Perhaps they’ll give you some ideas.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:189264
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:189264

Two guests, Andrew and Noah were there to learn. We walked through a simple print job on my delta to demonstrate the typical print sequence; fortunately(?) I got a chance to demonstrate how to cancel and reprint when the first layer doesn’t stick!

I had a great time and went away with renewed enthusiasm for my new role as steward.

These devices can be very fussy and unreliable even when everything is working properly. There’s no such thing as ‘plug and play’ no matter what marketing BS you may have read. If you’re new to it all, it’s tough to tell the difference between a device malfunction or simple unfamiliarity with the process. Please spread the word that we’ll be happy to help anyone get his/her printer going.

The ‘tinker group’ meetings specifically target these issues, but feel free to bring your printer to any AMT 3D print meetup. We’ll see what we can do.

-Matt Keveney