tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12775198207866672642024-03-13T10:12:59.099+00:00Tribal Rhino3D Designing, Printing and photographyNigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-68809949525689940002022-10-25T10:27:00.000+01:002022-10-25T10:27:42.438+01:00Happy festival of lights<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrj9sycqZcirQ4RfOb7Ig_rgNVGrf3U92Dhedm1YQwdVbtUAUe7WsSP-sbAbue9tDOTm38WsM6xyFFQGmouaMX6AbX5sFG9tkXBX-IT-wZhnAZLL9sHMSiR0neqcer1wzUTJhCNAhUteF3Ko0NuZyXqRATiQlHnsArWtOgb9rVhWRyubn30WnAx0l6w/s512/thumb.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrj9sycqZcirQ4RfOb7Ig_rgNVGrf3U92Dhedm1YQwdVbtUAUe7WsSP-sbAbue9tDOTm38WsM6xyFFQGmouaMX6AbX5sFG9tkXBX-IT-wZhnAZLL9sHMSiR0neqcer1wzUTJhCNAhUteF3Ko0NuZyXqRATiQlHnsArWtOgb9rVhWRyubn30WnAx0l6w/s200/thumb.png"/></a></div><br />
There are quite a few celebrations across the world but 2 that interest me the most are the Hindu festivals of lights (Diwali) in October, and the festival of colours (Holi) in March. Today, we are in the middle of Diwali, and while dogs hide under sofas, the generative artists among us are headed for the GPUs. Sorry, best I could do.<br />
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For those that don't know, Diwali is a 5-day celebration of cleansing and renewal to honour the battle between light and dark, or good and evil... there are a lot of historical divergences, but suffice it to say, that light, good and knowledge always win.<br />
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While I don't officially celebrate Diwali, it does remind me of a trip I made many years ago way up north into the arctic circle. I won't bore you with the details but the whole experience was totally amazing. Capping it all off was a slightly different festival of lights - the aurora borealis, more commonly called the Northern Lights. While mostly green we did get a good show of yellows, blues, an occasional purple and a rare red.<br />
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Here are a few images that popped out of the computer over the weekend. <a href="https://www.tribalrhino.com/p/products.html#!/Festival-of-lights/p/504575597/category=140020345">This one</a> is for sale. If you like any others, please get in touch.<br />
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padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirRxejEfVkVExQbeQlSrpoKsut3yY1viViwpxc6Ar96_3cj4QrSmLy9aL9RHkjGv0AolrvXC-q1OK_S4VToexZUUYDgI949JOY39VrPBRE9Loi3DwvHDHM1R6GEmObCZ_-3SMSkVQyTMSx3YdKK7kAaof0_Ymm6Ln1tR-owC_lTRDJh79e-Kxh4BFS-Q/s200/0016x1.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5CoBOtqqy7xvl0nTSwCV_8vKqx9VuudVxDFmSDfgmuuPeS53uewBY9hFG--2MiI7zh8gR5fsyfXncAdCp4wcjnRgnhFxTIPSgHCGnht5Jmb_o-45FNiDzUPZpNhW2O_G_sanZaNl0VgXlUtSwSxzf4zfiQIWDvoK2hwBIx7WxIy97DAPV432rsfKvA/s1536/0019x1.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5CoBOtqqy7xvl0nTSwCV_8vKqx9VuudVxDFmSDfgmuuPeS53uewBY9hFG--2MiI7zh8gR5fsyfXncAdCp4wcjnRgnhFxTIPSgHCGnht5Jmb_o-45FNiDzUPZpNhW2O_G_sanZaNl0VgXlUtSwSxzf4zfiQIWDvoK2hwBIx7WxIy97DAPV432rsfKvA/s200/0019x1.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6vTdDzIVXG6m6tKxUsXD7PLnta7wW8H165P27o_DX-buQEDiJWwOWzBVpVLKTwJunvEVVTr0KjLIid4UPoFTA357q6AU1O3Aw83TtupqyRtz_GkijGTAideuT67MwNM54-QxZE4XMpf-cy1_nrI9pUmVihOpiWEpoM7xzzTWidqCRVVidJ0ELCBWlA/s1536/0023x1.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6vTdDzIVXG6m6tKxUsXD7PLnta7wW8H165P27o_DX-buQEDiJWwOWzBVpVLKTwJunvEVVTr0KjLIid4UPoFTA357q6AU1O3Aw83TtupqyRtz_GkijGTAideuT67MwNM54-QxZE4XMpf-cy1_nrI9pUmVihOpiWEpoM7xzzTWidqCRVVidJ0ELCBWlA/s200/0023x1.png"/></a></div>Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-2590519862132018252020-06-19T10:14:00.004+01:002020-06-19T10:33:35.868+01:00Vases mode - with holes in the bottom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XnzPQ09fEeY/XuxkYjL9XVI/AAAAAAABMMQ/icGahfwPzAQjQ-6KP0CV993aJIMh2uLngCK4BGAsYHg/s2048/2020-06-18%2B20.37.36.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XnzPQ09fEeY/XuxkYjL9XVI/AAAAAAABMMQ/icGahfwPzAQjQ-6KP0CV993aJIMh2uLngCK4BGAsYHg/w200-h200/2020-06-18%2B20.37.36.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> So it seems like this should be really easy to do. I have a theory that Simplify3D may be able to do it because it has processes that you can apply at different heights... but I don't have access to Simplify3D. First of all though, why is this even a thing. Well, I wanted to print some plant pots and they generally have holes in the bottom to allow for drainage. Sure I could design them to be hollow and design the holes in the base, but when I did this, they took a long time to print, and that z-scar... Vase mode is the answer... but vase mode doesn't handle bases with holes in... Hmm... I could drill holes in the base... or use a soldering iron... but I am an overly minimal post processing kind of guy, and besides, where is the over-engineering in that :D<br />
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Before I get into explaining the bane of my life for the last week, I should probably go over a bit of scene-setting, then a general overview, and then specifics about what I did. So, I am a Prusa fanboi. I have an Mk3, an SL1 and now the Mini. This means I use Prusa Slicer (currently 2.2.0+) If you don't have these printers or this slicer then you will need to apply some of the following logic.<br />
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<ul>
<li>You really should calibrate your printer for your filament. This means setting the e-steps, extrusion multiplier and linear advance for the extrusion, as well as a PID tuning for the temperature. I won't cover those here as there are lots of resources around, and while it generally makes your prints better, you can get away with it here.</li>
<li>You should probably set up a vase mode profile in your slicer. Most slicers have a vase mode option, but they name it differently. Vase mode just means that it prints the outer shell of a solid object with a continuous spiral without sudden changes in the z height (layers) so you don't get scars.</li>
<li>You should use multiple bottom layers as this will give you a stronger base with a thickness similar to your perimeters - a nozzle width of 0.4mm for example and a layer height of 0.2 means you should probably have 2 or 3 bottom layers.</li>
<li>I use 3 bottom layers because I can set a bottom pattern (Hilbert Curve), have a stabilising middle layer and a top patterned later (Octogram Spiral)</li>
<li>If you haven't calibrated your settings specifically for your filament, you can possibly just up the printing temperature a little bit and possibly the extrusion multiplier so that you get great layer adhesion.</li></ul><br />
That's vase mode covered. What's the magic sauce. Ok, so I use 2 versions of my object. The first is the solid pot I want to print (no holes on the bottom), the second is a 0.6mm slice of that object, with the holes in I want. I won't go into detail as it will depend on your design tool of choice. Here they are in my slicer<br />
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The basic process you want to follow is this:<br />
<ul><li>Generate the GCODE for the full pot in vase mode (with 3 sold bottom layers)</li>
<li>Generate the GCODE for the base (without vase mode)</li>
<li>Replace the first 3 layers in the full pot with the 3 layers in the base</li>
</ul><br />
Prusa Slicer has a few options to help with this, but this is where I get all Prusa on you, and you'll need to follow the idea rather than the actual process itself. In your print settings under the advanced tab, there are 2 options that you should probably enable anyway: "Verbose G-code" and "Label objects"<br />
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When Prusa slicer outputs your GCODE file the last bit before the starting of the first layer is the filament specific GCODE. In mine, I have all of the calibration stuff, but even by default, there is an <code>M900</code> to set the Linear advance. We will use this to find the beginning of the print. With the verbose output and the labelled prints, we can also use "stop printing" as the end of the layer. Ok, strap yourself in, and let's get dirty.<br />
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So as I mentioned above, I have a "Posh Vase" print setting, that has the tweaks mentioned above. I'll summarise the important options here:<br />
<ul>
<li>Layers and perimeters tab: spiral vase enabled, 1 perimeter, zero top layers, 3 bottom layers.</li>
<li>Infill tab: zero infill, top infill set to Octogram Spiral, bottom infill set to Hilbert Curve.</li>
<li>Output options tab: Verbose output and labelled objects.</li>
</ul><br />
Other than a calibrated filament there is nothing else we need to focus on in the slicer but disabling auto-cooling in the filament settings is usually a good thing as things will print significantly faster, even with PLA, but that's up to you. Load your full solid pot into the slicer, slice with the settings above and export that file for looking at later.<br />
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Next, load the base into the slicer. You need to tweak the above settings to make things work though, but only in one place:<br />
<ul>
<li>Layers and perimeters tab: spiral vase disabled, 1 top layer and 2 bottom layers.</li>
</ul><br />
Slice and export that file, then open both files in a text editor of your choice, put them side by side and find the M900 line in both files.<br />
<ul>
<li>In the base file, delete everything before that line</li>
<li>In the pot file, copy everything before that line</li>
<li>Back in the base file, paste in the stuff from the pot file</li></ul>
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In the base file we need to search for "stop printing", and you need the third one. It will be the last one so you'll see all the shutdown commands after it. Delete everything <strong>after</strong> this line, select the whole file and copy it.<br />
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In the pot file find the third "stop printing" as well. It will be a little easier to spot because it will tell you it's supposed to be 0.8 layer height, but because it's vase mode, the command will start at 0.6mm:<br />
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Delete this line <strong>and</strong> everything before it, then paste the contents of the base file in here.<br />
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That's it, we're done. Save the file and print away. If you've done everything outlined above, you should see the thumbnail and print timings of the full pot like you would have, as well as octoprint working without an issue including any plugins processing 2 objects (The base and the vase) and doing everything properly.<br />
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Happy Printing!
Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-39475913739238719282020-04-10T14:06:00.002+01:002020-06-19T07:58:41.681+01:00Resin Printing: cleaning your IPAI recently got my hands on a Prusa SL1 resin printer, and I am in the process of getting acquainted, and that will be the focus of a separate post. In the meantime, during the pandemic, people seem to be buying Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) by the gallon and raising prices so it can be quite tricky to get hold of some for resin print cleanup. Yeah, there are some good reports with other liquids, but IPA is widely recommended, and so I think it's probably a good idea to see how much mileage I can get out of that. The way it works is after print you have to wash your parts in IPA to get off all of the uncured resin so you can properly cure the parts without shiny spots or wash lines. Even if you leave the new prints in the printer for a few hours, the resin on the prints still needs washing off - it's quite viscous so sticks to everything.<br />
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After washing off several prints, the IPA can get quite mucky with all the resin that's floating about in it and you need to replace it. Uncured resin is a hazardous material and needs disposing of correctly. Once cured it is perfectly safe though, so you could pour the mixture on a sunny bit of the garden where nobody visits and retreat to the house. The sun will evaporate the IPA quite quickly and cure the resin. You can then dig it up and throw this in the bin. But that's a waste of a lot IPA that you could reuse. So, here is my process.<br />
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First of all, I need to point out that this process is not about making your IPA lab grade clear again. It is about getting it to a point where you can reuse as much of it as possible.<br />
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You will need to pour your wash tank out into a tall, clear container to allow for good settling. Oh, I have to say here, <b>DO NOT USE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO USE ELSEWHERE</b>. This is really important. Resin gets everywhere and is a biohazard while a liquid. I use the <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00284AG78">Sistema 3.25l bakery storage containers</a> for settling and the <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073T13PKQ">Sistema 2l Fresh Juice Jugs</a> for IPA storage, both available from amazon. You want a tall settling container because when you pour off the IPA later you will disturb the sludge less this way. The storage container I'm using is just an easy fit for the mouth of the other container, so pouring out is easy.<br />
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This was a particularly heavy batch to clean. I started with 1.5l of IPA, I washed 7 prints (200g of Prusa tough orange resin, and 300g of Prusa tough pink) and ended up with just over 1.5l of wash. I thought this was good.<br />
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Resin and IPA is an imiscible liquid - that means that like soap and water, it will never truly disolve and will always settle out a fair bit, but there are parts of the resin that will always remain in the IPA because it is a solvent, mostly colour compounds for example, so it can be a good ideea to expose the well mixed IPA/resin mix to a healthy dose of UV light so that any resin can clump and cure taking a lot of the components with it. If you have easy and prolongd access to the fiery ball in the sky this is good, otherwise you can use a gel nail light thingy.<br />
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After a couple of hours, you can start to see the liquid separating, and it may go clear and then very cloudy depending on the temperature. <br />
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It also appeared that the all-illusive sun was going to stay around for a while, I decided to use the free UV. After a couple more hours outside, the settling was more pronounced. I left the jug out until after dark, then left it overnight on the windowsill ready to process the next morning but the longer you leave it to settle the better your results will be.<br />
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EDIT: At this point you can just pour off the clear IPA on the top. The rest you can store for a few batches until you have enough resin to dump and you can settle and decant a little bit more IPA that way as well. When I first documented this process, I experimented and took photos to help others, so the rest of this process is that experiment.<br />
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<h2>The Clean</h2>the first step here is to prepare. You will make a mess and this is heavily contaminated IPA. It has resin in it, and that resin is really sticky. Lots of paper towels - everywhere. The first step of cleaning will involve a <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YFCNFDY">100-micron paint strainer</a> and a funnel as well as the storage jugs.<br />
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Yes, that is the very expensive CW1 being dual used as a prop for the sieve. More on that later.<br />
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So just pour the settled mix, carefully, through the paint strainer into the storage jug. I ended up with this.<br />
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I now had 1.3l of IPA that is perfectly serviceable... but letting it sit for a couple of minutes I noticed more IPA in the settle jug... so I poured it out... and immediately regretted it. after a couple of goes I got maybe another 20 or 30ml of IPA... but now there was a lot of fine particulates in the storage jug. But ok, I was going to filter it anyway.<br />
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Once I'd given up extracting IPA from the mush, I cleaned up by putting the loop outside again - that wonderful sunshine - to evaporate the rest of the IPA and to fully cure the resin. You can see that crap that accumulated in the paint strainer.<br />
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Back to the Prusa CW1 support system and a coffee filter paper in the sieve over a collection container... Pour in your juice, and it goes through pretty quickly. You end up with this.<br />
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Would it clean better on a second pass... Well, the second pass took nearly 5 minutes to it had caught a lot of stuff in the filter. I ended up with this (please note that the apparent colour difference is just due to a different position of the camera,and the saturation being different).<br />
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Hmm, ok, well, it didn't look that much cleaner but it did take over 5 minutes to go through... more stuff must have been pulled out right!! third filtering took 20 minutes. The fourth nearly half an hour. I decided to change the filter paper for the fifth and it went straight through. After 5 (well 4.5) filtering I ended up with this.<br />
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If you can tell the difference then you have better eyes than me. I now had a little over 1.2l of IPA so I had lost nearly 100ml doing all the filtering and decanting. So at this point, I called it done. I topped up the container to 1.5l ready for the next cleanup and moved all the tools outside to cure any resin after cleaning things as best I could.<br />
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<h2>Conclusions</h2>Well, I did this so you don't have to. Do you really need crystal clear IPA - no. after the first wash of any print, the IPA is so much more contaminated than this reused IPA is, so the impurity here is pretty negligible. My process will not use the coffee filter process as I lost a fair bit of IPA at that point. The clean pour initially was good enough for me. If I did get dregs in again, maybe just one filtering. Yes, filtering did help but not when you weigh it against the loss of product and the time it took me.<br />
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<strong>NOTE</strong>: The cleaning above was done when using opaque resin. The transparent red I've just finished reacts very differently. Sitting in the UV where it also warms up makes all the resin go cloudy, settling takes ages and filtering is a real pain in the butt. More storage and settling containers required :), oh and more paper towels. A <strong>LOT</strong> more paper towels.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-29765126759540557132018-11-03T19:45:00.000+00:002018-11-03T19:55:18.326+00:00Product Placement<img border="0" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ii0JxVEcXHo/W91tdl_a0bI/AAAAAAAAyXA/DDXjc6d8YR8djqgyq9EpKpMlaFzG1NuUwCLcBGAs/s200/main.jpg" width="200" /> A blog post. Yep, as unusual as it is, I thought I'd put one together. I'll also do a video with more details in, but it's nice to write a story rather than act one out. If you've visited before, you may recognise the lightbox as I've has this available for a while now. With the move back to the UK and a new printer, it needed a few tweaks to work better so I took the opportunity to rebuild it completely to be easier to put together. Also, the old parts I used to use are no longer available so I needed to make it more flexible. I also decided to make a couple of new bits and pieces...<a name='more'></a><br />
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<img border="0" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pGuB2yZhQ7E/W92Nu4vQFQI/AAAAAAAAyaI/59XGGKp0Le0ZB7NALK4wfLuDcA3OMsBAQCLcBGAs/s200/main.jpg" width="200" height="200" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="1024" />I already had a light tower thing, but that involved soldering, and while technically not a power tool, since I don't have soldering tools yet, they are about the same priority. I also wanted something that was easier to put together so that got a redesign and along with some new filament choices and a very marble top I released that one as well. The really neat thing with this version is the bulb inside is actually a flame effect bulb.<br />
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<img border="0" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S9TT2a5GnOI/W93wKaaDr-I/AAAAAAAAycc/4O-EnIpoh4oTfFEBdXUwdvGE8MjLyaKLwCLcBGAs/s200/main.jpg" width="200" /> Finally for this release, I wanted something really simple. With the drawing in nights and my own love of candles and tealights, I was inspired by a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gr1CrPKHKU">video I saw on youtube</a>. In that video, Evan and Katelyn use power tools and workshop tools to create a really cool tealight candle holder. Envious of the gratuitous use of bandsaws, table saws and a whole load of other really cool gadgets I thought that a 3D printed version would be just as good. Plus, I could use a wood filament if I wanted to. Cool, and so my tea light holder was born.<br />
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Now, I know what you're thinking, fire and plastic are not friends, and I agree with you. Knowing this from the beginning I designed in what I thought were some safety features... basically thick walls and support pins that are as far off to the side as I could comfortably get... And it worked. I've tested this with Yankee Candles that use a plastic cup, as well as the Ikea tealight that has a more standard aluminium cup. I also tested a few different candles that use different waxes and burn at different temperatures.<br />
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Because all of these items are created to order, they are also very customisable if you want a message 'engraving' into the sides. I use quotes because it isn't actually engraved, the message is designed in before printing, but hey, that's just a little detail that no one really cares about.<br />
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So, that's my update for today. You can check out the products mentioned here by clicking on the cleverly named link in the title bar of the site. How easy is that :)<br />
Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-52191627587774645812018-05-01T17:58:00.000+01:002018-05-01T17:58:29.763+01:00Back again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4oJ1LBxqfMo/Wuhx6gImDVI/AAAAAAAAo-U/XpWx6eCYfUU8UM70cGzW9Q9jJueVzMzwQCLcBGAs/s1600/coin%2B1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4oJ1LBxqfMo/Wuhx6gImDVI/AAAAAAAAo-U/XpWx6eCYfUU8UM70cGzW9Q9jJueVzMzwQCLcBGAs/s200/coin%2B1024.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
In more ways that one. Relocating back to the UK seems to be harder than having left in the first place, but the process trundles on. In the meantime, the resurrection of the Tribal Rhino brand and empire will need planning in a new form and executing. This will consist of new graphics which are already in key places, a YouTube channel where you can watch me be very uncomfortable on the wrong side of the camera, and a whole bunch of social media stuff you can follow me on.<br />
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At some point, my 3D printer will arrive and then things will begin in earnest. I don't think I can wait that long though, so I'm busy making plans to get a new 3D printer that fits in the mid-range set, and I want to get a couple of bigger printers when time allows.<br />
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By now you probably have 2 questions you're dying to ask.<br />
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<ul><li>What's the point of a 3D printing empire when you don't have a 3D printer?</li>
<li>What's the red and white and round thing you've got everywhere?</li>
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Well, funnily enough, I can answer both of those in one swoop. Actually, it's probably not going to be that simple.<br />
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The red and white and round thing is a "Maker Coin". When is 3D printing nerds get together at maker fairs and the like, we show them off and swap them with each other... Sad, but true, kind of like business cards for 3D printing folk. It's also a good little "thing" to print to demonstrate a 3D printer... Which I do have access to, so important things that need printing can indeed be printed.<br />
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So, in summary so far:<br />
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<ul><li>Mascot - Needs naming at some point</li>
<li>Graphics - Check</li>
<li>3D Printing - Enabled</li>
<li>Social Media - In Progress</li>
<li>YouTube videos - do I have to</li>
</ul><br />
As you can probably tell, I'm a little apprehensive about being in <b>front</b> of the camera. Fifteen years behind it has not really prepared me for appearing on camera myself. Ah well, how hard can it be? Everyone has to start somewhere... right? We'll all look back in a few years and laugh. Ah well, I'm working on shooting my first video this weekend weather permitting so prepare yourself for that. It probably won't be published until a bit later as I still have a lot to learn about video editing and the vlogging jump-cut... oh yeah, I know the lingo already.<br />
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I'm not planning on flooding the world with my likeness in any hurry. Until I get my own printer for prototyping work or an actual workspace, there probably won't be that many at all, so I have plenty of time to practice.<br />
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I'm also hoping to make a bit of side income from things, not enough to retire again, but enough to buy a couple spools of filament each month would be nice. This does mean that the social media thing has gone a bit nuts with "buy me a coffee" links and a whole load of crowdfunding for creatives I'm going to tap into at some point, oh and merchandising as well, But for now, you can follow me in the usual places, and they kind feed each other as well... hopefully.<br />
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<ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMOUAWDulg27cNyuSoEp3g">YouTube</a> - Please subscribe, I need to reach my first 100 subscribers</li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TribalRhino">FaceBook</a> - pretty much anything ends up here</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/TribalRhino3D">Twitter</a> - everything ends up here as well</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/TribalRhino3D">Instagram</a> - in case I want to take a quick photo twitter</li>
<li><a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/TribalRhino">Pintrest</a> - and why not</li>
</ul><br />
If I've missed any important ones, no doubt I'll bump into them at some point. <br />
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Oh, go on then, if you want to <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TribalRhino">buy me a coffee, please feel free</a>.<br />
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Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-67426679640821921972016-12-02T01:25:00.000+00:002016-12-02T01:25:42.856+00:00Well I had to open my big mouth...In my last post of only a few hours ago, I mentioned that things were going rather well in my 3D printing world. I then went and changed the print spool, leveled the bed, cleaned the build platform, set a print off, watched the first couple layers go down and left it alone for the evening... Now, failed prints have been exceedingly rare and my Ultimaker 2+ has been remarkably reliable over the last three and a half years that I have had the machine (Even before the 'plus' upgrade) so I think nothing of setting off a 12 hour print and leaving it alone to do its thing.<br />
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I woke up in the night and thought I'd check how the print had gone. Imagine my surprise to find an empty build plate. Everyone else was asleep, the dogs aren't yet able to master removing a print and cleaning the build plate... Oh, there some of the print was on the floor... Hmm... where was the rest of the plastic... Oops...<br />
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The first time this happened, extreme panic set in, followed by a 6 hour stripdown of the hot-end and 2 quite severe burns before the printer worked reliably again. This time, only mild panic set in, and it only took 2 hours and 1 moderate burn to fix things back up. Definite progress.<br />
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There's your problem right there buddy...<br />
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The moral of the story... Always check your work. Measure twice, cut once and all that... I had been a dumbass and configured the printer for the wrong plastic. It could have been so much worse.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-44891479377635991922016-12-01T12:56:00.000+00:002016-12-01T12:56:35.041+00:00Kindles are heavy, right?Well, ok, they are not, but they can get uncomfortable while holding them for a long time when you lying in bed. It's either far away by your knees, or up in the air cutting off circulation in your elbow... what to do. I know, a Kindle holder.<br />
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I really loved an old flexible arm lamp I used to have as a kid, and Maplins did a desk attachable one back in the UK, and I didn't bring it with me, so let's start there. I had already done a big harness to capture timelapse, so this should be similar... But quickly turned into a complete rewrite from the ground up.<br />
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24 hours of designing, testing and printing and the first working model popped off the printer. And it was really quite strong.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GRQkN5by_3c/WEAWcw5CaEI/AAAAAAAAMiw/Qk6JYTq5i4MzvwVNoa5agXkS9NFekd6KQCLcB/s1600/2016-11-30%2B17.56.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GRQkN5by_3c/WEAWcw5CaEI/AAAAAAAAMiw/Qk6JYTq5i4MzvwVNoa5agXkS9NFekd6KQCLcB/s320/2016-11-30%2B17.56.31.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lCldT61MyiQ/WEAWdC2oSCI/AAAAAAAAMi0/bCV7XVH3mtATfZiSlzJP09GA-a5ejJEawCLcB/s1600/2016-11-30%2B17.56.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lCldT61MyiQ/WEAWdC2oSCI/AAAAAAAAMi0/bCV7XVH3mtATfZiSlzJP09GA-a5ejJEawCLcB/s320/2016-11-30%2B17.56.44.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b4i2N4r_Di8/WEAWdCe0q7I/AAAAAAAAMi4/nY1R0Ppt4o01h2UdFPGd7r7OUstXA93PgCLcB/s1600/2016-11-30%2B17.57.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b4i2N4r_Di8/WEAWdCe0q7I/AAAAAAAAMi4/nY1R0Ppt4o01h2UdFPGd7r7OUstXA93PgCLcB/s320/2016-11-30%2B17.57.31.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IJrMF1D9WYI/WEAWd3NrcOI/AAAAAAAAMi8/UfaFTBIkQD0B1m0WMuHgp0ibr7ECzQB0QCLcB/s1600/2016-11-30%2B17.57.53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IJrMF1D9WYI/WEAWd3NrcOI/AAAAAAAAMi8/UfaFTBIkQD0B1m0WMuHgp0ibr7ECzQB0QCLcB/s320/2016-11-30%2B17.57.53.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Then it dawned on me; it doesn't need to be just for a Kindle Oasis... Boom a more generic carrier was born. Then, I wasn't too sure about the press fit pins into the stand and carrier... Huzzah, scew options were available (I printed the carrier). Finally I wondered if things may fall though the the back of generic one, so built a honeycomb backing... I didn't print that one.<br />
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If want one of your own, and have a 3D printer, pop on over to my <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1927389">thingiverse thing</a> and download th bits.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-73318557273020878242016-11-28T14:54:00.000+00:002016-11-28T14:57:14.852+00:00Minecraft skeleton printsSo my daughter is a little bit into Minecraft. As are lots of people I know. I don't think it's anything to be worried about, but, when I was young we struggled with computer graphics and the whole blockiness thing. Now we have advanced in the correct direction and have photorealistic computer generated imagery, and kids want the retro chic 80's all over again.<br />
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Anyhow, the whole blockiness thing plays nicely into the limited things we have to build with, this should only take 10 minutes, surely!!! Well, I was still cursing 8 hours in.<br />
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First things first, let's find an image... Well, you'd think there would be a standard Minecraft skeleton one could take a lend of for inspiration... the thing about these funny little critters is that there are an awful lot of images to choose from, so it really looked like I was going to have to make most of it up.<br />
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My next issue was about supports and things. A lot of bits print in mid-air, so you have to plan the pieces to minimise this and do some things like not print circles on an edge etc. Getting complicateder by the minute. <br />
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Now we have geometry and body anatomy... hips and shoulders to be precise. The thing about Minecraft is it's all supposed to be square. When you want things to attach and turn... well, the reason the wheel is round people. But I managed to work a way around that as well. (pun not intended).<br />
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Anyhow, 8 and a half hours later and a couple of test prints out the way, time to go grab the glow-in-the-dark filament and... well, wait 6 more hours of printing...<br />
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Well, that's Christmas presents sorted.<br />
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If you want your own, and you have a 3D printer, you can get the STL files up on @Thingiverse with <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1921954">thing #1921954</a>.<br />
Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-90436934890796401032014-12-15T22:47:00.002+00:002016-11-27T06:28:02.532+00:00@ColorFabb are Total FabSo I've been 3D printing for a while now and I've been through quite a few reels of filament. I've tried a few suppliers and I've kind of stumbled into using ColorFabb as a single supplier. They make great PLA/PHA filament that prints with a single profile regardless of colour, they deliver from the continent really fast and have a great team with great hints and tips, technical info and a lot of stuff on the materials and test cases they do, but today I was significantly impressed with their customer services. I've chatted with them a little in the past regarding information I wanted and they delivered, fast, reliable... cool.<br />
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I placed an order a couple weeks back and it arrived in the usual fast timeframe. I started using the filaments without thinking much of it, but yesterday I went to open a new box, got it opened to the actual filament only to find the wrong diameter had been shipped. So, bearing in mind that I didn't check the order when it arrived, it was 2 weeks later and I had removed all the packaging I thought I'd contact customer services and push my luck to see if I could get free shipping on a new spool. Within hours of them opening a new spool was on its way, a return of the old spool was in progress and I had a 10% off voucher for my next order.<br />
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Wow.<br />
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Great PLA, great resources, and great service... I've even forgiven their incorrect spelling of 'colour' :)<br />
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Thanks guysNigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-65098142550492965272014-12-05T14:06:00.000+00:002016-11-27T06:28:25.884+00:00Your stuff, my printer... lets get the party started...I'm not really sure about whether I'm comfortable printing other people's bits, only because if it's mine and I stuff it up then no one needs ever know :) Anyway, if you have a need for something of yours printing then head over to my print hub.<style type="text/css">.hubs-btn-white {display: block; width: 120px; margin: 15px 0; color: #666; background-color: #F8F8F8; border: none; border-radius: 2px; border-bottom: 1px solid #E4E4E4; font-family: 'ProximaNova-Regular', Helvetica, Arial, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; text-decoration: none; text-align: center; line-height: 13px; vertical-align: middle; padding: 6px 11px 3px 12px !important; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 16px; -webkit-transition: all 0.15s linear; -moz-transition: all 0.15s linear; -o-transition: all 0.15s linear; transition: all 0.15s linear;}.hubs-btn-white:hover { background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-color: #e0e0e0;} .hubs-btn-white span {display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; margin: 7px 0 0 12px;}</style><br />
<a href="http://www.3dhubs.com/london/hubs/tribal-rhino/3dprint" class="hubs-btn hubs-btn-white"><img src="http://www.3dhubs.com/sites/default/files/logo-heart-30px.png?hubid=31866" width="30px"><span>3D Print</span></a> If you want anything designed and printed, then lets talk. If you want to buy anything I've made, then some will be available in the shop soon.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-30388716569557058832014-11-23T21:24:00.000+00:002016-11-27T06:28:50.650+00:00And now for something completely uselessI thought it was time to get a little more complicated. I've seen the totally useless machines on you-tube and wanted to make one for ages. Woodworking skills should be ok, but jut the time and effort, not to mention the cost in the tools... I know, why not print one. Here is what I'm talking about.<br />
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I also want to use the same design rules I generally try to, i.e. as much printed as possible. For this though there will have to be some compromise because you can't print a servo. I also wanted to make it in as short a time as possible and I gave myself 48 hours. Time to rummage around for parts. In it's simplest form I need the following parts<br />
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<ul><li>Arduino microcontroller to control things (<a href="http://proto-pic.co.uk/arduino-uno/">this one</a>)</li>
<li>Battery clip and battery for power (<a href="http://proto-pic.co.uk/9v-battery-clip-with-2-1mm-plug/">this one</a>)</li>
<li>Small servo to move the finger (<a href="http://proto-pic.co.uk/servo-medium/">this one</a>)</li>
<li>Chunky switch to trigger the finger (<a href="http://proto-pic.co.uk/toggle-switch/">this one</a>)</li>
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I would have liked a smaller switch as this would have given me more movement opportunities, but this is what I had to hand. Also, I would have liked an external switch so as not to need to disconnect the battery, but the only one I had was huge so I left this out and will address in version 2. I also fancied an LED or two. Either one inside to light up all the gubbins when switched "on" or one on the case to denote an "on" state. Again I left these out for version 2. Adding holes in the walls is really quite a simple task but the added complexity of the wiring and trying to work out space issues was something I could add later. Prototype first.<br />
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The basic idea is simple, it's a box that opens in the middle. The first design challenge then is how big does this all have to be. I measured the micro controller and tried to work out on a bit of paper the clearances for the servo and switch, then pretty much guestimated to the next centimeter. Then added a 5mm wall all round. Yep it'd be chunky, but I do like to over-engineer strengthy stuff.<br />
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The next design challenge then, is the hinges. Most of the boxes you see on the net use jewellery box style hinges. I want to print as much as possible so the first option was a dimple hinge. There was a real fine line between sticking out enough to grip but not far enough that you force the edges of the lid and break them. A bit like this in actual fact.<br />
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Poop. Ok, plan B - proper hinges. I was hoping to avoid the complexity but I didn't want to try and debug the dimple hinges. Besides there is a fair bit of risk that they may not work when you put it all together. I'm 5 hours in at this point so proper hinges, and don't forget to over engineer the strengthy bits. 10 hours in and I have my proof of concept.<br />
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14 hours in and they are attached to the model in Blender with a split lid. Time to focus inside the box. The microcontroller needs a good measuring and a few pins to locate the board in the bottom of the box. I was thinking of a way to lock the board in place, but I'll focus more on that in version 2. I think a simple plug over the pin will do, but back to version 1. Sixteen hours in and we have a test plate.<br />
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Nineteen hours in and I have printed a cross section of the base with the lugs for the microcontroller and battery ready for a fitting test.<br />
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The next item to design a holder for is the servo. I've often wondered why servos have the wire coming out where they do and I always remember the trouble you have fitting some of the smaller ones. For example, when you put the end with the wire in, you need to rotate the body to get the other side in... but the attaching lugs are to close to make that easy:<br />
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So the only thing for it is to take off the bottom and slide the servo in. I'm worried that with all the torque the arms will snap, but it eventually fits, so I can move on.<br />
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So at 23 hours I'm thinking things are going quite well and judging by the estimates for printing the box I have about 8-9 hours of fiddle time left. So the finger will get the majority of this. The challenges here are really the fitting of the item in the box with enough move to rotate while being strong enough to handle the torque. I wanted the smallest possible box I could get so I decided to mount the servo to the underside of the other lid part. This also provides some safety so that the servo won't crush the microcontroller. Because of the space, the switch and servo need to sit next to each other. This means the part of the finger that attaches to the servo horn needs to be pretty thin, but the finger part needs to extend out round the switch. not only torque now, but more annoying physics called moments. Anyhow, best I could do by hour 27 was this.<br />
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This did give me a couple of real good indicators of corners I could shave to make tolerances a lot better in the final product.<br />
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Adding everything I have so far we're going into the final stretch, an integration test of the complicated lid is now on the cards. By hour 32, I had the lid printed and the bits attached and was able to do an integration test to test the angles I had designed. It was at this point that I could finally see how the servo would cope with the force required to move the chunky switch.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lbT1LTnMzVg/U9YTbsVp6iI/AAAAAAAABbo/NZb2MCTdzMc/s1600/IMG_20140728_071803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lbT1LTnMzVg/U9YTbsVp6iI/AAAAAAAABbo/NZb2MCTdzMc/s320/IMG_20140728_071803.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hvwzs4ll76g/U9YTc3CpAxI/AAAAAAAABbs/5o2Ghj65qR4/s1600/IMG_20140728_071732.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hvwzs4ll76g/U9YTc3CpAxI/AAAAAAAABbs/5o2Ghj65qR4/s320/IMG_20140728_071732.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o_2jt19utcs/U9YTekCgpoI/AAAAAAAABb4/T4YqlEa2a48/s1600/IMG_20140728_071835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o_2jt19utcs/U9YTekCgpoI/AAAAAAAABb4/T4YqlEa2a48/s320/IMG_20140728_071835.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IRHvaqYyOTg/U9YTiSALN-I/AAAAAAAABcA/nubwLzvoK5w/s1600/IMG_20140728_071113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IRHvaqYyOTg/U9YTiSALN-I/AAAAAAAABcA/nubwLzvoK5w/s320/IMG_20140728_071113.jpg" /></a></div><br />
At this point all I'd had sleep-wise was a few hours in between printing. Now I had a big 9 hour print to go for the main box and hinge pins, I could finally get some shut-eye. The only things left to do were solder the electronics and assemble the whole thing. And I'm going to have a few hours spare for some more sleep, or, more likely fix any issues like warped hinges.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k7Y1A_T4EkI/VHJMAEfcb0I/AAAAAAAAB0U/yHPEry_6hIY/s1600/IMG_20140728_071113.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k7Y1A_T4EkI/VHJMAEfcb0I/AAAAAAAAB0U/yHPEry_6hIY/s320/IMG_20140728_071113.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
43 hours from concept to item.<br />
<br />
[video coming soon]<br />
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<h3>What next?</h3>So what would I tweak? Well I did add the switch to the battery lead so I'd like to externalise that. I didn't add it first time round because I want a small rocker switch and they don't seem to do them anywhere. Even the press button switches seem to be 20mm across and that's way to big.<br />
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Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-24754999881053829092014-11-23T20:54:00.001+00:002016-11-27T06:29:13.167+00:00Industrial injury to industrial revolutionPanic not dear reader. I am not about to bore you with volume 4 on the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The short version of this journey was that I had neck ache so needed to sort my office out giving me a decent monitor to work on. While extracting batteries from the touch pad dohickey, I nearly severed a finger (th industrial injury part). As I was putting things together I realised that my mac takes up too much space so I <strong>REALLY</strong> wanted to go and buy one of the <a href="https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/bookarc-for-macbook-pro-retina">Twelve South BookArc</a> thing-a-mug-bobs. The cheap ones are not available from the mac store so it was either:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>£70 - yes, £70, and a few days for the really sweet mahogany effect item to turn up.</li>
<li>Or, 3D printing to the rescue</li>
</ul><br />
So, a sphere, several rounded edged cube and an hour later (and the industrial revolution bit) I had a simple prototype:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxkbrb24k7Y/VHJGQG_qvwI/AAAAAAAABzs/cJfgsfwfvsk/s1600/2014-11-23_20-28-36.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxkbrb24k7Y/VHJGQG_qvwI/AAAAAAAABzs/cJfgsfwfvsk/s320/2014-11-23_20-28-36.png" /></a><br />
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<a name='more'></a>As it was a prototype, I left out the cable guides and 6 hours later, out this popped:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WJWiPCcNRoA/VHJHHxUQYzI/AAAAAAAABz8/yO1sEJu_vyA/s1600/IMG_20141123_202035~2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WJWiPCcNRoA/VHJHHxUQYzI/AAAAAAAABz8/yO1sEJu_vyA/s320/IMG_20141123_202035~2.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kKMRE1jLWmU/VHJHGcB5GPI/AAAAAAAABz0/DqduLp6ZSoc/s1600/IMG_20141123_201938~2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kKMRE1jLWmU/VHJHGcB5GPI/AAAAAAAABz0/DqduLp6ZSoc/s320/IMG_20141123_201938~2.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQKifSYD8lU/VHJHJzqVyEI/AAAAAAAAB0E/2Htc0kDDb2g/s1600/IMG_20141123_201903~2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQKifSYD8lU/VHJHJzqVyEI/AAAAAAAAB0E/2Htc0kDDb2g/s320/IMG_20141123_201903~2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
So, the usual review - as a prototype this is fully functional so I am probably not going to make another one for a while. If I did however, I might add the cable guide in, but if you add some rubber feet then you won't need to. The one mistake I made was in measuring my Macbook. I have a skin on it which adds a few millimeters so I measured at the widest part - across the feet... Obviously this doesn't cover the feet so it's about 2mm to wide, but then again the Macbook has vents on the underside there so maybe some fingers would be good to stabilise the Macbook without a flat face that stops airflow. <br />
<br />
A bit of rubber in the bottom would also make it a little less slippy with the macbook in it, but overall I'm chuffed, it's saved me over £60 plus shipping and a couple of days waiting.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-14610635041991178182014-07-08T08:29:00.000+01:002016-11-27T06:29:31.957+00:00Have I Printed a Gun Yet?To be honest, I'm really quite surprised at how many people have asked me this since I got my 3D printer. Our morbid interest with guns aside, I'm really surprised at the fact people think it's possible.<a name='more'></a><br />
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Yes there is world press that says it's been done, but not on a home printer. The problem with home printed guns... well, let's start with a picture - save me a thousand words.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Bullet_coming_from_S&W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img width="300px" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Bullet_coming_from_S&W.jpg" /></a></div><br />
See all that fiery stuff, well that doesn't play nice with plastic.<br />
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You then have physics. Newtons third law for a start, but more importantly the physics of explosions. The pressure build up in a bullet casing is huge and it has to come out somewhere - normally a rather thick metal barrel (ok, some ceramic and plastic barrels are out there, but the point remains) directing the explosive gasses in one direction to accelerate the bullet. In the case of a revolver (as the picture above) the gasses fly out the sides as well so less energy is used to accelerate the bullet.<br />
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With plastic you extrude from a nozzle that's only really good at temperatures under 50 degrees centigrade, the pressure in a printed gun barrel would rip it apart. The only "direction" the bullet would get would be the 1 or 2 millimeters of brass that holds the bullet in the cartridge. So, basically, you have a mini explosion in a plastic pipe bomb happening just in front of your hand, and while a bullet may move forward slightly, you will probably be worse off with all the molten plastic, gas and gun powder residue flying back at you.<br />
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The only real option is a tiny .22 caliber bullet - you'd probably do more damage with an air pistol.<br />
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Note however, I didn't say that I <strong>hadn't</strong> printed a gun yet. Roll out the rubber band gun. Cue the "A-Team" music.<br />
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I've seen a few online and in toy stores but I wanted to have another project to extend my design and build skills, so I thought about this carefully. <br />
<ul><li>The easiest option would be a single shot, but I wanted a multiple shot semi automatic option - you can't keep stopping to reload during a zombie apocalypse.</li>
<li>It needed to be quick to load - when you do get a few seconds to yourself, every second counts.</li>
<li>It needed to be light, yet strong - carry more-a-bility.</li>
<li>It needed to be reliable - no accidental pre-release, every shot needs to count and beside, automatic weapons are illegal in the UK - even during a zombie apocalypse.</li>
<li>It needed to not require any 'extra' parts eg, screws, pins etc.</li>
<li>Ideally, this would print in one go - all the parts together, and between 3 and 5 hours.</li>
<li>I gave myself 24 hours to complete the design and get to the first usable item.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3>The Design</h3>Looking at other guns on the web the basic operation was simple. a bit of a frame, a barrel type thing and some workings. <br />
<br />
Lets start with the workings. Another, longer term, project I'm working on is a 3D printed clock so the release wheel and trigger control seemed to be like the pendulum escapement action on the seconds hands of a clock. Since I wanted a six-shooter, six spokes, and the appropriate escapement seemed to work. What size though, well, I thought about the forces and went for a pretty thick spindle, then doubled that for the inner dimension of the wheel, then added a little bit more than the rubber band thickness I had to hand for the total size. Rounding off the edges for a smooth release and the wheel was done, the related escapement was pretty easy based on my clock for the trigger and we were nearly there. <br />
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The problem with a clock though is that the travel is 50:50 per tick. This means that when the pendulum reaches one side it allows the wheel to turn but by the same amount as when it reaches the other. I needed my mechanism to release more to allow the band to fire. I tried a couple of things but basically with the trigger where it was and the directions of spin, I needed a slightly more complicated cantilever mechanism to do this. I therefore went for a simpler design that allowed for a nice easy loading action, but didn't fire the band until you released the trigger - no real biggy. A simple rig later and I had the basic design and sizes done.<br />
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That seemed like the complicated bit over with. I knew where 2 of the pins in the frame had to go. How hard can it be to make a frame... Bloody hard as it turned out. On the plus side I had already planned in some spacers around the release wheel for the rubber bands to wrap around the spindle, and I had built the spindles quite thick for support reasons. and I had left some more space to be able to replace the trigger spring while the gun was assembled. The first attempt on the frame was.. well. A bit big.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xDctpcQ3e_I/U7rm3hCemZI/AAAAAAAABXg/TXF6M77jg9k/s1600/IMG_20140707_181434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xDctpcQ3e_I/U7rm3hCemZI/AAAAAAAABXg/TXF6M77jg9k/s320/IMG_20140707_181434.jpg" /></a></div><br />
That took two and a half hours to print. Way longer than I wanted, and it was really too big to allow two to be printed together. The next attempt was... well, too small.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HwtBhvMz_eM/U7rnjMi5VBI/AAAAAAAABXo/ow247GWoa2Q/s1600/IMG_20140707_181544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HwtBhvMz_eM/U7rnjMi5VBI/AAAAAAAABXo/ow247GWoa2Q/s320/IMG_20140707_181544.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Kind of reminded me of Men In Black. I was also hitting the limits of the print bed with the built in barrel so I thought I'd do the barrel separately. Finally, in true goldilocks tradition, the third design was just right.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ciQzwbyvQl0/U7roIptUmOI/AAAAAAAABXw/P65OYwAlloU/s1600/IMG_20140707_181702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ciQzwbyvQl0/U7roIptUmOI/AAAAAAAABXw/P65OYwAlloU/s320/IMG_20140707_181702.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vYGY8xEEEUY/U7roIwLHZuI/AAAAAAAABX4/ecQX6shPnq0/s1600/IMG_20140707_181823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vYGY8xEEEUY/U7roIwLHZuI/AAAAAAAABX4/ecQX6shPnq0/s320/IMG_20140707_181823.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmti1o3WLeg/U7roI8IQd2I/AAAAAAAABX0/012-2WRTjcg/s1600/IMG_20140707_182019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmti1o3WLeg/U7roI8IQd2I/AAAAAAAABX0/012-2WRTjcg/s320/IMG_20140707_182019.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zLmG-wvV05o/U7roJr1CXCI/AAAAAAAABYA/DeyjIQLheh4/s1600/IMG_20140707_182124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zLmG-wvV05o/U7roJr1CXCI/AAAAAAAABYA/DeyjIQLheh4/s320/IMG_20140707_182124.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Oh, yes, the barrel is "on wonky" - thats because I needed to reduce the angle between the release point and the release wheel so the bands don't snag or deflect off the barrel as it released. <br />
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<h3>First Firing</h3>Well, the thing worked perfectly first time. I was very surprised. All the thought I'd put into the tolerances for the frame pins meant the frame fitted together very well without any glue and the tolerances I'd built into the release wheel and trigger pivot were also perfect and loose enough without wobbling.<br />
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I had some #32 lazzie bands to hand (80mm x 3mm) and loaded that bad boy up. Here I noticed the gap for the release wheel was probably not wide enough for the #32's so I'd probably have to get some #18's, but maybe shorter ones may work better storing more energy... but then weighing less... Could I widen the frame... but it fits nicely in the hand. Also the last couple of bands flexed the frame a little between the trigger and release wheel... I should add a support strut in there.<br />
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While I was tweaking, I thought about the barrel. There was nothing wrong there, but it was quite wide and I'd like it a little thinner so the bands were stretched wider at the release wheel. Also, I could get the print time back under 4 hours if I thinned it a bit. The print time went up because of the strut I added for supporting the release wheel.<br />
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I did think about adding a pin just in front of the trigger and maybe one on the back, but there is no structural load here and this would only really increase the print time. I also pondered whether the back of the trigger sticking out would be a problem and decided it wasn't for what I was after.<br />
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<h3>The First Usable Unit</h3>I had made it in 22 hours - 2 hours under budget. I still had to wait for the smaller ordered elastic bands, but it worked with the bigger ones. Total print time was 3 hours and 50 minutes with suitable internal support. The rubber bands I had shoot over 12 feet and are pretty accurate. Here she is in manly blue.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TSoj8AJE13Q/U7uUNTVe-QI/AAAAAAAABYY/H6CKhPaiGBY/s1600/IMG_20140708_074246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TSoj8AJE13Q/U7uUNTVe-QI/AAAAAAAABYY/H6CKhPaiGBY/s320/IMG_20140708_074246.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3XFnvez9iBw/U7uUPFSSJwI/AAAAAAAABYk/GfkSMHexM9U/s1600/IMG_20140708_073901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3XFnvez9iBw/U7uUPFSSJwI/AAAAAAAABYk/GfkSMHexM9U/s320/IMG_20140708_073901.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nz3NpV3x3Xo/U7uUPGJ0b1I/AAAAAAAABYg/tYgCI_aOZlQ/s1600/IMG_20140708_074009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nz3NpV3x3Xo/U7uUPGJ0b1I/AAAAAAAABYg/tYgCI_aOZlQ/s320/IMG_20140708_074009.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a-ZBL_iIxz4/U7uUPHOxynI/AAAAAAAABYo/Q0r-3s-Ic_4/s1600/IMG_20140708_074106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a-ZBL_iIxz4/U7uUPHOxynI/AAAAAAAABYo/Q0r-3s-Ic_4/s320/IMG_20140708_074106.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ls7X1th7Nto/U7uUP0JemMI/AAAAAAAABYs/K5baYyfv2TM/s1600/IMG_20140708_074147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ls7X1th7Nto/U7uUP0JemMI/AAAAAAAABYs/K5baYyfv2TM/s320/IMG_20140708_074147.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I am also an equal opportunities weapons maker so I also made one for the ladies so they could be helping out during that zombie apocalypse.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wtk1aB8guJk/U7uUcwt-P9I/AAAAAAAABZA/fYf7kiVSSa0/s1600/IMG_20140708_073643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wtk1aB8guJk/U7uUcwt-P9I/AAAAAAAABZA/fYf7kiVSSa0/s320/IMG_20140708_073643.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Talking of zombie apocalypse, I printed out some zombies as well.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qMIuq9FYYac/U7uUjTP6_BI/AAAAAAAABZI/ekbiE7yOk30/s1600/IMG_20140708_073546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qMIuq9FYYac/U7uUjTP6_BI/AAAAAAAABZI/ekbiE7yOk30/s400/IMG_20140708_073546.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3>Future plans</h3>There are a few tweaks I'd make to this design:<br />
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<ul><li>I'd probably spend some time making the cantilever trigger work so the bands fired on the pull action not the release, also, more teeth would hold more bands without over-winding. I would need to take into account the forces in the multiple rubber bands though.</li>
<li>I'd probably add move the trigger mechanism into the frame a bit more. When loading the last few bands it's a bit hard to rotate the loading wheel and you can catch the trigger mechanism, stopping it loading.</li>
<li>I could rotate the trigger and release wheel within the design, this would allow me to have the best of both worlds with the release on pull and easy load, however I'd need a longer barrel mount and I can only just print this all in one go as it is.</li>
<li>I'd also probably invest in a safety mechanism, even a trigger guard would do as a tester 'accidentally' shot me in the head when they picked it up.</li>
</ul><br />
Also, I want to make one of these:<br />
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<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XSrrOLCHj-I?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-89019795660126343492014-07-04T12:57:00.000+01:002016-11-27T06:30:10.733+00:00Going Full SizeJust for a laugh I thought I'd see how my head would print in high resolution...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4VWr8BqkJ0k/U7aWGRmJ-iI/AAAAAAAABXE/FU0psyuflzc/s1600/nige+full+size.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4VWr8BqkJ0k/U7aWGRmJ-iI/AAAAAAAABXE/FU0psyuflzc/s320/nige+full+size.png" /></a></div><br />
A week to print and half a reel of plastic... Well, it was fun looking :)Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-82287034726856378222014-06-26T15:43:00.000+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.595+00:003D Printing - Your face on a cupWith the ability to turn your imagination into plasticated products, what could be more rewarding, if not a little meglomaniacal, to have your face on a mug:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3qw3NIHmSN0/U6fY3L8JjwI/AAAAAAAABSg/SBQVWn6o0KE/s1600/IMG_20140623_083519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3qw3NIHmSN0/U6fY3L8JjwI/AAAAAAAABSg/SBQVWn6o0KE/s320/IMG_20140623_083519.jpg" /></a></div><a name='more'></a><br />
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The problem here is a little thing called "food safety". Is it really Health and Safety gone nuts?, well yes and no. There seem to be 2 main concerns with printed plastic products:<br />
<ul><li>The process in making the plastic may use chemicals that are not very healthy, or, the plastics themselves could contain compounds that are harmful.</li>
<li>Crevices are present that may allow bugs to grow and you cannot heat the product to a safe enough temperature without the plastic deforming.</li>
</ul><br />
ABS plastic is made from crude oil based products. As such a lot of harsh chemicals are used to make it, and it contains a lot of unpleasant things naturally. If it is treated properly it is generally a good plastic to use for things like cutlery and cups etc, but the processes are designed and monitored to specific tolerances. Heating and extruding it in your printer is generally not seen as a valid process for ensuring food safety.<br />
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PLA is a "Biopolymer" which means it basically made from organic substances such as starch. Because of this it is seen as "green" and recyclable, and in the event you don't recycle it is also biodegradable. In itself, it is also safe, however when you add colour, stabilisers or chemicals to make it flow easier you start to throw doubt into the mix again.<br />
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Assuming you do find food grade extrudable filament, and you don't damage it though the extrusion process, the process of laying down the layers still allows for pockets and creases to exist that can allow bugs to grow if you don't clean your print adequately. ABS does smooth in an acetone bath so these creases can be minimised, but then you've just impregnated your product with acetone - known to not be very compatible with the human body, also you tend to loose a lot of detail in your print.<br />
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The other problem is that these plastic prints don't deal with heat well. Most hold their shape until about 70 degrees where they soften a fair bit. (ABS can go a bit higher). To effectively clean utensils, you generally need to get them above 68 degrees for a while which means there is a very fine line.<br />
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When you wash your dishes, the temperature isn't that hot though is it? But then the things you are washing are generally metal and ceramics.<br />
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Dish washing detergent has anti-bacterial stuff in it, isn't that ok? Again, on a smooth surface it's fine as it will dry off. With the creases and pits in the plastic these anti-bacterial compounds will settle in, and get into you next time you use them.<br />
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<h3>Is there an answer?</h3>There are silicone coatings you can apply, but this is fair bit of additional work and you can't really tell when it starts to come off. And remember the temperature thing, a coating will not help with this.<br />
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You can make your final product in ceramics. <a href="http://www.shapeways.com">Shapways</a> will do this from your 3D model, but it's not very cheap and you can lose a fair bit of detail. Stainless steel is also an option.<br />
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You could assume that Health and Safety has gone nuts and just use it anyway. Staying away from hot drinks, or things that bacteria like to grow in.<br />
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You could also just use the item as a toothbrush mug or ornament? Or better yet, just build a bottle holder:<br />
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While this is pretty much guaranteed food safe and it won't melt or sag, you can still do the same things for your favourite coffee shop purchased beverage. Since these drinks generally come in a cardboard cup that you can pick up with your bare hands, this means it's also under 70 degrees centigrade (I measured my the outside of my mocha at 46 degrees a couple minutes after it was made). Be aware though that these cups are designed for single use and should be disposed of afterwards for sanitary reasons. You could always ways get some cheap glasses from Tesco to line your cup as well. Remember though, measure twice, cut once... erm... well, print once.<br />
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A quick design note though: The rotational point of both an empty and full cup should be well below the top handle joint for stability. Here is the Costa 'Massimo' option. The best way to get your morning jolt of Joe in a cup of Nige.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H7AjA8RRUrg/U60Z9G9zUXI/AAAAAAAABWs/iiZgsAkYSPg/s1600/IMG_20140627_081047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H7AjA8RRUrg/U60Z9G9zUXI/AAAAAAAABWs/iiZgsAkYSPg/s320/IMG_20140627_081047.jpg" /></a></div><br />
If you're looking at food safety for actual food items, then get some cheap tupperware. If you wanted it mostly permanent then you can always make it so that the lip of the container fits inside a ridge.<br />
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Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-6088063689984810772014-06-26T10:43:00.000+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.587+00:003D Printing - My first 'tool'Now I know what the early cavemen felt like when they found fire - Yep, all warm and fuzzy inside. This 3D printing mallarky is all very well and good, but if you don't use it for a real purpose, then what is the point really. Well, today I built my first useful thing.<br />
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For my 3D scanning, I borrowed a compatible tablet for the scanner and started playing with that, given the Microsoft Surface 2 weighs nearly a kilo it's a bit of a burden on the fingers. The tablet needs a cradle I thought. My first challenge was trying to get the tablet on the build plate of the printer... I wanted a cradle that held the tablet in each corner, this would be the most secure and allow me to use the device in landscape mode. A rethink was required. More of a slot in harness... this has upsides, you can take the tablet out easily to use it elsewhere. Hmm... <a name='more'></a><br />
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<h3>On to the design</h3>I needed something that would allow my hand to rest as naturally as possible so as to reduce fatigue. I also needed something that would work around the center of gravity of the device so that stress was reduced. Given my printer capacity issue, I could only print a harness that held on to one side of the tablet, and the tablet would have to be used in portrait (at least that was my original, unhappy belief).<br />
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There were a few challenges. The tablet was a funny shape, so I had to break out the ruler as well as looking at specs on the web. Based on that I started with the back component and hollowed out the space for the tablet to sit in. <br />
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The next worrisome bit was the mount for the handle. This had to be strong but not too bulky, and I was hoping it would be easy to dismantle. Actually I was trying to work out the best way to actually print the thing and the ability to pull the handle and cradle apart seemed like the best way. The main concern was around tolerances. Blender allows for you to create nuts and bolts with an add-on. HOWEVER, you can't create an M10 nut and an M10 Bolt and expect it to work. I started with an M10 bolt and added 0.4mm to the nut for clearance. As it turned out this was just enough.<br />
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Here is where I stopped thinking.<br />
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<h3>The first print</h3>After 4 hours of design it was time to start printing out bits and testing. I tested the bit that the tablet would 'dock' with. More luck than judgement I think, but it fitted perfectly. It was tight enough to hold the tablet in, but not too tight it scuffed the device. The PLA/PHA plastic also allows for a little flex so this was nice.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B32T0YnpYVo/U6rY6aKCuQI/AAAAAAAABTM/UVwv_9q9USw/s1600/IMG_20140625_011014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B32T0YnpYVo/U6rY6aKCuQI/AAAAAAAABTM/UVwv_9q9USw/s320/IMG_20140625_011014.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In testing the handle components I didn't want to print the whole model so I only printed a little bit of it.<br />
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An interesting thing happened. While the first bits were printing I thought I'd need a bigger thread so I redesigned the bolt and handle on the fly. When the first bits finished they actually worked really well. The second attempt snapped within seconds... Doh, Back to the first design. This reminds me of an age old piece of wisdom my old woodworking teacher used to tell us, measure twice, cut once.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wREb4vEmJM4/U6reaF8fnYI/AAAAAAAABTg/KMC77Jw4I-o/s1600/IMG_20140625_011705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wREb4vEmJM4/U6reaF8fnYI/AAAAAAAABTg/KMC77Jw4I-o/s320/IMG_20140625_011705.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vdGkoImb_gI/U6reZ3wjI7I/AAAAAAAABTc/Py6b7jclxvg/s1600/IMG_20140625_011917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vdGkoImb_gI/U6reZ3wjI7I/AAAAAAAABTc/Py6b7jclxvg/s320/IMG_20140625_011917.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ANAy2WnyBcM/U6reZ5E3SMI/AAAAAAAABTk/HeWgnWZCrdE/s1600/IMG_20140625_012033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ANAy2WnyBcM/U6reZ5E3SMI/AAAAAAAABTk/HeWgnWZCrdE/s320/IMG_20140625_012033.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You'll note that there are 4 parts here. The plate, the handle, the bolt and a custom made screwdriver component. I decided to make the screwdriver because the last time I created a bolt and added a standard Phillips screwdriver head, the metal screwdriver shredded the plastic head. This bit was designed to have a lot of surface area to help with the grip and not shred.<br />
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So that was 3 hours of printing and tweaking, time to print the whole thing overnight. 7 hours later and the final product was ready.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxMIuwOtuAQ/U6rhcCTjVoI/AAAAAAAABT4/XJkEGwAO0gU/s1600/IMG_20140624_053017~2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxMIuwOtuAQ/U6rhcCTjVoI/AAAAAAAABT4/XJkEGwAO0gU/s320/IMG_20140624_053017~2.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4G9H1EUWyAc/U6rhgJ6dQeI/AAAAAAAABUA/GER6tbDwC1k/s1600/IMG_20140625_091125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4G9H1EUWyAc/U6rhgJ6dQeI/AAAAAAAABUA/GER6tbDwC1k/s320/IMG_20140625_091125.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I6seGHoBGx8/U6rhgQUh5qI/AAAAAAAABUI/ShRp1M-G5Yc/s1600/IMG_20140625_091727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I6seGHoBGx8/U6rhgQUh5qI/AAAAAAAABUI/ShRp1M-G5Yc/s320/IMG_20140625_091727.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytBnItUSc7w/U6rhgZWKVzI/AAAAAAAABUE/FlxN1LUhG9k/s1600/IMG_20140625_091848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytBnItUSc7w/U6rhgZWKVzI/AAAAAAAABUE/FlxN1LUhG9k/s320/IMG_20140625_091848.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jhZX3IQ94M/U6rhhLo9WvI/AAAAAAAABUQ/wHv1NuLhOAQ/s1600/IMG_20140625_092120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jhZX3IQ94M/U6rhhLo9WvI/AAAAAAAABUQ/wHv1NuLhOAQ/s320/IMG_20140625_092120.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4_M3CePUexU/U6rhhTPO07I/AAAAAAAABUU/b5z2MH2ZgTM/s1600/IMG_20140625_092231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4_M3CePUexU/U6rhhTPO07I/AAAAAAAABUU/b5z2MH2ZgTM/s320/IMG_20140625_092231.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3>In Summary</h3>In less time than it would have taken to find one of these on Amazon and have it shipped next day delivery, I had designed, tested and printed a completely working prototype.<br />
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The handle designed had 3 really cool features I had not expected:<br />
<ul><li>As it worked out the handle as makes for a really nice stand in portrait layout as well.</li>
<li>Because the handle was easily disconnected, it was easily shippable in a flat pack style if this product were to be marketed, but in any event it slipped in my rucksack really easily.</li>
<li>As it turned out, the straight handle above held the device in a pretty comfortable position. I could also design and print slightly rotated handles for both left and right handed people to hold the device perfectly portrait, or, as my first hope had been, landscape against my body. Because the handles were removable, they could also be interchangeable.</li>
</ul><br />
As a prototype I am really happy how this turned out and really proud about what I had accomplished in such a short time. The whole rig is actually really easy and comfortable to use. Are there any tweaks I would do to improve the product? Yes, there are a few.<br />
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<ul><li>First of all I would contour the handle a little bit to fit the fingers a little better. Not too much, just enough to get a gravity based grip. I'd also add a foot to the handle so it had a bigger footprint and could balance better fully loaded, although this does add a lot of risk it the tablet fell off for whatever reason.</li>
<li>For that reason I would look to add a thin clip that somehow attached to the bolt component and clipped over the top of the tablet. Not to add any structural strength, but just to stop the tablet sliding out.</li>
<li>I'd spend a bit more time rounding the edges of the plate and the dock.</li>
<li>I thought about adding a pen holder, but decided against this given the already bulky design. I would spend some time adding this if there were to be a version 2 of the cradle - probably to the thumb side of the handle.</li>
</ul><br />
Finally, proof that the item was actually useful, here is a buddy of mine sporting the device.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v335vz_R7zY/U6rrS72htsI/AAAAAAAABUw/MxefZSS4VSY/s1600/DSC_8998.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v335vz_R7zY/U6rrS72htsI/AAAAAAAABUw/MxefZSS4VSY/s320/DSC_8998.jpg" /></a></div>Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-87384948682310591272014-06-25T18:30:00.001+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.598+00:003D Printing - Step Five - Scanning ThingsIt's all very well printing stuff out but what about creating models in the first place. Well, as I have previously mentioned getting to grips with some 3D modelling packages is quite a tortuous task, even for someone with quite a big head filled with high density brain matter and good techy skills. Scanners then. This is where we move to. <a name='more'></a><br />
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There are several types of scanner on the market, but they all do a very similar thing in that they emit a pattern with a laser and have a camera that sees this and works out how far way stuff is. The more you pay, the more complex the setup and the more accurate the scan. Here is my dream hand-held scanner. It is the <a href="http://thefutureofthings.com/4995-mantis-vision-portable-scanning-in-3d/">Mantisvision F5-SR</a>, swoon. It's also $45-60k... Unswoon. Ah well, when I'm big and growed up.<br />
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Is there anything at a more affordable price tag. Well, funnily enough, there are a few options.<br />
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At the cheap end you can use the Kinect camera that comes with your XBox. Here is a <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/EASY-Kinect-3D-Scanner/">little instractable</a> on how to set this up. This is a little bit on the hacky side for my likeing and the camera is not all that good resolution wise.<br />
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At the more expensive end of the cheap stuff you have the <a href="http://www.nextengine.com/products/scanner/features/versatile">NextEngine 3D scanner</a>. The downside here is that it scans in small sections and you seem to need special dots on the model to tell the software how to join the bits together. It's a bit clunky for my liking if you want to do anything bigger than a laptop sized object.<br />
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So, that really leaves <a href="http://cubify.com/en/Products/Sense">this little beauty</a>. At around £350 in the UK it has a much better resolution output than the Kinect, and had software that runs on PC and Mac pretty well... although I have had some issues on the Mac with it stopping the keyboard and mouse from working, or segmentation faulting in the software. You also have to 'activate' your scanner, but this is really just a way to get a code that will allow the software to access the scanner. Seems a bit odd, but it works pretty well. I'll see if I get shed-loads of spam. You only do it once though, and the same code will work ever install (so far).<br />
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The other upside for this scanner is that it works with the Microsoft Surface Pro 2... Sure that's an expensive add-on, but if you have one, and don't mind the heft, it's actually better than a laptop in terms of using the system... I'm working on a mount I can print to hold it easier... more on this in the next post. <br />
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I have only used this a few times for scanning small objects but overall it's actually quite an impressive little device, especially given it's price tag. The interface is very simple and works really well, but the scanning does have some issues. If you start too close you can lose the edges of your model, if you start too low you can lose the top of the model, so it would seem obvious that the size of the model should be defined by how stuff is added. The visual camera is used to determine differences in between frames to work out what's going on in the world and what object you're actually focusing on, but I should be able to get close to a model and get better definition by filling in the blanks. This might be how scanning bigger objects work, but I haven't experimented in this regard.<br />
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Overall though, I think this product has a lot of potential. For this reason I'm looking at working with a friend of mine for a day to get to grips with it, but also to come out at the end of the day with some art.<br />
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In my previous post I promised some more photos. So, here are some now. Not the greatest quality, but only to give you an indication of what happens:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pomk30RQZYM/U6sGvRxtzqI/AAAAAAAABVA/L31YQvF1tig/s1600/IMG-20140611-WA0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pomk30RQZYM/U6sGvRxtzqI/AAAAAAAABVA/L31YQvF1tig/s320/IMG-20140611-WA0003.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7E0bWCmZVIE/U6sGvoMP22I/AAAAAAAABVQ/c02UbEBStHs/s1600/IMG_20140615_171858.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7E0bWCmZVIE/U6sGvoMP22I/AAAAAAAABVQ/c02UbEBStHs/s320/IMG_20140615_171858.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-36g4o1PnfoA/U6sGviG1AaI/AAAAAAAABVE/mIjvxr5DgXw/s1600/IMG_20140616_222518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-36g4o1PnfoA/U6sGviG1AaI/AAAAAAAABVE/mIjvxr5DgXw/s320/IMG_20140616_222518.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IKlSWL1v1Mg/U6sgf7ayhzI/AAAAAAAABVg/aeRqC2g7IAs/s1600/IMG_20140622_143129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IKlSWL1v1Mg/U6sgf7ayhzI/AAAAAAAABVg/aeRqC2g7IAs/s320/IMG_20140622_143129.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here are a few shots of the print as it comes off the printer, with all the structural support in place.<br />
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More on this soon.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-1157966563129603502014-06-23T09:29:00.001+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.553+00:003D Printing - Step Four - The FutureBefore I launch into an argument with myself and a larger community, first an apology on the length of this article, get your cup of cocoa ready. Right, Lets prepare an analogy - The printing of the written word.<br />
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In the beginning, possibly just after the earth cooled and the dinosaurs came, man daubed walls with mud and stuff. A very crude story telling tactic but some still survives today. Once words and ideas were formed, we invented tools and moved to stone and chisel, ink and paper etc. Mass printing came along with the printing press but it's use was limited to a few. The break through for individuals to write lots came with the manual and then electric typewriter... well, you could argue the secretary came first, but that's just nit picking.<a name='more'></a><br />
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It wasn't really until the teletype that an individual could actually send a "document" to be printed in a "mass" fashion, with wonderful type quality to boot if you didn't mind the green and white striped paper. Dot matrix printers were next with rough output but colour to the home user was a real win - anyone in my generation will remember the Star LC24-200... well, hopefully. Printing then took a bit of a split, laser for business and inkjet for the home, and this is where we have remained for the most part. Sure colour lasers are available for the home, but the are expensive, and you can always just nip into the office to print a colour booklet out... erm... not that I've ever done that of course.<br />
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<h3>The Download Generation</h3>What's this got to do with anything I hear you mutter, well, the path of getting a thing in my head to an object you and your mate can own has taken much of a similar path. I could make it out of Mechano or Lego, or whittle it out of a stick, I could make it out of clay and give it to a manufacturing company, or, now, I can prototype it myself before sending it off for further refinement at significant cost reduction, or I can just send you the prototype. There is a huge difference though, the tools we developed as a society to disseminate the written word were relatively easy to use so the masses could use a keyboard quite easy. Learning to use Blender - a 3D modelling package - is kind of like learning to unicycle across the grand canyon on a tightrope while juggling fiery chainsaws. In fact all the 3D modelling packages out there are complicated by average ability standards, and here is the first barrier to adoption as a generic, consumer technology.<br />
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Sure you could get your mate to help you, or a design house, but really getting the exact thing you want will be tricky and getting someone else in will generally cost you, hopefully just a couple of Bourbon Creams but usually significantly more. You can download what other people have done and in some cases tweak to your needs, and this is really the leveler here. The area of mass production at a local scale, instead of mass producing, say, cutlery in a factory and shipping it to distributors to store and sell, you could download the files and print as you use them. Innovation however, would still remain the niche of the fiery chainsaw juggling few.<br />
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Lets stick with the download market for a while. Chainsaw manufacturers produce chainsaws with sacrificial parts - so that if the chain jams you don't shred the motor for example. Instead of waiting a few weeks for Black and Decker to ship you a part from their warehouse across the planet, they could email you the file and you print it out locally in a couple of hours.<br />
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Oh, I think it's probably a good point to mention I don't really have a chainsaw fascination... well, maybe just a little one, but I had a huge garden that required some clearing... Anyhow, I digress.<br />
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It's at this point I should also introduce another analogy to demonstrate "tipping point". Autogas. A bloody good idea, but cars had to be converted and only a few garages provided it... Car owners won't convert until there are more garages available, and garages won't produce more stations until there is demand to cover the investment. Both sides of the issue need to approach the middle at about the same point. The same is true here, Black and Decker will not change it's business model until enough people want to/are able to use this revolutionary way of distribution, but to use it, people need a decent printer so we are back to the uptake of the technology. In order to stimulate this we need to put the technology in every house, as well as produce more things in biodegradable, non-petroleum based materials.<br />
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<h3>The Technology</h3>Back to my written word analogy, it was the birth of the cheap inkjet that put a printer in every home with a computer in. Where are we with 3D printers? well I think we are just getting to the end of the dot-matrix revolution. The industry is currently split, Fused Deposition Manufacturing (FDM, FFF, FFD) for the home and Stereolithography (SLA, SLS) for the business. The biggest problem at the moment, as it was with early regular printers, is cost. Any printer you want currently is not a cheap thing unless you get a kit and spend a week putting it together, who has the time and patience for that. A decent FDM machine will set you back at least £1,500, and SLA machines with a tiny print area are about £4,000 with industrial units costing 10's of thousands of pounds to buy and run.<br />
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Sticking with the home use market for now, the next issue is that these printers are <strong>VERY</strong> slow. Printing something the size of a fork takes over an hour and if you want a decent resolution you can easily be waiting 2-4 hours. Printing a large mug ranges from 12 to 114 hours. Speed will increase as the technology matures, just as we went from 6 minutes per page with dot matrix to 6 pages per minute with inkjet. If you combine this with quality, you end up with the loosing end of an unpleasant stick, but if the speed is good enough you can hopefully use some of that speed to improve the quality of your final print.<br />
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Clunk and noise probably come next, but designs will improve though so this shouldn't be too much of a worry. Apple will eventually invent one and all our worries will be over... erm...<br />
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The biggest hurdle that general product evolution will not overcome in itself is that of control complexity. As I highlighted in my <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-step-three-lessons-learnt.html">previous post</a>, there are so many parameters to fiddle with, and depending on the actual material you're using settings can also change dependent on colour within the same material. In a similar way to inkjet printer manufacturers producing 'certified' inkjet cartridges for their printers, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that a printer will identify the material it has loaded and then analyse the model it's sent to work out the best settings. How will this work? You can currently buy cheap, generic PLA that works but it's not that great. You can buy higher quality 'branded' plastics from ColorFabb, Faberdashery, FormFutura etc, but they are a little more expensive... to get printer brand certified filament, won't prices rise? Will the fact that everything is open source keep this in check? Will manufactures start to produce a 'standard' filament? There are so many moving but connected parts here that this will take a while to sort itself out. <br />
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If your printer is hooked up to your broad band though, not only could you control it remotely, but it could go to the material manufacturers site, identify itself as a printer and download the settings for that material and printer combo. Revolution my friends.<br />
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<h3>How far off are we?</h3>A leap into the world of Arthur C Clarke and Tomorrows World, and their predictions of the year 2000. Well, I can see a fully automated SLS based machine that uses powder, meaning it's self supporting so any model can be printed, and an automated clean up and recycle of unused material. I can also see how you could extend the materials to things like chocolate which would be a wonderful 'gimick' to get the technology out there. If you could cool the chamber and speed the laser bit up, you could get though a layer quite quickly, so speed would be better as well.<br />
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The problem with SLS technology though is that you need enough powdered material to fill the print bed. Is this the way forward? Enough chocolate powder to cover an A3 bit of paper a foot thick... I can feel the diabetic coma approaching already, if one were to accidentally spill the container while having a munchie attack.<br />
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<h3>Star Trek Replicators then?</h3>Why not. Clarke and tomorrows world predicted fully automated, humanoid helpers and hovercars by the year 2000, so replicators are equally likely by the 24th century.<br />
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<h3>The next 5 years then?</h3>Well, lets look to the past. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RepRap_Project">RepRap</a> was the first usable hobbyist 3D printer in 2005. It took 3 years before someone thought to print an actual thing that might be useful on it. 9 years on and the technology has refined, but more slow evolution that rapid revolution. While there are large marketing campaigns by people like Maplin, these only really appeal to the techy folk. Companies like <a href="https://www.creat3dprinters.com/">Creat3d</a>, <a href="http://www.imakr.com/">iMakr</a> and <a href="http://www.helpanyonecreate.co.uk/">Help Anyone Create</a> are popping up in the UK to help consumers, but uptake is going to be slow due to the limited use, expense and complicated software.<br />
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I think this technology will remain niche hobby for a while yet, we will have multicoloured print heads in the next 5 years, we already have temperature reactive plastics and printers with multiple heads so extending these out will be pretty simple. while the technology remains a whizzing print head driven by motors and fed from a filament through a heated nozzle, speed will be slow to increase. Resolution in the X/Y axis will increase, it's already possible to use a 0.2mm nozzle with some printers, but speed is the key, You are also more likely to get a jam with smaller nozzles, especially with the more exotic materials like the wood fill.<br />
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<h3>Do you have any optimistic outlooks?</h3>Why yes, thanks for asking. Not for the average hobbyist for a while though. Business will drive the technology for a while yet as it did with laser printers. Visualising things is a key part to a lot of businesses, floor plans, gadgets, gizmos, cars... all require some prototyping. Being able to tweak a thing and have it print overnight ready for review in the morning is a definite possibility. The use of inkjet technologies spraying heatproof ink into the material before the laser sinters it is already out there. Improving the speed and quality will also happen.<br />
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It took 40 years to develop the transistor, and another 20 to minaturise it to a point where it's useful in anything finger sized so the amount of time it took to develop an iPad was actually quite small in itself but it was developed on the shoulders of the transistor. The philanthropy involved in Open Source and 3D printing will make up the time to develop the transistor (and other components) into an iPad but I reckon it'll be a good 10 years before 3D printing is a mainstream hobby.<br />
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Overnight printing is already here, these all took around 10 - 14 hours to print:<br />
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I think the most likely 'practical' use of this technology will be reconstructive surgery. Most humans have spare bits so as MRI technology and resolution improves, this data can be used to recreate bone structures in case of loss or disease. Humans are not symmetrical but close bone structures to those you had before the loss will improve the time it takes to relearn to use the affected part. In small scale, SLA technology is already in use for dental reconstruction.<br />
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Another area that will benefit is archaeology. Scans of various famous mummys were done several years ago, now these can be recreated to see what they really look like. Any type of depth information can be used, so ground penetrating radar for example. Even sound reflection data to model continental composition can be used. You would obviously have a bit of a problem getting the nearest continent on your print bed though - best not to try that at home.<br />
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<h3>Coming up in the next episode...</h3>The next post will predominantly be about 3D scanning. I will be working with a few people over the next few weeks to improve my scanning ability and then there will be more heads like the above and hopefully some desktop art, plus lots more photos.<br />
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<strong>UPDATE:</strong> and <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-step-5-scanning-things.html">here it is</a>.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-28704131676491209432014-06-21T22:05:00.000+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.561+00:003D Printing - Ultimaker UpdateWell, there was an update release of both the firmware that drives the Ultimaker and Cura - the printing software. In a Word - Yay.<br />
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There are a few tweaks, but 2 really cool things come out, first of all the way the print is started on the printer. Now, the bed lifts, THEN the head is primed by extruding some material and the head moves to start the print. This means that the filament starts to print immediately. Previously, the extruder would prime, then the bed would lift and this meant that the extruder would empty as the head dragged due the weight of material.<br />
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The other great new thing - Rafts. Yay. Although they are still a little tough to remove, This could just be due to the material difference between my testing on the Makerbot. Here you can see the underside of a print and the raft it came off. The white is just there because there was a little bit of fusing that needed to be broken when peeling.<br />
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I think my test was possibly invalid. The print does ok without any adhesion help as it has quite a lot of surface area. This is what made it tricky to remove where as the antennae on the print were very fine and peeled away much easier than the body.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-76296839620127753872014-06-20T12:28:00.002+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.591+00:003D Printing - Step Three - The Lessons LearntYou've unpacked your printer, slapped a few prints through and you now want to tweak a few things to get better or more tricky prints out, so, what's first? This post outlines some of the lessons I learnt along my journey that I didn't find out anywhere on the net. More specifically the bits behind why settings are set the way they are, and what you are aiming at.<br />
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<h3>Bed leveling</h3>One of the first things that happens when you switch your new printer on is that the bed needs 'leveling'. But this is more than just leveling, you're also setting the gap between the nozzle and the bed as well and if you do this wrong you're in a whole world of pain. A few printers now and more coming soon will do a self level and this takes out the guesswork, but if you have a current model with manual setup you're in for a journey. No one really seems to outline what you're aiming for. From hours of fiddling I think the general idea is to get the bed level for the most part, but the bed as close to the nozzle as possible without actually touching it.<a name='more'></a><br />
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The Ultimaker has a drive spindle at the back of the unit so you start here and it's a 2 step process. First you get the nozzle about a millimeter away. I do this with a thin piece of 'regular' A4 paper folded in half 3 times. I also take one piece of paper for the second step in a minute. You basically raise the bed until the paper feels like there is some pressure when sliding it under the nozzle. Pressing the dial moves the print head to the front left. There is a screw here that raises or lowers the bed, try to get the same pressure. Pressing the dial again does the same thing for the front right.<br />
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The second step is the crucial step. This is where you use the single piece of paper and need to get a bit of pressure when sliding under the nozzle. If you look closely (which is difficult with a glass bed and the reflection) you should see a tiny gap. If you move the bed one more notch of the dial, you may hear the motor change noise, but the nozzle will touch the bed you want to back it off this one single notch... that's the back done. Next you need to get the same gap at the front with the screws.<br />
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If your bed is not level, you'll end up with a very thin first layer at one side, while possibly extruding plastic into think air on the other. If you have the wrong gap set, you will have one of the issues for an uneven bed, but the problems are worse than this. Basically if you don't have an even coating where the layer being put down touches itself on the passes, you will have adhesion problems. Basically this means that the model may move around at some point and you'll end up with spaghetti. There are 2 ways to combat this if your gap is bigger than expected.<br />
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<ul><li>Pritt-Stick can be used to coat the glass on the Ultimaker, as it's heated, it will give substantial extra grip. Removal of your model may be 'fun'.</li>
<li>Blue painters tape can be put down on the glass as well. this has pores in it that the plastic can adhere to better. Some will most likely stick to your model when you remove it.</li>
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The (possible) downside to a perfectly set gap is that you end up with a mirror finish on the bottom and a slight lip on the print. <br />
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The other alternative is to use a raft, but until Cura releases the fix that make rafts like the makerbot, don't do this. (<strong>**UPDATE:</strong> Rafts are now a lot less pants after <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-ultimaker-update.html">an update</a>)<br />
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<h3>Nozzle or Print Temperature</h3>The complimentary parameter to the bed height is the temperature the nozzle uses to melt the filament. Incorrectly setting this parameter can have some wide reaching issues and the temperature is dependent on the material, but the easiest way to demonstrate it is with the first layer of your print. So you've set the bed height to the closest setting to the nozzle without touching and the plastic you uses then you use the temperature to control how solid this layer is. The more solid, the more mirror like and the bigger the lip, but also the better adhesion to the bed without any glue or tape. The cooler, the more rounded the filament so the more gap, less adhesion, but a more uniform print (i.e. you can't tell which side is down).<br />
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In this image, the gap is set fine, but the temperature is set to the 'default' for PLA, which is a little cool for PLA/PHA. Note the wirey look. I'll go into what all those other wirey bits are in a moment.<br />
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Here is a pic demonstrating the mirror finish where you can't see any filament at all, but note the edge... these are sharp.<br />
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This, in my opinion is the perfect setting. You still see a rough-ish surface, but its mostly smooth, and there are no sharp edges.<br />
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I touched on the difference for PLA and PLA/PHA above. Different materials use different temperatures, actually they have different ranges and this can be a bit confusing. The Default for PLA is about 210 degrees, but that's for pretty pure PLA. If you have a whacky colour it has additives in it which mean you need to bump up the temperature a bit. How much is 'a bit'? Unfortunately, trial and error will tell you.<br />
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I predominantly use ColorFabb PLA/PHA now and the box comes with the temperature range on it, but I use it as a guide. For example the Lila says 195-220, I use 220. The Leaf Green says 190-210, I use 220... These are the settings I found work for me... chances are they will change in the winter.<br />
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<h3>Bed Temperature</h3>For those printers lucky enough to have a heated bed, this can significantly help with adhesion and thereby reduce the need for rafts or brims or any support requirements to increase the surface area that touches the bed... although without these, you actual print may lift at the corners, more on these later.<br />
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The Ultimaker also comes with a glass bed so you have an excellent platform. The temperature keeps the plastic a little soft and rubbery and the glass provides a good sticking platform. When the bed cools after the print completes, the model lifts off without any pressure at all, it is truly wonderful. Obviously if you use the glue stick you're in for a serious job removing a large print involving lots of cold water to make the glue a little brittle and the plastic print shrink, and then lots of warm water to clean the bottom of your print.<br />
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I have found the default of 70 degrees works fine for PLA and PLA/PHA. If it were hotter the bottom layer could liquefy a little and make your print wonky, as well as sharpen the edges a lot. Too cool and you lose the adhesion properties.<br />
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<h3>Supports</h3>Supports are required where parts of your print are either started in mid-air, or where and edge leans further than a particular angle. Here is an example:<br />
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You can see under the chin there is a pharaoh style beard, the particular model did not have one, this is the support structure. Once the print is complete, you can break off these and clean up the join points:<br />
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Supports are quite a tricky thing. You need a gap so they don't fully adhere to the model, but not to much of a gap so the print has a loose underside. That's not a euphemism. I found a blog that outlined the makerbot implementation. they reckon a gap of 0.25mm. You'll need to adjust this setting in Cura in the expert settings panel. It's called "Distance Z(mm)" under the support section.<br />
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There is also another setting "Distance X/Y" and this defines the space required around the support structure. This is really just so it doesn't form part of the layer and needs to have a decent distance to allow for error and to get something in behind to wedge it off later.<br />
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I've not tweaked any of the other Cura defaults for Supports.<br />
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<h3>Rafts</h3>I love the makerbot rafts, they work so well. Cura is currently pants at them, but there is an update in the works.<br />
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Basically a raft sticks to the print bed by having a big solid bottom layer and then allows for the print to 'sit' on this. You then peel the raft off the print and it has a nice consistent feel so you can't tell which side was down when printed. This is important if you have a model that doesn't have a defined "down". A good example of this is the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9095">makerbolt</a>.<br />
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Given the stickyness of the Ultimaker supports and the ease of the makerbot rafts I'm not sure if Cura will fix this well, actually I guess it's more of a printer implementation issue rather, but I did not play with makerbot supports so cannot compare. (<strong>**UPDATE:</strong> Rafts are now a lot less pants after <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-ultimaker-update.html">an update</a>)<br />
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The downside of rafts is that you use more plastic... you'll need to decide whether this is worth it.<br />
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<h3>Brims</h3>Brims are an attempt to reduce the amount of material you use to improve adhesion. Basically the outer edge of your print is expanded out like a hat brim. This has the additional upside that edges of your model doesn't lift either. For example, see the funny dent at the top of the purple puzzle piece:<br />
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When you don't use brims, this is a common problem. Here is a nicely printed brim:<br />
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The downside with this is that the cleanup can take a while longer. If you have my perfect bed height and temperature setting as shown above, the brim can pull away nicely. Also above I mentioned I would explain what all the wirey bits were. They are a brim having been printed with an inappropriate temperature and height set. The filaments in the same layer don't fuse properly so it isn't a layer, more a laying down of plastic wire.<br />
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<h3>Shell Thickness and Infill</h3>Your 3D model in Blender (or whatever you use) is not a solid model, it is really just a surface and you need to decide what you want to do with it when you get to printing it. First of all the surface is a shell and you need to give it a thickness. Best if this is a factor of the nozzle diameter. In the case of the Ultimaker, it has a 0.4mm nozzle so a good shell is the default 0.8mm. This will run round the outside of the shape twice. Once will be faster, but twice just gives you a bit more resilience and strength.<br />
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Once you've done the shell the rest of the model is basically empty in this technology. In Laser Sintering and Stereolithography this means there will be untreated material in there. Not a real biggie but it will increase the cost and weight. For Filament printing, in order to add this weight and strength you need to add a grid internally. The amount of grid in the model is the Infill percentage. 0% is completely empty and 100% is solid. Choosing the amount of this requires you understanding a couple of other factors.<br />
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First of all, does your model have a flat top anywhere? if so, is there a wide gap? This is called bridging. If you have a big gap there is a chance your printer will not be able to lay a filament strand accurately and without sagging. If you use some infill, you are effectively building internal supports. tweaking the nozzle temp will affect your printers ability to perform this bridging - the hotter, the more sagging.<br />
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Here is an example showing the infill grid:<br />
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<h3>Bottom/Top Thickness</h3>The shell thickness is best as a function of the nozzle thickness. In the Z axis, because of the control over layer thickness yo don't necessarily want the same thickness. You definitely want a couple of layers to ensure your top and bottom have a few layers as this adds strength, but too thick and you end up with a much slower print - infill is much faster if it's less than 100%.<br />
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<h3>Initial Layer Thickness</h3>The first layer of your print is quite crucial in that its the layer that sticks to the bed. Generally you want a pretty thick first layer and generally regardless of the actual print resolution. the default of 0.2mm is pretty good.<br />
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<h3>Layer Height</h3>The print layer thickness is basically the resolution of your final print. 0.2mm is a chunky but fast print, 0.1mm is a standard but slower (twice as many layers) print, and 0.06mm is a high quality print on the Ultimaker. The Ultimaker says it will go to 20 microns (0.02mm) From my testing any additional resolution past 0.06mm does not increase the value of the print given the time the print takes to arrive.<br />
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One other side effect of layer height is the slicer can make differences between layers a little more pronounced. For example:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zV_ra3NSNHQ/U6QVcwh93DI/AAAAAAAABQ0/I1vIKBlpdBA/s1600/IMG_20140615_163103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zV_ra3NSNHQ/U6QVcwh93DI/AAAAAAAABQ0/I1vIKBlpdBA/s320/IMG_20140615_163103.jpg" /></a></div><br />
These are the exact same files, the one of the left is printed at 0.2mm and you can see a surface texture as the layer takes shortcuts as it averages out the layers. The print on the right is printed at 0.1mm and the texturing is appreciably less.<br />
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<h3>Print Speed</h3>There are various speeds than can be controlled. Slowing things down has some good advantages, basically the print is more accurate as the motors are less likely to skip steps, also any drag from the filament at higher elevations is lowered so you can generally get taller prints without the need for additional adhesion types. The other upside is that each layer has additional time to cool before you put hot plastic on top again. This makes the print a lot stronger and it warps a lot less. On the Ultimaker you can also specify a minimum layer time - if the layer will finish quicker than this, the print is slowed for the reasons mentioned above.<br />
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Look at the top of these prints, you can see the effects of the non-cooling that occurs when you print to fast:<br />
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Travel speed you generally want quite high, as the filament is retracted a little bit which cuts it off from the print, then the head moves to the new location and starts printing again, the less time the filament is not being heated the less likely you are to get a jam or dodgy join point.<br />
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<h3>Material</h3>This is by far the biggest variable in the printing equation. It will probably be the shortest section here as well. Every material type has its own characteristics and issues and you'll need to experiment with them. Even different colours of the same basic material can have different properties that require you to tweak speeds, temp, layer thickness...<br />
<br />
I started with PLA, and this was a hard plastic that produced nice prints for the most part. I then moved to PLA/PHA which was a lot more flexible but because of this, the makerbolt no longer worked as well since the rubbing of the parts would not wear the surface enough for it to loosen satisfactorily. Are you stating to see the mine field this area has?<br />
<br />
I have not tried ABS, and probably won't in the short term because of the amount of PLA/PHA I use and you need to go though a nozzle purge which scares me at the moment. I ordered a reel of wood fill, but again, I'm scared to dissassemble the nozzle <strong>when</strong> it blocks. I am looking forward to getting some LayBrick and playing with that. Other stuff like the ninjaflex doesn't hold much draw for me right now, but I think it may for better fitting lids for things and a lot more flexibility.<br />
<br />
<h3>Summary</h3>Well, that's the key settings I had to fiddle with to get decent prints out. There is no one set of settings that will work in all cases and each print takes a few goes to get right until you get the hang of what your slicer is telling you. Careful planning while creating your model to ensure parts are always at least a factor of your nozzle width will help a lot. Basically though, you will have to trial and error your way though with this type of printing.<br />
<br />
<h3>Coming up in the next episode...</h3>Next, my thoughts on <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-step-four-future.html">the future</a>.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-30088837210038032322014-06-18T12:28:00.003+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.566+00:003D Printing - Step Two - The ModelThe <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-step-one-printer.html">printer is now ready</a>, what's next?<br />
<br />
Part of my brief was to produce a spider like character called Stealth with 4 legs and wearing a baseball cap. I was given a simple model example and I started from scratch in Blender, I gave myself a 2 hour window to produce a prototype.<br />
<br />
So you could just launch into knocking up a character and hope that it prints out... for example, you write a letter in Word and don't really care what printer it comes out on, they all produce the about the same stuff right? Well, that's fine for inkjets and laser printers, but it couldn't be further from the case for 3D printing.<br />
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<h4>Imagine the letter 'T'.</h4><br />
All additive based technology printers start printing at the bottom of the model. No problems there, but what happens when you get to the arms of the T. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) has powder from the previous layer so no support is required in the model. Fused Filament Deposition (FFD) based printers cannot just print in mid air and the plastic coming out of the nozzle does not cool quick enough to support itself horizontally. Some form of Support is required. (In this case you could also turn the 'T' upside down and print... maybe a bad example, but you get my point)<br />
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<h4>Imagine the letter 'V'.</h4><br />
Starting at the bottom the sides move out pretty gently. Is supporting material required here? The answer is "Depends on the printer." The Ultimaker can print 30 degrees to the horizontal without support. A few other printers struggle.<br />
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<h4>Imagine the letter 'C'.</h4><br />
The bowl at the bottom is a lot less than 30 degrees, and the top right overhang starts in mid air, but there is a part of the letter directly under it...<br />
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Luckily all slicers (the software that prepares your model for printing) have some form of support mechanism that you remove from the finished print. Some are good. Some are bad. Out of the box, Cura (the software the Ultimaker uses) is BAD. With some tweaking to the gaps, supports are acceptable.<br />
<br />
So what has all of this prepared us for in the realms of modelling a character for 3D printing. Well you need do do one of 2 things.<br />
<ul><li>Develop your character and worry about the technology required to print it later - for example minions.</li>
<li>Develop your character taking into account the technology you will use.</li>
</ul><br />
So my spider. <br />
<ul><li>The body is a flattened sphere. The underside will need support. If I make the sphere flat enough, the slicer can handle that.</li>
<li>The mouth. Keep it closed for now.It's just a feature on the body then so make sure it doesn't stick out too far.</li>
<li>Pincers can be made and the slicer can cope with supporting them.</li>
<li>Legs, these can be steep with flat bottoms for now.</li>
<li>Baseball hats have brims, I'll need to tip this back far enough back to not need support.</li>
</ul><br />
So, after my 2 hour design-fest version 1 ended up like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jFeQ0zFJ3YY/U6flp3V1hvI/AAAAAAAABSw/_VnrTY5baIQ/s1600/IMG_20140612_133017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jFeQ0zFJ3YY/U6flp3V1hvI/AAAAAAAABSw/_VnrTY5baIQ/s320/IMG_20140612_133017.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jt9P-hKwurA/U6FTAhO30bI/AAAAAAAABOY/ZuUo87E00Vg/s1600/IMG_20140615_151529.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jt9P-hKwurA/U6FTAhO30bI/AAAAAAAABOY/ZuUo87E00Vg/s320/IMG_20140615_151529.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Primarily the issue with the print was due to adhesion problems with the glass and only a small bit of plastic touching it. Eventually it came away when the print head touched it and the print head basically extruded plastic randomly.<br />
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The fix is simple. Lower the model into the bed providing a flat bottom so a lot of the body touches the bed. This way I don't need any support for the legs either as they ar steep, and I can put the pincers on the print bed as well. Version 2 ended up like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IGiG8FKLL04/U6FTzxpwEII/AAAAAAAABOg/iQONMZY2CcY/s1600/IMG_20140615_151354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IGiG8FKLL04/U6FTzxpwEII/AAAAAAAABOg/iQONMZY2CcY/s320/IMG_20140615_151354.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Basically the legs fell over. So I would need to implement my knee joint sooner than anticipated. So chop off the legs and add a ball joint for the knees. We got a full body that looked like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8lCSlUGCGEc/U6FUWzUYXzI/AAAAAAAABOo/Ij5jCzPiIY0/s1600/IMG_20140615_151706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8lCSlUGCGEc/U6FUWzUYXzI/AAAAAAAABOo/Ij5jCzPiIY0/s320/IMG_20140615_151706.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iQ_eHAvJcr0/U6FhYjZFXgI/AAAAAAAABPc/1l9ogLFncbk/s1600/IMG_20140615_151830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iQ_eHAvJcr0/U6FhYjZFXgI/AAAAAAAABPc/1l9ogLFncbk/s320/IMG_20140615_151830.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Final tweaks to the body were to the mouth - there are still some overhang issues, to the eyes - the pupils need to stand out a little more, and the hat - needs tipping back some more.<br />
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Now I had to work on the knee joint. A scan round the web provided several inspirational moments, so I started with a simple 3 pin holdery do dah with the ball joint removed (plus some space). Initially there were several issues with this design, not least of which the PLA plastic was too brittle, but also the printer had issues printing such a small layer and so the pins were rough so the ball would not fit in the socket properly. <br />
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I made the gap between the ball and the socket bigger but the pins were still snapping most of the time.<br />
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I added some strength with a sheath, but there was still issues with the protruding pins. <br />
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I changed material to PLA/PHA and still the pins snapped.<br />
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I changed the design of the socket to be a sphere that wraps round the ball. This made the print less rough so once I got the right amount cut away, the socket was now too loose and the leg flapped around... decreased the joint gap... Ta da.<br />
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Here is a brief history of my knee joint journey, overall there were 11 iterations of the joint.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tzvfmXqncrc/U6FXeYgfeEI/AAAAAAAABO0/KsJbiqK2mVw/s1600/IMG_20140615_151257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tzvfmXqncrc/U6FXeYgfeEI/AAAAAAAABO0/KsJbiqK2mVw/s320/IMG_20140615_151257.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So the first full scale print. Well, the body worked fine I knew this, but 4 hours into the 14 hour print and the legs came free from the glass. No use I had to get the slicer to add some supports to keep the edges of the print from lifting... plus some gluestick for good measure - I was up against a time pressure by now. This is what I had 14 hours later:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8yn-HmdjzHc/U6FYHRVjOqI/AAAAAAAABO8/GOiep3C3dA0/s1600/IMG_20140616_114512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8yn-HmdjzHc/U6FYHRVjOqI/AAAAAAAABO8/GOiep3C3dA0/s320/IMG_20140616_114512.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zD2rghxdsF8/U6FYMyHYNDI/AAAAAAAABPE/wuVYM986XZY/s1600/IMG_20140616_114304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zD2rghxdsF8/U6FYMyHYNDI/AAAAAAAABPE/wuVYM986XZY/s320/IMG_20140616_114304.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TK73P3tDukw/U6FYMyPoM8I/AAAAAAAABPI/jFn5BGCv2Z0/s1600/IMG_20140616_114408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TK73P3tDukw/U6FYMyPoM8I/AAAAAAAABPI/jFn5BGCv2Z0/s320/IMG_20140616_114408.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Apologies for the colour changes, Camera phones are not all that great for product photography.<br />
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<h3>In Summary</h3><br />
I have basically been though the design of a model for the purposes of producing a final product and prototyped it, iterating though the major bugs. The next step would be to add some colour and send it to somewhere like <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/">Shapways</a> to get it printed. BUT. Remember my word processing analogy at the top of this post. One of the cool things here is that the knee joints provide enough friction to hold the models weight, while being flexible enough not to break when clipped in place. Sending this to Shapeways will change these characteristics because the material and build process would be different. Iteration may still be required.<br />
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However, I went through 4 body iterations, and 11 knee joint iterations locally, so the cost and time of producing this product has been significantly reduced. Total time designing was about 16 hours, total time printing was about 35 hours, total plastic used was less than a single reel. Compare this with 15 trips to Shapeways at €8.50 per delivery, plus various quantities of plastic, and a 2 week turn-a-round for each iteration.<br />
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<h3>Coming up in the next episode...</h3><br />
I have 3 areas I want to take a look at.<br />
<ul><li>An explanation of the bits that make the printer work. the terms and settings - way tecky, few photos... probably helpful but a little boring.</li>
<li>The more philosophical topic of what 3D printing holds for the future, and my thoughts on a lot of people saying that 3D printers will be in everyone's home in the future. This may be boring and argumentative.</li>
<li>Scanning and art - This will be a while as I need to meet up with a few people and get some scanning going.</li>
</ul><br />
So watch this space, comment if you have a preference or want to know more :)<br />
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Edit: Selection Made: <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-step-three-lessons-learnt.html">Step 3, Lessons Learnt</a>.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-56601147368038764852014-06-18T11:27:00.001+01:002016-11-27T06:30:55.577+00:003D Printing - Step One - The PrinterThis is the first in a series of posts relating to my experience of getting into 3D Printing.<br />
<br />
A long story short, I was roped into helping out a friend of mine with a 3D printing issue. I had a budget and a clear goal so armed with a pretty technical brain - on to the research.<br />
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The first printer I came across was the <a href="http://makerbot.com/">Makerbot series</a>. I knew someone with a Replicator 2 so I went and had a play. I was quite surprised as how well my test print came out. Unfortunately I don't have a photo, but a few tweaks and a few things were already clear:<br />
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<ul><li>The software is really easy to use. Only a few parameters to tweak so not a lot you can really break.</li>
<li>The rafts used to stick the extruded plastic to the bed were awesome. Once you got the print off the bed, the object just peeled off the raft.</li>
<li>Supports used so that overhangs didn't print in mid-air were also pretty awesome, and broke away pretty cleanly.</li>
<li>Overall, this was a pretty good consumer product (based on a pretty small test sample).</li>
</ul><br />
A few downsides were also clear:<br />
<ul><li>The cost was pretty close to the top end of my budget. (But is the extra worth the almost consumer ready status).</li>
<li>The plastic bed meant that prints were pretty tricky to peel off.</li>
<li>Only one extruder and not upgradeable either. Not a biggy to start with, but cost meant you're stuck here</li>
</ul><br />
Looking at the other printers in the range and the software that you used, it was clear that the 5th Generation Replicator was my back stop option. It was WiFi ready so I could check it while out and about, it had a webcam and could produce timelapse video all the while being lit nicely and having a few test items built into the printer and a great interface.<br />
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<h3>More research</h3><br />
I wasn't just going to plump with the Makerbot. I had a duty of care for my budget, so I really had to make sure this was the right option despite all the really cool stuff.<br />
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I researched about a dozen printers and ended up with the 2 others on my short list. Rank outsider was the <a href="http://shop.felixprinters.com/3d-printer-felix-3-0-assembled.html">Felix 3.0</a>, being really cheap with dual extruders and upgradeable it seemed like a really good option. The downside was the software was really clunky and it was noisy.<br />
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My eventual makerbot rival soon became the <a href="https://www.ultimaker.com/pages/our-printers/ultimaker-2">Ultimaker 2</a>. Sure it was a single extruder, but it was upgradable, it was also pretty quiet, fast and accurate. The software was a generic product called <a href="http://software.ultimaker.com/">Cura</a> it is an open source product like the printer itself and has profiles for many printers. This does mean there are a lot of options you can play with and stuff up.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, the first series of Ultimaker were made of wood.<br />
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Anyhow, I went and had a play with the printers and basically ended up choosing the Ultimaker. Here are the salient points for my decision:<br />
<ul><li>Price was good compared with the Makerbot.</li>
<li>Not as 'consumer' but I was technical enough to handle tweaking a few parameters.</li>
<li>The resolution went to 20 micron whereas the makerbot only did 100 micron. This turns out to be an irrelevant entry on this list.</li>
<li>The webcam and other whizzy stuff of the makerbot didn't really add value.</li>
<li>Heated glass bed for better adhesion, and easy removal when cool.</li>
</ul><br />
An Ultimaker was ordered and arrived quickly... Lets play!!!<br />
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<h3>First Impressions</h3><br />
Out of the box, general impressions were really good for simple objects. It was also clear that rafts you use to stick your print to the bed were absolute pants (<strong>**UPDATE:</strong> Rafts are now a lot less pants after <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-ultimaker-update.html">an update</a>). After a hunt on the interweb it seems a fix is in the works, but 4 months after the update went into the software it's still not released. Supports were also quite bad, but tweaking the parameters it was possible to get these to a satisfactory level.<br />
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Of the 4 places in the UK I know where to get human help for 3D printing, I went to <a href="https://www.creat3dprinters.com/">Creat3d</a> in Caversham near reading. A chap called Simon was really helpful in explaining lots of points over several visits and emails, and even helped by printing out a couple of my pieces for comparison. If you're based daaaan sarf, this is probably the place to pop in and chat to a team of helpful and knowledgeable folk who have a great Labrador as well.<br />
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After several tests, trials, tribulations and much hair pulling, there are several other quirks that bug me.<br />
<ul><li>Small objects do not print well unless they are REALLY simple.</li>
<li> Anything with a round underside takes a LOT of tweaking to get to an acceptable point and for smaller objects - no hope what so ever, not even with rafts or supports.</li>
<li>If you have a layer that is quite different from the previous, for example you reach the top of 2 parts but a third continues, you can get odd lines in the print</li>
<li>Without rafts, you have to be really good with levelling the print bed. I seem to have either way to close, or way to far away with nothing in the middle. Again, more tweaks in the software get this under control.</li>
<li>More to do with the software it seems, but sometimes on smaller models you can get some over extrusion which is not desirable.</li>
<li>The 20 micron print resolution applies to the layer height only, this means a print takes FOREVER to print and you don't get significantly better prints.</li>
<li>Regardless of the print resolution, you're stuck with the size of the nozzle. This means the thinnest strand you can get is 0.4mm. This is not an Ultimaker issue, but 3D printing of this type in general.</li>
<li>The inbuilt lights flicker slightly as it prints. Not a big issue but you do notice it out the corner of your eye if you're watching telly.</li>
</ul><br />
Here are some photos of the doom and gloom:<br />
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If you don't get the bed height right you can be in all kinds of problems. Too close and you end up with a nice mirror finish but there are really sharp edges as the extra plastic squeezes out. Too far and you risk the print lifting or worse, complete adhesion loss. Rafts get you round this but until Cura sort, there is no real fix for this. (<strong>**UPDATE:</strong> Rafts are now a lot less pants after <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-ultimaker-update.html">an update</a>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fswYDNm_U4/U53BBWGOtzI/AAAAAAAABMs/02SRlCBuApU/s1600/TooCloseTooFar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fswYDNm_U4/U53BBWGOtzI/AAAAAAAABMs/02SRlCBuApU/s320/TooCloseTooFar.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Odd lines appear when you use a larger layer height and the layers differ a lot.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nj_JuULBY-c/U53BxY3Pu6I/AAAAAAAABM4/1PP4t2fUwv8/s1600/IMG_20140615_163222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nj_JuULBY-c/U53BxY3Pu6I/AAAAAAAABM4/1PP4t2fUwv8/s320/IMG_20140615_163222.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z7cd-eby8bg/U53BxVJ6r3I/AAAAAAAABM0/TBDcBHPjGHc/s1600/IMG_20140615_165417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z7cd-eby8bg/U53BxVJ6r3I/AAAAAAAABM0/TBDcBHPjGHc/s320/IMG_20140615_165417.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You can address this a bit by using a thinner layer height, but the downside is the print time will double, also making the print bigger will help this, but that might not be an option. The print on the left was a 0.2mm layer, the one on the right was 0.1mm.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cYVZf0mvItI/U53CB9xx9HI/AAAAAAAABNE/eIVbrxkgFqY/s1600/IMG_20140615_163103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cYVZf0mvItI/U53CB9xx9HI/AAAAAAAABNE/eIVbrxkgFqY/s320/IMG_20140615_163103.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3>It's not all doom and gloom people!!</h3><br />
At least my Bat-ataches and pound coin trolley tags are coming out awesomely!!!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K_XN3XOk3dY/U53Fb7jxH2I/AAAAAAAABNQ/a39-xaG6ZbE/s1600/IMG_20140615_170736.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K_XN3XOk3dY/U53Fb7jxH2I/AAAAAAAABNQ/a39-xaG6ZbE/s320/IMG_20140615_170736.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vha0Ud-nt4Q/U53GJPR96sI/AAAAAAAABNY/So8pkGgkpGs/s1600/IMG_20140615_171248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vha0Ud-nt4Q/U53GJPR96sI/AAAAAAAABNY/So8pkGgkpGs/s320/IMG_20140615_171248.jpg" /></a></div><br />
And, don't I look pretty... (more on scanning later)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qlV2k2c4Wx4/U53H84HmHuI/AAAAAAAABNk/6pidQxekHG8/s1600/IMG_20140615_171939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qlV2k2c4Wx4/U53H84HmHuI/AAAAAAAABNk/6pidQxekHG8/s320/IMG_20140615_171939.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3>Printing Material</h3><br />
So the major hurdle over, the Ultimaker comes with a reel of PLA filament and so playing with that is fun, but what else is there. Well, generally there are 2 types of plastic.<br />
<ul><li>ABS is a general purpose plastic made from petroleum products. It's pretty hard wearing and produces pretty good prints. ABS requires quite a lot of heat so if you want to use any other type of plastic you'll need to make sure you clean your extruder really well.</li>
<li>PLA is a biodegradable plastic not made from any petroleum products. It produces good quality prints but can be brittle. PLA is becoming the norm for printing and it is being improved on and provides a good basis for other types of plastic, for example wood fill and sandstone. Woodfill is basically PLA with very fine particles of wood added while sandstone is PLA with chalk added. There is also a new type of PLA enhanced with PHA... I know, a lot of acronyms. Anyhow PLA/PHA is less brittle than regular PLA and gives some better print properties like ABS.</li>
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Other specialist materials are being produced all the time, for example Ninjaflex which is very flexible and Innosolve which allows you to make items that cannot be printed any other way, for example marbles in a bottle, or enclosed joints and bearings. You need a dual extruder for this, and it basically fills in the gaps and you then dissolve it out of your print at the end.<br />
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Wax is also being used to make things for investment casting, but this is rather new and will take a while to get to a good place.<br />
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<h3>What are the other options?</h3><br />
The printers above are from a class of printing called Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). This technology is an entry level printing technology and while the price is still high it is the cheapest option.<br />
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The next step up is Stereolithography (SLA) and prices start at about twice that of a good FFF printer. This process uses a laser to trace your each layer of your model in a vat of resin. This method can be used to get extremely fine resolution models but supports are still required and can be tricky to remove. Print volumes are also really small for a reasonable cost. Commercial printers can be very large but cost many thousands of pounds.<br />
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At the top end of the spectrum you have Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). The process is similar to the SLA process but instead of liquid resin, a powdered material is used. The downside with this is that resolution is not a great as SLA (but can be better than FFF) but the significant upside is that no supports are required as the powder holds the model while it is printed.<br />
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The upsides with the laser printing are a much better surface quality and resolution, the downside is that you need to build your model so it can let excess material out of the middle or it will be solid, heavy and expensive.<br />
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SLA and SLS technology is pretty much out of the realms of the average hobbyist but <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/">Shapeways</a> is a web company that will print your model for you. Shipping prices and lead time are crippling though if you're looking at using them for prototyping.<br />
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<h3>Coming next...</h3><br />
The next post will be about the model development and the issues I faced there. <a href="http://www.tribalrhino.com/2014/06/3d-printing-step-two-model.html">Click here</a> to read it.Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1277519820786667264.post-89853561502183388422013-01-23T18:57:00.001+00:002016-11-27T06:30:55.603+00:00New website now openSo the marvels of the modern age, I have found a way of having a website that doesn't involve me hosting it myself, or paying anyone to host it... oh, and most importantly, not hosting it on Googles REALLY bad "Sites" application. Blogger to the rescue. Ok, so technically still a google product, but it's one they acquired from someone.<br />
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So, the point is that this post (on the new website) will appear on my facebook timeline (for Tribal Rhino) and then subsequently on my twitter feed (also for Tribal Rhino)<br />
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Well, here's fingers crossed.<br />
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All the shop features will still be available through facebook and all that jazz, so don't panic.<br />
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Oh, I suppose I'd better announce the new link... well, it's the same as the old link, but just in case you forgot it...<br />
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<a href="http://tribalrhino.com/"><span style="font-size: x-large;">tribalrhino.com</span></a>Nigel Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110455473867280856noreply@blogger.com