Friday pictures 10-11-'19

[-niels-]

Hey Everyone, Friday picture time has arrived again.

As i already indicated in last week's topic, i didn't get a chance to make anything for this week. 😞

(nothing i can show anyway...)

So i hope some of you have some nice pictures to show and i'll abuse this topic a bit for a question. 😊

I am contemplating on buying a (cheap) 3D printer, so i'd love to see some images of 3D printed stuff with some information, like:

• What model printer did you use
• What kind of problems did you run into while printing (show "spaghetti" pics if you like)
• What software did you use
• Pro's / Con's of different software
• Do you have any suggestions for someone with a small budget on how to get started

I know this isn't directly Inventor related, but i hope you'll humor me.

(@kelly.young: i know you guys at Autodesk love 3D printing fun stuff, hope you'll comment.)

Hope you all have a nice weekend!

[leowarren34]

Hi everyone, hope you all have a good weekend!

Once I get my computer upgraded (more RAM) I'll get the start of my rapier assembly rendered and post up later, I learnt and used alot of the intersection curves in 3d skech which was very new but nice.

@-niels- What do you intent to print and what features do you want? So many nice printers available so it depends what you need. Bit off topic but some of the dual extrusion printers are pretty sweet so you can use a soluble filament to use for support structures and overhanging features. 

[-niels-]

Intended use will be hobby stuff, cat toys, wargame terrain / figures, etc.
Haven't really looked into features and such, colleague had a "tarantula" which he brought to work and printed some electric motor covers with.
Other than that, the only printer i've looked at so far that seems interesting price-wise and size-wise is the "Ender 3".

But it's kinda the whole reason i'm asking, since i'm not that aware of what's out there and what to look for.
(didn't know there were soluble filaments, for instance)

[doug.johnston]

Just a suggestion for this weekly topic.  Maybe make it a permanent, ongoing thread where everyone to post when they get a render completed;  instead of a weekly thread ??

It would allow the thread to stay active as a pinned thread and might allow more content as we get a chance to post renders.  

I know these threads have added a bunch of backgrounds for my monitors, plus gets me inspired to see what Inventor is capable of producing.

[Lewis.Young]

@-niels-  Glad to hear your interest in 3D printing, you'd really enjoy it 😊 I use a Creality Ender 3, VERY cheap (~£160) and prints really really well once you get all the settings dialled in and buy/print a few add ons.

I got a few print examples and some videos on my instagram. If you go on the most recent post and go to the second picture you'll see it prints really clean: https://www.instagram.com/akme.design/

Anyway as for renders, here's something i did in Inventor as a promotion for my website, enjoy!

Lewis Young
Windows 10 x64 - 32GB Ram
Intel i7-7700k @ 4.20GHz
nVidia Quadro P2000 - 5GB
Inventor Professional 2020
Vault Basic 2017
3ds Max 2020

https://akmedesign.co.uk

[leowarren34]

Here's the rapier handle render:

@Anonymous or anyone want a screencast on making any of the parts, I'll be happy to.

[Justin.B.]

Anyone with a 3D printer can probably tell you we spend most of our time printing upgrades for the printer itself!

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend not worrying terribly much about advanced features like dual extrusion. Soluble supports are nice when you need them, but can add headache in getting up and running/calibrated. The entry level printers like the Ender3 all have communities of people tinkering with them and designing upgrades, and the aluminum extrusion frames make it easy to graft parts onto down the road.

If you're looking to print tabletop pieces, especially minis, the first upgrade I'd recommend is a smaller nozzle for the hotend. It's a simple screw in replacement that will really improve the level of detail you can cram into a small piece. Here's a sample tile from a custom Carcassonne set I designed, printed with a ~$15 0.25mm nozzle, next to a Canadian dime for scale:

 https://imgur.com/a/Iqeyl5E for the full set if you're interested.

I started with a cheap kit like you're considering, then moved on to designing my own custom builds. Now I work for a startup that prints everything on a couple different $500k machines. In my experience, if you're willing to put in the time tinkering with it then the cheap kit can get you nearly anything the fancier machines will. The Ender3 is a perfectly fine place to start.

[kelly.young]

Happy Friday @-niels- I started tinkering years ago with the cheapest printer I could find, a simple Cartesian DIY kit by RepRap for $120. The results were marginal, but helped me understand what was going on and how the components worked.

I then bought a Delta Kossel DIY kit by Anycubic and found it to be much more fun to watch and a bit faster. The quality was pretty good for my use and needs, with a price point of $180. It is capable of higher temperatures so I could print with ABS and replace some car parts I needed. 

Here at work we have a bunch of Ultimaker3 printers that are much more friendly to use with better results. The price point is much higher $3k+, but there is less headache and stress that the print will come out successfully. With the dual extruders you can do different colors or use water soluable material for support. 

Depending on the scope and needs there are much larger and more expensive. If you are looking for a more reasonable home version, there are many YouTube channels that review. Here is a 3D Printer Comparison with pros and cons. 

Most recently printed a few trophies for our shuffleboard tournament champions @KubliJ & @adam.james 

I have always used Cura for slicing as it is free and easy to use. The settings are going to be determined on the filament you get. I personally shop through proto-pasta.com as they are close and have fun colors. The main thing is getting the temperature dialed in so it doesn't clog up the extruder tip, melt inside the heater coil, or come out all gooey. The speed varies, I have turned it up super fast just for kicks and it works, until it doesn't in spectacular fashion. The fun thing about the cheaper ones is that if you are tinkering and break it or try something new you aren't going to get that upset, where on a professional grade the mistakes are compounded. Hope that helps get you started!

[leowarren34]

This for @cfritsche, who requested videos on how to model certain features. So I thought, I'd go and produce a screencast on the pommel, the concept is similar for the whole handle.