Perfactory 3D printing test trial 2

So setting of the 3d printer we had two models 1 was a dodecahedron, the other was a spare, the dodecahedron was a model that contain another dodecahedron inside each other suspended in mid air. This was unknown at the time however. Adding both files to the magics software and creating a job to import into perfactory 3D we got the machine off running using pink material.

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Here you can see about 10 millimetres of the model has been printed and is sticking out of the vat of resin. This is about an hour into the print the total print time is 4 hours.

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This picture you can see the dodecahedron peeking out the bottom there is no dodecahedron that he done inside this is because the model was constructed without support material meaning of the internal parts will not supported . This means the currently the central internal model resting inside may be picked up later on during the print process later today. However although this part will be a failure the sphere is turning out nicely which should resulting in a clean sphere. We have to wait another 3 hours to see the final outcome.

(note post was spoken and reedited so may seem a bit odd reading)

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3D printing at work DLP style

So, been working on setting up some 3D DLP printers at work which were used to print mouths for Pirates!, and discussing with suppliers of the machines abd another company, I have now located licences and software to run them.

Software is Perfactory RP 2.9 by EnvisionTec, suppliers of the Perfactory DDP printers.
Magics 13 by Materialise.

So after running and setting up the machines I got one connected and printing z test part.

I have not calibrated it, and I’m using out of date (by 1.5/2 years) so we will try and see what happens…

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Finished 4mm print, stopped due to end of work hour’s
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Thermal inserts for 3d printed parts

So, a project of mine requires me to screw a lid into a 3d printed chasis, and make it secure!

The mnost common thing to do is to just drill and tap into the plastic part to give it the screw thread in which to screw into.

There are several issues, A its weak. drilling into an object with a low infill ratio will mean there is no material around after you have drilled into the first few top layers meaning it only will give 1 thread. Not much!

To overcome this, you can up the fill, or print a hole inwhich to tap, and give it additional perimeters so it makes it solid around the thread. again this is better,but we rely on plastic threads to grip into.

Lets take a look at those examples used in industry. Thermal injection to be precise.

When putting a thread into a plastic part, the best way is to add a brass threaded insert. These are small threaded nuts with a grippy outside which is placed into a mould tool before plastic infection. They remain fitted to the plastic due to the burrs on the outside edge, but give a brass heavy duty thread on the inside.

 

These are cheap, well about £50 for 100, 50p each is the cheapest through a company, ebay sell 100 for about £13.50?

Brass insert fastener

These are used ofetn for parts, including the plastic/glass fibre arms for my quadcopter.

 

When it comes to 3D printing, we are unable to print around these inserts, therefore another insertion method is needed.

Firstly we need to print a hole for the brass insert to fit into. This gives the surrounding purchasing for the fitting to fit into.

Then we place an insert onto the tip of a soldering iron, so the iron heats the insert.

Then using the iron, push the brass insert into the plastic hole, so the plastic melts around the insert.

Removing the soldering iron allows the insert and plastic to cool, leaving you with a brass insert thermally welded into your plastic part.

I just need to get hold of some thermal inserts!

Check out this video for more info…

http://youtu.be/iGNXHWPFAKo

Hole size recommendations pdf is available here: http://www.axisproto.com/pdf/spec_inserts_EN.pdf

PLA 1.75mm and 3mm samples for the store – evaluation

I have recently been in contact with a company regarding supplying 3D printer filament at great prices.

These filaments are available in several lovely colours including Black, White, Blue, Bubblegum Pink, Gow in dark, Yellow, Green, Jasmine Green, etc etc…

And, i am to become a supplier of their filaments!
Well, with a friend, we are teaming up to supply this great quality filament.

I am currently running through some sample ammounts of filaments currently printing in 1.75 mm, but 3mm will be available firstly.

I am also in development of a multiple bowden cable extruder, which will enable multi colour prints and support material in PVA, again available through this company! which we are going to be supplying.

Watch this space for more news!

Quadcopter 3D printed gimble with brushless motors

Something i have seen over the past week is the 3D printed brushless gimble.

Those over at Hackaday and had 2 posts about this today and yesterday, aswell as discussion on Reprap forum, but it is a very interesting idea.

http://hackaday.com/2013/06/17/brushless-motor-camera-gimbal/


http://hackaday.com/2013/06/18/brushless-gimbal-3d-printed-and-bolted-to-quadcopter/

I own a quadcopter, although my flying times are small, i have had it in the air with my HTC desire S strapped to it to get some rather shakey camera footage.

 

Im thinking, i ahve accelerometers, spare brushless motors, spare brushless controllers and a quadcopter, not to mention FPV equipment! oh and 3d Printer…

Im thinking this is worth while to build one of these!

 

Should also make this… http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:76369

 

Additional:

Gimbal controller

After further investigations i have found the controller is a board from Flyduino and costs $110, so i think i may have to wait for costs to decrease first!

http://flyduino.net/Alex-Mos-Brushless-Gimbal-BLG

Antweight robot design V3

Hi all, just thought i would show you the latest in design of my Ant, name to be decieded, but will be a goodan, i have some possibilities, just need to check if there not taken!

This is a mock up design in solidworks, but i also have it printed and fited.

 

I have a controller design ready and now i have the design as i like i can start to design the PCB and get aluminium for the chasis walls 🙂

 

Let me know what you think

 

Natantv3

Admesh program to fix broken STL files

I attempted to open the tantillus stl file for top corner front left but sadly it failed in lic3r saying it had no slices or something, and Bill20r3 and teepee on IRC #Reprap explained about Admesh program.

A commad bassed programme, it fixes / translates rotates etc stl files.

to download:
bill20r3> admesh seems to have fixed it just fine, fwiw.
admesh?
admesh is an open source program for repairing, translating and processing STL meshes. It’s very fast and almost as old as 3D printing. https://sites.google.com/a/varlog.com/www/admesh-htm

if this is down due to server issues go to:
http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/a/admesh/
and download
admesh_0.95.orig.tar.gz 12-Oct-1998 20:52 50K file.

Roboteernat: bottom of the page https://sites.google.com/a/varlog.com/www/admesh-htm – the small arrow pointing down

download the file and save to desktop.

open command prompt window and change directory to point to admesh folder

save the broken stl file needed t be fixed ithin the admesh folder and confirm it id there by using cmd window and typing 'dir' to list the files in the directory

Once it is there, we can fx it.

Type

admesh --write-binary-stl=file_admesh.stl file.stl

where file_admesh.stl is the file output name
and file.stl is the name of the file to be fixed

Here is an example print screened for the future 🙂

the file ‘Corner_top_front_left(1).stl has been fixed and saved as Top_corner.stl in the admesh folder.

All slicing fine now 😀