gman's first 3D printer

[gman]

I decided it was time to take on a new kind of project, something challenging, yet extremely awesome like a 3d printer. I did a lot of research and my cheapest and best option was to buy a 3d printer kit. its significantly lower than a complete one. I chose the opensource reprap kit because it is documented fully and performs well.

I got my kit from makerfarm. The printer is made mostly out of lazer cut wood and it is extremely sturdy. I feel bad for all those repraps made out of metal rods cause they look wobbly as Heck. The kit claims it takes 3 hours to assemble, but somehow I did it in 11 (and im not even fully done yet haha). Actually I built it 11 straight hours. I was so focused I forgot how hungry I was and I ended up eating dinner at 20 in the morning :wow:

Unfortunately Colin from makerfarm forgot to put the pieces for the extruder in the kit so i cant print anything yet. He's already shipped out the parts after I called him out on it. The kit and instructions appear very professional and easy but it was actually pretty difficult. He merged the instructions for the 6" and 8" printers so the kit was a little bit different than the video but I was able to figure it out. The lazer cut wood is burned on the edges which makes all the pieces extremely tight. There a few flaws in the design which I'll be fixing soon like the y endstop switch is a little farther than its suppose to be but its been documented how to fix that already. Also the lcd stand didnt line up with the frame so I ended up just gluing it on.

Anyway... build pics





Here's the jhead nozzle all assembled and working but just waiting to be attached to the extruder when the parts come in.


Finished! (almost)





Messy wiring.... ill neaten that up someday.. maybe


Even though I cant physically print anything yet, I did test all the motors and switches and I printed a test cube in the air and it appears to be working. The printbed and nozzle heaters work.. trust me... i found out the hard way

Well there's my 3d printer. It can print anything inside 8 inches cubed which is a good size because I'll be able to print medium sized portable cases! My sister is making me print her every doctor who toy on thingiverse also lol. http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/prusa-8-i3-kit.html

 

[wallydawg]

Neat. I've been meaning to build a reprap for a while now so I'll look into this as an alternative.

Also somewhat ot I'm interested on some information, specs and etc of the cnc machine you bought, but keep forgetting to pm you about it

 

[gman]

Neat. I've been meaning to build a reprap for a while now so I'll look into this as an alternative.

Also somewhat ot I'm interested on some information, specs and etc of the cnc machine you bought, but keep forgetting to pm you about it

yeah the cnc machine i got is awesome and works great. Best part is that its not too expensive. I bought some nice bits for it cause the stock ones are total crap. Its really messy so I keep a shop vac in my room now.

also 3d printers rock. im mesmerized by watching it print in the air for now I'm totally gonna build another one but one of the earlier repraps so i dont have to buy another expensive kit.

 

[megalomaniac]

whats the print resolution ??

 

[gman]

whats the print resolution ??

50 micron layer height. that means nothing to me though lol. It has a .5mm jhead nozzle. I've seen people make some cool things with this exact model so if I calibrate it good, i can get a good print.

 

[megalomaniac]

good luck...
the smaller the print head, the greater the detail / print resolution, so im im interested in seeing the performance / printed results from your .5mm head...

 

[gman]

good luck...
the smaller the print head, the greater the detail / print resolution, so im im interested in seeing the performance / printed results from your .5mm head...

I know that but they say the .5mm is easier to use for beginners. I can always change it out later if I'm unhappy with the results.

 

[gman]

I got the extruder parts and finished the printer today! I had a few fail prints. I couldnt get the plastic to stick at first until I tried hairspray and now it sicks perfectly. I printed 3 tokens that say "1 3D PRINT" I made 3 of them and they are in order of how I printed them in the picture. The first 2 are abs and the last one is pla. I think the pla looks better. Its smoother and looks cleaner. I like the results I'm getting but I think my printer can do better. Maybe its my large nozzle, or maybe my setting are bad in slic3r, idk. I'm gonna keep printing for now!

The tokens took 10 minutes to print each one and are 4cm in diameter.

 

[robm]

This is very cool - keep us updated.

 

[gman]

Had a frustrating day full of failed prints.. I tried printing a mini atari but it failed 4 times but the 5th time it was working and then the plastic warped and came off the bed :X I printed a triforce with a stand and it came out great. Defiantly my best print so far. I also printed a fan shroud for the jhead and will print the hinge later. It came out mediocre I guess. This is starting to turn into a worklog hehe

 

[megalomaniac]

frustrating huh?
please dont take this as a bash:
3d printing IMO is still too new of a concept for a home based solution to provide great results...
as expected i thought you would be unhappy with the results, hence my previous statement about taking interest in your printed results...


i know some medical facilities are using 3d printing to make model hearts for physicians to explain to patients about procedures they will undergo...but the resolution and tolerance of a "real" 3d machine is much different than home based....

i know you have ambition to use the printer as a means to create portable cases...and at a larger scale it could work...but i tend to think there will be failure points of the cases due to the method of the printed layers...

what i want to know.....what is the temp needed to heat the material?
and could you print something....stick it in a oven to melt it more and solidify the print rather than having those potential break faults???


just something to think about while you are testing...



i speak from experience of having 3d printed finished goods that were prone to breakage
and maybe reheating could be an option to make a solid piece of "unbreakable" product???

 

[grossaffe]

Personally, I'm looking forward to when the Peachy Printer is finalized. It looks like it could be quite nice for home use as a low-cost lithographic printer with a high resolution.

 

[gman]

The home 3d printer is more finicky and frustrating but with enough effort I believe it can produce good prints, not perfect of course, but functional yes. I was unhappy with my prints at first because I had really high hopes and I assumed it would be very easy and straight forward. Boy was I wrong! I've played with my printer for atleast 30 hours since I got it exactly one week ago.

After realigning the y axis, swapping the extruder parts, and experimenting with the print setting, I've gotten a much improved print. I printed the mini atari because it failed 4 times the earlier day. Not only did it complete, but it looks almost flawless! It's hard to see the dimension in the picture, but it's there.



The nozzle heats up to 180c for pla. I think trying to harden prints is a bad idea because it will warp and ruin the prints. That being said, if the extrusion is perfectly calibrated and you set the infill to a higher value, I believe it will be strong enough for a portable case. And if you choose an interesting plastic like glow in the dark, clear, etc, I think you can get away with painting over the textured layers too.

The peachy printer looks sick! I can't wait for it to release because I will defiantly buy one considering how cheap it is. Something seems a bit off about it because they've only showed very small prints so far. I'm curious to see how fast (or slow) it prints too.

 

[hailrazer]

Yes a 3D printer ATM has a very steep learning curve. And just when you think you have it figured out, you need to re-learn something. It definitely is not plug and play or "out of the box ready" right now. Maybe in 2-3 years or so.

Increasing infill will strengthen the case but adding shells will also.

 

[gman]

Yes a 3D printer ATM has a very steep learning curve. And just when you think you have it figured out, you need to re-learn something. It definitely is not plug and play or "out of the box ready" right now. Maybe in 2-3 years or so.

I totally agree.

Hows this for detail ? It's suppost to be an owl perched on a log but it would've taken all night to print and the machine is too loud to sleep through so i ended it early.

 

[grossaffe]

If you want to strengthen a printed case, you could try fortifying it with fiberglass.

 

[gman]

I dont think strength will be an issue. PLA is really hard and its even difficult to clean the print up sometimes with an x-acto knife. But wont know unless I try i guess. I printed a tardis. Took about 1.5 hours. It's my biggest completed print so far. I'm working my way up to the portable case!

Made a short video of the machine printing a frog! Came out good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJSBQ3oAS0c

Any Doctor Who fans here?

 

[grossaffe]

Doesn't look very big on the outside...

 

[megalomaniac]

any chance you can post a close up high res pic of a print??
im looking for a particular detail in a print that may or may not be present with your setup

 

[gman]

any chance you can post a close up high res pic of a print??
im looking for a particular detail in a print that may or may not be present with your setup

I cant get a high res but I can try a close up. Which print or does it not matter? What detail are you looking for? Maybe I could spot it better than you could with a crappy picture.