Hi Jim,
There are a variety of materials available, but the two most common are ABS and PLA. For kids toys and such I'm using PLA because it's biodegradable. If you're going to be melting plastic inside the house for hours on end, it strikes me as preferable to use something that is derived from plants and doesn't smell bad. For sub parts, though, I'd use ABS because it's stronger. I don't have specs handy, but it's the same material Legos are made of, so should be relatively tough.
There is no manufacturer for the machine, I made it from parts that I collected from a variety of sources - mainly eBay. As for accuracy, it's highly variable and depends, from what I've seen, much more on the experience of the person calibrating than the inherent capabilities of the machine. I'm a rank beginner, so I don't expect to make anything superb, but the quality I'm getting at this point is sufficient that I would not feel bad putting parts on the sub, presentation-wise. I'd say it's functional and not embarrasing, but certainly not yet the finish you'd expect from a mass produced, molded item.
If you want to read a little about this stuff, do an online search for "reprap", which is a collaborative, online project to develop these machines, or for "Prusa Mendel", which is the particular sort of printer I built, a model developed by the Reprap project. More generally, common terms for this topic are "additive manufacturing" and "desktop manufacturing".
Best,
Hi, Alec,
I don't have any need at the moment, however I'd like to hear more about
the material's properties and characteristics such as torsion strength,
etc. Are there different formulations of plastic material for use with
your 3D printer at this time?
How precisely can it produce an item? Is there general info
available online at the manufacturer's website?
Thanks for the offer. I'll need to take a closer look at 3D printing
in general versus machine work when I get to that point.
Best regards,
Jim T.
Hi everyone,
I’d mentioned a few weeks ago I was working on a 3D printer. It is now calibrated and working
really nicely. I have to say,
it’s a neat concept to just hit a button and watch things
materialize without further
intervention. Now the
question is what to print. There are
two main limitations:
- Parts must fit on a build
area measuring 6.75” x
6.75” and
4” tall,
or they have to be assembled
from parts that fit into that space.
- Overhangs have to be gradual. To illustrate, consider printing a model of a house. You
would have to print the roof
as a separate part and then attach it to the walls, otherwise when the nozzle reached the height of
the eaves it could not print them because they
would be unsupported.
I know there are some terrific
CAD artists in the house,
and I’d like to invite you to
undertake the design
of printable sub
components on
an “open source”
basis. I’d be quite happy to print those parts for
just the cost of the plastic, if we can come up with some common sub components. We could make
parts as simple
as handles
for Kittredge
style hatch
dogs, or maybe attempt
an UW light or a
scrubber. Maybe we can even start a repository for the
files.
Any
takers?
Thanks,
Alec
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