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  1. #1
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default Useful 3D printing Youtube stuff

    I'm a relative newby in the 3D printing game but my son has 3 printers and has been using printers for about 5 years so he's been my handy "on call , tech support person".

    Normally I avoid Youtube but a couple of times my son has referred me to the "Teaching Tech" channel.
    https://www.youtube.com/c/TeachingTech/videos?view=0&sort=dd&flow=grid

    The guy that runs it (Michael Laws) says he is a qualified industrial designer and teacher and my son reckons this guy mostly knows his stuff. In 3 years he has produced over 350 videos covering 3D printing, laser engraving, CNC etc. Laws also has a website where he provides various levels of paid for support although from what I can tell he doesn't over emphasise this in his vids. He certainly gets to play with a wide range of mid-lower end tech, and while I find his presentation and voice somewhat robotic/unenthusiastic (I wouldn't like to be in his classes), his explanations are (perhaps at times too) brief and clear, and the video work is reasonable, and have learned quite a few useful things on this channel.

    FWIW Laws has a few on-line detractors (success, or 41 million views, seems guaranteed to do this) and has for example been accused of copying existing YT vids.

  2. #2
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    Default What drawing skills are needed for 3D Printing

    OK,
    Bearing in mind I know almost nothing about 3d printers what would users say are pre reqs before racing out to buy one?

    Do I need a Cad drawing knowledge in my background?

    What sort of learning curve do you need before becoming proficient enough to run one.

    For those that own one ,is it a commonly used tool that is on the way to paying for itself or an expensive but interesting toy?

    Does it rank up there with a drill press or a linisher?

    What information has to be fed into a 3D printer, in terms of a digital direction before it will spit out a part.
    Are the base filler materials readily available and cost effective.

    How durable is the finished product? Can UV resistant filler be used in them?

    Thats just a few questions ,I have.

    Grahame

  3. #3
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default

    Bearing in mind I have only been printing for about 6 weeks I will try my best to answer these questions.

    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    OK,
    Bearing in mind I know almost nothing about 3d printers what would users say are pre reqs before racing out to buy one?
    Do I need a Cad drawing knowledge in my background?
    It depends what you want to do.

    A) Starting from an idea or a shape.
    1) If you have predetermined objects you want to print then some form of CAD will be required to draw your idea.
    2) Convert CAD file to STL - most CAD apps will do this.
    3) Convert SLT file to GCODE file specific to your printer - this is done using a "Slicer App" eg Cura (its free see https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura)
    4) The GCODE file is transferred to printer via an SD card or printer can be driven direct by the slicer App.
    Sounds long winded but if you start with the STL file you start the process at Step 3

    Slicer apps allow for some limited resizing eg the X or Y or Z dimensions can be altered but don't forget that this alters all intermediate dimensions by the same percentages.
    eg if your design is say a strip say 100mm long and has a holes in it 10 mm in diameter and you increase the length to 120 mm the hole will become 12mm in diameter.
    If you want to make the strip 120mm long and keep the hole @ 10 mm you will need to go back to the CAD file to fix it.

    But to get the feel of what a printer can do you can use pre-existing plans
    The estimate is that there are many millions of SLT files/plans for "things" already out there.
    Thingiverse.com alone has more than 2 million plans Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects

    Don't be fooled by the large numbers of files because Thingiverse (TV) also contains
    - thousands of files useless items that will make you laugh and cry
    - many files/plans of the same (useless) thing
    - many files for printing things to do with 3D printers

    However Thingiverse also many predrawn CAD files that can be used to alter the object parameters - doesn't help unless you know some CAD

    What sort of learning curve do you need before becoming proficient enough to run one.
    Learning curve depends on the printer.
    The cheap ones usually come in pieces as a kit and require many (as much as a dozen) hours of assembly and calibration. During this time you will get very frustrated BUT you will learn much about how it works and then should be able to fix it when it goes wrong.
    The fully assembled ones are usually more expensive but should work straight out of the box with a bit of perhaps calibration time and should after that autocalibrate the Z-axis
    Mine took ~75 minutes from the closed box to first printing and that was done largely by my son with 5 years printing experience. I think it would have taken me about twice that.
    No matter what you need to be prepared for some stuff ups, eg plastic blobs that bear no resemblance to what you asked it to print,
    For those that own one ,is it a commonly used tool that is on the way to paying for itself or an expensive but interesting toy?
    Since getting mine I have already printed out several dozen things that strongly indicate it will pay for itself.
    Printing "one of a kind" pieces is going to take longer to recoup costs than if you need to print multiples - that's when you really clean up.
    Does it rank up there with a drill press or a linisher?
    No - its closer to a CNC.
    What information has to be fed into a 3D printer, in terms of a digital direction before it will spit out a part.
    See above
    Are the base filler materials readily available and cost effective.
    The materials vary from $20/kg to >$100/kg for fancy carbon fibre impregnated stuff - may not be cost effective
    I've been buying stuff between $25 and $40/kg and can tell the difference between them eg better finish, fewer stuff ups
    Like anything you get what you pay for.
    How durable is the finished product?
    It depends on the starting material. Unless you can fork out big $$$ for a metal printer you'll be restricted to plastics and impregnated plastics.
    I am quite surprised at how durable the basic plastic is.
    Can UV resistant filler be used in them?
    Yes some UV resistant plastics can be used.

  4. #4
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default

    I thought I'd illustrate the issue of files and resizing of objects using a couple of simple examples.

    The first example is for a set of soft jaws for a 3 jaw chuck vice.
    On thingiverse there are a bout 20 different designs for soft jaws.
    I used this one; https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2560820/files

    I printed this using TPU plastic as it slightly squishy but better grip that regular 3D printer plastic.
    SoftLathechuckjaws.jpg

    However only an STL file is provided, "soft_jaw.stl" in Thingiverse
    When I printed this out the provided file (soft_jaw.stl ) the printed jaws were too small to fit nicely over the vice jaws
    The critical values are the internal measurements of X and Y, so the soft jaw can fit over the inner part of the chuck jaws.

    The LH jaw cover was the original and the RH one is 20% longer in the X and 5% in the Y for a snug fit.
    Softvicejaws2.JPG

    This can be done in the slicing software (Cura) by diddling the X/Y/Z.
    Screen Shot 2021-09-08 at 2.57.09 pm.png

    However it cannot be edited every which way - to do that you need the CAD file.

    For these bench vice jaws fortunately an CAD (SCAD) file was provided which meant very dimension could be altered.
    Softvicejaws.JPG

    You don't need to know much about SCAD (also free) to do this
    Below is part of the SCAD app widow for those jaws
    The dimensions are adjusted in the in the RH panel.
    The program recompile automatically but the the object needs rendering.
    Click on the icon at the lower left with the hourglass - this can take many minutes.
    Finally the file is saved as an STL file - another icon on the app page and then converted to Gcode in the Slicer App.
    Screen Shot 2021-09-08 at 3.05.46 pm.png

  5. #5
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    Default

    Grahame, you don't need a CAD background but anyone who has that is obviously streets ahead.
    I have a background in computer and electronic maintenance but absolute zero CAD exposure and am just a hobbyist in the metalworking world.
    I bought an Aldi 3D printer a few years ago - at the time I was desperate to get metric threading capability on my ancient Senecca Falls lathe and with the help of one of the young guys at work ( he did the CAD for me using Fusion 360) printed up some change gears for that lathe.
    These were the first things I had attempted and it took very little effort to get the machine set-up and adjusted (RTFM definitely applied).
    I printed a few things I downloaded from various internet sources but in my particular case I didn't realise the true value of this relatively modest printer until I learnt some basic CAD.

    Last year during the first big COVID lockdown here in Victoria I set about learning to use Freecad for some simple designs.
    I chose Freecad simply because my very old Mac didn't support the minimum OS for Fusion 360.
    Without any background in CAD I have no idea of the relative pros and cons of the various packages.
    The one thing that I learnt very quickly was that CAD was way different to what I was used to. I had used software packages like Excel and Access for years at work, did programming in assembler and higher languages etc and thought this should be straight forward - not quite.
    I spent quite a bit of time doing Youtube tutorials and reading Freecad documentation and eventually started producing useful odds and ends and have found this 3D printer to be a very handy bit of kit.

    I have only used PLA to this point and that has surprised me at how durable it can be - it isn't something that will work if it is going to be exposed to high temperatures but it does seem pretty tolerant of mineral oil.
    As Bob mentioned there are varying quality filaments out there - I got superb results from the original PLA I bought from Aldi but had to vary print settings quite a bit with different suppliers (nozzle temperature, bed temperature etc).

    Here are a few examples of things around the workshop that I just couldn't go and buy off the shelf.

    My Hemrug lathe was missing the cast aluminium cover for the AC power connection - this was quite a complicated design for my basic skills but I am very happy with the finished article.
    IMG_1019.jpg

    The Hembrug was also missing a couple of the original bakelite knobs - PLA sanded and polished up definitely passes as bakelite to casual inspection.
    IMG_0941_1.jpg

    The Hembrug was missing the original carriage clamps - these are originally steel blocks with a threaded adjustment bolt and a threaded locking grubscrew. I got the dimensions for the RH block from a forum member and printed up a L&R clamp as prototypes. These were fitted a year ago and have been so good I haven't bothered to try and whittle out metal ones. For these I printed the holes at the tapping drill size and ran a tap through to get the best possible threads.
    IMG_1085.jpgIMG_1087.jpgIMG_1088.jpg

    I wanted to cut a BSF thread to make a part for the Macson and discovered I only had a single 20T change gear (the Hembrug does have a quick change gearbox but uses change gears to cover a huge range of possible threads). This was easily sorted by a quick Freecad design and print.
    IMG_1135.jpg

    The original thread dial gear on my old Macson is missing a tooth - this gear is a humungous cast iron lump and given it has no load whatsoever is a perfect candidate for a plastic replacement. This was another tricky design for a beginner as the gear is mounted via a tapered pin so getting that in exactly the right place for both the existing hole in the shaft and the timing of the thread dial took a bit of fiddling - one of the advantages of 3D printing is that you can print prototype versions of something with quite thin walls and infill to check dimensions& fit.
    IMG_0999.jpg


    You will also very quickly get bonus points for household odds and ends.

    Here are some of the things around the house that were 3D printed.
    Small plastic hanger for ends of 30 year old curtain rails - I have about 6 of these in service now.
    IMG_1492.jpg

    Replacement guide piece for 30 year old cavity doors - I made these with small recesses for felt inserts so they are super silent in operation.
    IMG_1491.jpg

    Replacement sink strainer inserts - the old originals were deteriorated badly. I've noticed these seem to absorb water over time when printed with less than 100% infill.
    IMG_1494.jpg

    Last year during the first COVID lockdown I pulled out my mothers old sewing machine and found the original motor coupler had literally turned to dust. I knocked up a motor coupler based on the dimensions of what I could measure and it works perfectly. It was also missing one of the cotton reel holders.
    IMG_1051.jpgIMG_1054.jpg

    The caster wheel inserts for my daughters Ikea laundry basket disintegrated so I made some much stronger replacements - again I printed the hole to tapping size and cut the threads with a tap to get really crisp threads.
    IMG_1414.jpg

    There are many others but that selection illustrates how versatile these things can be.
    My printer is relatively small (200mm envelope) and has been a really useful thing - a lot of the household items are simply not available to buy as spares so to be able to knock up a functional replacement is very handy.
    Hard to say if the technology ticks enough boxes for you but hopefully this helps a little - in my case this has become a regularly used tool rather than an expensive toy.
    Ray
    Last edited by Ray-s; 10th Sep 2021 at 01:21 PM. Reason: Typo

  6. #6
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    Default

    3D printers are simply awesome for mechanical development work. I have had a project on and off for some years and it was mostly parked in a cardboard box because the cost of developing it using conventional machining methods made it very costly mainly due to each time I looked at it I changed my mind on the design. We bought a 3D printer and within two weeks we had printed, modified and finalised the design after about 20 prints which if it had been done in metal would have cost a fortune and taken about a year. All that cost me about $20 and a lot of hours and I can't believe how easy it made everything because we could make changes and print them straight away. The printer is a Prius and so far it has not given us a moment of trouble over many hours of operation.
    CHRIS

  7. #7
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Parks View Post
    The printer is a Prius and so far it has not given us a moment of trouble over many hours of operation.
    Did you mean Prusa?

    Prusa are reckoned to be the duck’s guts for hobbyists. Postage and GST killed the Prusa for me unfortunately. I got an Artillery Sidewinder and it’s been great.
    Chris

  8. #8
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    For those that own one ,is it a commonly used tool that is on the way to paying for itself or an expensive but interesting toy?
    SWMBO can't lock the 4WD hubs in so I made this(leads a hard life on the floor of the truck). Now she can lock the hubs and can stay in the truck, lol. What price do you put on that?

    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    How durable is the finished product? Can UV resistant filler be used in them?
    I've had some PLA+ outside for over 18 months so far it seems to be doing fine.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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