3D Printer

[rwtdiver]

All is well with the Predator!!!



Perfect test print!!:-))
Now back to the Hunley project.

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"
"Perfection is our goal. Excellence will be tolerated"

[rwtdiver]

Well today while working on my HL Hunley project! My big 6 year old ANYCUBIC Predator took a dump! The extruder and the hot head all went at the same time. Replaced the head with a spare from another parted out printer I had. Parts for the Predator are not to be found. went to Anycubic China, and they where sold out. Amazon used to sell parts for that model, but they did not have the exact extruder. I decided to order one that was close and started tearing things apart to build one that might or might not work.





Well now to put it all back together and hope!!

I have been looking for a reason to purchase a new DREMEL 3D45 printer!! (So In a way I hope it does not work)

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"
"Perfection is our goal. Excellence will be tolerated"

[SubDude]

I'm using the educators license- I have to mentor people at work from time to time, that makes me an educator of sorts IMO.

I just click on the body I want to print and select 'Save as STL' then select the high refinement option. e.g.

That is what I did too. The latest part on my Columbia class boat was much less faceted as a result.

[Subculture]

I'm using the educators license- I have to mentor people at work from time to time, that makes me an educator of sorts IMO.

I just click on the body I want to print and select 'Save as STL' then select the high refinement option. e.g.

[CC Clarke]

Obviously you've mastered the resolution settings discussed in post 37. Do you have any other tips in Fusion 360 for new users to get the most out of their 3D prints?

Are you using the free version or the more capable paid/subscription version?

[Subculture]

Fusion 360 enables you to output a model at very high resolution, so i never find an issue with blocky faces.

[CC Clarke]

Which is why thin coats are applied; the viscosity can be adjusted by tweaking the ratio of the two-part liquids to some extent. The DSRV for example, is covered with hundreds of rivets, which are modeled with enough height to remain raised above the XTC-3D epoxy. Where the product really shined was covering joined seam lines that were slightly below the surface. It sands very easily.

I don't think this product is necessarily a one-stop solution to all surfacing work - it's just another tool among many, and I haven't seen anyone use or review it here on 3D printed models yet. And so I did.

Last summer, I performed an experiment using PLA to determine the optimum width, depth, and spacing inscribed details could be maintained after sanding using different grits of sandpaper. The test was conducted on a flat plane, 3mm thick. Heat from friction being the biggest detriment, wet sanding produced the best results.

The single best tip I can offer is there is no substitute for a properly designed 3D model to reduce the post-print finishing work. (That, and a 3D printer that produces acceptable prints.)

The DSRV model I provided in the link above is a prime example. Where the upper and lower hulls snap together, there is a longitudinal overhang that covers the seam. The bow and stern are sectioned where the flanges meet, so any seam contributes to the detail. With the exception of the three-bladed screw, the model is designed with no need for support structure, (though you can add them via your slicer if desired) which speeds up printing and reduces any sanding required where the supports may leave residue on the surface. The hull is smooth because care was taken to keep the number of polygons on the sides to a level that shows no faceting during the conversion from the native CAD file (Fusion 360) to STL.

His other models exhibit this attention to detail and are excellent examples for anyone wishing to learn how to add features to their designs that add function while retaining form.

Carl's other submarine designs can be found here: Designs - Thingiverse

[Subculture]

Where I've been using 3d printed items in models, I use them as masters to cast a tool from. The parts invariably look fine from the printer, until you start to sand and then hit them with some primer- shows up all sorts of nasties which require attention. I tend to use methods I would use for hand worked parts- polyester fillers and air dry spot putty and careful hand sanding, followed by filler primers- rinse and repeat until item is considered satisfactory for the moulding from.

I would expect adding a thickened epoxy resin to a printed item would soften detail to some extent.

[CC Clarke]

I spent about five minutes sanding micro-blobs off a couple of parts. The layer lines from my printer are barely visible for properly oriented parts, but a thin coating of XTC-3D leaves the rivet detail visible. Total print time was less than 72 hours. My next iteration of it will have the two top and bottom sections (11" when joined) printed as single parts.

Here's a proto 688 display base that has a few more details to go. I changed the pylon structure (there are two configurations I know of) to reflect the earlier 70's style. Those are definitely meant for resin printing.

CC

[Subculture]

Lovely DSRV model, but would be best printed on a resin printer, the new Elegoo Saturn has a large enough build platform for it. Trying to sand out striations from a FDM process. whilst preserving the small rivet detail would prove highly challenging.

[CC Clarke]

Gotcha. I have saved the parts as .stl files in Fusion at the higher resolution. Previously it was just using the default medium. The mesh looks better.

Excellent. It took me awhile to find the proper resolution recipe when converting files back and forth from SolidWorks.

I once took down a company server using the wrong resolution settings in ProE as another engineer and I tried repeatedly to convert a native ProE file to OBJ so I could dig into the mesh with my software. Seconds after I pressed the Save button, both of us stared wide-eyed at each other as a chorus of "WTF!!!" echoed from all of the adjacent offices simultaneously. The server was located in another of our facilities 120 miles away (in Silicon Valley) and it was not pretty. Luckily an HP network guru just happened to be there and restored the system quickly. We became a lot more cautious with our settings after that, until we discovered the optimum recipe.

[CC Clarke]

[QUOTE=tifosi12;n146464]

Looking great. I bought the XTC-3D epoxy as well but when I read all the warning labels I got cold feet and put it away. It sounds like you need a space suit to touch the stuff. How did you handle it?

Gloves are more than adequate, and protective eyewear is recommended if you're spastic. It's a two-part epoxy and I didn't notice it smelling any worse than any of the other bonding materials I often use. It dries quickly and cures fast when applied in thin coats at room-temperature. I gave it 24 hours between each coat, which was more than adequate.

CC

[CC Clarke]

I've attached a couple of renders of the stock (as printed) DSRV - with a newer (textured) version I'm rebuilding that will have a 688 mothership base and realistic shock mitigation system for the transfer skirt. These will need to be resin printed due to the much higher detail. This is it about half-done.

CC

[trout]

excellent tip!

[CC Clarke]

For anyone following along that wants to learn about mesh / object resolution related to slicing and ultimately sweet-looking prints that require less effort to prepare for priming, I've attached a few examples.

All are tubes, 3mm thick, 100mm in diameter, and 152mm in length. The first tube has 24 sides, the second, 48, and the third 96. Note the amount of faceting (visible sides) in each of the first two pics.

The second three pics show the results of each individual tube after it's been sliced for 3D printing. The slicer setting are the same for each (15% infill / .2mm layer height)

In this example, I'm using ideaMaker. It's free and available here: ideaMaker All Versions | Download 3D Printer Software | Raise3D

The 24-sided tube will take 4 hours 45 minutes to print. The 48-sided tub will take 4:25, and the 96 sided tube will take 4:26. This is an important point. A 3D printer moves in short, straight line segments (a circle can be thought of as a series of interconnected straight lines.) The more sides, the faster the printer can print, so it's a win all around. Adding more sides can actually improve your print time (in this case) and produce a nicer-looking part with less prep required for priming. The trick is to find the sweet spot that yields the smoothest prints in the least amount of time.

The important takeaway here is: Modeling affects print time and quality of the print. A slicer takes the model code (stl is but one) and converts it to gcode (CNC-style machine commands.) A slicer cannot alter the geometry, it just "slices" it into layers to be printed on top of each other.

For fun, (you don't need a 3D printer to experiment) download ideaMaker and then head over to Thingverse and download this: RC submarine Mystic class DSRV by Ewolve - Thingiverse

Carl has done an excellent job of setting this up for printing. (Only the propeller needs Supports added.)

With iM open, go to File/Load/Import Model and load one of the files. Once it's loaded, go to Slice/Start Slice and choose the Standard template setting. Once the model is sliced, slide the Layers handle in the Previewer on the bottom to see how the printer will create the model.

Experiment and have fun!

CC