3D printing

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I'm trying to learn Blender again, to model a flower that could be 3D printed for a research project someone is doing at work.

I've tried a few times over the years and gave up quickly, but it seems starting at version 2.8 they improved the interface quite a bit.  Still, this program has a very steep learning curve, after watching a few hours of YouTube videos I'm just starting to figure out some stuff.

It's amazing, I've gotten so good at using regular CAD to build just about anything mechanical, but hardly any of those skills are helping with learning this program.  It's just so densely packed with tools, it's now to the level where people have made entire 3D animated shows only using Blender.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Not having much luck creating the flower in Blender, but I created a flower shaped object in FreeCAD and used the sculpting tools in blender to shape it into something more flower like.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Got some Ninjaflex filament.  Took a few hours to get the print settings dialed in, and my extruder still has some issues with it sticking to the drive gear, but I did manage to print one test object.

You have to print very slow with this stuff, you are basically trying to push a rubber band down a straw, try to go too fast and it kinks.

This dust blower works, it's not air tight, if I hold my finger over the hole and squeeze air leaks out all over the place, but quick squeezes move quite a bit of air out the tip.


I've been wanting to do some finer detail prints at home for models, but I've got my cobbled together printer going about as good as I can, I could spend a few hundred on more parts and maybe get it better, but decided to order a Prusa MK3s instead.  Ordered the kit, I'll have plenty of time at home over the next months to build it.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Got my new printer built and currently printing the high resolution tree frog test file.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

The patio chair I got from Amazon has one annoying part that if you bump your knee or leg into hurts a little, so I printed some rubber bumpers to cover the annoying part:



Still printing test pieces on the new Prusa MK3S, the first 2 prints look amazing:

[k1]

Did you follow the instructions and take the appropriate number of gummy bear breaks?  (Ours didn't last.  The kids devoured the whole bag by the second one.)

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Did you follow the instructions and take the appropriate number of gummy bear breaks?  (Ours didn't last.  The kids devoured the whole bag by the second one.)

I didn't parse out the bears like the instructions called for, but I did eat a few at a time (after I went to the website to get an English ingredients list to make sure they were soy free), and a bunch after building the extruder (they weren't kidding about that part being the most complicated), by the end I did have a handful left to munch on.

At one point during the extruder build I was using the "pull" method to get a nut into one of the holes and the threads locked up, must have been something wrong with the screw threads.  Ended up having to use a dremel cutting disc to cut the head off the screw and push out the locked up nut.  The heat from cutting melted the plastic slightly but the part was still usable.  Nice that they give you a big bag of extra parts, so plenty of extra screws and nuts to replace the ones I had to cut.

[Darth Geek]

So does your printer have separate support material?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

So does your printer have separate support material?

No, I didn't get the option to use different filaments.  If I design something I try to do it where it doesn't need supports, or only supports that go up from the build plate.  For the times supports are needed inside the print the algorithms in the slicers these days do a pretty good job of putting them in so they are easy to remove with little clean up needed.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Didn't like the sound of most of the train whistles I've downloaded, so decided to try and design my own.
During the printing the cooling fan made it start singing, took a video of it:

[k1]

Realized I don't think I ever posted the pics of the life sized Waverly that I printed and my kids helped build.  I kinda fell off the forum with the whole selling my house a few years ago and moving and not readily having a computer set up in a convenient spot.  Hopefully I'll pop in more now that we finally are semi-moved into our new place.

*edit* The link to Instagram isn't working.  I'll have to find a work around...

Printing
https://twitter.com/onewallcinema/status/1150144397402628096?s=20

Painting
https://twitter.com/onewallcinema/status/1157714942323318784?s=20

Finished Product
https://twitter.com/onewallcinema/status/1158142287282659329?s=20

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Can't remember where I got this file from, been in my models folder for a while, love the detail the new printer is capable of:

[RVR II]

Man! You could make a bunch of these and sell them on ebay 

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Man! You could make a bunch of these and sell them on ebay 

Takes about 8 hours to print one, and people would want them painted, not really worth the time and effort when you could go to Shapeways and get one printed for probably less than $20.

[Darth Geek]

Man! You could make a bunch of these and sell them on ebay 

Takes about 8 hours to print one, and people would want them painted, not really worth the time and effort when you could go to Shapeways and get one printed for probably less than $20.

People sell them unpainted at conventions all the time.