The 3D Printer Thread

[Caddyshack]

80 bed sounds very hot.

I did a blu touch self levelling mod on my artillery sidewinder, makes it much better.

I print at 60 bed heat and 195 on the extruder.

[Scabutz]

Caddyshack said:

80 bed sounds very hot.

I did a blu touch self levelling mod on my artillery sidewinder, makes it much better.

I print at 60 bed heat and 195 on the extruder.

Im printing PETG. Might try some lower temps. I think the glue and raft have helped a lot

[Caddyshack]

Scabutz said:

Caddyshack said:

80 bed sounds very hot.

I did a blu touch self levelling mod on my artillery sidewinder, makes it much better.

I print at 60 bed heat and 195 on the extruder.

Im printing PETG. Might try some lower temps. I think the glue and raft have helped a lot

Ah, ok, I know Petg needs higher. Have you seen the temp towers on thingiverse so you can get the code to adjust temps as it prints and see what gives the best result. Will be trying that on mine after I have done the e steps and the new nozzle.

[Scabutz]

I have another question please.

I want to print some bigger pieces but I think I need to prototype some stuff first before final printing. Some.e of the stuff is saying its going to take 450g of filament and take 2 days. Dont really want to wait 2 days to find its wrong.

What's are the best materials and settings for faster prototyping using less materials?

[Merry]

Fit a larger nozzle, cut down on infill. Most of a parts strength is the the walls anyway, shape dependant, obviously.

What is it you're printing?

[Scabutz]

Throttle quadrant from an a320. I've got a cad drawing someone has done of the entire thing. So I'm trying to break it down to component parts to print. My CAD skills aren't the best so I want to run off some prototypes and check they all fit etc.

[Merry]

Tricky one that, could you scale everything in cura and check that way, half scale or something?

Like I said for printing big you need to go bigger nozzle, but you do loose out on quality.

[HoHoHo]

I’ve also just got into this 3D printing lark which seems to be going quite well.

I didn’t see the need for need a huge bed, so opted for the FlashForge Adventurer 3.

I’ve had no issues whatsoever and have kept thing simple by using the manufacturers filament with their slicing software with Fusion 360 to design.

I bought it because I wanted to buy a part for a hobby that I simply couldn’t find anywhere so I thought f-it I’ll design it myself.

I did just that, went through multiple prototypes finishing after many weeks work with a suitable example. I’ve shown the final prototype to a friend in the business who is amazed it’s not been made before and I’m now waiting for IPO approval of design which is going through currently so I can then take it to market. I don’t think I’ll be wealthy this time next year but it’s been a bit of fun.

I’m amazed at the quality of print, the only times I’ve had any problems was simply down to placing multiples on the bed for 3D mass-production and I got the printing angles wrong - my fault, not the machine or temps etc.

I’ve also designed and printed more bottle holders etc for the fridge than we will ever need - even gave a new one to my wife this morning as a joke valentines present

There are some interesting free designs on the web and last week I printed an F14 which was great aside from the moment I broke one of the rear tails off

[David_M]

Appreciate that this is not quite the right thread, but does anyone have experience of having a 3D print (one-off) done and if so can you recommend any particular business and indicate pricing?

Would a .stl do for them or am I going to get my (noob) designs rejected for being unprintable?

[Merry]

David_M said:

Appreciate that this is not quite the right thread, but does anyone have experience of having a 3D print (one-off) done and if so can you recommend any particular business and indicate pricing?

Would a .stl do for them or am I going to get my (noob) designs rejected for being unprintable?

How big/complex is it and what is it for? If its nothing earth shattering I'm sure a fellow PHer could help!

Failing that, I vaguely know this guy who could price something https://www.facebook.com/That3DPrint/

[Scabutz]

David_M said:

Appreciate that this is not quite the right thread, but does anyone have experience of having a 3D print (one-off) done and if so can you recommend any particular business and indicate pricing?

Would a .stl do for them or am I going to get my (noob) designs rejected for being unprintable?

There are a lot of companies that will do it. But when I looked it was very expensive. Some you just upload a .stl file and it will tell you there and then the cost etc. I had quotes of 80 quid for something that probably cost about a fiver in filament. Why I ended up buying my own machine in the end

[HoHoHo]

David_M said:

Appreciate that this is not quite the right thread, but does anyone have experience of having a 3D print (one-off) done and if so can you recommend any particular business and indicate pricing?

Would a .stl do for them or am I going to get my (noob) designs rejected for being unprintable?

What size is the finished object?

[ReverendCounter]

David_M said:

Appreciate that this is not quite the right thread, but does anyone have experience of having a 3D print (one-off) done and if so can you recommend any particular business and indicate pricing?

Would a .stl do for them or am I going to get my (noob) designs rejected for being unprintable?

PM me if you don't get anywhere with this.

[Bullett]

From when this comes up on the 3D printing groups the recommended going rate seems to be about £/$1 an hour for printer time plus any prep work (at £20 an hour) and materials on top.

[Scabutz]

Merry said:

Tricky one that, could you scale everything in cura and check that way, half scale or something?

Like I said for printing big you need to go bigger nozzle, but you do loose out on quality.

Thanks. Good idea to try that. Rough quality should be ok for some bits. The fiddle bits are the levels themselves. Some bits like the trim wheel a just big disks of plastic so for prototyping large nozzle, low infill, cheep PLA should be ok.

[David_M]

Thanks for all the replies to my question and the offers of help.

The thing I am thinking of making is about 7cm x 4cm x 15cm - a tray for a Nespresso machine. I have found someone else's modified version here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4075639 but would want to modify this in order to do what I want, either using this as a base or starting from scratch.

Question - on that linked model (correctly) there is about a 5mm step in the base. How do you deal with that - can you offset the printer base or do you need to build in supports to the actual .stl model (and would a third-party printer expect me to do that or would they have a drag-and-drop solution)?

[Merry]

You'd print that with supports, they're generated in the slicer. It's certainly something that's pretty straightforward to print.


I've been thinking of printing the exact same thing for a Aldi coffee maker I've just got too.

[Bullett]

You just build the model the slicer takes care of the supports.

I just dumped that into Cura and it tells me 4.5hrs approx. to print and 38g of material.

[HoHoHo]

Bullett said:

You just build the model the slicer takes care of the supports.

I just dumped that into Cura and it tells me 4.5hrs approx. to print and 38g of material.

Mine suggests 13.9m, 41.47gm and 3 hours 51.

I’ve used 5% infill and no raft.

[Dedshott]

Hey all,

I don't know if anyone has some extraordinary advice to offer - I've got an Ender 3, use Cura as my slicer, and I have printed loads of stuff - using various different PLA's, and for some reason, it just won't print properly. I have levelled the bed a thousand times, and all seems fine - and then it just doesn't stick to the bed any more - after no problems at all. I have changed the bed to a glass one - no diffference. Tried adhesive and hairspray. The filament comes through the extruder, but just piles up on the bed. Anyone got any bright ideas?