Some of the material embedded in the plastics (other fillers to make things like ceramic, metal or wood properties, but also just color) can remain in the nozzle, and that periodically needs cleaned out. Even if you always use the exact same filament, this build-up occurs.
Swapping extruders is trivial, as long as each one uses the same thermistor.
@Cecilia, by the way, though you might find this video that was on the adafruit blog today regarding making soap molds (of the deathstar) via 3D printing by RichRap useful as a primer on what you want to do.
If you donât mind a little cosmetic damage, it looks like Printrbot is offering refurbished Simple units for the cost of a new Play, or refurbished Play units even cheaper.
Niiiiice!
Then again it says that they have no warranty⌠which is a little odd. If you are doing refurb shouldnt there be a limited warranty?
I was concerned when I saw the mold that it would be hard and youâd need to use a release already first but he uses a flexible material. I was planning to say make the deathstar ball and then make the mold in sulicome. Silicone gives fantastic detail but as you use it many times the seam line becomes noticeable more and more. I have two molds that i have to sculpt a bit after release bc the seam is very noticeable now. This is awesome. But I wonder if it would be good for details like feet. I mean the part that ends up being the bottom but starts as the top where you pour. In this picture you can see the bears feet, one is separate from the others and some other difficult details. I dunno if this is flexible enough for this but it would definitely work for the second photo. I guess Iâd just have to use both methods.
Finally got around to really looking at Adafruit. This video is awesome. So great for abusiness. You can just input your business card info or make it launch your website etc so when ppl contact to look at your market table or store it can do really link them to you. I can think of so many fun applications for something like this with 3d printing. You could print a gift and embed one esp for someone like me living fat from family, then when you send the gift have them nfc it. Yeah you could email but this is so much cooler. Like a surprise in the gift. No usb or anything. Great for wedding invites etc. Ilove gadget things too much. Need to actually learn about them
The standard printrbot warrantyâs 60 days, so itâs not like youâre missing out on too much.
Good point. And that sucks. I guess tho you can just replace parts of you know what went wrong
I have another question. Two actually. With the glowforge it seems fairly straightforward to build things that are larger than the built platform, what with things interlocking with joints or other tricks. Is it possible to do the same with 3d printed things? I guess you could make an interlocking item but that seems difficult. What about something similar with soldering/welding pieces together? Would you need one of those pens for that? Or just design in blips that could be heated to melt together?
Also Iâve seen that there are tutorials about using multiple colours of filament. I was just planning to paint. But with the PLA be like cheap particular that doesnât take paint well except maybe model paint? Does anyone know anything about painting of the filled filament?
I started watching videos about designing in 3d. Watching autodesk videos bc a project I like was done with it. I think I can figure it out. At least for basic symetrical shapes. That doesnât seem so hard. They also used meshmixer which seemed a bit more difficult. Iâll look at rhino and blender vids tmrw.
@Cecilia if you watch this tutorial on their making the Halo Energy sword, no consumer grade 3D printer could print this (being that it is almost 1m in size), so they made it in pieces (actually on multiple different 3D printers at the same time to meet their deadline). Just like the GF, 3D printed assemblies can also be combined with either tabs or fasteners. In fact my 3D printer, has mostly 3D printed parts and laser-cut parts, and they go together with each other (all of 3D-3D, 3D-Acrylic and Acrylic-Acrylic) with various combinations of friction fit, tabs/slots, fasteners of various varieties, etc.
There are many, many ways to finish PLA 3D printed parts. Many people start with one of the epoxy resins to fill in the layers, then sand, then paint either with Krylov plastic paint, or many other techniques. There are many, many, many videos on youtube of finishing PLA (the cosplay ones have some amazing techniques). Also if you use a filled PLA (bamboo, wood, bronze, etc) you can also cheat somewhat on using the fill, for instance the bronze can be corroded to produce an ancient bronze look (itâs real bronze, so some lemon juice +/- salt) for instance.
Yeah Ive seen a bunch of methods just wondering if theres a best way. Also saw using polyurethane to make objects food sasae and fda approved filaments (Ill make cookie cutters since ppl hete always complain about not finding cookie cutters in cool shapes).
Based on that video and the written tutorial,I have a lot of jargon to learn. Lol. Also, then I could, in a similar fashion, search online for a vader sabre, or at least certain parts and design others (tho Im guessing someones built one like this already). I wonder how well you see the connections when its on or off.
Thanks for all of the links!
So now Im off to search more videos of how to 3d model/design in different programs. And find a vader thing. And find out how to estimate amounts of filament needed.
If you want to give CAD modeling (as in mechanical sort of parts) a try, check out OnShape. It does not cost anything to use, itâs web browser based and runs in the cloud so you do not need the computing power required with local software installations. OnShape also has mobile apps so you can access your designs from anywhere. OnShape operates very similarly to parametric CAD programs like AutoDesk Inventor, Pro/Engineer, Solidworks and Geomagic Design. Note: Iâm a 25 year veteran with AutoCAD, 5 years with Inventor, 2 years with Geomagic Design which is what I use at home since investing in a Pegasus Touch SLA printer. Iâve only had a 5-day training course with Pro/E LOL but that knowledge has 100% transfer to Inventor and Geomagic, its all the same process (and also transfers directly to OnShape)
Also 2 years ago I invested in Z-Brush because I wanted to get more into organic shapes which CAD packages can not do (at least not without extreme frustration). I simply have not spent the seat time to get really strong with it. What I have learned, has actually come pretty easily once you learn the nuances of the exhaustingly flexible tools it offers. I do enjoy using it when I get the opportunity.
Food safe plastic is nice. But you have to finish a 3D print properly to make the PRINT be food safe.
3D printing naturally places lots of small ridges, which are FANTASTIC places for bacterial growth.
So, unless properly smoothed, it doesnât matter what plastic you used⌠that is not food safe.
Sure, you can eat off it once and you are good to go. But it is simply impossible to wash and use again. Ever. Well⌠âsafelyâ at least.
Hence why I said about finishing with polyurethane. My searches show this as the best option. Iâve used polyurethane many times. Never crossed my mind that it would be safe to eat from. Iâll search some more to see if thatâs the best method.
Ah, gotcha. I had read that as two different options, not a combination of finishing and base material.
Ah. No no. I meant to use the FDA filament plus finish with polyurethane. Not planning to make dishes or anything like that. Just cookie cutter etc. Maybe tea cups later
Does anyone have a link for making plastic crystals? I want to make the splendor game with âactualâ crystals. See-through-ish. Different crystal cuts. I think Iâve seen the see through filaments in different colours. But everything Iâm finding is for making solid colours (so maybe the inside structure wouldnât work) or like a cage design of a diamond. Then Iâll laser the cards when the glowforge comes. Thanks!
Do you mean you want to have two colors of semi-opaque filament, and make a design with one color embedded inside the other color?
Something like that would need dual extrusion. Preferably with a Chimera extruder, or the Mosaic Palette.
I think that they mean is they are looking for a filament that after melting is translucent-as translucent as neon acrylic.
