@MikeH Not quite. It’s a 2x8.5x8.5 object that is mostly 2mm thick, and a lot of right angles. I have 48 unique versions of this platelike object i need to produce, the one good thing is that amongst all these, it’s really just a lot of square angles.
Ive checked out protolabs, and they want about 1500$ per object.
Theres not a lot of FDM printers out there with a bed size that big. And because this object is hollow, and has lots of wide flat spaces, I assumed it would just warp. Plus, when running equations on mm/per sec linear max speed compared to cubic mm volume, it would take toughly 18 hours average per plate. I reckon I’d burn through nozzles pretty quick at that rate.
I had been on the phone this morning getting some quotes on acrylic sheet, a company about an hour away can get me several sheets of quarter inch thick acrylic at about 100$ each. I could GF cut some 9x9s and assemble them stacked, use it as a mold i think to make the object. Or i might be able to build a frame to connect pieces of acrylic with a solvent, and hope that it can withstand enough pressure through the mold making.
The same company can get me about 60 blocks of 2x9x9 of clear acrylic for about 1600$. It’ll be a bit more round about, but as a gamer, ive learned to problem solve. I’ll try to get a sketch up here. I wonder if @dan is interested yet on this topic. Surely, one way or another Im going to make these and turn tabletop gaming on its head. The GF is my first step in my evil plan to save the world. BWAHAHA HAHA A cough.
Yes, that is a little bit too much footprint for most FDM printers, mine included. You are also right that 3D printing can take quite a while for large prints. I’ve had many that take over 24 hours to print, but tend to work on mechanical objects, rather than the artistic type and usually want a fairly fine resolution for vertical detail. The project does seem like a nice fit for the GF, and would probably be cheaper than routing or CNC milling it. I’d like to see a sketch should you be inclined to upload one somewhere.
Good luck on your plan for world game play domination!
That would fit quite nicely in my Bigbox3D (12" cube approximately) FDM printer (which of note can print up to 400C as well) but yes, that will take a long time (until the carbon3d style printers ship…)
The more i mull it over, the more sure I am that I wouldn’t need an xcarve at this time. Thinking a little more 3 dimensionally, I can get more out of the Glowforge, and I am reminded of something someone said some time ago “If Glowforge can’t make the thing, then it probably can make the things that make the thing.”
The X-Carve would mill that quite well as it seems without overhangs and actually with a 2 pass milling would be actually quite quick (use a big bit to hack out the gaps with low precision and then go back with a small precise bit to make it “nice”. The advantage of milling instead of laser is that all sorts of things you don’t normally want to cut with a laser due to toxicity are of course quite cutable with an end-mill. I am assuming that this is solid. If not you’d need to do both sides by flipping and milling out the inside, which again is quite doable.
Yeah, i do need to have sharp corners, and there are some other intricate details like teeth on the lower perimeter, and it is hollow.
I expect that i will try the framing and solventing each flat piece together method first. Then try laminating stack method next, for sake that the materials are cheaper on this route. If all else fails I’ll cnc it, but have to rework some things to accomidate the rounded inside corners. Thanks all for being a sounding board!
Your drawing looks like a complex box made of right angles (plus the teeth.) It also looks like my freehand drawing ability on a really, really good day. I’m unclear exactly what your first method will be, but presumably it will be a basic set of interlocking panels as in:
@henryhbk@fan-of-glowforge I have been attempting to address some of those same issues in the space I have which is also shared by a 3d printer that I did not want to get dusty. Sorry for the poor quality photo. I just grabbed this with my iphone a few minutes ago showing the middle of construction of a simple box/table I’m working on to contain and vacuum the dust.
2 sides of the table are enclosed with wood, but I am attempting to frame some windows that will rest in a tray on the edge of the table (shown at bottom) and then latch snug against the padded frame. Hoping I can address any static that comes up. I have this crazy notion that I would use a few pairs of my daughters old stretchy pants as arm holes.
I know this is not a cnc. I was looking at cnc machines while reading some of these forums but some of those 4 or 5 axis machines are crazy expensive and I wanted to be able to mill on all sides. This particular carving duplicator can handle up to 12" diameter so I was thinking I would 3d print items up to the 12"x20"x1.5" build volume of the laser, copy them on wood, then laser.
I also was hesitant to learning additional software, running wires, having a computer decide when to change a router bits etc… seems like fun but maybe when I have more money and patience to learn the set up and use of these machines.
