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[3D Printers] - Now with Auto-Calibration!

245

Posts

  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    MrDelish wrote: »
    So what this can do is pretty damn incredible: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer

    Although the build area doesn't look very large.

    Is anyone here planning on buying one of these? I have ideas for things I'd like printed and would certainly pay for them but I don't have the money for an actual printer yet.

    Looks like there initial run is pretty sold out. Whether it's viable I suspect will depend how much the consumables cost.

  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    I would bet a June/July roll-out of non-Kickstarter sales for the FORM1. They probably won't have any serious delays (pretty sure they're not doing 100% of the manufacturing in-house, unlike many of the reprap sales), so that's a plus.

  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Emissary42 wrote: »
    I would bet a June/July roll-out of non-Kickstarter sales for the FORM1. They probably won't have any serious delays (pretty sure they're not doing 100% of the manufacturing in-house, unlike many of the reprap sales), so that's a plus.

    I'd really like a few hundred dollars to come off that international shipping price for it.

  • CmdPromptCmdPrompt Registered User regular
    MrDelish wrote: »
    So what this can do is pretty damn incredible: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer

    Although the build area doesn't look very large.

    Is anyone here planning on buying one of these? I have ideas for things I'd like printed and would certainly pay for them but I don't have the money for an actual printer yet.
    I got one of the first 25, so feel free to hit me up around February.

    I am tempted to just put the thing up on eBay and see what I get for it though.

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  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    I see the Formlabs printer being useful mainly for artists and architects. I say this because it seems to have a pretty small build envelope but REALLY good resolution. What I'm really curious about is the strength of the cured resin. ABS and PLA are both pretty strong and can be used in the real world right away. Most SLA prints I've seen tend to be pretty soft or brittle, but you can always make a mold from them and then cast strong parts.

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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    I wouldn't be shocked if the parts out of a FORM1 are fairly brittle, but since all it can make is fairly small/light parts I suspect it won't end up being a serious issue. Can't wait to see what kinds of models someone can cook up tabletop RPG-wise with one at their disposal.

  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    All my Thingomatic can make is small parts but that has nothing to do with how strong they are. My 3d printed bottle opener shows no sign of failing, for instance. That's why I say that the formlabs will be useful for artists, because it will be useless for printing finished, usable parts that have to take any sort of load.

    Think of it this way: you can fill the entire build area with solid plastic. A 120mm cube of solid ABS plastic weighs about 4 pounds (at a cost of about 45 dollars)! For comparison's sake a major league baseball weighs about a third of a pound.

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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Emissary42 wrote: »
    I wouldn't be shocked if the parts out of a FORM1 are fairly brittle, but since all it can make is fairly small/light parts I suspect it won't end up being a serious issue. Can't wait to see what kinds of models someone can cook up tabletop RPG-wise with one at their disposal.

    Burn out casting from the FORM1 will be fairly interesting to see the results from.

  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    So the campus fab lab/hackerspace I work at just acquired a few AO-101 printers - essentially streamlined and refined MendelMax units - and I thought it would be worth posting a brief overview of the machines. For one, they definitely work right out of the box with only the slightest bit of mechanical calibration required. Our first print was of the Stanford Bunny, which printed with minimal errors or weirdness. All in all they seem like they'll make very good workhorse machines for the student projects that pass through our space. Spoilered for HUGE.
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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    So here's a random thought: how tricky would it be to print chocolate?

  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    So here's a random thought: how tricky would it be to print chocolate?

    This hard.

    It's perfectly doable, but it requires some upgrades and add-on equipment. In fact, it's almost easier to make molds or mold positives with a printer than to directly print chocolate, which is what I and many others prefer to do.

  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    My new beast. The Aluminatus by Trinity Labs. Seen here with custom laser engraving :)

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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Sweet. Mine should be shipping soon. First thing I've got lined up for it to build is some replacement mounts for mini-CNC spindle.

  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    Can one of these 3-D printers make like replacement pipes or fabricate simple things like gears or whatever?

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  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited February 2013
    Malkor wrote: »
    Can one of these 3-D printers make like replacement pipes or fabricate simple things like gears or whatever?

    Yes. The real question is the physical properties because these all will have a grain the the material dispensed and this alters the properties.

    I can't find a definition of what material they use but the other materials I have used on similar systems held up to light mechanical stress. Routine handling won't damage anything but very fine features.

    I have actually used a 3D printer to make Technic compatible gears for prototyping and they took reasonable loads fine. They were (intentionally) way more blocky than the molded ones shown in that link.

    That Form 1 stuff is beautiful. Kinda wish they showed some fresh from the platen parts but they still look nice. Too damn small though.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    The two most common materials at the moment are ABS plastic (LEGO brick material) and PLA plastic (biodegradable corn plastic). ABS is a very nice material for things that tend to need a good bit of structural strength and durability, but it's tricky to print due to thermal expansion and contraction during printing. The larger the ABS part, the more likely it will warp as it is made. PLA plastic isn't nearly as durable, but it doesn't have the same thermal expansion/contraction problem as ABS so it can be used to make very nice looking prints/prints with finer detail and tolerance requirements.

  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    The Form 1 isn't an FDM machine, it uses a laser to harden photo-sensitive material. They are typically not the ABS/PLA that the extrusion based 3D printers use.

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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    The Form 1 isn't an FDM machine, it uses a laser to harden photo-sensitive material. They are typically not the ABS/PLA that the extrusion based 3D printers use.

    Right, the UV cured resins the Form 1 and other SLA printers use are very hard, but also very brittle.

  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    Malkor wrote: »
    Can one of these 3-D printers make like replacement pipes or fabricate simple things like gears or whatever?

    Absolutely. In fact many of the 3d printers use 3d printed gears for their extruders.

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  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    edited February 2013
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/56244/twisted shotglass.jpg Here's a print I just made on my aluminatus. Printed at .15mm layer height. It is a copy of http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36103

    Gihgehls on
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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Gihgehls wrote: »
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/56244/twisted shotglass.jpg Here's a print I just made on my aluminatus. Printed at .15mm layer height. It is a copy of http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36103

    Oh very nice. I haven't unpacked mine yet (I'm supposed to be writing my master's thesis at the moment). That looks sweet though.

  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    edited March 2013
    Going to try this as soon as I have enough free time: Vapor Polishing ABS parts. It's been in use for some time with non-printed parts, but it's only just recently catching on in the 3D printing community.

    Some pictures of before/after:

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    Emissary42 on
  • Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    So… 30nm resolution anyone?
    http://youtu.be/wThtfAtB5U8

    German company Nanoscribe GmbH has just released a commercial device capable of building parts in 3D with a max resolution of 30nm. Press release here.

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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    So… 30nm resolution anyone?
    http://youtu.be/wThtfAtB5U8

    German company Nanoscribe GmbH has just released a commercial device capable of building parts in 3D with a max resolution of 30nm. Press release here.

    True fact: this company has managed to utterly defeat the point of what I was doing my PhD on. Although I knew that project wouldn't work out like, 3 years ago so more power to them.

  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    So… 30nm resolution anyone?
    http://youtu.be/wThtfAtB5U8

    German company Nanoscribe GmbH has just released a commercial device capable of building parts in 3D with a max resolution of 30nm. Press release here.

    I had seen this over the weekend, here's another really good set of images of different objects they've printed. I especially like the microscopic microscope.

    In other news, the studio I work at just got the shipment of three Replicator 2's I requisitioned (the matching set of Replicator 2X's will have to wait a little longer I'm afraid). Should have a very interesting thing to show off next week or so with those and the Lulzbots given a bit more work.

    Unfortunately I don't have any photos on this computer, but we've tried our hand at vapor polishing and OH MY GOD THESE PARTS ARE SO SMOOTH. Seriously, it's incredible. I've been looking for a supplier of THF (and appropriate breathing apparatus) so we can try the same with PLA.

  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    I'm curious why you got Replicator2's instead of more lulzbots or something else more reliable.

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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    Gihgehls wrote: »
    I'm curious why you got Replicator2's instead of more lulzbots or something else more reliable.

    Good question. First off, we knew we wanted at least two types of printers to start with in case we somehow screwed up when we selected them. How we decided which printers to buy was by going through a huge number of reviews and looking for the machines that were easy to use, reliable, simple to set up and maintain, and passed some threshold of average print quality.

    At the time we were picking these out, the Replicator 2 had just been released and we didn't have too much to go by other than our experience with our Thing-O-Matic (an aging and weirdly designed, yet solid little machine). From the early reviews we saw, it was effectively a bigger, non-wooden version of the Replicator 1 that shared a lot of features with one of our other favorite machines: the Ultimaker. At the same time, it lacked many of the Ultimaker's faults, like the printing surface's leveling and attachment method; the way the printing surface on Ultimakers is attached is HORRIBLE, you have to adjust it every single time you print. So we decided to definitely get some Replicator 2's. We went for the Lulzbots because of similarly excellent reviews we had seen online - which make sense considering the entire company lives or dies based on printing more Lulzbots with Lulzbots - and the ease of adapting it as time went on to suit our needs. A few months later when we were actually doing the orders, the Replicator 2X came out and we just substituted half of the Replicator 2's for some of those.

    Since then, we've seen the problems people have been having with Replicator 2's which indicate they're far from a plug and play machine. While that's a little disappointing, it's not a big problem for us since we have a fully-equipped machine shop to modify them so they are as reliable as we need them to be. The steps we're taking are: swapping out the filament pressure system for a milled or resin-cast spring loaded version, replacing any warped beds with waterjet-cut polycarbonate (no warping), and re-wiring any critical points on the moving axes that will take a lot of fatigue during normal operation. Still, with what I'm hearing about the internal situation at MakerBot we're not likely to make another big purchase from them until things settle down.

  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    edited March 2013
    I think you nailed the problem with Makerbot Industries. Their printers are billed as easy to use and maintain, but in reality they are just another desktop printer, although in a nice sturdy case. The big problem is that they charge a lot of money for their printers, comparatively. I love my little Thing-o-Matic. I've modded it with linear bearings, a pinch-wheel extruder, Sailfish firmware with BlinkM support for Gcode-driven color changing lights, as well as fixing lots of the problems in the design. Using my TOM and living in Makerbot-land kept me from really investigating the RepRap community. I recently got a giant awesome printer that is essentially a RepRap, and I'm finding the community is awesome. I had to quit following the Makerbot Google groups because it became a giant support group for the huge overflow of people who needed help but couldn't get it from MBI's support.

    I have some beef with MBI, because the glaring faults in their old wooden kit printers still made it into their expensive, "easy to operate" Replicator and Replicator2. Things like using an underrated connector for the heated bed (resulting in the melting of the connector and the eventual failure of the heater,) or using a fixed derlin plunger to keep tension on the filament drive wheel instead of a pinch wheel (with the former, variations in the diameter of the filament would cause the extruder to either jam or underfeed filament. With the latter, a spinning bearing clamps down on the filament with a spring, so there is far less friction and the spring compensates for variations in the filament.) MBI recently came out with an "upgraded extruder" based on the work of the community. If the community didn't raise such a stink about it, I'm pretty confident these problems would have gone right into the Rep2x, but we will never know.

    I know that was a lot of bitching, but I wanted to get it out there. I think it's a good thing that you guys are capable of identifying and working around the little issues that will come up with ANY hobbyist-level printer. It just bums me out that you had to pay so much for them :( I'm really curious about those lulzbots. For a while I was on the list to get a MendelMax, but that turned into an order for an Aluminatus. People ask me all the time about what they would recommend for a printer, and I don't feel good about recommending MBI anymore. Everybody wants something easy to use, and one place MBI excels is in their documentation. They make the first steps of working a printer very easy for beginners.

    Gihgehls on
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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    Just read about an interesting new application of 3D Printing for tabletop gaming: Make's article on Sandboxr. Very cool stuff, and I'd hope similar sorts of options become available from other miniature-making companies in the future.

    As a side note, we've made some changes and decided to forgo the Replicator 2X units. There's just not enough added benefit at the current time over having the three Replicator 2's - really it would boil down to Replicators that could do ABS or PLA prints with two colors - and it would reduce our momentum with regards to the primary project with 3D Printing we've been aiming for the last few months. Still, the Replicator 2's are great little machines for someone who is familiar with 3D Printing who wants a single printer that's relatively low-maintenance. They're going to end up attached to a few CAD workstations as walk-up units that require no instruction to use because of the sheer simplicity of the MakerWare software and the Replicator's interface. We'll be using entirely Lulzbot units for our major thrust due to their overall uniformity, flexibility, and robustness. More to come soon on their macro purpose.

  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Gihgehls wrote: »

    Gigehls how hard was putting your aluminatus together / getting it tweaked? Mines still in the box since I'm not sure how long an effort I'd be committing to in the initial setup.

  • DiannaoChongDiannaoChong Registered User regular
    I wish people would start putting things for scale next to the objects they print. It's impossible to tell in images from 3d printer makers if the resolution will be enough for what I want. "yes that looks amazing, but if its 5 feet tall, someone could make that out of cardboard and noone would know the difference"

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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    edited April 2013
    Reasonable enough; my personal estimate is that toad is about the size of a compact laptop mouse. By that I mean the small wireless ones like Microsoft sells, not the ridiculous tiny ones you can find sometimes that seem more novelty than device.

    For anyone doing some first time setup work, there's some good tips in the first issue of RepRap magazine concerning z-axis artifacts like periodic bulges or distortions as your model progresses in height. Those tips seem to be fairly good in practice - I haven't had the time to try them yet, the only downside of being near the end of my degree - and are certainly worth looking into.

    EDIT - speaking of which, what were your settings on that print @Gihgehls? To me it looks like anywhere between 0.1mm to 0.2mm layers, but I've never seen that particular color before.

    Emissary42 on
  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Gihgels' frog looks about the two inch mark top to bottom. And the imgur page his link leads to says 0.15 mm layers.

  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    Gihgels' frog looks about the two inch mark top to bottom. And the imgur page his link leads to says 0.15 mm layers.

    Derp, didn't read the side tab. And I'm guessing the slightly green tint is mostly some exposure weirdness.

  • DiannaoChongDiannaoChong Registered User regular
    edited April 2013
    I wasn't trying to jump on gihgel, sorry man. It just set off my pet peeve that I continuously have when I go looking into 3d printers(from the manufacturer, not users). The frog is definitely impressive!

    DiannaoChong on
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  • GihgehlsGihgehls Registered User regular
    I wasn't trying to jump on gihgel, sorry man. It just set off my pet peeve that I continuously have when I go looking into 3d printers(from the manufacturer, not users). The frog is definitely impressive!

    Because I love my PA forumers. http://i.imgur.com/jxI4hMm.jpg (linked for huge)
    Gihgehls wrote: »

    Gigehls how hard was putting your aluminatus together / getting it tweaked? Mines still in the box since I'm not sure how long an effort I'd be committing to in the initial setup.

    Have you been reading the Trinity Labs Google group? How long it takes you will totally depend on your level of experience with RepRaps and, unfortunately, how many pieces your kit is missing. The first batch of A1's had all sorts of missing things. If your kit is complete and you are comfortable with homebrew documentation, it might take you 2-4 hours. Actually the documentation is supposedly pretty good right now. When I put mine together all I had was the google sketchup file as reference.

    @emissary42, I think the base color is a sort of greenish brown, but it has little gold reflective flecks in it. In normal light, the flecks are lit from all directions so it looks pretty even, but under a flash the reflection gets more directional, as well as the camera adjusting the exposure resulting in more contrast.

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  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    edited April 2013
    Cool, I've seen a lot of variance in PLA colors depending on the supplier/formulation. For example, the 'gold' filament running through a Replicator 2 that we have right now from ProtoParadigm is almost a dull bronze, where a set we got from MatterHackers was more of a metallic goldenrod. On that topic, I've actually been looking into RIT dye to produce more standardized filament colors, since they already have a fairly comprehensive set of instructions on how to produce a wide array by combining various quantities of each color they offer.

    edited for some accidental supplier name switching

    Emissary42 on
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Gihgehls wrote: »
    I wasn't trying to jump on gihgel, sorry man. It just set off my pet peeve that I continuously have when I go looking into 3d printers(from the manufacturer, not users). The frog is definitely impressive!

    Because I love my PA forumers. http://i.imgur.com/jxI4hMm.jpg (linked for huge)
    Gihgehls wrote: »

    Gigehls how hard was putting your aluminatus together / getting it tweaked? Mines still in the box since I'm not sure how long an effort I'd be committing to in the initial setup.

    Have you been reading the Trinity Labs Google group? How long it takes you will totally depend on your level of experience with RepRaps and, unfortunately, how many pieces your kit is missing. The first batch of A1's had all sorts of missing things. If your kit is complete and you are comfortable with homebrew documentation, it might take you 2-4 hours. Actually the documentation is supposedly pretty good right now. When I put mine together all I had was the google sketchup file as reference.

    @emissary42, I think the base color is a sort of greenish brown, but it has little gold reflective flecks in it. In normal light, the flecks are lit from all directions so it looks pretty even, but under a flash the reflection gets more directional, as well as the camera adjusting the exposure resulting in more contrast.

    Well that does explain the surprise extra package I got sent by them, but doesn't sound too bad.

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