3D printing for idiots
 

Is 3D printing mature enough that anyone can get a small printer and start making simple things quickly and easily?

I want to start shooting air cooled 911 engine cases with a special heat transfer, high thermal emissivity Cerakote that draws heat away from the source. Heads too of course.

Plugging all of the small holes is easy but cylinder spigot surfaces and other mating surfaces will need to be quickly and easily masked for a variety of case sizes and thought it should be relatively easy to print one-off masks for these areas.

Yes, assuming you are comfortable with the 3d modeling.

Curious to hear how that cerakote works for you. High emissivity is a double edged sword... it would also allow more heat to be absorbed from the nearby exhaust pipes.

That I am not but I've been wanting to learn for years as I've posted here.

If headers, they would get wrapped. heat exchangers should be OK. Several customers who are shops think I should focus on heads and cylinders though some liked the tidy look for a show car hot rod engine case.

Yup. Buy an Ender 3 V2 amd you will be making great prints in an hour.

You can spend more but you sure don’t need to.

Flat surfaces? How about vinyl cutting custom masks?

I can cut vinyl and plastic print. SmileWavy

There are some great 3D printers that perform well out of the box.

QIDI makes some larger-size printers that perform very well. I have a few friends that have them and they all speak highly of the brand. They cost a little more but seem to be worth it. You can get a printer with multiple heads that will print PLA, TPU, ABS, etc.

In my area some of the libraries have them. Just bring your own material.

Or find someone on Craigslist to do some trial parts for you.

Make sure it works for you before you spend time and money on a machine.

Printing is one thing . . . If you can find the *.stl files you’re in business, however if you want to reproduce a broken visor clip, for example, you may need a scanner.

If a visor clip is broken and can be glued together, you scan it and print a strong replacement. I’ve tried 3D scanning a few things with my iPhone 12 with some success. In a perfect world a dedicated 3D scanner gives the most consistent results.

https://www.thingiverse.com/

When I got my printer, I was up and printing pretty quick. There are many websites out there with *.stl files, Thingverse is one of the better ones.

Yeggi is a search engine for STL files.

I use typically use Onshape (free) to design and make parts.

Thanks for that tip! Didn’t know that. Will give it a whirl.

Apparently you can grab step files from McMaster Carr and convert them to print most items they list.

Hey, thanks, I may take you up on that. Ideally I want something to plug into the case but a simple 2D mask may work. I'm looking at my 2.7 case tomorrow, that will be the test case, errr, case.

I think I saw that recently when shopping for some hardware. Nice feature, I love MCarr.

Just know that whatever you design on their servers is not private, unless you pay them.

No.

Seems that anyone ( a whole lot of them) can't even set up a cheap ink-jet printer.

How about a horizontal fan shroud for the 3.2 Carrera?

What app are you using on an iPhone to create an STL?

I use fusion360 or Solidworks to create my own or for kids toys download off thingiverse. There is a cool fly fishing reel on there you can print. It works great.

I have a Dremel printer at my house that a friend brought over for me to get it up and running since he was having trouble. It was pretty easy to get up and running even though I had no 3D printer experience. I do have Solidworks and Inventer experience and access to which is a bigger issue if you don’t have STL files to print from.

I decided to buy my own printer so I’d have bigger print area, more temperature range and more filament options than the Dremel. I bought a QIDI X-PLUS and so far have been very happy with it although I’ve only printed PLA so far.

I learned on solidworks, but unfortunately no longer qualify for educational version.

Onshape is intuitively similar. Free, but yes, models are out there for other users to see and use.

Not yet hobbyist technology. SmileWavy

You could do a non-functional scale mockup.

When I was mentoring a HS robotics team, parts under compression, like wheel spacers, would hold up well. I also printed drilling guides for them, and mockups of parts that we would later machine.

The Ender3 Pros look like a great deal for the money, and get good reviews.

Pics of a 2.7 case. The oil return tube holes and similar are easy to fill. Ideally, printed plug-in inserts for spigots, case through bolts and head studs and their sealing surfaces would be best. Same with chainbox, oil cooler and for 3.0 and earlier, the sump plate. Even if reusable, and I think one time use is best, being able to print for a variety of cases is the key to making the job both perfect and easy. My sense is I would only do cases with all hardware removed and make some custom connecting bolts on the lathe to join the two sides and shoot as one piece. This makes squirter removal unnecessary but I would still tape them over or make a custom plug.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1610907333.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1610907333.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1610907333.jpg

Qlone.

It’s in the APP store. Fair results. Still playing with it

Does the mask have to take the heat of the oven?

No

You could buy a laser, cut templates out of thin plywood or hardboard. Off the shelf rubber plugs for the round holes.

2d easier to cad.

or an x-carve cnc router. You can try the web based software here for free: https://www.inventables.com/technologies/easel

Have an ender 3, pretty straightforward to use and endless youtubes to help if you get stuck. I have found it very easy to get "good enough" parts but if you are after a few thou precision it can be tough. Plan on a bit of hand fiddling at times.

The 3d modeling part is a bit more tricky but you seem game to learn there.

That right ^there says so much.

There are countless people who want to brag about how easy these printers are for their huge melons to comprehend... and there are a whole lot of people who don't want to talk about their failure to make the machine work.

3d printers are not plug and play for any 'idiot' (OP reference).

OTOH, if you have a good understanding of non-linear thermal response of amorphous materials coupled with use of programing G-code (previous CNC) then sure, 3D printers can be up and running in no time.

My wife uses a Silhouette that is basically a plotter/cutter for paper and vinyl. I had her cut numbers and stripes for my motorcycle and helmet on it. Might work for cutting the masks precisely.

Another vote for an Ender 3. I have 2 of them, one Pro, one original, I honestly don't see a different in performance. Cheap, easy to setup, and if you gets stuck there is a huge user base to help. Probably the most popular entry printer on earth.

If you just need to print simple plugs and covers, use google Sketchup. The freeware version works just fine. Fusion 350 and Tinkercad are also very popular. I use Sketchup.

Lastly, start printing on glass from day one. I know there are people that have success with those flexible build plates. No thanks. Glass is game changer. Prints pop right off when the glass is cold.

I had two engine builders over to the shop today and they would like to see a 3D design that plugs into the cavities. I would still plug and tape up squirters to be extra safe, we all agreed removing and reinstalling them makes the project a little less turnkey. We also talked about positive pressure from inside the case and ways to test the system.

The Prusa MK3 is about 3 times better than the Ender, but it's also 2-3 times the price.
At my office, we have...oh, 50 printers working? something like that. Everything from Enders to $200k SLS printers. The Prusas are our workhouse printers, and what is nice is parts of them are printed, so you can build a small stockpile of spare parts in case of damage.

Bump to this thread on 3D printers.

Anyone have any opinions on the Bamboo Labs units?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Never heard of Bamboo Labs, but my QIDI Technology printer is still running strong. I just changed the print nozzle for the first time after it started having print problems. Took about 5 minutes to change the nozzle and now it's printing like new.

I print mostly with ASA from 3DXTECH

I know I'm coming into this late.

CAD-wise, you might look at Alibre. Their low-cost CAD works well and you get to keep the files (no need to deal with On-Shape and having your files public). Another option is TinkerCAD.

I have friends who make amazing stuff with QIDI and Prusa printers and they work well right out of the box. I have designed several parts that they have printed for me and those parts come out to dimension/tolerance with limited issues in PET-G and ABS.

Shaun - Another thought on plugs is to submit a design to Cap-Plugs and have them quote. You may be surprised on who inexpensively they will make some stuff. You could also run designs to Xometry and see what they're low-volume run quote looks like.

Coworker has a Bambu and likes it a lot. He has only had it about 6 months though.

I have a Creality K1MAX that I've had for less than a month. It is direct competition to the Bamboo. I love it, it is sooo fast compared to my other printer. It paid for itself the first week I had it.

Buy one and enjoy 3D printing bliss...

Prumably, if you're printing plugs, you can print a handle into them, and you could drill a hole in one of the plugs to install a schrader valve in if you want to apply positive pressure.

Different but related - do you know about roboforming?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXu8Ju_fdY

Looks like I have a lot to catch up on on this thread. One of engine building customers actually cut everything round on a lathe. I'm not sure what he did for the chain boxes but a plate there would probably work. His wife passed away and that of course took a heavy toll and we haven't revisited the system but it is supposed to be done. I have a 2.7 case that I'm building an RS motor on and it would be a good test, umm, case, as I have at least one customer who might want this done... getting 3/4 of the entire car in just after Thanksgiving and will be tumbling the Mg transmission case and clearing that with Cerakote.

I just waded into this pool, after watching my son print a dohicky for his truck. He is an engineer and teaches intro engineering and robotics. He whipped out a small bracket, design took about 3 minutes and 3D print took about 40 minutes. I was impressed. So much so the I decided I had to take the plunge. I duplicated what he uses- Bambu labs Carbon X1 3D printer with automatic spools and subscribed to Fusion 360. This machine can print right out of the box, took about 20 minutes to unpack and start using. Fusion 360 takes some learning but there is a least one excellent course on youtube- "Learn Fusion 360 in 30 days."

I highly recommend, this is really cool technology.

Charles

I use it everyday in laboratory settings. Always a piece of equipment that I need to modify to get a good scan on...

I only use PLA. Anyone use ABS/resin filament? Worth the switch?