Author Topic: 3d printers in the shop  (Read 4875 times)

Offline Tin Falcon

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3d printers in the shop
« on: March 17, 2017, 12:04:07 AM »
I guess it is official that machining and three d printing do go together . Travers tools is now showing the flash forge in there catalog.

Offline Steamer5

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2017, 12:47:28 AM »
Hi Tin,
 Yep they are here! Just found out about a guy not to far from me ( well ok 4 hours drive) doing 3D wax printing of patterns then having them cast. The loco cylinder he has just had done is a work of art! All cavitys included. The casting he quotes that all dimension are with 0.1mm of the cad drawing, pretty good in cast iron I think. The foundry didn't think they could do it, but the guy what'd it done to see how it compared to the silicon bronze one. Sounds like it went very well! He has also had item cast in 4130 that look good as well.

Cheers Kerrin
Get excited and make something!

Offline Tin Falcon

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2017, 03:13:28 PM »
I purchased a roll of print2cast wax. About a month ago. Did one test print to try it . the test went well. lost a bit of the fine detail but on engine parts should not be a problem.

The Oscars this year were done with 3d tech. a 1928 oscar and a 2015 oscar were both scanned  the designs were  somehow combined and then the 2016  oscar was 3d printed in wax.This years oscar al also bach to the traditional bronze and then gold plated. The used britannia metal for years.
I expect a master was cast  rubber mold made and used to cast the wax for the 60 real oscars but still cool technology. 3d printing is great but a bit slow.


 Todd at little locos is using 3d graphics and a 3d printer for pattern development.

Offline Tin Falcon

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2018, 01:49:22 AM »
Noticed the other day Mcmaster carr appears to be selling maker bots.

https://www.mcmaster.com/3d-printers

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2018, 01:18:22 AM »
Looking HARD at the Qidi X Pro for the shop....   Looks good!   Friend has one and likes it a lot.   Would like to print wax patterns with it if possible

Any thoughts?


Dave
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Damned ijjit!

Online ddmckee54

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2018, 07:49:29 PM »
If I was looking at the right printer, its' only got a 140mm x 140mm x 140mm build area.  If you get that one, before very long you will be wishing you had something bigger.  My printer's build area is 200mm x 200mm x 180mm.  While I rarely print anything that's even close to 180mm's tall, there have been many times that I wished I could print something with a larger foot print.

Don

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2018, 12:40:38 AM »
If I was looking at the right printer, its' only got a 140mm x 140mm x 140mm build area.  If you get that one, before very long you will be wishing you had something bigger.  My printer's build area is 200mm x 200mm x 180mm.  While I rarely print anything that's even close to 180mm's tall, there have been many times that I wished I could print something with a larger foot print.

Don

It's actually 230 x 150 x 150 mm, so not too bad a size at all!    It's running now in the shop....nice resolution!

Dave
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Damned ijjit!

Offline Tin Falcon

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2018, 04:16:56 AM »
Quote
Looking HARD at the Qidi X Pro for the shop....   Looks good!   Friend has one and likes it a lot.   Would like to print wax patterns with it if possible

Any thoughts?

IMHO it will be difficult at best to print wax on that machine. The reason is you need to lower the safety limit on the extruder. I do not think the firmware on that machine is open source therefore mot likely possible to mod it. I did  check there web page they do have a link to a firmware page but it seems like a dead end link . IIRC the machine uses replicator g so you may be able to load sailfish. The machine apears to be based on an open source machine but with some updates.
the prusa that would be easy as it is on any true OS machine.
I Apologize i did not see this earlier . but I have been a bit distracted with life. 

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #8 on: December 26, 2018, 08:48:03 AM »
Well   I guess we will find out.

Dave
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Damned ijjit!

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2018, 02:10:59 PM »
Quote
Looking HARD at the Qidi X Pro for the shop....   Looks good!   Friend has one and likes it a lot.   Would like to print wax patterns with it if possible

Any thoughts?

IMHO it will be difficult at best to print wax on that machine. The reason is you need to lower the safety limit on the extruder. I do not think the firmware on that machine is open source therefore mot likely possible to mod it. I did  check there web page they do have a link to a firmware page but it seems like a dead end link . IIRC the machine uses replicator g so you may be able to load sailfish. The machine apears to be based on an open source machine but with some updates.
the prusa that would be easy as it is on any true OS machine.
I Apologize i did not see this earlier . but I have been a bit distracted with life.

There does appear to be a section where you can write you're own G code, plus a very extensive part programming/post processing interface.   

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

Offline AOG

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #10 on: December 26, 2018, 03:10:49 PM »
Be aware that there are some significant differences between G code for 3D printing and CNC. The biggest is in the z axis. To grossly oversimplify, 3D printers build up and CNC machines cut down. The Gcode is adapted to those differences.

Tony

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2018, 03:41:37 PM »
Thanks Tony

I'm messing with at file I have....Wallaby conrod.    Just to walk through the cad file to printed part, and I cranked the resolution up on the printer....it's a small part

I don't have a separate support material in the machine at the moment, so it's using PLA for a support material...but  it should be interesting

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #12 on: December 26, 2018, 03:58:48 PM »
And an overview of the X Pro

http://www.qd3dprinter.com/products/x-pro/

Dave
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Damned ijjit!

Offline AOG

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #13 on: December 26, 2018, 08:35:17 PM »
That machine is basically an improved version of my flashforge creator pro. If it’s anything like mine, it will answer the mail for you. Here are some things I learned from putting mine into service. The machine is pretty fast so I tend to have better luck with temps at the higher end of the range for the material I’m printing with. The next thing to watch is bed leveling. I found properly leveling a three knob bed harder then one that had knobs at all four corners. Now for the big one. Before you use the second extruder get your self a leveling jig. My two nozzles were not at the same height which caused me big problems. My secondary nozzle was about .2 mm higher then the primary nozzle. I couldn’t get material extruded from that nozzle to stick for love nor money until I figured out what was going on. Now I use a four inch 1/4 inch wide parallel to adjust the height. I put the parallel on the bed and move the carriage down until the lowest nozzle touches the parallel. Then I adjust the higher one down until it touches. It’s also a fast way to check it prior to a dual extruder print.

Tony

Offline steamer

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Re: 3d printers in the shop
« Reply #14 on: December 26, 2018, 10:10:38 PM »
That machine is basically an improved version of my flashforge creator pro. If it’s anything like mine, it will answer the mail for you. Here are some things I learned from putting mine into service. The machine is pretty fast so I tend to have better luck with temps at the higher end of the range for the material I’m printing with. The next thing to watch is bed leveling. I found properly leveling a three knob bed harder then one that had knobs at all four corners. Now for the big one. Before you use the second extruder get your self a leveling jig. My two nozzles were not at the same height which caused me big problems. My secondary nozzle was about .2 mm higher then the primary nozzle. I couldn’t get material extruded from that nozzle to stick for love nor money until I figured out what was going on. Now I use a four inch 1/4 inch wide parallel to adjust the height. I put the parallel on the bed and move the carriage down until the lowest nozzle touches the parallel. Then I adjust the higher one down until it touches. It’s also a fast way to check it prior to a dual extruder print.

Tony

Thanks Tony!   Will do!

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

 

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