3D printers are just way too cool

DrBoost & FlightService you are correct.

It was like 1am and past my best time.

What Im trying to say is, It is not like printing on paper. But don't let that stop you. It is all worth it.

I pulled the trigger on the Anet A8!

Assembled and printing! 1st and 2nd parts while watching Le Mans. So much to learn.

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Sweet!!!

I ended up with a prusa i3 mk2, and i gotta say it's pretty awesome. This 3D printing thing is REALLY addicting. It turns out PLA hooks and stuff for peg boards can hold quite a bit of weight... Now i just have to learn fusion 360 and start making stuff.

I brought home an orphaned MakerBot Cupcake last week. I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet.

If it weren't made out of wood I'd consider turning it into a metal 3D printer with a MIG welder...

Got a Lulzbot Taz 6. It's more about what can I print today, than what do I need to print. I LOVE this thing.

I regret not getting the dual extruding head. that will be happening soon.

that's awesome! the detail on the fingers is great.

Just got in a Prusa i3 MK2S kit late Friday afternoon and, taking my time with dad and brother who were over, had it functional and calibrated by 7am Saturday... took me back to RC kit building days, was quite enjoyable! Now I need to learn how to use the slicing software so I can actually print what I want.

That's awesome! Looks like my printer but I got the assembled one. Your frog there looks awesome!

For slicer programs, Prusa control is nice but you will hit its limits quickly. If you download slic3r from the prusa site it will come with lots of defaults plugged in like print size and stuff. Different filaments require some fiddling but for the most part the prusa pla works great with stock setting in my experience

I want the octopus.

In reply to Rufledt:

Using Slic3r Prussa edition and trying my first 'self designed' print, a model my dad made of adjustment housing that busted on his workmate workbench...should take about 2 hours.

Will take a picture of the finished print...

Think I will start working on the 3D model for custom grilles for my Monolith M1060 headphones.

Very cool folks!!!

Here's the finished print, in coarse draft mode for proof of concept.

With supports:

Supports removed:

Think starting to get the hang of this. Will figure out what material would be best for the final quality print and work it out at a later time. During the print of the draft part saw the Y-axis belt was just a little too loose, so after the print was completed tightened the belt one tooth and it's perfect now.

The headphone outer grille modeling is proving to be a little difficult right now, still trying to work it out from the idea in my head. Trying to learn window 10 built in 3D modeler, but it's kind of a pain at the moment...

Tinkercad.com is an incredible, free 3d modeling tool, and is web based. You can export to different filetypes which most slicers can recognize.

This is a full set of casting patterns and core boxes for a bracket that I want to cast in Aluminum.

Once I can get it printed, I will use the prints as patterns for the finished cast pieces. I learned to use the software in about 2 hours. Its really quite intuitive. Definitely the best freeware Ive found.

4cylndrfury wrote: Tinkercad.com is an incredible, free 3d modeling tool, and is web based. You can export to different filetypes which most slicers can recognize. This is a full set of casting patterns and core boxes for a bracket that I want to cast in Aluminum. Once I can get it printed, I will use the prints as patterns for the finished cast pieces. I learned to use the software in about 2 hours. Its really quite intuitive. Definitely the best freeware Ive found.

Thanks for the tip. Looks much better to use than the Windows 10 software, and I am most familiar with Autodesk products from the past.

So here's the first design I've printed for the M1060 headphones (Tinkercad worked great for this):

They look great. Your resolution is spot on and layering looks almost non-existant. Happy to hear Tinker worked out for you. I think thats a super useful site.

If I sent you an STL of that pattern I posted earlier, any interest in printing it? No pressure, but it seems like you have the Tinkercad→real life equation worked out. Im not above paying for print work...

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

Sure, just slightly concerned with print repeatability right now since it did some wacky layering on an edge of the second print of the revised grille (version 2) last night. The first print was near perfect. I did have a max resolution print of the same thing that ran afterwards which I haven't had a chance to look at, will look it over when I get home tonight. Cursory look this morning before leaving for work when it was still printing (@ 94% completion of 6+ hour print) seemed okay.

Actually bringing this thread back from sleeping...

Just down the hall from me, a brand new metal 3-d printer is running.  Pretty mesmerizing watching it.  It uses powder metal and laser welds it.

The metal printers are creating some really cool parts that 'can' go straight to actual use. The level of impossible to machine parts made isn a single piece are getting truly amazing.

alfadriver said:

Actually bringing this thread back from sleeping...

Just down the hall from me, a brand new metal 3-d printer is running.  Pretty mesmerizing watching it.  It uses powder metal and laser welds it.

I saw footage of an early one or maybe prototype years ago. Simply amazing. 

In reply to alfadriver :

The direct metal laser sinistering machines remind me of the stereolithography machines from when I was an engineering student. They're still pretty cool to me even now 15 years later.

I've been watching the new Markforged X printers hoping it will bring down the prices a bit on 3d metal printers. They're using a plastic encased metal to print the part then burn off the plastic during the sinistering process. Supposedly it makes prototyping a whole lot faster and opens it up to a wider range of metals you can print. They're claiming they can produce parts in Inconel 625 and D-2 tool steel as well as some titanium and aluminum alloys.

In reply to The0retical :

This one, in theory, can make a cylinder head.  Except for the actual size of the machine.  

It does use a good alloy that can be laser welded and not result in residual stresses (the engineer told me that- I'm not in manufacuring or matalergical engineering...)

OK.. who knows anything about stratasys and maker bot.  I got a call with them the wednesday after Thanksgiving.