OT: 3D Printer -- IT'S RUNNING!!! -- Video Page 2

[indiefilmgeek]

Sorry for the slightly off-topic post, but I HAD to share!!! My brother has officially ordered a kit for the Mendel RepRap 3D printer. It's a full-component kit, so it ran almost $1000.

It will be shipped to Florida, where both of us will be vacationing in three weeks. Our plan is to construct the printer while we are in Florida - which will be a blast all by itself!

The upshot of this post, is that I will have access to a 3D printer (on my freaking desktop) by the end of June!!!! And that's AWESOME!!!

Mendel prints objects up to 8"x8"x5" in ABS plastic. So, I won't be printing whole Ironman armor pieces, but it will certainly come in handy for a whole array of smaller pieces for this and future build projects! :love

Pic of Mendel 3D printer:

YOUTUBE VIDEO: YouTube - ‪RepRap‬‏

 

[boons888]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Ordered - I'm SO excited!!!

congratulations.
i have been thinking of one myself. let me know how well a thousand dollar 3d printer works. i am curious as to your opinion of it once you actually use it
thanks

 

[nullset]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Ordered - I'm SO excited!!!

Hi!

Enjoy your mendel. I have 2 Z Corp 3D printers (Z400 and Z402, mostly old technology…but they're awesome) and a makerbot at my local hackerspace (freesideatl.org).

Keep an eye on open3dp - http://open3dp.me.washington.edu. This site has tons of awesome info on upcoming 3D printing technology.

I have some pictures / video of my printers in action: https://picasaweb.google.com/nullset/Freeside3DPrinting?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWp06Lti5ai2QE#

If you guys need any help with 3D printing, let me know. I think it's an amazing technology that can truly change everything.

--buddy

 

[Graphic Jordan]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Ordered - I'm SO excited!!!

Congrats Jon! I must see this thing in action at some point.

 

[blf]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Ordered - I'm SO excited!!!

My inner geek is very jealous.

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

We opened and inventoried all the parts for the 3D Printer last night!

...some assembly required...

And, yes, as Jordan pointed out... MakerGear was nice enough to send us a little chocolate so we could bribe our wives into giving us some time to build this during our family vacation.

NOTE: My wife said they should have sent more.

We ran through the first 35 pages of instructions last night. There are twice that much left to go (with a LOT of the more difficult/complicated parts).

However, here's what the basic framework looked like at the end of last night...

More updates expected today, as we tackle the build platform, motors and guide rods.

 

[MrTrouble]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Dream of every designer replica's. :rolleyes

 

[Ciwi]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Man, that's awesome... I was thinking about getting a makerbot a while ago... It's still a bit out of the price range. But I do have to point these out:

Thingiverse : A bunch of cool stuff stuff ready to be printed out!

Free laser scanner software ; I loved the idea of setting both the printer and this up and having a 3d fax machine

 

[blf]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Can't wait to see what this does. Looks like you need an engineering degree to assemble it...lol.

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Can't wait to see what this does. Looks like you need an engineering degree to assemble it...lol.

It doesn't require an engineering degree, but it certainly takes some time and a lot of creative resourcefulness.

There is a VERY helpful IRC channel (often the designers are online), as well as incedibly detailed wiki's. The issue you often run into is the fact that these are designed to be hacked and modified. So, YOUR machine/kit doesn't necessarily look/work exactly like many others. We've been working off two main instructions: 1 - for the general model we have with lots of detailed cad illustrations for reference. 2 - a very good wiki with lots of pictures pointing out the DIFFERENCES between the general model and our specific model. Between the two we've been making very good progress.

Here's a picture of the completed frame with the smooth rods installed for each of the four axis. We've also installed the motors for each one (2 for the Z axis). The Y axis moves the 'build platform' back and forth with a belt to the motor. The X axis moves the 'hot plastic extruder' (read: printer head) back and forth, and the Z axis is raises and lowers the X axis assembly (with the extruder), by rotating two long screws that crank the X axis and the extruder up and down.

So, we have the motors to control all three directional movement... now I'm working on the complicated little bit surrounding the hot plastic extruder.

Here is a pic of where the printer is right now...

 

[blf]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Looking good!

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Two more quick pics before bed...

This one is of the "Plastruder" (what a cool name) motor assembly. This a stepper motor connected to a gear. The plastic filament is feed into the heating core and then out the nozzle by the turning of this gear against a tension wheel.

And this is a close up of the Heat Core... The part of the assembly that gets REALLY hot. We had to connect two wires to the unit and then encase them in Fireproof Ceramic Adhesive. That has to cure overnight, so I'm heading to bed.

More tomorrow! :thumbsup

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Ordered - I'm SO excited!!!

Hi!

Enjoy your mendel. I have 2 Z Corp 3D printers (Z400 and Z402, mostly old technology…but they're awesome) and a makerbot at my local hackerspace (freesideatl.org).

Keep an eye on open3dp - http://open3dp.me.washington.edu. This site has tons of awesome info on upcoming 3D printing technology.

I have some pictures / video of my printers in action: https://picasaweb.google.com/nullset/Freeside3DPrinting?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWp06Lti5ai2QE#

If you guys need any help with 3D printing, let me know. I think it's an amazing technology that can truly change everything.

--buddy

Thanks for the open3Dp link and pics of your machine! It's good to know that this is out there and becoming (although slowly) something more and more folks can be working on in their homes and garages!

I'll definitely drop you a line when we have everything up and running so we can compare notes!

Take it easy!

 

[Hogosha]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

OK....I want one.....make me one.

 

[xeno]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

would it be possible to extend the construction and be able to make bigger parts ?
or is the software that drives the printer constricted to a certain size ?

 

[hansicle]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Can you use it to print another printer

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: OT: 3D Printer Construction - It has been shipped!

Can you use it to print another printer

Funny enough, one of the main goals of the project was to design an open-source system that is close to self-replicating. Build one, print more. They claim you can print more than 70% of the parts for the printer... However, I'm not sure how they're figuring that - as there are hundreds of non-plastic parts.

would it be possible to extend the construction and be able to make bigger parts? or is the software that drives the printer constricted to a certain size?

Oh, I'm sure you could hack it (or modify it) to work on a bigger platform. The original project was designed to be a 'table top' model (something everyone could house and use). However, since the design and software are all open-source, with some time and help from the community I'm sure you could modify it to work with a larger build area.

 

[nullset]

Re: OT: 3D Printer -- Under Construction -- Plastruder

The major limit on size with these printers is just the physics of ABS plastic. Large parts start to curl up as they cool, and this causes problems, even with a heated build platform. Also, it is SLOW.

SLS is a better technology for large prints… or you can always make a concrete extruder and "print" something truly large.

For the record, some modern sky scrapers are actually made that way. The "print head" ends up at the top of the building and becomes part of it's structure when it's all done.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Re: OT: 3D Printer -- Under Construction -- Plastruder

...
For the record, some modern sky scrapers are actually made that way. The "print head" ends up at the top of the building and becomes part of it's structure when it's all done.

That would be a dream. Example? Where?!

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: OT: 3D Printer -- Under Construction -- Plastruder

A little more work finished up before my wife and I leave for a wonderful two night stay at our favorite spa resort! No kids, no computers, no phones. Just me, my sweetie and all the best healing spring-water pools this wonderful state has to offer!

Here is a picture of the Plastruder I've finished up and mounted. When both my brother and I return to project it will be time for wiring up the electronics!