It arrived! (3D printer)

Wow, Don! You are going all high tech on us now. Here's to your success. 

Wow! Don, you have to post pics of all this!  You're on the cutting edge my friend!  Teach us oh wise one!

Eagle90

Yes, please post pix, Don!  I have never seen one, and I think they work by black magic!

Google Printrbot Simple (watch spelling).  I am waiting for a reply to their tech support on whether it would be okay to paint plywood parts before I start.

Congrats,looking forward to see what it can do

You should FUTURE it, of course! 

Consider Sketchup, It's free, 3D-oriented, has a huge library (online) of 3D models already available, & you can get free add-ons to output .STL files ready for errr 3D printing!

Thanks, I'll look into Sketchup. I am trying Open Source CAD now, but am thinking of trying various others to find one I like best.

Hey don, keep in mind the week point in plywood vs moisture are the edges. Don't  know how the kit arrived,but you'll want to seal them if raw. Then there are other options like iron on edge banding or a  vinyl   T molding

Future it. That's funny. :)

Hope you keep us filled in as you move along, Don. I'm quite interested in the technology. Can't see myself actually doing it, but one never knows. :)

Wait, maybe I could assign projects to the CAD guys at work. Hmmmm.

Viva the Next Industrial Revolution!

The good news: The home of the future has arrived.

The bad news: It’s a flat-pack.

You are the man Don!  Hope you will give as much insight as you do with your airbrush evaluations.

I have decided to paint it, even if just for appearance. It looks like the plywood is either marine or aircraft grade, so it may not be water sensitive anyway.  And the char on the edges might produce further waterproofing.  But the pieces sure look nice painted :-)  Hey, what modeler would leave a kit unpainted, huh?

One has to be careful downloading latest instructions.  All the instructions, software, etc.  are downloaded from their web site, and they apparently do upgrades frequently.  Mine has bigger motors and a cooling fan compared to original.  Construction is underway, but stopped till I go out this morning to buy a set of metric allen wrenches!

Don't forget to get the PE set for that, and the Eduard painting masks.  :-)

Looking forward to seeing this thing in action. What'cha 'printing' first?  

Well, I was considering the conversion of the Revell 1:32 Super Cub to a J-3. I thought changes were all firewall-forward.  That would require scratchbuilding a Continental A-65 engine.  But folks in another forum (civil aircraft) have told me the Super had a lot of other differences from J-3 in fuselage and wings.  So I think I probably will not do that project.  Other idea I had was a Stinson model A.  Wing is complex, double taper. I hate carving airfoils.  So printing a wing would be a way out.  Wing is longer than working space of printer, so I'll need to print it in four pieces rather than the two I would use in a carved wing.

Don,

I went online to look at the various "YouTube" videos on the PrintrBot-seems amazingly simple, clever, and reasonably priced. As you know, for  some extra money($100?) they will put it together for some people who are challenged this way. I do wonder how study the wooden gears will be in the long run, but I'm sure they tested that already. I've been watching the prices on these machines plummet over the last 2 yrs. so I'll be interested in how it works for you-seems like a modeler's dream to fabricate difficult to find parts.

Hey Don, can you do clear parts?  I need a 1/32 F-16 canopy!? 

Eagle90

That's awesome Don, yes Sketchup like what was mentioned earlier may be worth looking at for any CNC machine.

The Makerbot looks interesting too for 3D printed parts. I'm waiting for the price of them to come down a bit, it would be nice if I can make my own 3D parts if possible.

Hey Don,

When do we get to see one of these from the new 3D shop you're setting up? Imagining the possibilities ...

I'm waiting for Don to print a bicycle........

I enjoy bike riding............and am starting to dislike winter.

Hard to ride a bike 'round Chicago area this season..

Looking forward to what ever Don produces with that 3D printer.

I'm on the final assembly steps now.  The instructions are not the greatest, so i have to keep going to the forum and wait till I see a reply about those missing or unclear steps.

It is about time to get the software up and running now. I have downloaded it but haven't tried to run it yet. I did find a 3D cad file in a magazine article- a gear that was a downloadable file.  So I do not need to worry about my 3D CAD skills getting far enough advanced to have a sample file to print.  I find 3D CAD much harder to learn than 2D. It has a very shallow learning curve.  That is right- a shallow curve is difficult, a steep curve is a task that is EASY to learn!

Don -

What's the latest on your 3-D printing experience?  I'm very interested in hearing your results and critique.

Curt

Well, working the interface now, and how to use the thing.  I am having to figure out this part myself- instructions finish sort of like, "okay, you're done now."  There are seperate instructions on how to use the software, but they are mainly setup and calibration.  They sort of end with- okay, it is ready to use now :-(

Heh, like 90% of the instructions on the intarwebs.  Even the highly-detailed directions frequently require verification or a leap of faith, or two.  Then you have individual logic.  People do think differently, and something that makes perfect sense to one may be complete garbage to another.  That's where updating the information comes in very handy, but you don't see that much.  

Best of luck with this.  I plan to get one too, just not sure when.  I have to find a place to set it up.  

Don

Have you done any projects yet with the 3d printer ?

Rick

We'll, I've read this thread and visited the Printrbot website. (Would you believe my phone tried to change that to "print turbot"? I'm working up a real dislike for this...thing.) I find that Printrbot Simple fascinating, reasonably priced, tempting, and utterly incomprehensible.

Several sources suggest that 3D printing is the wave of the future. I know of at least one model company, White Ensign, that's released at least one 3D-printed: a 1/700 trawler.

Don, I hope you'll keep us posted on how this apparatus works out. But I think this particular Olde Phogie had better wait for the next generation.

Hello!

I had some experience with a kit 3D printer - a machine called Fabbster. I put it together, debuged it (there was some serious debugging to do!) and now it prints - but the reliability of that machine, it's problems with overhangs and above all, the print quality make it unsuitable for most uses maybe with the exception of educational work (print SOMETHING to see how it's done). I hope you will have better experience with your machine and I sure would love to see some photos in this thread! Good luck and have a nice day

Paweł

I have been laying a new floor in a couple of rooms for the entire month of May, so I have gotten no further with the printer.  I am aware of the problem with overhangs. I have a good friend who retired about the same time as me, who took several courses at local trade school on CAM.  He ended up as a teaching assistant.  He has not gotten into 3D printing yet, but has become quite an expert in 3D CAM milling.  He warned me about the overhang problem- some NC mills have same problem- depends on number of axes machine has.  Solution is to make object in sections to minimize overhang/undercuts.

Also found 70+ year olds have a harder time working sitting on floor than younger folks- reason the floor is taking so long.  Hard on back and knees, but I am learning how to get up from middle of floor with nothing to grab on to (couldn't do that a month ago :-)    ).

Ok so what does hanging refer to?