GearHeads Forum

Hi Guys:

   Well, my 3d printer arrived last night at 7:pm.. late after awaiting it all day. Since I
   had a warcraft raid scheduled it left me with a couple hours to play. SO here's how I
   proceeded. Opened Box.. looks well packed and very professional. Have to say it was looking much
   like a new laser printer or something. SO ..place the unit on the desktop, plug in the power and usb..
    Extruder was in a bag.. hmm, clicks in with magnets, no screws..thats impressive. Install software..
 
    no problem. Manuals.. couldnt find one in the box, time is tight..so screw it.. put thing like PCB on
    the platform that is supposed to hold the model as it prints.  
   
    Feed plastic into extruder and pushed "Extrude button.." , thing beeped like it was happy, so I tested
    platform calibration, that took 5 minutes, all looks good.
   
    Loaded up a GT output STL file of a bevel. Hit print..annoying beep then it started to print. I went to watch
    TV as I had started a show before it arrived. The result is in the photo's below. I cannot believe the quality,
    the photos make it look less resolution that they are. These bevels roll around each other excellently. No
    sanding or fixup required. The support material pulled away with a fingernail for the mostr part leaving a bevel
    anyone could be proud of. I LOVE my laser.. and now I have to say I LOVE my printer so far.
   
    These bevels look machined. They look like I spent hours in CNC to make them. They seem strong enough for light jobs,
    because of the most amazing thing about them, they are entirely hollow. No support inside due to selections I had clicked
    that I didnt realise at the ime called for no internal supports. They are very light, hollow and somehow very strong
    for what they are. I couldnt be happier and figured you might like to see the result of good bevels, easily printed.
   
    Now Im psyced for further 3d porinter software, this stuff is very cool...
   
    Art
   

very nice, just curious do you know what size nozzle is on the extruder

Dale

Hi Dale:

  Not sure. Ill see if I can get any spec on it. Its a very small nozzle, and the ABS is higher temp at 260 degrees than soem others...

Art

Sure wasn't expecting that quality right off the bat, they must have things pretty tweaked.

It will be exciting to see where 3D printing goes in the next few years.

Ken

Ken:

Im gobsmacked by the quality. The printer itself is built pretty good, but if you compare it to a injet printer for example, its very close. So really, if mas produced they could sell these things for a hundred bucks I  imagine. Personally, I think they'll get common within years.

Art

Nice!

I'm definitly going to get a 3D printer in the next couple of weeks.

Been looking at the RepRap Mendel.

How big are the gears and how long to print each one ?

Hi John:

  The larger one is 65mm diamter, and about 20mm deep. Being hollow they seem still to have
torque ability thats higher than Id think. As blanks to use in metal casting they probably could be used.
Id imagine ABS woudl boil off pretty quick in molten metal.
  A solid Im printing now is taking 20 minutes at rough level, still looks pretty good. The two in the photo
took an hour each. The mesh is amazingly good. It took about $1.00 worth of plastic on each I think.
  The solid gear is about done, took 20 minutes and looks amazingly good.

  The printer itself is pretty well build, though as youd expect looks pretty fragile, but seems quality.
Its all kinda like the laser, you have to play a bit to get ued to what to expect. (finished the gear while typing this..)The solid gear I just printed on FAST looks pretty much as good as the FINE hollow one. Its heavier and clucks when dropped
and I woudlnt hesitate to use it in a torque aplication by the feel of its heft. It meshes to the hollow ones
perfectly as well. I have to say if one needs a bevel this is the easiest way short of buying one. Having a printer such as this would be a prerequisite I think if your into R/C machines of any sort.

    I think I better start studying my alibre, I can see the only limitation is ones CAD ability.. except maybe for gears..GM takes care of that problem..

Art

Hi Art,

Gears look excellent and you sound happy

What's the finest layer thickness it can do? Do you have alink where did you get it from and how much did you pay for it?

Dan

Could you pause at some point to insert a metal threaded insert or say a keyed boss then carry on and leave a hole in the top so you have access to the insert ?

Just wondering.

[EDIT]

Stop pissing about playing and get GT out here.................................