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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 11 Advice using Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron PLA and Conductive Graphite

December 12, 2017, 3:11 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 11

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Day #10, and today the gift is designed by Megesh Govender -  It's a Potjie (cooking pot)

Potjie - cooking pot - printed in three parts, and because it's Christmas, filled with sweets!

There is a material for every project. Today we have a Potjie (cooking pot) and that's usually going to be made of metal. Iron maybe. Perfect! Let's use Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron PLA.


This 3D Printing filament if one of the most fun to use that's in existence today. I have had a lot of joy using this for all sorts of objects and art / sculptural projects. It's probably the material people ask me most questions about - usually after seeing the finished models.


The reason why this material often catches the eye, it that you can make it rust. It actually does not shine up like other metal filaments (you can get a little shine if you almost kill yourself polishing it).

It's also magnetic, I have found some geeky uses for that, but mostly it's all about the rusting.

I'm not going to be able to show you the rusting straight away (it takes a little while), but I will make it rust and show you when it's looking great.

If you want to know more about my adventures with Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron printing, do take a look at this blog post and video here.

Do take a look at my previous blog post on Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron for lots of info and prints.

The above blog and video link also explains more about the rusting process - (it's really easy).
Also it may help to read the blog if you are finding it tricky to use with a bowden setup, I had to tweak some of the retraction and flow rate settings to get perfect results.


Base of the Potjie is printed in conductive Graphite PLA

Because I don't have all that much Magnetic Iron PLA remaining, I'm going to slightly modify the model, and also make the bottom section from Proto-Pasta electrically conductive Graphite PLA.

Graphite PLA has a really nice shine-shimmer. It'll actually look more like an old blackened cooking pot than the Iron will after it's rusted.

To print with Graphite PLA, just use normal PLA settings, I get great  results from the material. It seems to produce tighter and more defined print features than many other PLA's on the market.

All printed (it really looks like an iron pot) - they will be rusting as you read this...

Print advice - (Proto-Pasta Magnetic IRON PLA)

What settings did you use? - You can use normal PLA temperatures , I use 190 Degrees C for Magnetic Iron. It conducts heat, so the hotter you go, the more likely you will have a runny flow, oozing and stringing / blobs.

You should not need to go over 210 Degrees C. If you start to see a blob forming on the end of your nozzle, then you are printing too hot and the flow rate may be slightly too high. Lower flow by 5% and try to use a 190 / 195 Degrees C temp range.

Apart from that, it's really easy to use.

Be gentle with the filament, it's not very brittle, but more fragile in filament form than normal PLA.

Why use it? - Because it's Iron, and you can rust it. Seriously if you don't want to use some immediately after reading this and looking at my previous blog post about it, I don't know what else to tell you.

Is it strong? - It's heavy, really surprisingly heavy. And yes it is reasonably strong in printed form. I would not recommend dropping the printed parts, they may crack.

Doing any rusting process will also weaken the parts. Not greatly, but they do get weaker and are more likely to de-laminate if dropped, knocked etc.

Is it easy to use/print - Yes, just watch out for dribble collection on the nozzle (you are too high temp).

You will also need to adjust your extruder feed rate by around. Do experiment, depending on the feeder type, grip and pressure I have founf anything from -5% to +15%

Use Z-hop it makes your nozzle last a bit longer!

Do you have to dry it before/after use? - No - it's good as it is.

Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - Yes! - it's abrasive. Use a 0.4mm or bigger nozzle. It will work fine with Stainless, Hardened steel, or as I'm using here a Olsson Ruby.

You can use a brass/copper nozzles, but they will wear out (and down). Quite quickly if you use more than about 500g of it.

Does it smell when printing? - No,  none at all.

Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - Yes! :-) The Proto-Pasta spools are about the best cardboard spools you can get at the moment. They look great, and feed well, and are 100% compressed paper.

Conclusion for Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron PLA - I would happily spend much more of my spare 3D printing time using Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron for further experimentation. It produces such interesting finished results after rusting. I'm sure there are neat and interesting ways to age parts with different rusting formulations. I will be doing more experimentation next year with this material.

For me it's just more fun than Proto-Pasta Stainless steel, but that's really cool too.

Day #11 Is Completed. With a bit of model adjustment, and good judgement on filament usage, I just managed to do another rusted Iron 3D Print.

Today's story, for people who ask is going to be about the Potjie - "In South Africa, a potjiekos, is a dish prepared outdoors. It is traditionally cooked in a round, cast iron, three-legged pot, the potjie, " - Tom Van Den Bon - via Twitter.

I also very much expect to be talking about why it's so heavy and if it's supposed to be rusting...

I'm really delighted with the Potjie printed in Magnetic Iron.

Join me next time for Day #12 - I'm slipping slightly further behind schedule every day, so I'm going to try and catch up.

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Days 12 & 13 Advice using Proto-Pasta Matte Fiber HTPLA Cinnamon Pine and Glitterflake

December 14, 2017, 12:16 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Days 12 & 13

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Last time - Day #11 Post (Potjie - cooking pot) was printed in Proto-Pasta Magnetic Iron and also Conductive Graphite HTPLA. It's still rusting nicely.

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Days #12 & 13.

Day 12 gift is designed by Gerhardt Breedt -  It's a Christmas Raptor complete with Santa hat! 


Day 13 gift is designed by Andries Smuts -  It's a crate of Christmas Beer.


I'm going on my second advent double day(te) with Proto-Pasta for both the day 12 and 13 gifts.

I'm catching up with this post and including two gifts that use a number of amazing Proto-Pasta filaments.

Lets start with Day 12 - Raptor...

As a child, I often woke up to plastic dinosaurs on Christmas morning, I had many of them. Ah, the memories, Mr Stegosaurus, T-Rex and Bronty were simply amazing to a ~7 year old.


I also have the most perfect 'dinosaur' filament. It's Proto-Pasta Matte fiber  HTPLA Green


Matte fiber is also very strong and rigid. The natural plant fibers add both strength and the rough matte finish.
I'm also using matte fiber Red for the dinosaur's hat.


I would have made it out of the new Proto-Pasta Candy Apple Red, but it's nowhere to be found in the UK and an exclusive colour batch (do take a look at the link, it's jaw dropping).

The surface finish is perfect for a dinosaur.

Day 12 - Done.

Now onto Day 13 - Crate of Christmas beer - 

First the beer crate. I could make it out of yet another wood filament, but that's a little obvious, so how about pine?


I still have a small amount of 2016 vintage Aromatic Pine to use for Day 13. It releases a wonderful smell of pine as it prints - really getting you in the mood for the holidays. (also do read the story at the end on how Proto-Pasta make it).


It's simple to use, just normal PLA settings and it's done.

Now the beer...

Beer filament is actually available (Buzzed from 3DFuel), but I don't have any, so the bottles for Day 13 are going to be non-alcoholic 'Cinnamon flavoured'.


Cinnamon HTPLA is another material that's all about enjoying the 3D Printing process. It smells like cinnamon as you print. The smell does not last after printing, but it's a really nice experience.
I have made the wooden crate out of Proto-Pasta High temperature PLA - (HTPLA) Aromatic Pine


The six pack of bottles have a black PLA base, it's not seen and will help save on exotic filament. And cinnamon PLA for the body. At the top I'm using some Proto-Pasta Glitterflake to look like bubbles. Finally they have red caps in matte fiber HTPLA.


Glitter flake is the most glittery packed filament I have found. It contains more glitter per inch than any other and the results look spectacular.


'Beer' Cinnamon bottles printed with a frosty top and red matte fiber bottle caps.

Day 13 tree is printed in Polyalchemy Elixir Emerald City Green

Print advice - (Proto-Pasta matte fiber HTPLA)

What settings did you use? - Matte fiber HTPLA's are really easy to use. You can start with normal PLA settings, but back off the temperature a little. 195 Degrees C is perfect. 
It's a good idea to increase extruder retraction distance by +20% this will help reduce angel-hair on the finished print.

The filament, it's not very brittle, and it produces surprisingly strong finished parts. I would say overall a lot stronger than normal PLA, and layer bonding is excellent.

Why use it? - It has a unique look after printing, like a slightly rough even sanded finish (almost sand-blast) in appearance. You can control the finish a little with layer heights and temperature, but it's never going to be silky smooth, that's not the point of this filament.

Is it strong? - It's surprisingly strong as a finished part, but small features are a little brittle. If you have ever used Carbon fiber materials, it's a little like that, but feels 'softer' to the touch.

Is it easy to use/print - Yes, super easy. Don't go too high in temperature (210 max) and use z-hop so you don't get any nozzle marks on the final top layers.

Do you have to dry it before/after use? - No - it's good as it is.

Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - No it's not abrasive at all. You also do not require a special nozzle to print, it does not wear nozzles.

You can think of matte-fiber like coloured wood filament, but it's even stronger than current wood-filled materials available.
Does it smell when printing? - No, not at all (matte fiber HTPLA). - Obviously the pine and cinnamon smell lovely. I'm still looking out for a good vanilla scented filament... maybe next year.

Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - Yes! :-) The Proto-Pasta spools are about the best cardboard spools you can get at the moment. They look great, and feed material well, and are 100% paper / card.

Conclusion for Proto-Pasta Matte fiber HTPLA - I really love this filament range, the colours are strong, the parts feel nice to the touch and layer lines vanish in the sand-blasted effect. Always have some on hand, as it's the only matte material with a non-smooth finish available.

Days 1 to 13 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

Day #12 and 13 are completed. I have also just about caught up, and i'm also ahead with tree sections for the next few days.

I think the story here needs to be about the special Aromatic Pine filament Proto-Pasta make every year. This is now a tradition for the Proto-Pasta family team - Every year Proto-Pasta uses last year's Christmas tree to make one very special and seasonal batch of 3D printing filament. It's a bonkers process or stripping pine needles, drying and pulverising them into a powder. This is added to their HTPLA to produce a very special and exclusive batch of Aromatic Pine filament to enjoy.

They do this for the fun, not the money, and they have just made this year's batch here.


Images by Proto-Pasta - source - website

Join me next time for Day #14 - (maybe a bit late to post, I have a Christmas party to attend...)

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 14 Advice for using and selecting generic no-brand filaments

December 15, 2017, 2:20 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 14

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Last time - Days #12 & 13 were printed in a variety of Proto-Pasta filament, including matte fiber HTPLA, cinnamon, pine, and the almost religious experience of *glitterflake*

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's Day #14 already, wow, this month is going so fast.

Day 14 gift is designed by Tom Van den Bon - It's a Lego block.


 Day 14 LEGO block - printed in generic-unknown 'no-brand' PLA.

The point of today is to talk about generic 'no-brand' 3D printing materials (filaments). Some are good, some are bad, some totally waste your time, your money and can even damage your printer.

It was the LEGO brick (LEGO's for USA) that made me think about generic materials. This is because in the early days of desktop 3D printing, many manufacturers stated 'it uses the same type of plastic found in LEGO bricks (ABS)'. But in reality the ABS used in LEGO is drastically different (and superior) to what's being used for most 3D printing filaments.

I also decided to print it in generic PLA, just to make the point that you can't really tell what plastic is being used, by looking.

I'll try to describe some of the things I have worked out about no-brand filaments over the years. Hopefully it may just help you, if you decide to buy from a supplier that offers no actual information or evidence, about where the filament is from or who has manufactured it.

General advice - 

One of the most important factors of any 3D printing material is a correct and consistent dimension of the filament. Look for a round (not oval) shape, consistent +/-0.1mm diameter and a smooth surface.

Note:- Some filaments do have a 'snake-skin' finish, that may be intentional or a sign that it may have been extruded at a very high temperature, fast. That does not necessarily indicate a negative, but it's worth being aware of.

Next, do try to find out what it's made of. Resin types, blend and any additives that may be used. Any good manufacturer will provide this information, most will point to a datasheet and have links to resin suppliers like Natureworks.

Get a sample, and if possible get a sample in 'natural' and also black material.

Most natural (not coloured) filament is usually the most straightforward to test and evaluate.

Black is a good test of quality. It has been known for some manufacturers to take old or incorrect batches of materials and mix them back into black plastic materials (to hide them). So if I really want to test out a filament supplier, I always ask for a black sample or buy a black roll of filament first.


I have had black filament 'shatter' and also have a blue or other colour tint in some rolls and not others from the same supplier.

Also if it smells bad when you print with it, decide if you really want to continue using it.

Look at the spool, you can tell a lot from a spool. For example, Dutch filaments make a lot of materials, and also private-label (white-label) many filaments for companies and manufacturers all around the world. Dutch filaments make some really fantastic materials, so when I see a no-brand / re-brand / white-label material being sold, I try to check the filament spool. I have discovered quite a few that have probably been made by Dutch filaments because of the spool. That alone makes me happy to buy them and try them out. I know it's going to be good quality.

Other manufacturers do this too, but they often also change spool type at the request of the end customer.

If you want to look at one of my blog posts here from way back in 2012, it shows one of the most odd and frustrating experiences I have ever had with filament.

You don't always get what you pay for, but you should at least make some effort to find out exactly what you are buying...

PLA advice - 

Like most plastic materials, many different grades and formulations exist. PLA is no different. and it's  worth knowing a little more about the grades. Just saying PLA, is almost as bad as saying 'ABS' (see ABS advice below).

PLA can be made from corn starch, or other starches, potato for example. Biome3D has a potato based PLA. 

Common older PLA types are often still used for manufacturing 3D printing filament - often 4032D, 4043D, 4044D, 4060D.

You may find that these are world specific, for example it's common for 4032D to be used in China.

Natureworks have now designed 3D850 and 3D870 formulations that are specifically made for 3D printing. You will see come manufacturers using these Resin's but they often have their own names for these rather than state 3D850 etc.

Lots more PLA types exist, PHA and PLLA are also from a similar family / process.

ABS advice - 

ABS, yea. That's a tricky one. ABS is one of those materials that can be mixed in so many different ways and have a lot of quality grades. I have had a few good experiences with 'generic' ABS, but mostly a lot of really bad ones.

As I have said before, I don't like using ABS, and some spools I have had in the past only strengthen that view. Some ABS materials can become very brittle over time, especially in sunlight. Some printed parts have almost crumbled when touched into fragments after 18 months in a window. They can tend to fade in sunlight, and become yellowed.

I have seen 1Kg spools of generic ABS for around £4.50 with free UK delivery. Raw ABS resin pellets can be around $3-4 per Kg so that's an amazing deal... if it's any good. Some are okay, many are not.

The only ABS I really buy now is Easy ABS from Prusa and various types of PCABS (Proto-Pasta / E3D and other quality suppliers).

Buyer beware! when selecting 'ABS'

Nylon advice -

I don't buy 'generic' Nylon it's usually not worth doing. It can be very hit and miss. Honestly stick to branded and well controlled materials from manufacturers like Taulman3D.

PET advice - 

PET, PETG and PETT can be amazingly strong and useful 3D printing materials. Often they can print well and give some unique optical properties. They can also warp like mad, take chunks out of your build plate and be hell to tune or have 'odd' print setting requirements.

I really like using ReForm rPET by Formfutura, and I have tried many, many other PET based materials over the years. Here I'm saying to experiment, but don't expect 'PET' to be the same, it's a good material to have as an option for use.

On a related note, we are starting to see many more polyester and co-polymer materials coming onto the market. Prices are lowering making it more accessible for everyone to use strong and reasonably easy to print PET type materials.

Day 14 'generic' LEGO brick in an emerald Polyalchemy Elixir Emerald City Green tree section.


I can cover other generic materials if this sort of advice is useful? if not, let me know.

I'll carry on with all the other great manufacturers, I use on a regular basis anyway.


Join me next time for Day #15 - (The Christmas party was very good indeed, time for bed.)

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 15 Advice using 3DFilaprint PLA and selecting material samples

December 16, 2017, 11:28 am
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 15

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Last time - Day #14 Post (LEGO brick) was printed with a generic no-brand PLA and I discussed some of the factors to consider, when selecting no-brand 3D printing materials.

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Day 15 and I was expecting maybe an elf shoe? mouse in a boot?, because the tree shape was of a 'boot' but...

Day 15 gift is designed by Thomas Torr -  It's a Christmas? severed foot! - Okay then... that's cool.



I was involved in an interesting chat over on Twitter about sample filaments a few days back. That got me thinking about the suppliers of 3D Printing materials that stock a lot of different manufacturers, and also some of them that are happy to sell samples of materials for testing before you invest in a full roll of material.

One such company that I use here in the UK is 3DFilaprint, they also run a filament sample company called globalFSD.

Suppliers like 3DFilaprint (and there are many others around the world - PrintedSolid in the US for example) are great because they tend to stock a very wide range of materials, from many different manufacturers. When you only want to place one order, for just one or two rolls of a type/make/material it can be the perfect way to get everything you want in one go.

Back to the severed foot...

Because I'm British, and of an age when Monty Python was the best thing on television, I just take one look at the severed foot, and think of the iconic TV show, cult films (it's just a flesh wound / beware of the rabbit / bag of otters noses / dead parrot) Magic!


So for that reason I found some pink PLA filament from 3DFilaprint (Manufactured by RepRapper Tech). to print out the 'Severed foot' (Monty Python Foot).

This is the right way for suppliers to sell - partnerships and by listing the actual manufacturer.

Support material enabled for this one.

This was one that needed support material, rather than trying to cut up the model, I just enabled basic supports and printed it out in Pink PLA.

Excuse the 'green wart' on the heal of the foot, this was a blob from the previous green print.

The supports are simple to remove, just ease them off with needle-nose pliers.

A quick flame, and the support marks vanish.

You will usually get some bruise marks, but as I have shown before, just use a lighter flame over them (quickly) and they will vanish.


You should end up with a very nice print. (This was only 0.2mm layers, quick print and good finish).


Print advice - (sample filaments)

Here are few tips for using samples of filament - 

Should you buy samples? - Yes, samples can not always be given out for free by manufacturers, so it's a good idea to buy them if you can find any - one big problem is that samples are not usually made, manufacturers often prefer you to just buy a full roll. Samples allow you to test out the material on your machine, and play with some settings before you buy a full roll.

How much do you need as a sample? - This is a good discussion point, but in general I always want 20m of a filament material as a sample if I am going to invest time and effort in making a profile and perform a few small print tests.

I have been handed coils of ~5m lengths at shows, I tend to give them back. I have also been sent 6 inch 'samples' they are totally useless.

Should samples be loose, or on a small roll? - I actually prefer all sample filaments to be loose coils. And that's mostly how they usually come.

I do have a few 250g rolls of filament, that's fine, but if the reel is a silly size and I have no way to mount it, it tends to sit on a shelf rather than being tested.

Ideally they should be vacuum packed. I generally get loose / bagged samples, but some manufacturers (Polymaker, Proto-Pasta and Rigid Ink for example) supply samples in vacuum sealed bags with desiccant.
3DFilaprint sample

Polymaker mini 250g spool (with a true 50mm spool mount, great job)

Proto-Pasta vacuum packed sample :)

Rigid.ink Samples - also vacuum packed

Also look out fro samples that have a reasonable diameter. I try to get coils with a minimum 120mm diameter. Tighter coils often seem to cause all sorts of problems when testing a loose coil.

One of my all time favourite sample packs is still  the Faberdashery 10 x 10m colour packs - very large and easy to use coils, perfect for injecting a little colour - Like I did for the Day 4 lollipop!


ColorFabb also do great samples when you want to experiment.

How much should you pay - That probably depends on you. How much time it will save you? Do you want to try out something new? Do you already know what settings to use? Will you / would you probably buy a roll anyway?

I often buy 2 or three of the same sample, just to have a spare in case you need to use that material in the future.

Why don't more manufacturers make sample packs / multi-packs etc. - It takes a lot of effort and does not seem to be a thing manufacturers really want to do. - I hope that changes in the future.

Make sure you tell 3D Printing filament manufacturers that you want samples (20m+) and that it's worth paying for them. Maybe then if we all let them know, it'll start to happen more often.

More multi-colour / multi-material selection packs, are also something I'm sure more people would buy. It can cost hundreds of $£e to get every colour of a filament range, but a sample multi-pack could be the cost of one single reel.

There must be a market for sample packs / monthly boxes etc? - Yes, some suppliers offer a sample service, like GlobalFSD, supply samples of many types. Ridig.Ink offer a sample filament club (for £10 per month) and you may want to check out Makerbox, but I have not yet used their service.

And now for something completely different (Python)...

Sorry now for an update on Day 11 -rusting of the Potjie (cooking pot)

Superglue together before rusting (see below).

After rusting - looks like it's 100 years old.


Ready to cook up a warm winter stew.

It was dipped in vinegar, sale and oxi-action solution, damp paper towel in a glass ramekin.

Leave to rust for a few days.

Day #15 is completed. I now have my very own severed foot :) 

The story of the severed foot... yea, that's going to be an odd one to explain on a Christmas tree, but it's totally Python like and an interesting talking point... I'm off to join the Judean People's Front. Or is it the People's Front of Judea?

Join me next time for Day #16 - When I finally get to use some flexible filaments :)

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 16 Advice using Recreus FilaFlex elastic TPU

December 17, 2017, 12:12 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 16

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Day #16

Day 16 gift is designed by Candice Howe -  Is 'mistletoe' - but it's actually holly :)


Holly ;) printed in Filaflex green and red flexible TPU filament. Day 16 tree in Polyalchemy Elixir.

 I was holding out for a good gift to use a flexible material, and this is as close as I can get for now.

 Just in case we don't get any other models that lend themselves to flexi-filament, here we go.

Filaflex filament in wonderful colours - it's a really great material to have around for any bendy projects.

Filaflex is my go-to flexible material - I really enjoy using it for so many great reasons.

TPU/TPE is also resistant to many chemicals and has very good wear resistance. If you want to make a living hinge, or a flexible 'anything' then Filaflex or a similar TPU/TPE material is the one to look out for.

You can use Filaflex for mold making (casting things like sugar, soap, chocolate) I made a Deathstar mold here also used it for making a long-lost chocolate bar mold here 

On to Day 16 - 

Is it mistletoe or holly?

Mistletoe has long rounded leaves and white berries, holly has sharp leaves and red berries.

It's holly. So I'm printing it in Green and red.

Super flexible and strong, you really can't tear this material or break it with your bear hands.

TPU is a wonderful material, especially to use in a 3D printer. It's by far able to produce models that are almost impossible to break apart - even on layer lines. Inter-layer bonding is 'amazing strong'!

You can even make things like shock-mount Tablet PC cases for kids.


Tap washers, motor shock-mounts, gaskets, flexible insoles, finger tips for robots, hinges for boxes and many soft finishes for products - Some of the most useful and long-lasting 'active parts' I have 3D Printed are made in Filaflex.

It's also possible to print with Filaflex directly onto fabric (t-shirts are popular) - you simply need to have a 3D printer without a moving bed, then lay across the fabric / t-shirt. When you print, do it a little distance away from the cloth, and pump up the print temperature, so it's almost a liquid (+260/275). then drop the temp back to a ~244 Degrees C level to complete the print.


Print advice - (Recreus FilaFlex elastic TPU)

What settings did you use? - I'll give you my best settings and tips for using Filaflex, but do be aware that it's such a soft material, every extruder - hot-end and printer is going to be slightly different.

If you look closely at the above image you will see a green 1.75mm Filaflex filament in the middle. This solid aluminium extruder block has a hole running down the middle for the soft Filaflex filament. The left hole is for the filament drive wheel, the slot on the right is a for a bearing idler. This is just about the perfect drive system for soft filaments like Filaflex.

Recreus also make their own extruder and hot-end systems for using Filaflex. I have used an older version, they are now at Version 3 - see here for more details.

Ideally you need a very short distance between the extruder drive gear and the end of the nozzle. If possible have the filament constrained all along the extruder-hot-end path.

Note :- do check the size of the filament, it's usually very consistent on a roll, but it can often be slightly under the 'normal' 1.75mm diameter (or 2.85mm average).

I often find a 1.69, 1.71, 1.73 etc. diameter on rolls, for me that seems to be normal, just remember to enter the real diameter in the slicer you are using.

You will need to experiment, but here is how I setup my 3D printers to extrude Filaflex (perfectly). I have spent a lot of time tuning this. YMMV.

  • Under rate the nozzle size a little. I use 0.4mm nozzle, but tell the slicer it's 0.38mm
  • Extrusion multiplier set to 1.03 (+3%)
  • Extruder retraction distance of around 3.8mm
  • Z-hop / Lift set to the print layer height.
  • Minimum of 4 x solid top and bottom layers (at 0.2mm each)
  • 140% width on first layer
  • First layer speed set to 55% of normal print speed.
  • 3 perimeter (shells)
  • Normally a 24% infill level on most parts.
  • 246 Degrees C first layer
  • 244 Degrees C all other layers
  • No heated bed.
  • Print at 38mm/sec print speed - for everything apart from support structures & first layer
  • Avoid crossing outline for travel moves (really important) keep the tool-head inside the model.
  • Experiment with Fan usage - I use 30% fan for most - only 100% for bridging.
  • Do NOT print directly onto a Buidtack print surface unless you want that part to be forever embedded into it...
  • Print on blue tape or with an interface layer of some description / glue / spray / magigoo. 
Good luck, it is awesome when/if you get it dialled into your 3D printer.


Why use it? - It's very, very flexible and strong. Recreus also now make different grades of soft and super-soft materials, so now you have even more choice.

Is it strong? - It can be stretched many times it's own length without breaking, stronger than rubber-bands. Layer bonding is insane, you can't really use self support material as you will never remove it.

Is it easy to use/print - With a good extruder and hot-end combination, yes it's really easy to use. with a 'bad' combination or in some bowden systems, especially 1.75mm, it's a total nightmare and can even be impossible to use.

You can however use the 2.85mm version in a bowden setup. I have used Filaflex in the BCN3D Sigma with very good results.

Do you have to dry it before/after use? - No - it's good as it is. I have never had to dry Filaflex. it's one of the most resilient materials in all conditions. I even had a test sample of filament outside for a few weeks, and it printed almost perfectly after a wipe down before use.

Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - No it's not abrasive at all.

Does it smell when printing? - No.

Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - No :(

Conclusion for Recreus Filaflex elastic TPU- I have tried many other flexible filaments, and this is the one I always use for every flexible project. It's just great.

Days 1 to 16 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

Day #16 is completed. My kids decided that so far, their best advent gift days have been Day 4, Day 8, Day 9 and Day 16.

I think the story here is about all the great uses you can have for flexible 3D Printing. You can do a lot of fun things, but it would not be right if I didn't mention projects like the great work eNable and Open-Bionics are doing. If you are not already aware, do please check them out.


One last thing I want to mention is the wonderful Gensole (Insole generator) by Gyrobot. Do give it a look if you are needing insoles, it's fantastic.

Join me next time for Day #17 (It looks like we will have poo, Christmas poo...)

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 17 Advice for making reference test prints using a Polyalchemy Elixir sample pack

December 18, 2017, 12:59 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 17

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


Day 17 gift is designed by Shaun Nadan -  It's a Christmas Poo Emoji.


I really didn't want to print this in a brown coloured material. I contemplated gold, but I don't have any, so I turned the Christmas Poo, into a Christmas 'Unicorn Poo' Emoji instead.

This is what a Polyalchemy Elixir sample kit could look like. (not all colours available)

As I recently discussed the need for material samples in Day 15, I decided this poop emoji was a good advent gift to demonstrate the sort of thing a user could do with a sample materials / colour pack from a filament manufacturer. Also look at Day 4 Lollipop - that was a Faberdashery sample pack.

What could you make with a sample kit like this?

I'm delighted to say I have already had some messages and questions from manufacturers about the need for samples packs. Some have now decided to start introducing them in early 2018. Keep an eye out.

If you are a 3D printing filament manufacturer, why not offer sample packs for sale? And how about a competition for anyone using a sample pack in an interesting or innovative way... over to you.

My calibration 'chip'

I'm also going to take advantage of this post to talk about printing out sample test objects. Printing a sample object in a new material, or different colour can be a useful way to check what a material looks like, and also how it performs. 

Cubes and small complex objects are often used to check a 3D printer.

Above is my test set for checking, warp, de-lamination, flex, break and twist of a 3D print material.

The 3D Benchy designed by Swedish designer Daniel Norée @DanielNoree ,
is often used by people to test out a new material, or as a way to check a 3D printer is operating well.

I have only ever printed out around two or three 3D Benchy's. I really don't have the room to keep a whole fleet of them, and I don't find it completely useful as a material sample. It's great at testing a new printer / nozzle / hot-end / extruder setup.

The test 'chips' above allow you to see opacity, and various fine features of a material print.

I have made my own 'materials test chip' to print out, store and use as a reference for material and machine / setup capability. You can get the test object, along with some other useful test parts from My Youmagine page here.

Being able to check a mechanical part can fit, is useful.

I also designed the 'chip' to allow a short section of Filament (both 1.75 and 2.85mm) to be inserted and stored with the test print. 

Back to the Poop...
Bringing this right back around to 'unicorn poo', I guess a multi-coloured poop emoji is a valid way to demonstrate a materials range, and keep as a reference print. It's at least a good talking point.
I'm just using the M600 Gcode command to switch filaments at regular Z height intervals.

Day 17 completed - with added googly eyes.

Print advice - (What makes a good material test sample)

Why can't I just use a 3D Benchy? - You can if you like. But I like to be able to check opacity, colour, fine details, and surface finish. I also need to be able to store them in an easy way.

Why print test objects anyway? - Well you have to test something when you get a new material. It usually takes a few goes to dial in the correct slicing, temperature and flow settings. A good test object should help you do that.

How can you test the strength of a material with a print sample? - The easy way is to first check the raw filament strength. Do this by bending first slowly, and then a quick snap. You should also be able to feel, the sort of plastic it is, hard, 'chewy' soft, stretchy.

Bending filament will only give you a first insight into the material. The material may also change state from amorphous to a crystalline structure after heating. A filament can go into your hot-end 'chewy' and come out like glass.

I also print off a number of 'dog bones' see images above, to allow me to test each sample in a home made jig. I can twist, snap, bend, impact and pull these samples apart, to gain a better indication of strength after printing.

Any other advice?- Yes, try out different test objects. Over the years all manner of test objects have become useful for all sorts of things. One really great object is the Hollow calibration pyramid found here. this object was one of the first things I used to setup and tune early 3D printer developments. If you can print this object well in every material you have, congratulations you are getting somewhere.


Days 1 to 17 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

Day #17 is completed. We had family star-wars day today, the last Jedi is really a rather good film.

Today's story can be about shiny unicorn poop? or maybe the importance of a good test object...

Join me next time for Day #18

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 18 Advice using E3D Acrylic (PMMA)

December 19, 2017, 12:30 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 18

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Last time - For Day #16 (Christmas 'Unicorn' Poop Emoji) was printed using a collection of Polyalchemy Elixir colours.

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Day #18

Day 18 gift is designed by Tom Van den Bon -  Is a Popsicle (Ice lolly / Ice-pop)


Ice-Pop printed in E3D Acrylic (PMMA) filament (with a light cream PLA stick)





I bought my Acrylic filaments from E3D, they don't seem to have it in stock at the moment, but I could see it fitting into their range in the future. I would not quite put it in the 'here be dragons' section, but it is tricky to use.

Acrylic (PMMA) is not an easy material to 3D Print. Just try to look for it, it's not made by many manufacturers, and not many people report on using it.


Big 1Kg rolls - need to be kept airtight and away from sunlight.




Acrylic is however a very stiff, impact-resistant, strong and resilient material to use for many applications.

Firstly, Acrylic will warp like ABS, you need a heated bed running at 105 Degrees C.


I purposely used a lower printing temperature (see advice below) for a frosted look to my Ice-Pop.

Next you can't print onto a normal PEI surface, even with gluestick or Magigoo applied.
It will not stick to PET or Kapton tapes, ABS likes these, Acrylic does not.

The secret to successful 3D Acrylic printing is to use a heated blue tape build surface.
The only surface I have found to work well for printing Acrylic parts, both small and medium-big sized objects is 3M blue masking tape. You must still use a 105 Degrees C heated surface with blue tape.


Always use a super-sized Brim for printing with Acrylic - regardless of size.

The next thing you really need to do with all parts, regardless of size is to have a good brim on the first layer (see above image). I used a 4mm brim on this small object, no warping or de-lamination.


Day 18 tree section is printed in Polyalchemy Elixir.


Print advice - (Acrylic - PMMA)

What settings did you use? - Acrylic is probably one of the trickiest materials you are likely to use. (unless you get a particularly naughty Nylon) It's really not a material you can just pop in any 3D printer and use all that easy.


But I do really like using it for 'special' objects. So if you do give it a go, here are some tips and advice - 
  • You will need a pinch of salt
  • 100g of flour
  • 1-3 hippopotamus  - to taste...
  • 3M Blue masking tape (it will not print on most other surfaces)
  • Must use a heated bed 105 Degrees C (or 110 if you can get that high)
  • 140% width on first layer
  • First layer speed set to 35% of normal print speed.
  • 3 perimeter (shells)
  • Over 20% infill level on most parts unless you are doing 'spiral vase mode'.
  • 270 Degrees C first layer.
  • 250 Degrees C all other layers - for a frosted-acrylic look.
  • 265 Degrees C all other layers - for a more clear look.
  • 272 Degrees C for spiral vase mode - most clear
  • Fans off for first 4-6-8 layers depending on layer height (0.1 / 0.2/ 0.3)
  • Fan at 55% max for printing (normal 25%)
  • Always use BRIM, and make it around +5mm even for printing small parts.
  • Print at ~35mm/sec print speed - for everything apart from support structures & first layer
  • Try not to use support. It's just asking for trouble.
  • All other settings - just as per normal PLA
Why use it? - It's a very tough material. You can further work, sand, drill etc. very, very flexible and strong. Recreus also now make different grades of soft and super-soft materials, so now you have even more choice.

Is it strong? - Yes, but when 3D printed it has a weaker inter-layer bond. You can help the bond with high printing temperatures and slower speeds, but this is it's weakness.

Is it easy to use/print - No it's not. But don;t let that stop you from getting hold of a sample to try, it is really good for some objects - dolls house windows, strong vase / bust style models.

Do you have to dry it before/after use? - Yes/No - it should be good from the sealed pack, but keep it dry, and away from sunlight. Dry if required - if it's still frosty even at +270 Degrees C.

Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - No it's not abrasive at all.

Does it smell when printing? - Yes, it smells of acrylic :) - Just like cutting a sheet of 'perspex' (Acrylic) using a jig-saw - it's smells just like that (not all that nice, but only a light odour)

Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - No :( They are generic plastic PS spools...

Conclusion for E3D Acrylic- I hope E3D decide to stock this again, I want to carry on using it for projects. Acrylic is great for printing dolls furniture, or other model parts. It's harder to use than (for example - PET based materials). If you can handle printing in Nylon, you should be able to use Acrylic.

Days 1 to 18 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

Day #18 is completed. 

Today's story is going to be about Kacie Hultgren (Pretty Small Things) I always think of Kacie when Acrylic is discussed. Kacie designs, makes and sells the most amazing period dolls house furniture you are likely to see (many are printed and sold in Acrylic). 

I have talked at various 3D printing shows about Kacie's work and her story. From self training in 3D design, to using Makerbot 3D printers, and running a successful 3D printing business, Kacie is one of the early pioneers who captured 3D printing to help do what you love. I have no direct interest in dolls furniture, but I do really enjoy telling people about such a talented designer.


Join me next time for Day #19

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 19 Advice printing with support materials

December 20, 2017, 3:22 pm
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 19

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Day #19

Day 19 gift is designed by Gerhardt Breedt -  It's a totally awesome little Jeep, with a lot of detail.


Great little Jeep - printed in Faberdashery Greenery Green (It's Army-Man-Green really)

Because this model is a little more complex to print, and requires the use of support structures, today I'm giving advice about the use of different support materials available and how well they tend to work.

Single extruder setup - 

First let's look at what a 3D print will look like if support material is enabled using a single extruder machine.


Support structure enabled - Support in Green, model in Yellow (top faces shown in red-orange)

Lets print that...


It printed just fine, but now you have to remove all that support material. 


For removal of PLA you will need - 
  • Cuticle Nippers (Top-Tip - they work great) - For MEN, or WOMEN - :)
  • Pointy thing (left hand side - very pointy)
  • tweeters, 
  • time, 
  • patience, 
  • cup of tea, 
  • soothing music, 
  • etc.
Have a guess how long the above support removal was, I'll tell you down below, after we look at the alternative method.

Dual extruder setup - 


I'm using Faberdashery PLA( above) and Polymaker Polysupport (Below)



Another reason for doing this intensive advent calendar every day, was to test out the Olsson Ruby nozzles. They are doing really well, so today they get a short break. 

I will be using the Faberdashery PLA and Polymaker Polysupport in the BCN3D SIGMA R17 3D Printer.

The SIGMA can't fit the Ruby nozzles :(


The 500g roll of Polymaker Polysupport material fits really well in the SIGMA R17


Here I am using the support material in a different way, it's an interface rather than full structure.

The above Gcode image shows the model car in blue (PLA on left extruder), with a blue support structure (also in left PLA).

The interface (Dense support material) between lower PLA support and the model is shown in green, and is using the right extruder fitted with Polymaker Polysupport.

Let's print that on the SIGMA R17 -

The main PLA material is used for both the model and 98% of the support structure, just the interface is in Polymaker Polysupport.

Printed great, no problems at all - Polysupport prints a lot like PLA (just slightly higher temperature).

Lets remove the green support material...

The only tools you need for Polysmooth support removal are 'pointy thing' and a toothbrush,

It comes off clean and easily. Just a quick brush and a poke here the there.


Support cleanup time compare - 

The Pink Jeep, using just PLA support (Single extruder) was 16 minutes and 23 seconds. I also used a flame to smooth off a few sharp edges. (+10 seconds)

The alternative Green Jeep, using Dual extruder 'IDEX' SIGMA PLA and Polysupport was exactly 1 minute and 18 seconds. That was including brushing time, I also did not need to use a flame for cleanup.

With big and complex print projects, a break-away support material saves you many hours of cleanup. The material basically pays for itself in time saved. You also only use a small amount of it, when using it as an interface layer as I have above.

The only reason you may want to use it for full support, would be if you were using an expensive material like Bronzefill, you would not want to waste Bronze material as supports.


Print advice - (Support materials)

I think I'm going to do a few more blog posts on different support materials and the best settings to use (in New Year 2018), it was not long enough today to really go into full details about all aspects of support structures and other materials available.

With that in mind below are my top-tips, advice and general experience of support materials.

There are other options for a dedicated support material.

PVA is often talked about as a soluble support material, designed for use in dual or multi-extruder systems. But it's usually a massive pain to use.



E3D spotted the pain that PVA was causing users and made a modified version called Scaffold (See below for more details)


PVA – I have tried around 10 different manufacturers and suppliers over the years. Still not impressed

General conclusion for PVA - I have wasted more time trying to print with ‘PVA’ than any other 3D printing material. It is possible, just not sensible or normally worth all the effort. It’s only fun/exciting and interesting the first time you try to use it. (I basically HATE it now).

Good aspects –

  • It is a support material…
  • Water soluble, good but also leads to many, many of the problems below.
Not so good – (my experiences with various printers and extrusion systems) - 


  • It’s very soft; filament deforms easily in extruders and does not pop-back into shape – it just tends to get squashed / squeezed - and then stops feeding/extruding.
  • It will ‘cook’ in the hot-end – don’t go over 190 Degrees C for any long period of time - (long, being more than ~15 minutes) – take it out of the hot-zone.
  • It’ll often stop working (extruding) half way into a print job.
  • It’s quite expensive.
  • Few people make it, and many wished they didn’t when customers complain.
  • It will take on moisture, and in some cases become destroyed / useless.
  • It does not tend to stick all that well to many 3D printer build surfaces
  • It does not stick well enough to many materials, so not great at building on top of a material like PLA/ABS.
  • You really need to use a lot of it – dense supports for it to usually be successful – cost / time / risk of print failure increased.
  • It can leave residue inside the hot-end, causing problems if not fully cleaned out.
  • Most 3D printers (extruders / hot-ends) are not setup / designed to use PVA.

E3D Scaffold – 

General conclusion for E3D Scaffold - It's so much better than PVA, but still not great in every machine or extruder setup. I can get it to work really well in my SIGMA that's fitted with Bondtech extruders and E3D V6 Hot-ends. It's just about perfect (apart from the general moisture problem).

Unfortunately in the standard BCN3D SIGMA R17, It will not work well enough, or for long enough to be of any use.

I really want to see a water soluble support material in general use, but until a formulation actually delivers ease of use in more 3D Printers, I'm going to find it hard to struggle on with PVA based materials.

Good aspects –

  • It is better and easier to use than a standard PVA.
  • Water soluble and also break-away easily.
  • Compatible with some materials PLA/PET, and tends to stick slightly better than most PVA only materials.
  • It’s grey, which actually makes it easier to see if it’s extruding well.
Not so good –


  • It’s still quite soft. In some extruder systems this will still be a problem.
  • Moisture will still damage this filament, keep it dry and out of sunlight.
  • It’s slightly less prone to ‘cooking’ but still use under 190 is possible and retract out of the hot-zone when not being extruded.
  • It’s about the same price as PVA, that’s good because it can actually work, unlike many PVA’s.
  • It seems less prone to leaving immovable residue inside the hot-end, but it will still require regular cleaning.
  •  Still causing problems if not fully cleaned out.

Polymaker Polysupport – 

General conclusion for Polysupport- It's so far the only support material that delivers on ease of use. For me it's the only dedicated support material worth using at this point (for my needs) It is not ruined by moisture, and that's a big bonus. It also works in the SIGMA extruder system. every other PVA material does not work as expected in SIGMA.

Good aspects –

  • It is a dedicated support material, and you can also print objects with it too.
  • It’s like using a normal PLA material. Quite easy in most systems.
  • Water soluble and also break-away easily.
  • Compatible with common materials PLA/PET/ABS, the bond is just strong enough to hold, but straightforward to remove from most materials.
  • It does not have a moisture problem, but keep it sealed when not in use.
  • It does not ‘cook’ in the hot-end, does not leave permanent residue.
Not so good –


  • It’s not water soluble, so you will still need to break-away, can’t be used in the same way a water soluble material could.
  • It’s quite expensive - but I also just demonstrated how it saves time and it ACTUALLY WORKS! - Bonus.

I'll go more into support materials, settings and techniques in a future blog post. But please ask questions and I'll make sure they are included next time.


Days 1 to 19 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

Day #19 is done.

Today's story is all about reminding people that not everything can or should be 3D printed, and the things that use support material structures can be a right pain, if you don't choose the correct materials.

Join me next time for Day #20 - getting close now...

Thanks for reading.

Rich.

Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

My profile and posts over on Google+

Files and designs shared on YouMagine

Files and designs shared on GitHub

Files and designs shared on Repables 

My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 20 Advice using Colorfabb corkFill

December 21, 2017, 11:35 am
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December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
3D Printing advice #Day 20

For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


It's time for Day #20

Day 20 gift is designed by P.J Prinsloo -  Is a scaled version of the Benchy boat


Scaled Benchy in Colorfabb corkFill filament.

The benchy is a boat, it wants to float, so why not 3D print it with cork?

ColorFabb corkFill - 

I really like cork, not just this filament, but in general. It's a fantastic material.

Cork is a natural product. It's also sustainable and ecologically friendly, being harvested over-and-over from the bark, not from cutting down trees. The cork industry has suffered over the last 10+ years because most wine bottles now use screw tops or plastic stoppers. Cork was and still is a better product.


Luckily cork is still used in many products, now including 3D printing materials.

Colorfabb corkFill is a filled wood-like material. It has powdered calk in a PLA/PHA base material. corkFill is one of my top special materials (along with bambooFill) It's easy to use and gives a really nice finish, it's quite unlike almost all other wood filament materials.

Ironically corkFill actually has hard 'stiff' finish to the printed model. Most other wood or fiber filled materials tend to have a slightly soft 'wood' feel, CorkFill feels more like normal PLA.

Benchy Printed with a 0.4mm Olsson Ruby Nozzle - 0.2mm layers at 215 Deg C Nozzle temp

Like other wood filaments, temperature does change the colour of the finish, slowing down during a print can make the finish uneven, so be aware of that or change to a more constant extrusion speed.

You get a nice sandy finish and it's less likely to string, blob or show defects than most other woodFill materials.



You can flame-finish it to remove any fine whiskers. it's also easy to sand, drill, paint etc.


Print advice - (ColorFabb corkFill)

What settings did you use? - 
    Use it like normal PLA but with a slightly increased temperature of 215 to 220 Degrees C (hotter will give a darker finish), cork has some insulating properties and can handle a higher extrusion temperature than plain PLA.

    You can add a little to the extruder retraction if you are seeing any stringing or angel-hair. And a slight over-extrusion rate of +10% helps get a really great finish.

    Why use it? - It's a sensual material, feels hard but looks soft, warm and has a nice colour tone. It's simply a really nice material to use, display and incorporate into projects. (something like a hand grip for example - and it really looks great combined with a metalFill material like copper or bronze)

    It also floats, surprise! ;)

    Is it strong? - Yes, it feels and acts like normal PLA/PHA filament.

    Is it easy to use/print - Really simple, just follow the advice above, and you should be good. It should be called 'easyWood'.

    Do you have to dry it before/after use? - No, It's not bothered at all with moisture, but as usual keep it in a sealed bag, that'll keep the dust off while not in use.

    Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - No it's not abrasive at all.

    Does it smell when printing? - Yes, it lightly smells. But for once I like the smell when printing, it's wood, but quite a soft scent.

    Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - No :( They are the ColorFabb Clear PC spools at the moment.

    Conclusion for ColorFabb corkFill - It's a great wood like material. Strong, solid and not so much like spongy cork, but easy to use and enjoy. I like handing someone a corkFill object, but the don't often guess what it's made from.


    Days 1 to 20 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

    Day #20 is completed. 

    Today's story, when anyone asks about the little brown boat in Day 20, will be about developing, making and using sustainable materials in the 3D printing process.

    As I type this, ColorFabb also has corkFill on Christmas offer, along with other materials, so you can snap up a roll for 24.75 euro's (ex tax). That's a good deal.

    Join me next time for Day #21

    Thanks for reading.

    Rich.

    Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

    My profile and posts over on Google+

    Files and designs shared on YouMagine

    Files and designs shared on GitHub

    Files and designs shared on Repables 

    My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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    Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 21 Advice using Fillamentum Flexfill

    December 22, 2017, 5:38 am
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    December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
    3D Printing advice #Day 21

    For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

    Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


    It's time for Day #21

    Day 21 gift is designed by Mohammed Hassen -  It's an abstract apple.

    Abstract apple in Fillamentum Flexfill 98A luminous green material.


    Day 21 tree section is printed in Polyalchemy Elixir.


    Wikipedia has a great page all about the short durometer scale (testing the hardness of a material).

    It's useful to know what level of 'soft/hard' material you are buying, before you choose for a particular project. Here I'm using Flexfill 98A (Shore hardness 98A or 60D).

    You can see below that a shore hardeness of 98A indicates a level similar to 'hard wheels of roller skates / skateboards'

    Flexfill is also available in 92A. This is a little softer, but nothing like a soft stretchy rubber band.

    Flexfill is ideal for projects like model car racing wheels, textured grips on products, handles etc. It's also great for robot parts that need some flex, but also keep their shape under loads.

    Source - Wikipedia page


    Fillamentum Flexfill 98A has a firm, but flexible finish, bends well, but holds shape and form.


    Print advice - (Fillamentum 98A) & Just go 30% slower for 92A

    What settings did you use? - Flexfill 98A is very forgiving with settings, it's not as easy to use as PLA, but much easier (in a lot of extruder systems) than many softer rubber materials. 
    • You don't always need a heated bed, but it works well with 50 Degrees C PEI surface, thinly covered in gluestick or Magigoo.
    • First layer speed set to 55% of normal print speed.
    • Minimum of 2 perimeter (shells) if using a 0.4mm nozzle
    • 222 Degrees C first layer.
    • 233 Degrees C all other layers.
    • Fans off for first few layers.
    • Fan at 55% max for printing (normal 25%)
    • +35% extra Extruder retraction length (from normal PLA settings).
    • I never use a BRIM, because it's just to tricky to remove, and is not required.
    • Print speed of 10mm/sec to 60mm/sec depending on your extruder setup. On an i3 MK2 55mm/sec is fine.
    • Try not to use support, you will find it almost impossible to remove without a very sharp knife.
    Why use it? - It's perfect for anything that needs a slightly firmer rubber application. I use it a lot for seals, gaskets and generally any sort of rubber washer or firm grip / texture on a product. Things like gasket seals work well because they are not floppy, but do compress and seal faces together.

    Is it strong? - Yes, it's very tough, you will find it very hard to rip, and if you ever need to modify it, only a very sharp knife or heating / deform works. It's hard to snip, cut with scissors and you can;t file or sand it.

    Is it easy to use/print - Yes, the biggest issue is going to be stringing, use extra extruder retraction and tune to the speed you indent to print.

    Do you have to dry it before/after use? - No - it should be good from the sealed pack, but keep it dry.

    Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - No it's not abrasive at all. All nozzles seem to work well, smaller ones may cause pressure problems with some extruder systems.

    Does it smell when printing? - No.

    Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - No :( They are generic clear plastic spools, but they do have a recycle logo. I could not make out what material they are made of.

    Conclusion for Fillamentum Flexfill 98A- I's a great material to have along side others. You can combine it well with PLA, ABS or PET. You are likely to be using it for some sort of flexing, or model making. It's obviously perfect for many model tyre projects. Check out the OpenRC project for more on that aspect.

    On Day 16 I also used a different and much softer flexible material, do also check that out if you are interested in printing in flexible filaments.


    Days 1 to 21 of the Advent Christmas Tree. I have no more room here, so it's going to be moved for the final few days of Advent.

    Day #21 is completed. 

    Today's lets focus the story around the physical uses of different materials in products and applications. It's easy to forget that not everything made is hard plastic or metal. Soft plastic's, rubbers and elastic components make up a lot of products. Especially with things that move or need to form around other devices. Thinking back to my days of being a child at Christmas, if I had a way to print new rubber tyres, skateboard wheels and soft-grips I would have been delighted to receive a roll of Flexfill :)

    Okay, maybe I just wanted the skateboard, but now I would totally 3D Print some awesome custom wheels for it.

    Join me next time for Day #22

    Thanks for reading.

    Rich.

    Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

    My profile and posts over on Google+

    Files and designs shared on YouMagine

    Files and designs shared on GitHub

    Files and designs shared on Repables 

    My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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    Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 22 using Polyalchemy Elixir snow white Filament

    December 23, 2017, 8:14 am
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    December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
    3D Printing advice #Day 22

    For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

    Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


    It's time for Day #22

    Day 22 gift is designed by Shaun Nadan-  It's a Christmas Scene.

    Christmas scene is printed in Polyalchemy Elixir Natural (snow white).

    I was really happy with the print quality, 0.15mm layers, normal PLA settings

    This is a very small model, so the details really came out well.

    I was originally intending to print this snow scene in Laybrick (By Kai Parthy) filament. But my roll of Laybrick is around 4 or so years old now, and it has become brittle and unusable :(

    My Laybrick filament is no longer usable (around 4 years old).

    Laybrick is about the closest to 'snow' look, and even texture, you are likely to get in a filament. It has powdered chalk as the filler. Prints like sandstone, cold and oddly both smooth and rough at the same time to the touch. It's a little like using plaster or clay.

    I will get another roll of Laybrick and show you what it can do at some point in 2018. Until then I have used the wonderful Polyalchemy Elixir, for a shining version of this Christmas snow scene.




    I was going to tell you all about Laybrick, but I'll save that for a future post. Just one quick thing to note if you try any Laybrick materials. Do be careful what print surface you use. It can bond quite strongly to PEI, Tufnol and even coated glass. I have damaged a few heated bed / coatings using Laybrick, take care.


    Days 1 to 22 of the Advent Christmas Tree. 

    Day #22 is completed. We are in to the final countdown very shortly. 

    The story, or maybe the moral of the story today is to use materials as soon as you can. Many filament's can become brittle or unusable over considerable time. My Laybrick was a casualty of not remembering, that I still had a roll at the very bottom of the filament storage box.

    Join me next time for Day #23 - I'm also going to update you on the status of the Olsson Ruby nozzles. I plan to remove them, and inspect how they are holding up. Join me next time to find out.

    Thanks for reading.

    Rich.

    Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

    My profile and posts over on Google+

    Files and designs shared on YouMagine

    Files and designs shared on GitHub

    Files and designs shared on Repables 

    My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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    Christmas Advent 3D Printing #Day 23 & 24 Advice using Taulman t-glase PETT filament

    December 24, 2017, 5:58 am
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    December advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
    3D Printing advice #Day 23 & 24

    For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

    Day #22 (Christmas scene) was printed in Polyalchemy natural *snow white

    Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.


    It's time for Days #23 and 24

    Day 23 gift is designed by Chris Venter -  It's a Heart box printed in Ruby Red Taulman3D t-glase (Red Star).

    Day 24 gift is designed by Shaun Nadan -  It's a Grinch

    Yes! I finally get to use t-glase, this model is perfect printed in t-glase Red Star.


    Days 23 & 24 tree sections are printed in Polyalchemy Elixir.


    Small rolls, but amazing filament.


    t-glase from Taulman3D is one of my all time favourite materials to use. I always have some stock for projects like this. It shines and shimmers and can be used for LED light guides or just to look beautiful. 
    Taulman t-glase with a Red laser beam catching the front edge.

    t-glase is a PETT based material. You are more often likely to find PETG (Glycol modified) versions of polyester (polyethylene) being sold by many manufacturers.


    Both PETT and PETG can print very nicely in 3D printers, I tend to use PETT for high optical clarity, bigger layers and anything using light or for beautiful objects & gifts in general. 

    I will use PETG for large strong functional parts, you can get a semi-clear finish with PETG, some formulations can produce reasonable optical clarity with the right settings and nozzle size.

    Back-lit with a small white led - t-glase really shines (concentric infill - see below)

    For this heart I'm keeping to a chunky layer height, and a specific infill type.

    Left shows traditional rectilinear infill, and right shows a concentric infill.

    It's worth thinking about the first bottom layer for objects like the heart box. The lid will be the bottom face when assembled, so you want that to look as nice as possible.

    Likewise, the heart box bottom is also using a concentric infill. Look at those chunky 0.3mm layers, they look amazing on an object like this.

    I also printed the final gift in the tree - Day 24 - The Grinch.

    I have absolutely no idea how the yellow overhang worked. This had no support and should have failed at this point, but when I came back after switching materials, it was done and asking for the next colour! I can only think it must be some Christmas Magic?

    Days 23 and 24 completed.


    Print advice - (Taulman t-glase - PETT material)

    What settings did you use? - t-glase needs some odd slicing setting. I will talk about a few, but as they are an odd mix of tricks and balance, I'll also include the Slic3r settings I use to help you tune t-glase perfectly.

    0.3mm layers (0.4mm nozzle) work really well with t-glase / 5 top and bottom solid layers.

    Use an infill of under 25% to get the best optical clarity from t-glase - Using honeycomb is also important, you need an infill that does not cross over line-fill paths. (honeycomb is ideal)
    Finally I'm using concentric for top and bottom layers, but that is because of the object here, you can use rectilinear if more appropriate.

    Balanced with the temperature I use, you need a relatively slow speed to get the best from t-glase
    Especially the first layer, you want that to be neat and tidy for this object.

    Make the extrusion widths around the same size as the actual nozzle size. Normally you would go slightly bigger.

    250 degrees C - it will print lower and hotter, but for the speed balance, this will give clear (not frosty) results during printing.
    80 Degrees C heated bed.

    This is a really important one, don;t use too much fan cooling for t-glase. Max 40% unless bridging.

    Finally, this is the really odd one - For a 0.4mm nozzle you need to tell Slic3r it's 0.45mm in diameter - with all the other settings above, this produces great results.
    You can go to the same layer height as nozzle size for t-glase (here we could go 0.4 layer with 0.4 nozzle)

      Why use it? - It's just one of the most clear and optically interesting filaments you can get. It's also a very strong material, with great layer bonding, so making objects to use, enjoy and give as gifts is high on the list of ideal uses.


      Is it strong? - Yes, it's very tough, impact resistant and just a tiny bit of flex.

      Is it easy to use/print - Yes, as long as you spend time tuning the speed, temperature and odd nozzle settings I have shown above.

      Do you have to dry it before/after use? - Not really, but I do dry it out before use if I want the very best clarity or optical performance. Keep it dry / sealed etc.

      Do i need a 'special' nozzle? - No it's not abrasive at all. All nozzles seem to work well, Bigger nozzles are glorious with t-glase. Just try it with a 1.2mm nozzle and a 1.0mm layer height, it's astonishing.

      Does it smell when printing? - No.

      Does it come on a eco friendly spool? - No :( They are usual Taulman micro-spools, can be tricky to mount as they don't have a 'standard' 52mm mount hole.

      Conclusion for Taulman t-glase -  If you have not tried it out yet, you are missing out. From the very first sucesful print, you will be hooked. It also not comes in more colours, that I'm going to get hold of in the New Year. It's in my top 5 list of most useful and great looking materials.


      Olsson Ruby Nozzle check - 

      I thought it would be good to check on the Ruby Nozzle at this point.

      Olsson Ruby nozzle after ~387 Hours of printing (not cleaned)

      The ruby is looking perfect! no surface wear and hole size is still 0.4mm

      This was how it looked originally (still in the box)

      I just removed the nozzle (when it was at full 260 Degrees C temperature). It has not been cleaned in the image above. In the image below the same nozzle has been cleaned and refitted.

      'Cleaned' and fitted back into the Hot-end for another print run - I'll check again in 1500 hours.


      Print time check - 

      I installed this first Olsson Ruby nozzle in the summer of 2017. I reset the firmware timer at that point to keep track of the total print hours. This nozzle has now clocked up 16days 3hours 48mins.

      That's around 387 hours of constant print time with almost every single type of material I have.

      1.32km of filament length (1.75mm) is also around 4.2kg of filament so far.

      To put this figure of 387 total hours of Ruby nozzle print time into context, this entire advent Christmas tree - printed on this Prusa i3, the Lulzbot TAZ6 (also fitted with a Ruby high-flow Nozzle) and one print made on the Sigma R17 was a total print time of - 139.5 Hours.

      This splits into the following -
      All Advent gifts = 44 Hours 20 minutes total print time (Excluding the top star)
      Sigma Dual print (Jeep) = 2.43mins
      Top star = 5.5 Hours - check tomorrows post to see that :)

      All Tree sections = 88 Hours (including top tree section for star)

      2/3 of all parts were done on the Prusa i3 MK2 with a V6 Olsson Ruby Nozzle fitted (0.4mm).
      1/3 of all parts were done on the LulzBot Taz6 with the High-flow V6 (Volcano) nozzle fitted (0.6mm)
      1 part was printed on the Sigma.

      The Olsson Ruby (Volcano) nozzle in the TAZ6 has only had around 50 hours of use, so I'll check the status at around 300 Hours.

      Remember this Advent tree is scaled at 150% of the original files posted. The tree sections are also scaled at 150% but only 120% in depth (to make the gifts appear to pop-out more).

      Can you guess the total weight of the finished advent 2017 tree? (and also how much filament has been used)? And also how tall the finished tree is?

      Send me a tweet over on Twitter @RichRap3D with your guess. I'll post the weight and filament used in tomorrows post.

      Days 1 to 24 of the Advent Christmas Tree.

      Today story is simply about making beautiful objects with 3D printing. What I have now is another wonderful, creative and exciting advent Christmas tree, full of stories and interesting materials. We still get out the original 2012 advent tree every year. Now we have this one too. 

      I want to thank all the South African makers and designers for this amazing Christmas gift. it was a real pleasure to print these parts. I also hope you also learned some neat things to try yourself.

      Christmas Day tomorrow. Have fun.

      Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas everyone.

      Rich.

      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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      Christmas Advent 3D Printing - Christmas Day

      December 24, 2017, 4:02 pm
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      Merry Christmas

      *Day #25*

      Have a fantastic & fun filled day everyone


      Completed - Magic !


      Christmas Day - Star in Glow-in-the-dark PLA from Prusa Research.

      Green RepRap logo, Blue OSHW logo and purple text in Fillamentum PLA's


      Yes, it does glow!


      Vital stats of 2017 advent tree - 

      Total printed weight = 2.23kg

      Total filament length used = 696.9m

      Height of finished tree (including the star) = 723mm tall


      Thank you all for reading and being part of this advent series with me, see you all very soon.

      Richard Horne & Family

      @RichRap3D

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      3D Printing advice for materials. Tips & tricks - Advent 2017 review of models

      January 19, 2018, 12:42 pm
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      Review and overview Video of the December 2017 advent calendar - modular Christmas tree
      3D Printing advice, tips and tricks.

      For every day of December 2017 I 3D Printed a part of the 2017 Advent Christmas Tree.

      For the background and introduction - Day #1 Post click here

      Christmas Advent 2017 Download on Thingiverse here - designed by Tom Van den Bon  With some help for each day by the South African Makers team.

      Below is an overview video that will help you pinpoint any specific materials you may want to know more about. Printing advice, tricks and tips are included on each blog post during December 2017.

      You can also watch this video in full HD, and many more from me over on YouTube Here

      For a quick jump point and an overview of each day, see the list below -

      Quick jump index For Blog posts each day and video times -
      Day 1 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-2017-day-1.html
      2:48 - Fireplace - Designed by - Shaun Nadan

      Day 2 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-2017-day-2.html
      3:33 - Mini Spool - Designed by - Tom Van den Bon

      Day 3 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-2017-day-3.html
      4:46 - Christmas Rubber Ducky - Designed by - Andries Smuts

      Day 4 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-2017-day-4.html
      5:26 - Christmas Lollipop - Designed by - Tom Van den Bon

      Day 5 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-2017-day-5.html
      6:02 - Christmas Robot - Designed by - Lelanie Smuts

      Day 6 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-2017-day-6.html
      6:30 - Christmas Stocking - Designed by - Candice Howe

      Day 7 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-advice-day.html
      7:17 - Water Bottle Rocket - Designed by - Andries Smuts

      Day 8 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-advice-day_9.html
      7:53 - Beemo - Designed by - Rick Treweek

      Day 9 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-advice-day_10.html
      9:12 - Trumpet - Designed by - Candice Howe

      Day 10 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-advice-day_11.html
      10:10 - Manger - Designed by - Michael Scholtz

      Day 11 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-11.html
      10:33 - Potjie - Designed by - Megesh Govender

      Day 12 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-days-12-13.html
      11:51 - Christmas Raptor - Designed by - Gerhardt Breedt

      Day 13 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-days-12-13.html
      12:40 - Crate of Beer - Designed by - Andries Smuts

      Day 14 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-14.html
      13:09 - Lego Block - Designed by - Tom Van den Bon

      Day 15 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-15.html
      13:24 - Severed Foot - Designed by - Thomas Torr

      Day 16 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-16.html
      13:40 - Mistletoe/Holly - Designed by -Candice Howe

      Day 17 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-17.html
      14:04 - xmas Poo Emoji - Designed by - Shaun Nadan

      Day 18 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-18.html
      14:31 - Popsicle (Ice Lolly) - Designed by - Tom Van den Bon

      Day 19 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-19.html
      14:53 - Jeep - Designed by - Gerhardt Breedt

      Day 20 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-20.html
      15:31 - Benchy - Designed by - P.J Prinsloo

      Day 21 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-21.html
      15:51 - Abstract Apple - Designed by - Mohammed Hassen

      Day 22 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-22.html
      16:17 - xmas Scene - Designed by - Shaun Nadan

      Day 23 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-23-24.html
      16:45 - Heart Box - Designed by - Chris Venter

      Day 24 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-day-23-24.html
      17:27 - The Grinch - Designed by - Shaun Nadan

      Day 25 – https://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/christmas-advent-3d-printing-christmas.html
      17:41 - Christmas Star - Designed by - Tom Van den Bon

      Very special thanks to Tom Van den Bon and the South African makers team

      Completed Advent 2017 tree 

      The original advent calendar from 2012 is on Thingiverse - designed by Peter Leppik.

      Thanks for reading, see you next time.

      Rich.

      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.


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      MasterSpool - A proposed standard for 3D Printing filament supply without a spool

      January 25, 2018, 12:13 pm
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      #MasterSpool


      We, as a community and industry, are making good progress on the use of sustainable filament spools. Cardboard is slowly becoming more common and even recycled plastic or eco-friendly spools are starting to be used.

      Left to right - ReForm by FormFutura / 'MasterSpool' / Standard plastic PC spool / Cardboard by Proto-Pasta

      For quite some years I have also wished for a no-spool based filament delivery system, MasterSpool could be a way to achieve this.

      A filament roll of ColorFabb nGen - 750g of filament and another ~280g of almost 'bulletproof' Polycarbonate spool.

      The MasterSpool standard is a concept idea for a way to deliver 3D printing filament to users without a spool.
      The main concept is for manufacturers to provide a material refill system to users who can then use their own 'MasterSpool' in their 3D printer.


      Here is a quick overview video of the MasterSpool proposal showing how it works - 

      More of my video's over on Youtube here - all in HD.

      I had the idea for MasterSpool when I spotted a small two piece filament spool over on Thingiverse by User 'Dingoboy71'  The original 2-piece Filament Spool by Dingoboy71 can be found over on Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1738730

      Benefits should include a lower weight of transportation - Empty plastic spools often weigh around 250-300 grams. Smaller and less packaging for material and no empty spools for the end user to recycle or dispose of.


      Most often, users of 3D printers do not want to use un-spooled filament. Winding filament onto a spool is also not a good idea, because it can encourage breaking and tangles. It also takes a lot of time for the user.

      Having a 'cartridge' of wound filament that can be simply loaded onto a two-part spool allows for super quick setup and use of materials.

      The two part spool, could be traditionally manufactured, to a defined standard - similar to what we already use now - ~200mm diameter spools with 750g or 1kg capacity.

      The MasterSpool could be 3D printed - it easily fits on a LulzBot TAZ6, but it will also print on a standard Prusa i3 MK2/3

      The 'MasterSpool' could also be 3D printed, customized and generally tweaked to accommodate various 3D printers.

      Ideally a single MasterSpool standard would be used - then we may also start seeing more 3D printer manufacturers allow a defined space for these spools. At the moment far too many different spool sizes and mounting methods are available for a machine manufacturer to choose one single method of filament spool management.

      Their will be problems that filament manufacturers will have to overcome to do this - 

      Wind spools of filament onto a cardboard or stiff paper form - with an ability to secure the coil in place after winding - maybe using tie-wraps or adhesive banding. 

      Remove the wrapped coil and pack into a simple box or vacuum sealed bag for shipment.

      Manufacturers will still want to brand the filament coils and maybe add key information like print temperatures or material properties etc. This can be achieved on the card/paper support for the filament coil.

      This was my very simple cardboard template to hold the coil - it works just fine, tie-wraps / zip-ties help secure the coil - a sealed vacuum bag would also be a perfect way to ensure the coil stays intact before use.

      Hopefully the manufacture of a coil without a spool is possible to work out. I can see that vacuum sealing the coil would really help keep it in good condition for transport and have the usual bonus of protecting from moisture etc.



      The concept 'MasterSpool' design files can be found over on Thingiverse and YouMagine


      If you are a Filament manufacturer that likes the idea and may wish to explore it further, then please contact me. I would be very happy to help with any testing, trials and promotion of the idea / standard to the wider 3D printing community.

      If you are a user, and you have feedback or want to get involved, then talk to your current filament supplier, see if they are interested in an idea like this. 

      And if you have any feedback at all, do leave a message, comment or discuss it with me over on Twitter. Feel free to use the hashtag #MasterSpool - lets see if this idea has a future for 3D printing.


      Thanks for reading, see you next time.

      Rich.

      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on Thingiverse

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.

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      Search

      DIY Heated DryBox for 3D Printing filament - under $20

      February 1, 2018, 1:45 pm
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      DIY Heated DryBox

      In this blog post and Video I'm showing you how to make a simple heated drybox for your 3D printing filament that you can use whilst 3D Printing.


      With just a few basic items from eBay (or similar) and some 3D design files to print (links at the bottom of this post) - you can make a drybox for both storage and in use while 3D printing.


      An overview video of the heated drybox (including a #MasterSpool update) can be seen below and over on my Youtube channel here.


      For an overview and background to this project, do take a look at the video, I'll dive straight into the main components in this blog post below - 

      Polymaker Polybox - spotted at the recent TCT show.

      During the TCT show in October last year, I had a chance to take a quick look at the Polymaker polybox. It's a neat enclosure, but I quickly realised that it is just an enclosure, that's all.

      I pack all my filament in sealed zip-lock bags with desiccant. That's usually good enough for storage, but some materials do require drying or heating before use.

      For some time I have been planning to build a dry heated storage box. 

      Now that I know the Polybox just monitors temperature and humidity I decided to build my own, but with a heating capacity installed too.

      It's surprising how simple it is to make a heated dry box with off-the-shelf components and a little 3D printing.

      The polybox has a number of bearings that polymaker filament spools run on, I didn't want to do that because I use a lot more different types of materials, some use cardboard spools, and having the spool edges run on bearings, just creates cardboard fluff.

      Other spools are very small (Taulman Nylon), they simply would not reach across the bearing points.

      I decided to keep it simple and allow spools to be mounted on a standard sized spool mount. Different diameter mounts could then be printed as required.

      As a minimum I wanted a box that would fit 2 x 1kg spools of filament and allow both to feed independently if required.

      This one is a straightforward build - you should find it quite simple to print out the required 3D printed parts - assemble and make up the rest of the heated dry-box. Any questions - just ask.

      The main component I used for heating is a simple flexible reptile heater - you can find these on eBay for just a few USD - Search for '15*28CM Adjustable Temperature Reptile Heating Heater Mat' 

      The other main electronic component is the temperature and humidity monitor device, I opted for a round module, but you can get square and also ones with separate temperature sensing probes etc.


      For the above temperature/Humidity sensor just search eBay for 'Mini LCD Celsius Digital Thermometer Hygrometer Temperature Humidity Meter Gauge'

      Three 12mm cable glands make up the power in and dual filament out ports - just a simple 12mm hole will allow these to fit perfectly.

      I bought a pack of 100 of  these way back in 2010 - so I have been finding uses for them ever since :)

      Print out the 3D printed parts - I used FormFutura ReForm rPET filament for the above.

      The printed spool holder uses a section of M8 threaded rod and two M8 nuts.

      Lastly bags fg 50g desiccant can be fitted under the heater - they can easily be removed or changed at any time.


      The reptile heater just slides in the grooves in the 3D printed parts.


      Cable goes out of the back  of the box - allow yourself some slack cable so you can lift up the 3D printed parts to insert desiccant.

      Optionally you can print out a seal for the lid - I made the above using ColorFabb nGen Flex - it has just the right level of flex, but not too floppy to easily seat onto the top of the box.


      Fit the remaining two cable glands and use oversized tube to allow filament to feed out of your dry-box.

      That's it. It uses 7w while being on, and does not take long to get to a stable ~30 Degrees C temperature - humidity will quite quickly drop to under 14%.

      It's really useful for any type of dedicated support material - being able to be used while still inside the heated dry-box. It will also be great for Nylon, wood filaments, CF, PolySmooth and many other materials that are sensitive to moisture.

      Bonus device - 

      I also have a little bonus invention for monitoring your filament coils while they are in Zip-Lock-Bags - here is the SpoolCheck sensor.


      It uses exactly the same thermistor and humidity sensor, and a small packet of desiccant as the heated dry box project.


      Just pop it in the centre of any 'standard' filament spool (or a loaded MasterSpool ) - and pop it all in a zip-lock bag.


      You basically end up with a way to monitor filament in storage, and see if any is not in tip-top-condition :)


      Even overnight you should see a drop in humidity inside your 'drybag'

      The files for both the heated drybox and the SpoolCheck sensor are up on -



      Please do let me know if you make a heated drybox or find the SpoolCheck sensor useful - best to catch me on Twitter usually.


      Thanks for reading, see you next time.

      Rich.


      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on Thingiverse

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing in Hi-Def video content.
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      Avoiding 3D Printing filament tangles & MasterSpool V4 update

      February 24, 2018, 12:34 pm
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      Let's discuss the fear of 3D Printing filament tangles.
      And how best to avoid them.

      Before I bore you all to death with more MasterSpool related content, this is probable going to be my last post about the subject for quite a while. The project is in a good place, with users and manufacturers deciding to get involved. I want to see how it evolves, but more importantly I want to get back onto all my other projects, that got put on hold for the last few months.


      This post is also an overview of the MasterSpool Version 4 update - see below and in the video.

      Future projects - 
      I'll have some new developments, machines, materials, projects and ideas to share with you in the coming months, I hope you continue to read, view and generally enjoy what I'm doing here with 3D Printing.

      I'm trying hard to branch out and get involved with even more aspects of 3D printing this year.

      Above is a sneak peek at one of the projects we did as a family for Valentines day 2018

      Next time I'll have a number of Valentines projects I did with the whole family. It was really great fun exploring with 'mixed media' and getting everyone involved. 3D printing plays a big part, but it's just one of many processes we used for making valentine related useful objects. - more on that soon.

      MasterSpool V4 - 

      The one thing that the MasterSpool project has taught me it that quite a lot of people (that post comments on YouTube) have a lot of fears of things not working, failures and generally expect new things to probably be bad (and no use to them unless it saves them money!).

      In the video I want to talk about MasterSpool V4 and also one of the last remaining fears people seem to have about using 3D printing filament from a refill system. - The almost irrational FEAR of tangles.

      I seem to have spent just as much time talking about why it's okay to try out new things, and that it's going to be fine, as I have actually designing, using and talking about MasterSpool.

      But in many ways, I guess that's to be expected - this is starting to disrupt things a little...


      You can watch the video above - or over on YouTube in Full HD 
      Please also subscribe to my channel if you would like more 3D printing content in the future, thanks.


      V4 was driven from and for the community - thanks to everyone that has supported the open standard and provided feedback, advice and tested out the system.

      First V4 test print using the BCN3D Sigma (0.4mm nozzle) and the LulzBot TAZ 6 (0.5mm nozzle)

      One of the first modifications was to make V4 easier to print with bigger nozzles and chunky layer heights - the text on the spool has been modified to allow nozzles from 0.4mm to 1.2mm to be used.


      First the three positions for the tie-wraps were opened up and cut into the side of the spool - this makes it much easier to fit and remove the refill coils.

      Double sided 'velcro' straps can also be used.


      You can use normal tie-wraps (zip-ties) or reusable tie-wraps as shown in the images above.

      More 1.75mm filament end storage was added - now three locations around the spool. And the 2.85mm / 3mm clip was also modified to provide a spring hold of the end - allowing stacking without interference.


      The sides of the spool were also flattened to allow bearing mount spool holders to work well.
      Generally other rounded edges were also removes to speed up print time.


      The label position is still in Version 4 - this seems to be quite a useful aspect to the refill spool system.

      Many other smaller changes have also made the spool stronger and faster to print.

      Print settings I use - 

      18% infill using PLA or PETG
      Two perimeters (with a 0.4mm or 0.5mm nozzle)
      Hex infill patters (Slic3r)
      0.2mm or 0.25mm layer height.
      Small brim of 1.5mm
      Magigoo on a PEI sheet

      The second most asked question - 

      Where Can I buy refill coils for MasterSpool - 

      You can buy Refill filament coils from Das Filament in Germany (they do worldwide shipping) -
      https://www.dasfilament.de/filament-refill/

      I have no affiliation with Das Filament, the link is provided as people are constantly asking me where to buy MasterSpool coil refills from ! And be quick - they seem to sell out really fast after a new batch is added.

      The third most asked question I get is about the filament refill coil dimensions, I have now added an overview and dimension PDF document to the V4 downloads - 



      Not bored of MasterSpool content? 
      Then check out these other opinions from more makers here -

      Tom has a great vlog on the Masterspool (V3, but it's still good fun to watch) -

      3DMakerNoob has also been printing out MasterSpools with all his loos-ends - watch it here -

      C.R.T also posted his video on the V3 MasterSpool - the same day I updated to V4 -

      If you have any feedback at all, do leave a message, comment or discuss it with me over on Twitter. Feel free to use the hashtag #MasterSpool - I'll try to catch them for an update post in the future.


      Thanks for reading, see you next time.

      Rich.

      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on Thingiverse

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.


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      Valentines 2018 Mixed Materials 3D Printing experiments

      March 29, 2018, 3:03 am
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      Mixed Materials 3D Printing experiments

      For Valentines 2018 I wanted to try making things with the family. Not just 3D printing, but a combination of 'mixed materials'. In this blog post and video I'll show you what we did for together for Valentines day gifts using a number of different materials and techniques.


      It's true that you can get some really interesting 3D printing materials, including wood, rubber, metal and even cork. But the objective of this project was to help get you thinking about using more than just different 3D printing filaments, colours or thermoplastic materials in your projects.

      ColorFabb Bronze filament - can look very nice when buffed, but what about using 'real' materials...


      The video below goes over some of the experiments our family did over Valentines 2018 - 


      Or you can watch it in HD over on YouTube here 

      I have wanted to combine fabric materials that my wife often uses into a 3D model for some time. I'm also really interested in doing more work with real wood. Lets see how we got on and what my kids also wanted to experiment with.

      The first task was to select a 3D model we could experiment with, after a brief look I decided to design my own heart shaped gift box, with a lid that could be complemented in different types of materials. 

      A simple heart box for experimenting - the lid can be decorated in various ways - see below

      After printing the prototype in 3D4M C8 and a few more in Polymaker Polysmooth (PVB) materials, I smoothed one in the Polysher to check the fit and finish.

      Printing in C8 Material for the prototype - 

      Many more printed in Polymaker PolySmooth PVB

      Before and after smoothing in the Polysher


      The first was smoothed for my oldest daughter, a simple box that she wanted to decorate.


      The second was glitter covered. This uses the Polysmooth trick of adding glitter straight after being smoothed in the Polysher. The glitter sticks and produces a smooth sparkling finish that will not rub off when dry.


      Next was an experimentation with paper. 


      I have used paper before, I custom covered an entire E3D BigBox with paper a few years back, it was a really fun project to do over Christmas whilst assembling the and wooden version of this rather big 3D printer.



      For this I made a 3D printed guide for drawing around different types of materials.


      This proved to be really useful in getting patterns to be inline across the three separate sections of the heart box.

      Using any sort of paper (or other materials), you can draw around and then cut out each part to fit into the 3D printed inlay areas.


      The template was made fractionally smaller to allow for drawing and then cutting, so it should fit perfectly.


      The next idea from my wife was to try out an embossing machine she uses on fabric.


      I designed up a test 'die' with the letters A and S.


      They needed to be mirrored before 3D printing, so the end pattern appeared correctly after being embossed onto a material.


      We then tested out leather, vinyl, suede, and some faux materials to see what sort of pressure was needed to get a good level of embossing.

      The 3D4M C8 material was a little too soft for very fine features, it got a little squished and sharp edges were slightly crushed after a few operations in the 'BigShot' press.

      We later discovered that almost any normal PLA (with some impact modifiers) was one of the best materials to use for printing embossing patterns. It's a hard plastic that's stiff enough to work many times, even on very dense materials and fabric's.

      This is an area we are still experimenting with, now moving on to 3D printing both positive and negative embossing sides to get even better results - an update on that in a future post.


      I'm really pleased how even a simple embossing pattern turned out, this really has a lot of maker potential for interesting projects.



      We experimented with many other types of materials, not all shown in their completed forms. 


      One was with sand and sea shells - bonded into the lid using clear resin. 

      A Polysmooth 'sticky' lid being covered in real bronze powder - allow to dry and tumble finish.

      Another had real bronze powder poured over when 'sticky from the polysher'. Another mixed different colour PolySmooth materials - self bonding when smoothed.


      To finish off some of the boxes I also did end up using some ColorFabb Bronzefill filament for inlay sections - tumbled and buffed to a shine.

      Finally I really wanted to experiment with a real wood veneer. I was lucky enough to have some leaves of walnut burr to try out.


      Using the 3D printed pattern it was easy to trace out onto the thin wood. 



      I used some 3M blue tape to help keep the delicate burr grain from splitting - a tip here is to use sharp scissors rather than a knife blade. 





      If you do decide to cut it out with a blade, consider rounding off the tip. A sharp blade-end can actually rip wood like this, you are better off going very gently around the line a number of times rather than try to cut out the wood in one pass.

      You can leave on the masking tape after cutting, or remove if you feel the wood will stay together.


      Then it's a matter of bonding the wood inlay into the 3D printed part.


      I used white 3M waterproof PVA, just a thin film of glue over both sides.



      I also printed out matching blocks to help compress the wooden inlay into the heart box lid.

      These were really useful as it made the job of clamping up the part easy. Just let it dry for 24 hours and remove from clamps.


      I'm really quite happy with the first result.


      I finished the lid with two coats of polyurethane varnish spray, to seal the wood and the bronzefill.

      As a proof of concept, this turned out well enough to make me want to experiment more.  I'm no expert in using wood vineere, so if you have any other tips, do leave them in the comments. I'm really keen to do much more with real wood and 3D printing, I think I will be designing more objects like this for future projects.


      The modular jewelry tree - 


      I also designed a secret side-project for my wife as a gift. Along with the heart gift boxes, the modular jewelry tree project files are now up on Thingiverse and Youmagine if you wish to use the model for yourself.


      My secret project was inspired by something that my wife had mentioned at Christmas. The comment was that her small jewelry stand for necklaces was not big enough and didn't have enough hangers.


      Designing this, printing and then polishing and finishing was quite tricky to keep secret, but I managed to get it all done before Valentines day.






      This colour of PolySmooth filament produces a really nice 'glazed ceramic' look when smoothed.

      It's also a modular design, so you can select different sections in whatever order you require to get the height and length of arms for your jewelry.


      The little holes in the stacking pin are for added strength, the force extra material using perimeters so you get a strong connection even with a low level of model infill (15%) - that said for the best end results you should still glue/bond the sections together.

      You don't need to glue the arms, they should slide and clip in, holding in the main pillar.


      The sections have a slight twist, the purpose is to allow earrings or bangles to hang down, and not overlap any hanging below.


      The files are up on Thingiverse and Youmagine - 


      Modular Jewelry Tree - 
      Will be uploaded shortly


      Proto-Pasta Surprise - 

      I had a very nice surprise filament giftbox from the masters of materials at Proto-Pasta.


      If you watch the video, I'm genuinely stunned with the multi-colour transition roll of filament. I had hoped to be able to get hold of a roll at some point. 


      I now know this was the experimental reel made just before Joel (the 3D Printing nerd) visited the Proto-Pasta team for some custom experimentation of transition filaments.





      You can see Joel's recent visit video to Proto-Pasta, on his channel here

      Thanks for reading, see you next time.

      Rich.

      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on Thingiverse

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing and Hi-Def video content.
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      HangPrinter Workshop with Torbjørn Ludvigsen and RepRap 10th Birthday party at E3D in Oxford

      May 28, 2018, 1:56 pm
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      RepRap Hangprinter Workshop @ E3D with Torbjørn

      In this blog post and video I'm going over how we got on at the recent HangPrinter workshop at E3D in Oxford (UK).


      The HangPrinter workshop video can be seen below, or over on YouTube in Full HD on my channel here - 


      I'm lucky to be only around 90 minutes away from E3D, they now have a new and dedicated unit in the breathtaking Oxford countryside. 

      This is a typical view on the drive over to visit E3D - if you ever get the chance - take them up on the offer!

      Their previous setup consisted of five separate workshops. A company motorised golf cart shuttled various components and completed assemblies from one to the other most days. (no joke).


      Now with everything under one roof, E3D is an even more well oiled machine of innovation, development, manufacturing and thousands of orders being shipped all over the world.

      I arrived at E3D a few days early before the workshop started. Torbjørn already had his Hangprinter attached to the roof of the E3D workshop. It's around 7 meters up and was a stunning sight.

      I was utterly taken back with this 3D Printer, now the size of E3D's workshop and printing out a wonderful HangPrinter chair... 

      Hollow chair form and HangPrinter chair (at the back) - was printing well until I 'tested' the disaster recovery feature ;)

      That was until I stepped on and tripped over the lines and stopped it printing - all about 10 minutes after I first arrived! - I made a significant entrance :)

      The printer tried to compensate for my unintentional 'test' but it did not manage to keep the lines from getting tangled around the spool - it was my fault, but it also highlighted a bug that Torbjørn had seen a few times before. It was the first time that day we got out the BIG ladder to sort out the spool line. It would not be the last, but we did have less crashes of people into lines as the weekend progressed.

      A day later Torbjørn discovered the Mechaduino firmware had a nasty rounding error, so that bug would be tracked down and removed before the workshop even started. The V3 design is now significantly more robust at disaster recovery with that very nasty bug now gone.

      The magic sensor - *Mechaduino*

      The Open Source Mechaduino by Tropical Labs is a very neat little magnetic encoder board.


      It's perfect for a project like Hangprinter as it has no endstops, bed probe or way to know if the print head has become knocked out of alignment.

      We assembled up these onto the backs of NEMA17 motors for the Hangprinters being built in the workshop weekend. They are a far better, neater and lower cost solution to most other encoder systems available.



      The Mechaduino uses a simple round magnet on the end of the NEMA17 motor shaft. That magnet (you should superglue it to the shaft) will then rotate each micro-step of the motor's movement. A multi-pole magnetic encoder will detect the exact orientation and know if a motor has skipped steps or if force is being applied (torque mode).


      Once the mechaduino is assembled, the internal firmware (running on a 32bit ARM cpu) calibrates the rotation of each motor individually. This is required as the magnet may be aligned slightly differently, or the distance from the sensor may be variable. After calibration, you can mark up each motor with an Axis and also give them a unique address. This is so the modified Hangprinter Marlin firmware can communicate to each one connected to the bus.

      Preparation for the workshop - 


      We had plenty to do before the workshop participants arrived the next day, Torbjørn and I set about with as much pre-assembly as possible to make it a more straightforward build schedule.


      Basic assembly done, we left all the interesting build assembly steps to the participants.

      That included, firmware, software and application setup on their laptops.

      Measuring and wrapping lines around the HangPrinter pully gears.

      Assembly, soldering and wiring up.


      Wiring was the most time consuming, we could have saved around four hours if a pre-made wiring loom was available for the Hangprinter system - that's one for next time or anyone else that's thinking about running a 3D Printer workshop.

      After some final assembly and a pre-flight check that everything worked. It was on to the calibration of the Hangprinter.

      Auto-calibration of the build space is one of the most impressive aspects of HangPrinter - and only possible by the Mechaduino drivers and encoders.

      You basically turn on 'Torque mode' and walk the print effector around the build volume - a script takes data points and maps out a calibration of the build volume. 


      You can check the calibration - shown above it was millimetre perfect!

      You finally then just set the print nozzle onto the build platform and register a zero Z position, switch out of torque mode and can shortly start a print. Above Sanjay from E3D is checking out the test print from the SuperVolcano hot-end and 1.2 mm nozzle.

      The lines were tightened and print quality significantly improved. This turned out to be a very nice print.


      During the workshop, I setup the HangPrinter portable frame - still a very large print area, but tiny when compared to the ceiling mounted V3.

      The 'portable' uses a slightly smaller configuration for the motor plate, and three arms to form the frame.

      These are all still 3D Printed parts for the frame sections to join. The top mounts are hinged for even more portability. (it all fitted into my car as an example).

      The extruder mount fits onto the effector, I have made various mounting plates, above for the Bondtech extruder, and another for the E3D Titan Aero.

      A short while later, I manages to string the machine and get it all set up for it's first 3D print.


      I did not calibrate the portable Hangprinter. All the calculations for the firmware setup were made from the cad drawing of the built machine. This proved to be good enough for a first print, but some real-world calibration was

      Amazingly it all worked the very first print. It was over-extruding, and the lines were a little loose, Z height calibration was not correct (my fault in the cad file - not allowing for a lower build platform).

      But not a bad first print.

      The lines you can see on the build platform were used to get a centre point (by hanging the effector on the D lines) and also to align up the A, B and C lines to the A frame mounting points.


      We all then stopped for a special RepRap Birthday celebration - 10 years of Replication!


      Special guests.


      Lots of 3D Printing talk and ideas :)

      And you can't have a party without a cake !


      Happy Birthday RepRap !

      Adrian Bowyer checking out the test Octopus print on the Hangprinter V3 installed at E3D - Image by Sally Bowyer of RepRap Ltd. CC BY-SA 4.0 Original image on Instagram here


      The workshop was a wrap, we had a lot of fun and now even more HangPrinters are ready for printing.


      Thanks Torbjørn - we had a great and successful 3D Printing workshop. I hope more people run them and the HangPrinter becomes even more popular.

      Torbjørn continues with the Hangprinter project, and I'll be also setting up my machine for further experimentation and development. Stay tuned for future updates.




      Almost all the parts (including many spares) for the Hangprinters were printed on my newly built Prusa i3 MK3 - A few were also printed on the MK2 as a comparison of quality, speed and accuracy.

      A build video (with my daughter) and thoughts on the MK3 machine will be coming up in a future video and blog post.

      HangPrinter Portable - 
      If you have an interest in the 'HangPrinter Portable' I made for the workshop, leave me a message of ask me about it over on Twitter. I'm planning to make a few changes to the top mounts to be more solid, but then I would be very happy to post the design files, firmware configurations and 3D Printed components for this version if anyone is interested?



      Thank you ! -


      I had a great time working with Torbjørn, we were also very lucky to have access to the brand new E3D workshop - tools, components and lots of help from everyone! - Our thanks to everyone involved and the entire team at E3D for helping to make the workshop weekend a really great success.

      If you want to find out more about the amazing HangPrinter project, please visit - http://www.hangprinter.org/

      Version 3 HangPrinter Forum thread is here - http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,792937

      GitHub Source for HangPrinter is here - https://github.com/tobbelobb/hangprinter



      Thanks for reading, see you next time.

      Rich.


      Please join me on Twitter @RichRap3D

      My profile and posts over on Google+

      Files and designs shared on YouMagine

      Files and designs shared on Thingiverse

      Files and designs shared on GitHub

      Files and designs shared on Repables 

      My Youtube channel is here, all 3D Printing in Hi-Def video content.
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      The ToolChanger - Part 1 - E3D Reference design of a multi-tool 3D Printer

      January 31, 2019, 3:20 pm
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      The E3D #ToolChanger

      Hello everyone, and welcome to a new year and an exciting step forward in the world of 3D Printing and in this case  > ‘desktop manufacturing’ <

      I’m delighted to be diving in to building and using (hopefully not ‘destruction-testing’) the E3D ToolChanger.

      Quick Jump Index 
      I'll update this list as I post more blogs and video's about the ToolChanger adventures.
      • Part 1 - First ToolChanger Post - Introduction and un-boxing.
      • Next post - Motion System Assembly - coming soon.


      I'm slightly late in starting the ToolChanger build (Second wave of the 'early 30'), but plan to catch up with the other beta testers all around the world as soon as possible.

      I’ll link to some of the other ToolChanger adventures at the end of this blog post, do take a look as it really gives a glimpse of what’s to come with a new ‘eco-system’ like this.


      Firstly I would like to thank everyone at E3D for inviting me into the exclusive 'Beta 30' trials and Duet 3D who have invested both time and custom design of the electronics platform that's running the ToolChanger (Duet 2 wifi/ethernet + Duex 5 expansion). And also expanding on the RepRap Firmware for the Duet to control the ToolChanger platform.



      If you don’t already know, the team at E3D have been working on a multi-tool 3D printer for quite some time. Greg Holloway, the designer of the E3D BigBoxmachine has brought life to a mechanical, electrical and tool-chain reference design platform they call the ‘ToolChanger’ – There is a really important statement here – it’s a reference design– NOT a finished 3D printer / machine or intended to be a 'final' system. Let me tell you why I think that’s a really good thing...


      The FDM (FFF) 3D printing eco-system is on the cusp of a fundamental step-change. The basic too-chain from model creation – export – slicing – and printing with well controlled material, is now finally mature enough that even for basic low-cost machines, it works for most people.


      Regular improvements in understanding melt-flow of plastics, electronics, firmware and sensors have made multi-axis systems operate fast with improved reliability and repeat-ability.

      But we already have multi-nozzle / multi-colour 3D Printers? -

      A number of options exist if you want multiple colours or materials in a single print – the Prusa MMU switcher, The Palette splicer, BCN3D IDEX or multiple print heads.

      The difference with a ToolChanger is that the entire tool can be swapped during a print – for two or many different tool-heads or nozzles / colours / materials, even devices that cut, measure, buff or insert objects into your 3D prints.

      Why Now? –

      Plastic extrusion tools (extruder+nozzles) have now become optimised for a wide range of materials and temperatures – with a good level of reliability. The next step is to add in more of them, and also other tools that can do more than squirt out melted plastic. A ToolChanger starts to look more like a desktop manufacturing system, rather than ‘just another’ 3D printer.

      I'll talk more about why it's the right time to be switching to ToolChangers in this series of blog posts as the machine gets built up and then tested.


      As with everything - read the documentation...

      Preparation before the ToolChanger kit delivery - 

      You may decide to pre-order a ToolChanger after the Beta30 trials have completed - if you do, you will most probably still need to print out a set of 3D printed parts for the system - (they may change, but here is what the Beta30 set needed).


      You don't need all that many parts as most of the precision machining is all done by E3D and supplied as CNC aluminium parts or pre-assembled motion system modules.


      The parts required are all very nicely designed - to print easily and also fit to the ToolChanger perfectly.


      This machine does use mains, both for the SMPS and the Heated Bed, so it's nice to see even the mains inlet covers can be 3D printed to hide away the high voltage connections.

      Step 1 - Unboxing -


      Plenty of boxes, but all well packed and labelled.


      Many of the ToolChanger parts are common E3D components or modular assemblies.


      Like the Titan extruder and the V6 Hot-ends. - You just need to have four of them :)


      The main Motion system is already assembled by E3D - this is all mounted on a very solid and flat aluminium plate.


      The Z axis is also pre-assembled - you just need to bolt it to the top and bottom aluminium plates.


      All quality machined parts - and E3D are also using genuine HIWIN rails for X, Y and Z motion.



      Bottom plate - this is not a light reference machine, but it is solid, stiff and should print really, really fast if required.


      The heated bed is directly powered by ~230v AC @ 800w - this thing is going to heat up fast and also expand as it heats.


      The E3D heatbed has the silicone cured directly into the partially-anodised aluminium surface of the build surface - it makes a solid bond, not just stuck, but fused to the metal.


      I spent a good few hours just getting all the parts out, and looking at the amazing machining, and design, thought and detail that has gone into this project.




      The E3D ToolChanger has been over two years in the making - and it shows in every single component.


      E3D really are pushing things forward for everyone here. I hope you support them - and yes they want people to design more ToolChanger systems. They also want companies and their partners/customers to consider using their tools and tool-plates in their own machines - after all that't the point here - to define an eco-system of tools and electronics / firmware support - without a drive forwards, we will be stuck with what we already have.

      That's all for the introduction, join me next time and I'll start to assemble the ToolChanger motion system.

      And don't forget to check out some of the other Beta30 ToolChanger builds - some are already built and printing out multi-tool 3D Prints.

      These links below are borrowed from the Recent E3D ToolChanger blog post - if you are building up an E3D ToolChanger and want to be listed on my Blog, just let me know and I'll add you into the adventure.

      YouTube:
      Instagram:
      Joe - @nemesis.robotics
      Nikolai - @nikolai.py
      Twitter:
      Ezra - @EandEDesign
      Keith - @_Tinkerz
      Tyler - @TstarkEngineer
      Tony - @kraegar
      Rich - @RichRap3D
      Blogs: 
      Romain Grangier Blog - https://www.facebook.com/additmtl/ 

      Thanks for reading, see you all next time.

      Cheers,

      Rich.



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