Do I get to choose the body part?
I think they would make excellent Christmas gifts.
Yep, that's my coat, the one with the GPS tracker sewn into the lining.
How hard is 3D printing?
If you want to make your own gun or harboured a desire to make a boat perhaps the device you need is a 3D Printer. In principle it sounds easy: just download a 3D model from the net, throw it at the printer, and whatever you desire comes out the other end. MakerBot The Replicator MakerBot's The Replicator The truth is, it’ …
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Thursday 20th September 2012 11:14 GMT Troy Peterson
The Replicator is not bad... but there are better 3d printers
I love my Ultimaker. In the year and a half that I've had it I've printed hundreds of novelty items... and a couple of useful ones. I have also repaired digital cameras, high-chairs, and TV remotes for friends. My desk here at work is covered with an army of yoda busts..... Including a glow-in-the-dark yoda... the force is truly with that one.
I'd go with an Ultimaker (www.ultimaker.com) over the MakerBot Replicator any day... Even the newly released Replicator 2 will not match the quality I get from my Ultimaker. I've printed at as low as 40 microns resolution... It's still the best amatuer grade 3d printer out there. It will easily out-perform the much more expensive comercial grade printers with the draw-backs simply being it's less sturdy construction and more maintenance / care / calibration being required.
Also, the ReplicatorG software is pretty limited... Most people these days use Cura, Slic3r or the commercial NetFabb... and there are a few others.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 12:52 GMT Richard 81
Honest question:
I'm too young to remember to the really early days of document printing. Of course I remember dot matrix printers, but that was still in the late 80s - early 90s. So, how does this compare to those early days? Does the assertion that these early 3D printers are like the first document printers really stand up?
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Thursday 20th September 2012 14:35 GMT Anonymous Coward
It's an analogy, dear.
If you really want you can still buy dot matrix printers, amazingly. Because they cause physical impact you can run carbon copy stacks of flimsies through it, which is still useful for some things, sometimes required by law. Mind that laser printers have been available for a while and at 300dpi or not that much later, 600dpi they're not that far away from what you can buy today, usually 1200dpi. Some are nigh-on indestructible and will continue to work for as long as you can find toners for them, that produce more prints than newer models toner to boot.
A better analogy might be one involving inkjets, early and later ones. The principle is much closer to what these things do, to boot. Wouldn't want them to go down the same garden path though. While dpi ratings went way up and the things acquired colour printing and such, the ink likewise went way up in price for no better reason than that the kit sells for close or less than cost and so you get gouged on the supplies.
On the other hand, while the printers got fancier and more affordable (as long as you ignore the ink and the fancy paper), they still print mostly juvenile, photoshopped "fun" pictures adorned with comic sans, or print out emails from mom with the logo of their free email provider now nicely done in colour up top, instead of more earth-swaying fare.
So it's but an analogy and analysing it is easily overdone. What would you do with a 3d printer?
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Thursday 20th September 2012 16:39 GMT RonPaulFan
I have a Makerbot - I don't think you are configured correctly just yet.
So I have a first generation Makerbot Cupcake (batch 15) which took me about a year and a half to get printing decently enough to be proud of.
I run my nozzle at 220 and my heated build platform at 120.
I'm not sure why you are printing that very block-like object with a raft. You shouldn't need a raft with that print. The only time I print with a raft is if I'm printing balls, or objects (such as cars) where the points of contact are few and far between.
I don't have the replicator, but I believe that unit comes with 'endstops'. Do you have your endstops setup? If so, you shouldn't need to 'home' your bot before printing and thus should not need to stick a piece of paper under the nozzle to check the height.
I don't think you are quite built correctly yet. You need to head over to the Makerbot forum and ask JetGuy about your warping issues. You shouldn't be warping and if you are you are probably printing too hot.
I encased my bot with acrylic plastic from Lowes which REALLY helped out with my printing.
Here is one of my latest prints. It's the Mars Curiosity rover. Check it out and let me know what you think.
http://imgur.com/7RqMd
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Thursday 20th September 2012 16:41 GMT RonPaulFan
Oh, and don't take the whole 'applying the kapton tape without adding bubbles' too seriously. I end up replacing my kapton after about 20 prints or so due to the fact that I accidentally cut it all up when attempting to remove some of the prints from the board. After a while, trying to apply that kapton without bubbles becomes a pain in the butt.
Now, I just cut two strips and lay them down as best I can. The bubbles in the tape seem to effect the prints little.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 16:42 GMT RonPaulFan
One more thing OP
Oh and one more thing. For me and my bot, attempting to print as low as you have placed your nozzle messes my prints up. When I have my nozzle that close to the build platform, my first layers are smooshed against the platform and sometimes even the nozzle itself drags against the kapton tape and puts divots in it.
I print somewhere in the neighborhood of .5mm above the platform which would be probably 10-15 pieces of paper. To be honest, I just kind of eye-ball it.
But for me, printing as low as you have your nozzle doesn't work. Granted, I'm on those crappy threaded rods, but still...
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Thursday 20th September 2012 20:49 GMT Kernel
Re: Dave 126
"I'm with you, Conel... RP was my dissertation subject more than ten years ago, and I still can't think of a convincing end-use that justifies the hype it has attracted in the last few years (with no real advance in technology).
Objects are usually better if mass produced (the tolerances of injection-moulded parts are incredible) and if you want to customise an object for a person (a hearing-aid, for example) taking a direct cast of the body part is usually the better option."
What I'm thinking of is a combination of the two - some have commented on how fast their dentist can produce a new crown - what I'm hoping for is a complete 'while you wait' set of new gnashers, rather than having to wait a week or so and make repeated visits.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 20:57 GMT Alan Firminger
What is the problem
Throughout the article and discussion there is a sadness that online readymade designs are, apart from gun parts which I understand the generally pacifist Reg members will not want, there is nothing of interest.
Three dimensional CAD has been around for thirty years, so it is well developed for easy use. What is the problem with producing a beautiful Vulture from head to tail fully formed with claws, feathers and bald head.
Can we hope for a second article describing achievement with an ambitious design ?
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Friday 21st September 2012 15:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
What good are gun parts?
Quite a few reg readers, as in most by far, live in places where guns are very restricted, and as such a collection of parts missing the vital bits isn't merely useless, it's useless and bothersome
Useless because for a working gun you need at least a barrel, and you can't really make one of those out of plastic. Even in leftpondia it's more a political statement than anything else, yet anyway. It works as a political statement there because the lower receiver "is" the gun, as far as relevant law there is concerned. All the rest down to barrels is more or less unrestricted. Doesn't work quite that way just about anywhere else.
And it gets worse. Over here, if you're accosted by pc plod, and you have anything vaguely suspicious on your person --anything suspicious-ish, like a large wad of cash for example, will do-- they will *also* search your home. Anything they find there is fair game. They find gun parts, hey, they'll insist you must have the rest too, for why else do you have thispart? Then they *will* arrest and interrogate you, at their leisure. And issue a press release they've managed to stop a would-be terrorist in his tracks. So why keep a useless curiosity around?
It doesn't have much to do with pacifism, instead quite a lot with relevant law and plod practice.
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Friday 21st September 2012 22:00 GMT Nigel 11
Wax
It strikes me that one of the most interesting materials to print 3D things in, is wax. Can these printers do wax?
If you are wondering why: look up lost was casting. You surround the was with clay, heat it to boil and burn out the wax and to fire the clay, and finally cast metal into it. To start with it could revolutionize the jewellery trade. You could go from a 3D cad design to a finished item cast in silver or gold in a day. And computers can calculate (and 3D-print? ) fractal designs so easily. Just try carving a fractal from a block of wax by hand!
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Sunday 23rd September 2012 07:51 GMT Esskay
Could pay for itself...
Not sure if there are any mini owners on here, but a few small pieces of early (60's) cars contained a few bakelite interior trim pieces - the sort of things that are well known to break and become unobtanium in a short amount of time.
For instance, original Mk1 steering column shrouds sell for over 100 pounds in immaculate condition, reproductions today are still over 40 pounds - 3D printing could easily mean that every car club could produce their "own" reproduction parts, at a fraction of the cost, and still turn a profit. Even taking in to account the teething problems of early machines, they're still well worth the money, even at the "hobby" level, and that can only be a good thing for the technology...
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
