3D Printing First real 3D printing requirement

Spectre

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I have access to three 3d printers, two FDM and a FormLabs SLA at work. I haven't had anything printed for myself before but there are some things I'd like so I thought I'd have a go.

Here's a battery compartment door printed on the FormLabs for a stage micrometer used on my microscope.

The STL file was exported from SolidWorks with options set to 0.1mm accuracy.

I was impressed at the fine detail on the clip and the lugs on the short edge. I added some 0.5mm radius internal fillets to avoid right angles for strength on the long angle. There was some slight distortion and I trimmed up an edge with a file.

The visible spots are where the support structure was attached. Weirdly, most parts are printed at an angle, hanging from the printer bed. Apparently this is better for stresses and peeling.

IMAG0999.jpgIMAG0998.jpgIMAG1000.jpg
 
Keep wondering whether I should invest in one. Just today had yet another repair where it's the case plastics that are the problem. Really thin, small piece of plastic used to actuate the switch on this laptop had broke off the power button. Had actually "repaired" it previously with Superglue, lol, but it lasted 18 months.
I'm hoping the epoxy will be a stronger "fix". The top case for this particular laptop doesn't appear to be available. I cleaned the excess epoxy away and will apply a little more later and go slightly over the top of the button.

IMG_0188.JPG
 
Keep wondering whether I should invest in one. Just today had yet another repair where it's the case plastics that are the problem. Really thin, small piece of plastic used to actuate the switch on this laptop had broke off the power button. Had actually "repaired" it previously with Superglue, lol, but it lasted 18 months.
I'm hoping the epoxy will be a stronger "fix". The top case for this particular laptop doesn't appear to be available. I cleaned the excess epoxy away and will apply a little more later and go slightly over the top of the button.

View attachment 99920
I toy with the idea myself @chookey. I can't really justify one for myself (FormLabs SLA is about ?3.5k) and the resin does expire (hence I'm using up the work stuff!).

I don't think I've ever had a really successful repair with "mediocre glue", or others on plastics.

Maybe you would get a lot more use out of a SLA printer :). My resin is green as it is the "engineering resin", I'll have to ask my colleague about the specifics but it is a tough material.

Keymap is odd, I'm displaying poundsign (????) and it comes out as "?".
 
Here's tomorrow's part to be printed.

This will hopefully hold a stepper motor onto a 8mm diameter bar provided by a magnetic base clamp. The split is done in such a way the the slicer software won't fill the cavity as it will be facing downwards.


Stepper Clamp.JPG
 
I meant one of the cheapos Rob, lol. The parts I would tend to make don't need to be over precise.
I reckon I would enjoy the design part of the process though, may start looking into them a little deeper.
 
I meant one of the cheapos Rob, lol. The parts I would tend to make don't need to be over precise.
I reckon I would enjoy the design part of the process though, may start looking into them a little deeper.
I messed up on that above part :(. Trying to find how to slice bits out and rejoin the component :S.

Did some extrusion cuts then combined the part but then the sketch is in a strange place.

Deleted it :).

I used to do AutoCAD 2000 3D stuff back in the day (before Inventor and whatnot). I'm sure it was easier...
 
I think I got the dimensions right, clicking away this morning trying to bash it into shape.

This will be printing soon.


Clamp.jpeg
 
Eight minutes left out of a 3.5 hour print time :).

In case anyone is wondering it is a bracket for a crouzet style stepper motor which will attach to a 8mm rod held by a magnetic base, like you'd find in a machine tool workshop for holding dial indicators.
 
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