[Closed] 3D printing services

I've used r3pro for making some bike bits up.

At work I always use Protolabs. Online quote so easy to order.

Depending on how complex it is, I could maybe do it...

(this is the sort of thread that leads you to buying an Ender, so be careful)

(this is the sort of thread that leads you to buying an Ender, so be careful)

Question for those of you who own such things,

Do you find yourself spending your entire life looking for things you can make? I'm not sure I'd trust myself with one if so. I went a bit giddy when I got a Dyno, it might be a safer bet me investing in a heroin habit.

Thanks for the messages, I agree it does look like a slippery slope towards another hobby of things to buy 🙂

@Northwind That would be great if you are able to, the links for the files are here and here.

Let me know what you think and happy to PM.

Cheers.

Dave

Cougar

Question for those of you who own such things,

Do you find yourself spending your entire life looking for things you can make?

You need to think before you get one about why you actually want it.
There seems to be loads of people on FB groups that buy one and then are constantly just printing off tat or asking 'what shall I print next?'

I bought mine to learn about the process, practice 3D CAD away from work and to make things to fix specific jobs around the house.
It's definitely a good way of learning about the design side of things, but can be a steep learning curve depending on what you want to achieve.
I'm a mechanical design engineer so had that side of things covered already.

Too give you an idea of things you can print that are actually useful, here's a few of the things I've done to solve a specific problem:

Shim for our rotary washing line
New centre for our garden table as the original was too small for a new parasol to fit through.
Pan lid holders to screw inside cupboard door
Spacer plate for bathroom latch
Nespresso pod spinning holder
Widget to hold cistern fill nozzle in place. It kept rotating over time and the cistern would leak
Spacer for Boost front wheel on standard Make bike carrier
Bird to fix a mates kitchen drawer
Holder/organiser for Terracycle recycling
Hand guards for daughters balance bike
Custom get to raise dining chair up for daughter
Clips for a blind at my sister's house
Chargebank stand/cable organiser.....

Etc......

I find the more I print, the more ideas for new things I think of

I've had cable guides made by Shapeways before (someone elses design) the quality was excellent very robust much better than I've seen from mates diy printers.

@Dmelsome, do you have any links to the project itself? I'm having some trouble with teh stls you linked

Cougar
Free Member

Do you find yourself spending your entire life looking for things you can make?

Sort of. I had a purpose for it when I got it, but you do see a lot of folks blatantly just printing stuff for the sake of it. Lots of wriggly animals eh MC? And nothing wrong with that, it can be a hobby or a toy or a tool. I think it depends totally on the person these days, it used to be you really had to get into printing as a hobby itself, when the machines absolutely sucked. These days with an Ender 3 or better you can really just build it and go and get good results.

Sure thing - it is https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/build-your-own-weather-station/1

The STL links are at the bottom of the page, apologies for the dodgy links.

Cheers.

Dave

@Northwind https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3795548

I’m after a set of these.... Do you think it’s something you’d be able to print please? Obviously in exchange for money 🙂

Oh OK, those look pretty simple. it'd be better if I had the enclosures in hand so I could confirm the fit after printing but otherwise, wouldn't expect any issues. My prin.ter's down right now but I may be able to turn that around pretty quick- let me have a think

Same I think for yours Phil, but same qualification. One of youse, remind me tomorrow or monday 🙂

If northwave doesn't get up and running then give me a shout and I can do them.

Cool, thanks. I have ordered the enclosures from Farnell so I will shout when they have arrived - I am guessing that will be in the week.

Cheers.

Dave

If you're looking for printing projects that have a use you could try this..

On bike tools

Cheers guys.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3795548

I’m after a set of these…

Fourth photo in there is a prime candidate for Argh, My Eye...!

@Northwind

Same I think for yours Phil, but same qualification. One of youse, remind me tomorrow or monday 🙂

Well I forgot to remind you and it’s Tuesday but it would great if you can help thank you 👍🙂

I got distracted last night and dismantled one of my old printers (*) instead of sorting the tiny issue that the Ender has, so it's still not quite going. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow!

(*and oh my god did it feel good. **** you, Anet A4, you were fun to watch with your mad robot spider legs but you were also absolutely shite. Get in the scrap bins with teh Tevo and think about what you've done)

Just waiting for a part. This might drag on a little bit

I got distracted last night and dismantled one of my old printers (*) instead of sorting the tiny issue that the Ender has, so it’s still not quite going. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow!

I don’t have much experience of 3D printing but it does seem to be more a hobby and people seem to take them apart a lot to tinker.

I’m in no rush, good luck getting it back together 🙂

phil5556 & Northwind - I didn't comment previously, but am happy to jump in & have a look at the bits you require - these camper van adaptor things.

This weekend I've got to design & print some cloud-shaped cutters for my Wife to use on our daughter's birthday cake, so will have it all fired up.

Let me know, if you want me to take a look.

I don’t have much experience of 3D printing but it does seem to be more a hobby and people seem to take them apart a lot to tinker.

OP I'm also happy to take a look necessary. Wouldn't mind doing a Pi weather station myself at some point. Not looked into it much yet though... any reason you chose this particular project, I imagine there's loads of similar ones out there?

Sorry to hijack, but can I ask what the most common type of file is used for the printing process and is there free software available to create these?

bigdugsbaws

Sorry to hijack, but can I ask what the most common type of file is used for the printing process and is there free software available to create these?

The work flow is:

3-D file - normally in a format specific to the 3-D software used.
Convert to STL file normally using 'save as...' in the design software.

Open STL file in slicing software & 'slice' the part to create a GCODE file that the 3-D printer can use. The gcode file will not just have the print details in it such as temperature, print speed etc. but also has dimensions of the printer etc. so it puts it in the required place on the print bed.

For free software, there are tons of free design CAD packages out there. I use Fusion360, but there's Tinkercad, Freecad etc. If you are doing more organic designs, then I think something like Blender is more appropriate, but that's not really my thing.

In terms of slicing software, again there's tons out there. I use Cura & have used Ideamaker in the past.

If you want to look for pre-made designs to download (normally in STL format) that you can stick straight into a slicer look at Thingiverse, although there are plenty of others out there.

STL is the format accepted by all the "slicer" software I've seen (which translates the 3d object into something the printer can use)

Loads of free options. The enthusiasts use Fusion 360 by Autodesk, massively comprehensive app for 3d design & manufacture with a steep learning curve, but currently free for hobbyists! It's definitely what I'd recommend if you're looking to get into it though.

Haven't used any of these but seen plenty of peeps recommending both TinkerCAD (also by Autodesk) and OnShape (which has both paid & free versions) as simpler alternatives. There's also FreeCAD or even OpenSCAD (if you want to do it programmatically for some weird reason!)

Those are all CAD packages i.e. for engineering stuff. For more freeform/organic modelling (sculptures etc) everyone seems to recommend Blender which is totally free/open source. Keep meaning to learn this myself but it apparently has a horrific learning curve/UI so I've been putting it off 😂

You don't always need to do the slicing step, more commercial printers will do that for you, just load it with a .stl file, which you create as above x2.

yeah you would never slice something you aren't going to print yourself, as it's very specific for whatever combination of materials, printer & desired quality/finish you're after.

Wouldn’t mind doing a Pi weather station myself at some point. Not looked into it much yet though… any reason you chose this particular project, I imagine there’s loads of similar ones out there?

I found it on the Raspberry Pi projects site, as I understand it logs to WeatherUnderground. TBH not really worked out what to do with it until it is built 🙂

It's alive! And, er, has some sort of filament contamination issue obviously but otherwise, STW Print Factory is go for the first prototype

https://imgur.com/71x1FAY

It is, of course, just a flat bit of plastic that you could make with scissors but, 3d printing is cooler, just because scissors are cheap and everyone can work them basically

Most alarmingly, the googly eyes have fallen off the print head.

Ooh this is exciting 🙂 Also you’ve timed it perfectly, the blinds for my van turned up yesterday which means the little adapters would come in handy when I get around to fitting them 🙂

@stumpy01 sorry I didn’t acknowledge your offer, think I must have missed it, thanks a lot for the offer. Obviously I’m happy for anyone to make my bits, I’m not fussy 🙂

Keep meaning to learn this myself but it apparently has a horrific learning curve

Blender doesn’t have a learning curve so much as a learning wall.

Blender doesn’t have a learning curve so much as a learning wall.

Oooh, I might have to try that. The first time I tried to pick it up I was still reasonably handy with 3dsMax so naively thought I’d pick it up quickly. Very wrong!

If I could find me an Acorn Archimedes with Autosketch on it, I could design some stuff.

Printer now whirring away happily, just drying out some ABS filament for the STW projects.

Just to tie this thread in with bikes a bit more I thought i'd share my frame building jig I made with 3d printed fixtures 🙂

@phil, how many do you need? And how sturdy do you reckon they need to be? It's a simple thing to print but it'd be handy to see exactly how it works just so I can get the strength where it needs to be

(the prints are basically lots of layers laid on top of each other, so they're way stronger in some diretions than in others. So I can rotate the piece to make the most of that)

Ah no, ignore that, I was getting the parts mixed up!

Ah I’d just gone off to find you a picture too 🙂

There's loads of pics on the thingiverse page, apparently I can make stuff out of plastic string using fire and tame lightning, but I can't look at pictures

I can make stuff out of plastic string using fire and tame lightning

i'm using that, ta :-D.

we just got a prusa at work. well, when i say we, i mean my gaffer bought it, and it's his toy. i haven't got a scooby but fusion 360 is on my horizon. which is going to be a challenge i suspect. we're going to get ourselves making an mpcnc https://www.v1engineering.com/  though and the first bit has been printed...

Del - have you looked at other options than the MPCNC? There is also the Root3 or Root4 CNC, as well as the RS-CNC32.

Alexsimon on this forum has a Root3 and rates it highly.

they look interesting and i see they use square section rather than tube. i'll take another look when i have some more time. thanks for the ideas. there are reasons for us wanting a machine that uses more off the shelf parts. we already have a base for the cnc which is a sandwich of two sheets of ally, with an ally core 60mm thick, drilled and tapped m6 in a grid pattern 600x600. should be pretty flat and make a pretty solid platform. 😉

i'm looking forward to what we're going to be able to do with the thing once it's built. a couple of components already printed but it'll take a few weeks to get it all together.

Got your enclosures dmelsome, one part fits a charm, the other has some oddness that I've hopefully sorted.

Phil, done some of your parts but the big ones have sent me off on a Perfectionist Doom Spiral which will take a little while to get through.

If I could find me an Acorn Archimedes with Autosketch on it, I could design some stuff.

I might have the PC version of AutoSketch somewhere, I no longer use it. PM me.