3D printer, printed parts

Hi,

I'm looking at building a hypercube, I've managed to source all the components apart from the 3d printed parts. So far I've had 2 quotes and they're both over 1000 pounds. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I could get these printed in the UK for a reasonable price. I'm assuming PLA would be the best material at this point for cost.

Thanks

both over 1000 pounds!!! gold and diamond filament....
i can do it between £14 or £28 for multi colour + beer PM me if you dont get a better offer

jinx is right, what kind of joker wants over a thousand pounds for some 3D printed plastic parts?
You can get them done cheap at a local maker space or (possibly) library. Or find someone near you with a printer, they'll do it for peanuts (or beer).

Thanks jinx, trakyan.

I'm new to this so it was about to be a very short lived hobby at those prices, Good to know. I did potentially ask for a very expensive filament, I think it was black ABS though. Sorry for the late response I'm working on a boat at the moment

black abs is often the cheapest as any old abs filament can be reprocessed and redyed as black.

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grey
I'm new to this so it was about to be a very short lived hobby at those prices

the first printer always costly, 2nd gets cheaper

not a £1000 mind you not for a hypercube, think if i had nothing thou i risk £130 on one of those prusa clones print the parts for the Hcube then rob it out for the mech & tronics parts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2018 05:20AM by jinx.

Better yet, get one that's slightly more expensive and made of extrusions and you can reuse those too. If you are building a hypercube though, I'd look at changing how the X rails are set up.

I checked my SmartRap Mini 2 parts costs using VooDooMfg in NYC, they wanted $75+sh for PLA.

It takes me about 1/3 of a 2kg roll (about 100m??), and about 23hrs to print a full set.

What do you guys think of that? Too high? Reasonable?

800g roll of PLA is around 25units
your estimate of 1/3 of 2kg is ~667g
(100m of what? 1.75mm or 3mm diameter filament?)
23hrs for 3units/h is 69units
69 and ~20 is 89units, you 75ish units sounds reasonable.

BUT!

You should really avoid using PLA for your printer frame (especially the hotend holder), I suggest ABS or PETG.

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Proud owner and maker of build from scratch FDM 3D printer [forums.reprap.org]

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orbitalair
What do you guys think of that? Too high? Reasonable?

age old question of 3DP, how much is one's time worth. I guess variation in cost and prices comes down to who doing the printing and there reasons, take me as a hobbyist which doesnt have the over heads a company has too cover so can offer to print for the cost of filament and the joy of printing. a company in someways have to cover the running cost of the printers, pay wages/rent and taxes etc.
Then there the ethical questions surrounding the License of an object like the GNU attached to the SmartRap which seems to me to open the door for 3rd parties to charge whatever/however they can get for the object, where as the hypercube has a NonCommercial element attached too it, which too me doesn't prevent anyone from printing a set of parts for others, you just cant profit from it and its for that reason I offered such a low price literally covers the cost of a cheap spool PLA. hell someone wasnt fussy about colour i do it for the fun of printing.

to answer your question thou I think $75 + shipping to much for PLA

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rossos
You should really avoid using PLA for your printer frame (especially the hotend holder), I suggest ABS or PETG.

why

The PLA plastic does not share the thermal qualifications for that.

For your consideration:
"PLA like to develop stress cracks over time, just like laser-cut acrylic does, and it will also deform under continuous pressure like under a tight screw head and basically very slowly flow out of the way. It’s also probably the material with the lowest usable temperature, so PLA is definitely not dishwasher or even sunshine-safe, but that’s also what keeps it from warping during a print." - [toms3d.org]

What happens when the Hotend falls off: [www.reddit.com]

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Proud owner and maker of build from scratch FDM 3D printer [forums.reprap.org]

well we can ignore the reddit link that would happen no matter what plastic was used for parts.



pla parts 1 1/2 years of active printing further 2 years in storage no cracks no deterioration on inspection PLA does just fine for me and many others

more pla parts


lets be honest we aint going to be shoving a printer in a dishwasher either, even sunshine-safe not completely accurate either, pla doesnt mind sunshine what it doesnt like is exposure to 30-40C for 8 hours of the day our Australian friends can attest to that.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2018 10:59AM by jinx.

PLA is just fine for the majority of the printer, just maybe not around the hotend. Though to be honest I've heard of quite a few people using PLA around the hotend with no issues. If the cold end (where you mount it) is getting hot enough to melt PLA, you'll be having problems printing. It's one of the most rigid plastics people commonly print with so that actually makes it a good choice for frame components compared to some other plastics. The part about stress cracks and creeping under stress seems too anecdotal for my tastes, I've never noticed PLA to be particularly susceptible to their those. If you want temperature resistance, anneal the PLA and it'll outperform just about any other plastic temperature wise. Just need to account for the shrinkage or build in some adjustment points into your part.

Going with that train of thought you would also avoid ABS for any parts exposed to sunlight and other UV light sources since it deteriorates under those conditions. You also wouldn't want it near the hotend because it can readily sustain a flame (unlike PLA).

Also, I think this is the same fire you linked to [hackaday.com]
They were both anet a8s owned by a fella named John, so I'm going out on a limb here. A few things to note, the plastic around the hotend was ABS (not PLA). Second, the heater cartridge underwent thermal runaway, those things can get hot enough to melt aluminium, no plastic you'll be 3D printing with has the "thermal qualifications" for that. Thirdly, the hotend didn't fall off, the heater cartridge came loose from the aluminium heater block and then came into contact with a fan shroud.

My point is build and operate the printer safely, don't blindly trust any material. I personally don't let my printers run unattended, and I wouldn't even if I had an ultimaker or prusa or whatever. Same way I don't leave my oven or soldering iron on overnight. I don't want to sound like a dick, but you're jumping to conclusions from pictures and articles without looking into things properly.

Oops, yes 1.75mm filament, about 1/3 of a 1kg roll. apologies for being inaccurate.

I have had a failure in the filament tensioner using PLA, over several months, it did crack. However there could be a few reasons for that, key being maybe poor layer adhesion. Another is likely poor part design, it needs work for other reasons, I'll address it then.

I would print parts for a small profit, so I could buy more 3d printer parts. The 'time' thing is hard to factor, I mean the vendor has hundreds of printers, and they watch them, but are otherwise unattended you know. My 'time' is 24hrs, their 'time' is likely considerably less. My working SmartRapMini is in ABS, while the photographic build up and fit and function printer is in PLA.

I can print either so I don't have a problem, I can let users choose. A true RepRap tho would be PLA !

Thanks for the ABS flammability notice, I will have to check that out more.

I wouldn't worry too much about the flammability thing for general use, after all most of the plastic stuff you buy is ABS. Just keep it in mind anywhere you expect there to be a chance of fire (heating elements, electronics). ABS isn't the only culprit but it's one of the more common. (plain) PLA, while having a low melting point and all that doesn't hold a flame on its own. Do you own fire testing though, some PLAs have additives that make them sustain a flame.

Better yet, make those parts metal.