New RepRap to slowly be built from Objet parts.

I run a multitude of RP/3D Printers at work (see signature). I have always mentioned to my co-workers that I would love a home machine to tinker on but since I don't have $5,000 to $10,000 laying around for something I would be less than satisfied with, I figured that day would come when 10 years from now when the technology gets cheaper. I then stumbled upon the RepRap Community it was the answer I was looking for. So over the course of the next few months since my schedule and budget allow me to do this build slowly I will be building a RepRap and I will be starting with the parts to get my frame and axis built. I have an Objet Connex 500 at work and I love it. I have been given permission to print out the parts I need, my co-workers are as curious as I am. I will post pics when I have parts to show. My parts will be sprinkled in builds for our customers so I won't be running one massive build. Unfortunatally I can not offer parts off the Objet for anyone else's build but when my RepRap is running would be happy to build parts on it for others. I plan to run ABS on the RepRap.

Curly

Sounds very cool.
As a request, could you get some video of the Objet printing a RepRap part, please?

Oh, wow, you lucky thing! AND amenable employers, too. Sounds like fun.
Mine is being built extremely slowly - even more slowly than I expected. I started back in April, and despite hard work, there's still nothing to show!

(I had been hoping to get it finished by the end of this month, now I'm thinking perhaps by the end of next summer!)

I hope you enjoy your little project. I am still enjoying mine.

---

Hazel

[copycatbot.blogspot.com]

You might want to consider PLA instead of ABS. From what I understand, it is much less prone to thermal warping:

[builders.reprap.org]

Grogyan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds very cool.
> As a request, could you get some video of the
> Objet printing a RepRap part, please?


I will try my best.

I just ran 4 corner blocks and they look awesome. Pics to come soon. I am running more parts now.

Here are some pics of what I ran today. As I said I LOVE my Objet machine it is such an awesome machine.





Below is my next build. figured I would get some smaller stuff out of the way.






Curly

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2009 08:21PM by Curlrup.

Nice parts, but what happened to the tops of the bed corner brackets? They seem to be truncated at 5mm high, but they should be more like 50mm tall.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

nophead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice parts, but what happened to the tops of the
> bed corner brackets? They seem to be truncated at
> 5mm high, but they should be more like 50mm tall.


Yep they were about 20 minute into the build. I will post a pic tonight of the finished build.

Here is that build finished. I have another build rolling now. Gotta love that Objet machine.


This one you can see the print head.






More to come.

Simply Beautiful! I work for an engineering firm and we go to SolidWorks World every year. All the big 3d printer companies are there and I just love what they can make.

I really hope the Mendel design improves the part quality of the RepRaps parts. I have seen some really nice pieces printed and some really bad ones. Hopefully it is just a matter of tuning up your RepRap. It will be interesting to see if a RepRap made with very accurate parts produces more accurate parts.

~josh

Josh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Simply Beautiful! I work for an engineering firm
> and we go to SolidWorks World every year. All the
> big 3d printer companies are there and I just love
> what they can make.
>
> I really hope the Mendel design improves the part
> quality of the RepRaps parts. I have seen some
> really nice pieces printed and some really bad
> ones. Hopefully it is just a matter of tuning up
> your RepRap. It will be interesting to see if a
> RepRap made with very accurate parts produces more
> accurate parts.
>
> ~josh

That is my hope that some really good quality RP parts for my Darwin will help alot with build quality and accuracy of my machine when built.

Curly

Built a carrage for my extruder.





I know what your thinking why is the surface finish rough around and under holes. On an Objet machine you can run parts in Glossy mode or Matte mode. In Matte mode it covers the entire part with the support material which gives you a smooth but matte finish like you see under and around the holes. In glossy mode it will only putt down support material under the part like a raft and under any overhangs that need support and in any holes in the the part. If it puts support in an area it builds that support all the way down the wall to the platform. Anyway if support doesn't touch a surface it comes out super glossy. That is my one complaint with Objet parts you can not edit the support structure

Slowly getting there.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2009 08:06PM by Curlrup.

Amazing parts!

They can be built without support on RepRap because the overhangs are less than 45 degrees. Does Object need support for all overhangs, or can it build out at an angle?

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

The Objet uses a very thin liquid photopolymer. Almost the same forumulation as an SLA machine photopolymer. It sprays out each layer from a print head similar to an ink jet printer head. SInce there is a dot pattern and the liquid is very thin it uses the support material as a corral to keep that liquid there until it cures. However it needs a good raft to get those first few layers started and to attach it to the platform. The software unfortunatally is not very forgiving so if there is any overhang or hole it will put support there.

I know I said all Objet parts for my Reprap but what do you do when your FDM goes down and the the repair guy loads grey ABS and needs a 12-15 hour "test build"? You make some corner brackets. So 4 of my corner brackets will be FDM.

Here it is building



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2009 10:44PM by Curlrup.

My parts are built faster than expected. My hardware is ordered and my electronics are ordered. Well all but my stepper controllers. I'm going all Makerbot Gen 3 on this. Also the pinchwheel extruder. Here are the finished parts.



I will also be making some panels or skins for mine to make it look less skeletal and more like a mainstream machine. Skins should help control the temps in the build envelope and hopefully help limit warpage. More to come soon.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2009 10:59PM by Curlrup.

It will look great when its all done

I'm wondering how a Mendel would look with parts made from that Objet machine

Grogyan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It will look great when its all done
>
> I'm wondering how a Mendel would look with parts
> made from that Objet machine


I know I hit the point of no return on the Darwin and then the Mendel design gets releaed....Oh well I'll get this one built them make a Mendel from what I learned off the Darwin. So you might see an Objet Mendel in the future.

It's always great to be an insider and use spare machine time. What would these parts have cost if a customer had called you up and ordered them?

Curlup,

A related question: Would your employer be willing to venture an estimate for a set of parts, if they were to be printed on an as-available basis, (e.g. using up slack time/bed space on various machines), and not necessarily all made out of the same material?

Thanks,

Larry

Sorry folks I am very lucky I was able to run my parts. It was made very clear that my machine was the only one to be run and that it was going to also double as a research/learning project for myself and my coworkers.

hello all! been trying to find a forum like this for some time now.been picking up little tips all over the internet for the past couple of weeks now and have just purchased my FIRST 3D printer...my pride and joy! well, not yet, just building it at the moment as it came flat packed with some instrustions that are alot easier than the old 'ikea' manual!! got it from www.bitsfrombytes.co.uk, a company near bristol that have replicated the reprap machine for a fraction of the price...couldnt belive it. i thought i was looking to pay thousands like most of them! any questions and i'll try and answer them and i'll keep you posted on the build guys...happy printing!

As a data point, I looked at the cost of printing a darwin using a rapid prototyper machine at the local university. I used the volume measurements from nophead's blog.

It came to about $340 USD. And that is an at-cost estimate for just the materials (no markup for machine time). This was for both a 3D Systems SLA Viper si and an ObJet Eden 350 (they were very close in cost).

That's the problem with most commercial RP machines - the material costs so damn much. I think they have an HP model - sell the printers for cheap, and clean up on the refills.

In contrast, the material cost using ABS welding rod was something like $20 (again from nophead's site).

[hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

quadshop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a data point, I looked at the cost of printing
> a darwin using a rapid prototyper machine at the
> local university. I used the volume measurements
> from nophead's blog.
>
> It came to about $340 USD. And that is an at-cost
> estimate for just the materials (no markup for
> machine time). This was for both a 3D Systems SLA
> Viper si and an ObJet Eden 350 (they were very
> close in cost).
>
> That's the problem with most commercial RP
> machines - the material costs so damn much. I
> think they have an HP model - sell the printers
> for cheap, and clean up on the refills.
>
> In contrast, the material cost using ABS welding
> rod was something like $20 (again from nophead's
> site).
>
> [hydraraptor.blogspot.com]
> rs-second-child.html


Bottom line professional machines are very expensive to purchase, run, and maintain. That cost get spassed to the consumer.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2009 12:33PM by Curlrup.

I hear you, working with some high school students that are building a repstrap.

They also have a powder 3D machine where the powder is $500.00 a bucket and not that reliable of a machine.

freds Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I hear you, working with some high school students
> that are building a repstrap.
>
> They also have a powder 3D machine where the
> powder is $500.00 a bucket and not that reliable
> of a machine.


Based on what you just said you have a Zcorp. Biggest waste of RO technology on the market. If you make action figures it's fine anything else that has some functionality to it? Forget about it.

Your right, though there is local movement at the UW to come up with a public domain mix to do ceramics.

I wonder if there would be enough physical strength to take it down to the art department and fire it to support a Mendel?

freds Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your right, though there is local movement at the
> UW to come up with a public domain mix to do
> ceramics.
>
> I wonder if there would be enough physical
> strength to take it down to the art department and
> fire it to support a Mendel?


Might work if you can get an infiltrant that won't get in the way of the paricles fusing. I'm looming for the company but they make a vacuum chamber type infiltrating system that infiltrates Zcorp under vacuum and makes their parts a lot stronger than normal. They might actually be usable. I post it if I find it.

... or try with moulding - so you can have any structural stability of your moulding material and the geometry of the printed part ...