Apparently, Arduino is coming out with a 3D printer ("Materia 101") and it's supposed to be amenable to modding: Any opinions on it?by sanman - General
We`ve found it pretty easy to pour modeling plaster into thermo-formed sheets, to make a plaster mold. We`ve been able to use those plaster molds to make even more thermo-formed sheets over and over, because the plaster pieces don`t suffer from any melting due to exposure to heat. So I thought it might be easiest next time to 3D-print some negatives of our 3D model. Then we could pour the plasteby sanman - General
Hi, I know many of you may answer ``RepRap``, but I`d like to ask which brand of 3D printer is best for being modified after purchase. By this I mean a printer which I can modify if I want to buy a better-quality hot end, or change some other component to improve it. Since I don`t feel I have the skills to build and calibrate a printer myself, I`d prefer to buy a printer instead of trying to maby sanman - General
My boss was looking to get some vacuum formed molds made, and so he paid $150 to have some place print out 3 parts in PLA and ABS, and then have those parts used to make molds via vacuum-forming (thermoforming) of HDPE. Well, the PLA parts started to give out after being used to make one vacuum-formed HDPE mold. The ABS parts lasted for 2 vacuum-forming sessions before giving out. The parts werby sanman - General
Some fellow is apparently developing his own version of Polyjet printing which could be much cheaper than what 3D Systems offers: [3dprint.com] But what's so attractive about Polyjet printing anyway? What does it offer? Is it true that it produces some of the finest quality printed parts? I've been reading that Polyjet printed parts can be used as finished quality goods. Is that true? Alsoby sanman - General
Interesting Kickstarter for a printer which combines 4 filaments in CMYK style to produce various color possibilities: Too bad they're not getting more interest on Kickstarter. I think this type of idea would help advance the popularity of 3D printing.by sanman - Crowdfunding Projects Announcements
I read this announcement by MatterFab [3dprint.com] What do you all think? Will this now make SLS more affordable and in reach of ordinary people and small businesses? How much do you think it will cost?by sanman - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
Here's an interesting article I came across relating to the claim of being able to 3D print optical lenses: www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=11129 QuoteThe reason why regular 3D printers cannot produce functioning optics is due to the fundamental way a 3D printer constructs its components - in cured layers. When these layers are fused together they form borders in between them. One of theby sanman - General
Apparently, Boeing and Lotus Engineering have announced their approach to effective fiber reinforcement through 3D printing: [3dprint.com] It has to do with mixing smaller-sized fibers with longer ones, which allows reinforcement between layers along their ortho-normal axis.by sanman - General
QuotepyrotronicsFor a electron beam to work there needs to be a vacuum. a vacuum is created by sucking out all the gas inside the chamber. If there is gas in the chamber the electrons aren't going to travel very far as they would have to push the gas molecules out of the way first. If it was air for instance it would arc through the air to the nearest metal object, e.g. the chamber and not behavby sanman - MetalicaRap
Would it be possible to create a 3D printer which can directly be fed plastic pellets to print them into plastic parts by integrating a filament extruder with a filament-consuming FDM printer? So the first part of the device would be like a filament extruder, and would accept plastic in pellet form, converting it into extruded plastic filament. The second part of the device would consume the plaby sanman - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Quotenicholas.seward The metal DLP is probably similar to how we can paste extrude metal clay and then put it in a kiln. Probably most SLA printers will work. But does this produce a metal part which is as strong as a forged metal part? Or will it be much weaker?by sanman - General
Heh, well maybe you could "shave" the part afterwards, as a post-processing step. Likewise, I'm wondering whether particle suspension in DLP liquid resin would result in a particle-loaded plastic part (eg. carbon black for increased conductivity) More recently I'd read that DLP may soon be able to create metal parts too, in a non-DMLS way: Does anybody even know how that works? Would any Sby sanman - General
Hi, Well, I'd like to be able to print plastic parts which can be directly used in a final product. Or else, I'd like to at least be able to print molds which can be used to make the parts. From what I've seen, the visible characteristics of DLP-fabricated parts look like that of hardened glue - as if I'd literally squeezed glue out of a glue bottle and let it harden into some precise shape. Fby sanman - General
Sorry if this has already been debated to death, but I'm not that knowledgable and I really want to know, before making a purchasing decision. Which is better overall - DLP printers or FDM printers? I've read conflicting information about this on the internet - some say that DLP is much more expensive in terms of materials, and that the selection of material types is also more limited. But otheby sanman - General
But which design can give you the best performance and features? I'd like a design which would allow me to load up on all the best features for producing the best quality parts possible. I'd like the heated bed, I'd like an all-metal hot end to allow me to print in high-end materials like polycarbonate, etc. I'd like multiple extrusion heads to do multiple materials simultaneously, I'd like bby sanman - General
What about being able to print with carbon fibers or other reinforcement fibers? What is the longest length of chopped fibers that can currently be printed with? What problems occur as your fiber length increases?by sanman - General
Hi, I'd read about some upcoming printer called David which has tentatively been announced by a company called Sculptify. They say their printer can accept plastic in the form of pellets instead of filament. I'd like to know - is there anyone in the RepRap community who has tried coming up with a way to do this? (On second thought, I suppose that's unlikely, because if anyone had successfullyby sanman - General
Is there any kind of chart which shows which materials become feasible as the hot-end temperature gets higher? Is the availability of materials for FDM/FFF printing purposes mainly a function of hot-end operating temperature? If not, then what are the other considerations to increase the types of useful materials which FDM/FFF printing can encompass? What changes or innovations are required inby sanman - General
So this thing can go upto 500°C?? What kind of higher performance materials can be processed at such high temperatures?by sanman - General
What are the most advanced or highest performing materials available for consumer-level FDM machines? When I say "highest performing", I mostly mean mechanical or thermal properties, but also perhaps anything that really stands apart from conventional materials like PLA or ABS in physical properties of a finished part. I've been doing a lot of googling and reading, and the ones I've come up withby sanman - General
QuoteMrDoctorDIV "The new prototype requires 250 times less electricity to operate than its conventional counterpart made of the same material." Not 250X less energy than lasers, 250X less than previous polariton beams. No, no - the polaritan laser takes 250X less energy than regular lasers to produce the same beam output. It also operates at room temperature, instead of requiring supercooling lby sanman - General
Scientists have developed a new type of laser, called a polariton laser, which can be generated using 250x less power: Polariton beams are said to have properties of both matter and light, since polaritons are a combination of a photon and an electron-hole pair. Could these unique properties provide benefits for a laser-sintering or electron-beam melting type of device? After all, if energy-sby sanman - General
Is there no way to do PEEK via a filament or even a granular extruder? What about Celazole or Duratron? (PBI)by sanman - General
2 of the largest 3D-printer makers, Stratasys and Makerbot are going to merge: Is this a good or a bad thing for consumers?by sanman - General
PEEK is supposed to have a high melt point: I've seen people on this forum discussing it. Are there any 3D printing processes capable of handling this material? What is the required temperature spec for this kind of application anyway?by sanman - General
VDX Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > sanman Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > -------------- > > ... > > What would be the ideal materials to additively > > fabricate a firearm from, to produce something > > with the best operating characteristics? > > ... ceramics ... Is brittleness an issue witby sanman - General
Yeah, I understand that "anti-gravity printing" is a phrase they came up with, for branding purposes. And yet it does still connote the fact that this approach to 3D fabbing can work from any kind of surface having any orientation or angle. The main thing for me is that it seems to be a new technique which I haven't really seen showcased by anyone before. Yes, it does look like a simple glue extby sanman - General
I think this thread is mainly turning into a political debate - the kind that could take place on any forum - whereas I think the talents and interests of most people on this forum would lean more towards the technical side of the discussion (ie. design and process considerations on making parts via 3D printing techniques) At any rate, I would think that the open-sourcing of firearms fabricationby sanman - General
I recently saw the video below, and this is the first time I've seen a 3D printer of this type: Is there a particular name/category for this kind of 3D printing? It seems like it could be espeecially useful for creating structures in outer space. I was thinking that printing such curvilinear segments could be useful in creating ribbing for pressure vessels. Alternatively, printing linear seby sanman - General