PLA is pretty stiff to start with, but its super-low glass transition temp won't be changed by the carbon fiber. In my car, the PLA parts will warp in the summertime. I found this out last year, the hard way. When in sunlight, the PLA parts will warp when the outside air temp is only 32°C (90°F) even though I had the window cracked 25mm (1 inch)! On an overcast day, PLA parts warped when the tempby Beekeeper - General
I have been always amazed at the number of all metal hot ends that are based on stainless steel. I don't know why there is such a fixation on stainless steel, other than it conducts heat kind of poorly and won't rust when left on a shelf in high humidity environments. Of course, it does sound cooler to say "stainless steel". In industrial plastic equipment, there are no stainless steel componentsby Beekeeper - General
Hi, I purchased this Ramps 1.4 board stack from Reprapdiscount. It was used about 4 to 5 months, then caught fire. Is there a known defect in the Ramps 1.4 boards? The fire is on the Heat Bed Circuit, and a Prusa MK1 heat bed is used, that is in good shape with a good resistance. Here are some pics: Any answers would be greatly appreciated. I just want to make sure it doesn't happen again.by Beekeeper - RAMPS Electronics
Sell them on eBay to 3Doodler backers. They can only use short lengths (of 3mm filament).by Beekeeper - General
richrap Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You should be printing PLA at 195 with the Prusa > V2 nozzle, not at 220-240, that's really way too > hot for any hot-end. PLA starts to breakdown after > 220. Somehow Makerbot's default and recommended temp for a Replicator 2 is 230°C. And their parts curl up off the printbed. They have to superheat the PLA toby Beekeeper - General
I'm working on it, but don't have it ready for sale yet.by Beekeeper - Polymer Working Group
Makerbot, Ultimachine, Lulzbot, and Village Plastics all use Chi Mei's PA-947 ABS. It's a yellowish cream color in it's natural state. The reason it is used in the US is because it is what Village Plastics processes. PA-947 most likely accounts for greater than 50% of the ABS used in 3d printers because it is one of the most popular general purpose ABS grades and from the largest ABS manufacturerby Beekeeper - Polymer Working Group
I print parts for new printers, tooling fixtures (for a machine shop), Go-No Go gages, proof of concept prototypes, replacement parts (very few because the original parts never seem to break or wear out), toys & figurines for children (and shows), and 3D models for people learning how to do 3D modeling (kind of a bonus reward for learning how to model correctly). I have found that people, esby Beekeeper - General
Did the BFB printers not work well? Or did they not sell well? From my perspective, they were a bit pricey, but I never saw one personally. Just curious what the owners of them thought. Very sad for the owners of them to lose their support from 3D Systems. That is the great thing about RepRap printers and community though, there is always support.by Beekeeper - General
Hi, I just read the latest issue of RepRap Magazine. It is extremely well done and very interesting. If you had anything to do with the production or support of the RepRap Magazine, I want to Thank You. You produced a First Class periodical that was both educational and entertaining. If you haven't had the pleasure to read either of the issues, do yourself a favor and take a look. I happenedby Beekeeper - General
I use two types of foam. Nearest the printer, I use a closed cell foam (think EVA foam like in tennis shoes), and directly on top of the table I use an open celled polyurethane with a very low durometer and slow recover. I got the open cell PU foam from a vacuum cleaner manufacturer and it works extremely well. There is a HDPE lined paper backing that is on the bottom of the open celled foam. Theby Beekeeper - General
"it's still cash flow positive and profitable" - actually, according to the Motley Fool "Phenix Systems posted a $2.5 million loss on just $6.1 million in revenue last year, 3D Systems indicated that those losses shouldn't continue long". Truthfully, even if they do continue, 3D Systems could probably care less, they are more interested in the revenue right now and cornering the 3d printing markeby Beekeeper - General
As a side note, I have been interested in purchasing testing equipment for PPM VOC, moisture testing, vapor testing, etc.. I need to find good affordable equipment though, so it takes time. Very few labs have the right equipment, and far fewer have it for sale. I have a Fisher Scientific fume hood, Instron Tensile tester with load cells specific for testing plastics (although I would like to updby Beekeeper - General
The trimmer line has not been kept in an extremely low humidity condition. In fact, it is saturated with moisture on purpose to allow for greatly increased flexibility. When Weed Eater first came out with the first weed eaters, they had problems with the nylon lines they were using. Because they were too "dry" the lack of moisture on recently produced line made the lines brittle. Their solution wby Beekeeper - General
The US just converted to a "First to File" patent country. Theoretically, a company could attend a Makerfaire, find a a great idea someone else developed, be the first to file for a patent on that invention, and end up with the patent protection for 20 years for a device they didn't create or develop. It is a great benefit for large companies with teams of patent lawyers on their payroll.by Beekeeper - General
Yeah, once a year makes it an "Event", more than that dilutes it's significance. The timing in March is also good, months away from any major Makerfaires and not much snow to contend with. I would like to see nametags with RepRap Irc/Forum tags in addition to names. A lot of people were there and rarely do people know the "real" names of others or what they look like.by Beekeeper - General
I'm very glad Josef took the time to come. He spent more time in airports to get to MRRF than most of us spend packing and driving. His plane ticket cost more than your first Makerbot, and the ticket stub won't print anything. The "Prusa" version of the Mendel simplified RepRap printers and saved tens of thousands of dollars and put more printers in the reach of thousands more people, it was/is aby Beekeeper - General
Molded parts are limited generally to either thin uniform wall thickness parts (up to around 2.5mm thick), single side parts (used in sets to make all sides, like cases), with foaming methods ( up to around 12mm thick), or with gas assist that leave large voids in the internal cavities (like glorified blow molding with thicker parts). 3D Printing allows for internal structure, all faces being "fiby Beekeeper - General
To Seemecnc, johnolly99, josefprusa, os1r1s, and everyone involved in MRRF, THANKS! It was very intertaining and a great deal of fun. It's really great to see so many different types of printers and modifications at the same time. Well done, I hope to be there next year as well! I was there for only 1.5 days, but next year, it will be for the full 3 days. If you didn't get a chance to attendby Beekeeper - General
I called today to ask if it was still on, and it is. It starts on Friday March 15th at 4pm and goes til around 2am, then starts up early Saturday and does the same, and Sunday is early until??? Sounds like a lot of fun.by Beekeeper - General
Very nicely done, with very informative articles. I also look forward to the next issue.by Beekeeper - General
PS or High Impact PS? It should be possible, but an extrusion grade PS would have to be used to make the filament. I plan on trying it out by this time next month in 3mm filament.by Beekeeper - General
I have been using a stove to fiberglass gasket cement to cinch up any gaps in by brass hot end resistor block, and it works pretty well. I've never had one fail, but was wondering if using a heat sink grease would be better? If a resistor did fail, it would probably be pretty hard to remove if it has been cemented in place. With heat sink grease, it would be easier. Any thoughts?by Beekeeper - General
I've noticed that PLA gears hold up better than ABS Gears (unless you hit their low Glass Transition Temp). I posted a short video where I tried to destroy both, PLA won easily. I printed the ABS gears at 50% fill and the PLA gears at only a 25% fill, and it was no contest. PLA does seam to have a minor "wear in" for the first 50 hours of printing, but after that, they are practically perfect. Iby Beekeeper - General
@ Sublime, I print nearly everything at .3mm in both ABS and PLA with a .5mm nozzle tip, and occasionally with a .35mm nozzle (although I normally drop the layer height to 0.20 to 0.25mm for improved prints for the 0.35mm nozzles). There are a lot of suppliers that print 0.4mm layer heights with a 0.5mm nozzle. Lulzbot does it at least with their Extruder body and their Extruder Idler parts, andby Beekeeper - Printing
If you can post some pictures of your machine setup and your nozzle / extruder design, it would also be very helpful. Also, what PLA are you using? Where did you purchase it from? Not all PLA processes the same, some of the cheap stuff from China is really just garbage. Your heat is WAY to high for PLA. Also, what speeds are you using? The speed you print at will drastically change the temperatby Beekeeper - Printing
prcdslnc13 & kugel, lower your plastic print temperature to around 230°C and turn OFF any fans/cooling you are using. You have a pretty big cooling issue, your room temperature is quite low for printing ABS. The delamination of the ABS plastic is due to overcooling of your parts. With a room temperature that low, you are fighting a loosing battle. I would recommend what they call "turkey baby Beekeeper - Printing
@ VDX: I agree. Fused powder offers a far better supply and spectrum of materials than FFF or photopolymers ever will. The rotomolding industry saw to that. I have a Panasonic Automatic soldering machine that I purchased used at an industrial auction for only $25. It used a remote fiberoptic feed with lenses to maximize the heat focused on one point. It was good enough to melt solder, so I wasby Beekeeper - General
The glass transition temp at 55°C (131° F) would be a problem outside if the sun warms it too much. I had several objects warp because they were sitting on the front seat of my car on a day that peaked at only 32°C (90 °F). The parts were in direct sunlight for a couple of hours with the windows closed. This would especially be a problem if it has some force acting on it that would deform it moby Beekeeper - General
He should show Cathy Lewis (from 3D Systems) how to use hers. The Cube at TCT2012 show didn't produce very good prints. Check out Richrap's Blog for more info.by Beekeeper - General