3D Printing - General Thread

[Hydrostat]

Stumbled over that: http://carbon3d.com/
That's going to be interesting ...

Cheers,
Volker

[mabloodhound]

That is astounding Volker.  Sure seems to solve some of the inherent problems with layer printing.

[finescalerr]

I sure hope they perfect that process and can offer it at a reasonable price. Seems to have terrific potential. -- Russ

[Hauk]

I sure hope they perfect that process and can offer it at a reasonable price. Seems to have terrific potential. -- Russ

Great potential, indeed!
But resolution needs to be far better, the only thing I found regarding resolution was "better than 100 microns". It should be be closer to 10 microns to compete with Fine Line Prototyping.

Speaking of FLP, I found  a forum posting on RMweb by a Finnish modeler that uses FLP for resin masters:
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/96279-project-masters-for-resin-casting/

Micro Fine Green by FLP is still the gold standard for 3D-printing, it seems.

But It comes at a cost, masters for the H0 diesel would set you back around USD 1170,- !

[eTraxx]

for those curious .. the FLP Design Guidelines page
http://www.protolabs.com/stereolithography/design-guidelines

The Micro Resolution .. which is Micro Fine Green (looks like) - Layer thickness of 0.001 in. with minimum feature size of 0.002 in.

using the Inches to Microns conversion page - http://www.metric-conversions.org/length/inches-to-microns.htm
that is a 25.4 micron layer thickness .. but the important thing .. IMHO .. ist he minimum feature size of 50.8 microns. That is 0.0508 mm. Shapeways' FUD has a minimum of 0.1mm .. so the Micro Fine Green is only twice the resolution of FUD. Not knocking them .. that's great .. but .. not too shabby SW.

With a minimum of 0.1mm .. and with 25.4mm to an inch the resolution of FUD (my little mind needs visual comparisons) .. is 254 dpi (drops per inch??). Mico Fine Green there fore is twice that or 508 dpi.

[finescalerr]

If I were to offer a commercial HO scale diesel, and assuming a run of 100 pieces, $1,200 for masters would seem reasonable. Especially since the guy said they required no sanding or filing. -- Russ

[eTraxx]

I tossed some primer on some prints. The rack and bottles on the left are 1:24 .. seems that up into the mid 50's this was how you bought oil at a gas station .. glass bottles with a metal spout.  The rest are bits from a traveling crane i am working on in 1:48. These are in the order of test prints to see what I messed up. The blocks for example I had to re-work because the space for the cable between the top of the sheaves and the block body was too small. I don't what that *&#$% is on the pulleys .. it doesn't show so must have been some trash when I took the pic.

One thing I realized when primering them is that I need to add an additional small sprue so I can hold them while shooting primer with my locking tweezers.

[Bill Gill]

Good looking parts, Ed. Could you poke a toothpick into the center of the pulleys to hold them for painting? That would avoid removing a sprue nub.

[eTraxx]

that or a wire come to think of it. I'm slow in the mornings before I've had all my coffee

[finescalerr]

That's how the parts look without filing or sanding and nothing more than an overspray of primer? If so, most satisfactory. -- Russ

[eTraxx]

Russ - yep. Just tossed them in some Bestine and  an Ultrasonic Cleaner to get the last of the support wax off and primered them.

[eTraxx]

Just got this email from Shapeways ..

The high points for me were ..


What's happening? On April 15th we are:

Introducing Frosted Extreme Detail (FXD), with a higher resolution than Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD)
Retiring Frosted Detail (FD); FUD will remain unchanged
Renaming the Detail Plastics materials Acrylic Plastics

Frosted Extreme Detail has a higher resolution than Frosted Ultra Detail, decreasing the layer height from 29 to 16 microns

[Hauk]

Just got this email from Shapeways ..

The high points for me were ..


What's happening? On April 15th we are:

Introducing Frosted Extreme Detail (FXD), with a higher resolution than Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD)
Retiring Frosted Detail (FD); FUD will remain unchanged
Renaming the Detail Plastics materials Acrylic Plastics

Frosted Extreme Detail has a higher resolution than Frosted Ultra Detail, decreasing the layer height from 29 to 16 microns

That is great news! And maybe this will force FineLine Prototyping to lower their prices.

[finescalerr]

Who needs 'em? Now we have Bexley! -- Russ

[marc_reusser]

Drawn in SU...and sent to Shapeways (this is being done in their "old" FUD)...so the new stuff should be wonderful when it becomes available.