3D Printing - General Thread

[Bexley]

I don't think they're that bad. I think we pay around $50 a liter for the stuff we use in the B9.

Another interesting note is that the tech who came out was actually one of the engineers who designs and builds the things. He was aware of the B9, but once he saw the quality it produced (albeit only occasionally; consistency is not the B9's strong suit) he was intrigued enough to order one for their R&D shop to take apart and play with. One of the big differences between the two machines is robustness. They're essentially the same technology, but the "pro" machine is just beefier and more stable, which will be critical in maintaining accuracy.

[Bexley]

Unfortunately, the machine has had some issues. Mostly, a broken cable on the counterweight for the hood. The first (calibration) print went correctly. I'd show it here, but it's just a hollow 1cm x 1cm x 1cm cube, so it doesn't really give you a sense of anything. (Interestingly, it printed at exactly 1x1x1, so no additional shrinkage calibration was necessary.)

The second print, which was a figure from one of our freelance sculptors, failed. It went fine for a half an inch or so, then something caused a layer to not attach, and so all subsequent layers failed as well. The second attempt at that print ended with the same result. It is most likely a file issue, so we are now printing some files sent to us by the technician, to verify that the machine works. If that does print, I should have something pretty nifty to show off here, since it's not a proprietary work-related print.

[Bexley]

Not the greatest photo, but here was our first successful print, at a z resolution of 50 microns:

[Bexley]

(We didn't print the penny.)

[Chuck Doan]

How long does something like that take to print?

[Bexley]

That was around five and a half hours. This machine goes by vertical height, and the raptor head was setup with the snout pointing up so that the teeth could print without supports. I set up a build tray of 32mm figures (~1:48) before I left today, and that will take about three and a half hours. The figures were cut up and mostly lying on their sides rather than standing straight up.

[Bexley]

Also: Here's what a failed print looks like!







Still not sure what happened. We sent the job file to the tech, and he was able to print it without any problem, but we had two failures. (These are both photos of the second failure.) For whatever reason, as near as we can tell, the machine had a no-data exposure frame, which essentially caused a blank layer, and so all the subsequent layers had nothing to attach to.

[Ray Dunakin]

That nested-honeycomb-ball is pretty cool.

[Chuck Doan]

Reminds me of early transporter failures. 

[Juke Joint]

Very nice!

Philip

[Chuck Doan]

           

Shapeways has started using an automatic thin edge detecting feature. 4 or 5 months ago, I sent this cluster of pipe fittings and faucet parts in and had it printed no problem. Recently I sent in a second order and the thin edge feature disallowed the faucet handles. Didn't matter that they printed fine before, they would not allow the print unless I modified them.

Just a heads up. 

[finescalerr]

Thank you for the info, Chuck. -- Russ

[Hauk]

Shapeways has started using an automatic thin edge detecting feature. 4 or 5 months ago, I sent this cluster of pipe fittings and faucet parts in and had it printed no problem. Recently I sent in a second order and the thin edge feature disallowed the faucet handles. Didn't matter that they printed fine before, they would not allow the print unless I modified them.

Shapeways has a new button, "Print Anyway", that might be useful in instances like this.

https://www.shapeways.com/support/print-it-anyway

[Chuck Doan]

That's interesting...I communicated with someone and told them I would be fine if it didn't print properly. But he said it would cause the print to fail and they wouldn't accept it. Hmmm.

[mabloodhound]

I just read that "Print It anyway" policy and unless it is a "gun" or a prohibited item, they say it will be printed...just no returns allowed.
Tr it out Chuck and let us know what happens.