3D Printing thread

[Ranjib]

Working on improving the wavemaker accessories for my pico. The 3dprinted parts allow me to mount 12v dc submersible pumps as hang on back fashion. Each pump has a bracket and the hob fixture.

The bracket is attached to the hob fixture using nylon screw.

This initial version is working pretty well now .im using two such pumps to alternate at 15 seconds interval.
Now I’m improving the designs of these hob fixtures . This is the latest iteration

It uses lot less filament and time to print, looks log more sleek and sturdy enough to support a pump. Using ender 3 with a 0.8 mm nozzle , and it takes around 30 min for each of the part .

 

[markstubb]

You can always run a reef-pi on a pi-zero ,

Already have an apex, plenty of other uses for a pi

 

[ludnix]

Love seeing the iterative design process @Ranjib! One of my favorite parts of modeling is looking back at how the product evolved!

 

[Kyl]

So I've near burned through the Prusa spool of PLA, the thing is a beast and if anyone is on the fence about ponying up more for the MK3S, I won't go back to CN clones at this stage of things. It's a bit louder now than at the start, but only when the machine is running near 100mm /min while printing out fit tests.

 

[Kyl]

Opinions?


brick_bracket_wip1 by Kyl, on Flickr


brick_bracket_wip6 by Kyl, on Flickr

I'm thinking of going with something like this for securing the mess of bricks. Just a fast test design to try and size a cradle to a kessil brick. I have tons of these rather strong 8" velcro straps available, think going with two bands is required or just a single center one? Intending to make the band slightly recessed into the cradle, feed it through side tabs like drawn in below and adapt two of the centered circles into actual screw mount points. Holes as usual are just to cut down on material.

Seems like a good mix of durability with a full length cradle with ease of install / removal via the velcro. Planning on a 4-5mm lip to it from moving around in the cradle since the size will be tailored to each brick style rather than something generic.

 

[laverda]

The third pic looks like you have some sort of bracket attached to the cradle. Are they 3D printed as well? I would make a recess on the back side so it just clears the Velcro. That way you can bolt it up cleanly and the Velcro can not move around. Otherwise it looks good. I need to mount an assortment of power bricks as well.

 

[Kyl]

It's a single printed piece, with some ms paint effect to show a bracket hole. Printing out this now to see if it works:


brick_bracket_wip7 by Kyl, on Flickr

 

[Kyl]

Success!

Love how this can interact with our hobby. Need to break the components into scale vs non scaling parts and optimize it for a quality print rather than .4 fast and messy prototyping layers, but not bad for an evening's work.


brick_bracket_wip8 by Kyl, on Flickr


brick_bracket_wip9 by Kyl, on Flickr


brick_bracket_wip10 by Kyl, on Flickr


brick_bracket_wip11 by Kyl, on Flickr

 

[Raptor72]

Very nice!

 

[laverda]

Those photos are much clearer. It did not look that way in the other photos. I do not think I would trust such a small piece of 3D printed plastic to hold the straps from my experiance.

 

[markstubb]

You must have bad prints because I bet that little bracket is more than tough enough.

 

[radiata]

Kyl ~~~ I like the concept - clever design. I just wonder if the sides and/or ends could be vented, even at the risk of having to make the piece a little taller...

 

[laverda]

You must have bad prints because I bet that little bracket is more than tough enough.

That may be true as I don’t have a lot of experience with my printer. While my prints look good, my parts just are not as strong as I expected. Clearly not as strong as other plastic parts are.

 

[markstubb]

That's sort of the issue with 3D printing. It's easy to get started, takes a bit of time to get good at it. I have plenty of prints like that which I would have to seriously attempt to break them before they'd give way. Certainly the same as any other injection molded piece of plastic.

 

[laverda]

Mine are definatly not as strong as injection molded plastic. Especially items with right angles like my probe holder which just broke when I removed it. I did not design it and think it should have had more infill in the corners after looking at the broken part. The directionparts are printed seams to make a big difference as well.

 

[Kyl]

FDM prints won't compare to injection molding just given the way they're created. The FDM is fused to an extent, but not completely, thus you will always have a weak point where the layers intersect. To put things in perspective, this printer is using PET/G for many structural pieces, and it's plenty strong enough for all the jerking and movement forces taking place. Right now I can pull quite hard on the strapping and it's not even nudging, not to say it wouldn't fail with sustained weight on it but these bricks are I would guess 2-3 lbs max, certainly not enough to worry about, and there are two straps in use.

The only issue I can see with the brackets is deformation due to heat due to PLA, and the bricks do put out quite a bit of heat. In my case the bricks are being mounted on a wall inside of a cabinet with active cooling from a 120mm exhaust fan. For now PLA should be plenty strong enough as that enclosure doesn't get past 24º C / 75º F, but if it does start to matter I'll just re-create them in PET/G. Yes the design can be modified to create pocket vents that intersect with the base, which is vented already as a way to save material without affecting the rigidity much.

 

[Silver14SS]

Great thread!

I’m considering a 3D printer, don’t think I need anything too sophisticated. Brackets, test kit holders, whatever widgets kids come up with - I’m not sure what else I’d make with it.

What’s a good budget to start with for a beginner and recommendations on brands/models? Reviews online are kind of all over the place...

 

[Kyl]

I'm not sure what the go-to Chinese sourced printer is these days (CR-10??), in my time a few years ago it was the Tevo Tarantula. There's two schools of thought on this, which I sort of went over a page or so back when I got back into things with my latest purchase:

I feel two ways about it. I kind of regret not going Prusa from the start, but then I wouldn't have picked up the little things I had to learn with building / using / upgrading the Tevo. Kind of like my foray into this hobby, started with a nano tank and while I probably wouldn't have done it that way again if fresh, it forced me to learn good water husbandry because there wasn't the wiggle room of multiple dozen gallons to play with.

You either go cheap and possibly have to constantly fiddle with things, or pay and fiddle with many less things. I will say since I assembled my Prusa MK3S, I have done nothing to physically adjust the printer, and only minor adjustments in the Prusa supplied slicer. I'm still not sure if I would go cheap again if starting completely fresh, the one thing is if you do go cheap and find the hobby isn't for you, the loss is a lot less than had you gone expensive. Those sprintsteel print sheets though, it's night and day versus the print bed I had been using.

 

[Raining_Sheep]

Highly recommend NOT going the DIY or cheap route for a printer. Ive seen too many people try to build it themselves and spend more time messing with it than actually making stuff. I have a Flashforge Creator Pro and Highly Highly recommend it. It prints ABS out of the box with no modifications. Going on 3 years now and it prints great. Just change the PTFE tubes every once and a while

 

[BillH]

Howzit everyone. A friend of mine asked me to make him a skimmer stand to help match up his equipment. Yes, he's one of those whose under tank looks as good as the main display, but hey...it does look nice.
Anyway, im wondering has anyone searched out specific colors for matching specific pieces of equipment. Right now im looking for a red in petg that is as close as possible as reef octopus red. Ive bought hatchbox, matterhackers and priline and while they are red without a doubt, not even close to the shade of red octopus utilizes. I know the different process on how its made will affect final part colors, but just trying to get as close as possible.
Thanks