3D Printing thread

[PurpleMonster]

Many of us reefers are now into the hobby of 3D printing as well. Awesome little tool that can bring our what if's to life! I have been tinkering around with Frag racks and I would like to share them with the reefing community.

So here is to the start of what can be a great big repository of 3D printed goodies!

All my files will be shared via Thingiverse and will continue to update them with time. Of course I ask any and all my designs to be used solely for your personal use and not for re sale. I simply want to give back to the community that has helped me in the past learn everything i know today.

https://www.thingiverse.com/illconn/designs

 

[Glasswalker]

I definitely do a ton of 3D Printing, over time on my tank build I anticipate printing a lot of parts/things. I'll be posting on thingiverse as well.

I've already posted my 3D printed live rock thread a few min ago, which is related to this topic
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/3d-printable-live-rock.244296/

 

[PurpleMonster]

Awesome!

I will be updating my page as well once i get home.

 

[805reef]

I hope this turns into a big thread!

I just got done printing a new skimmer lid!

I have an avast neck cleaner and im not a fan of the thumb screw lid it comes with and I don't want to drill a hole in my stock lid so I printed a new one!

edit: this was also my longest print to date (14+ hours) and first real print using pet+. luckily it worked out!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Impressive!

Keep them coming guys!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Here are some small Magnetic Frag racks meant to acclimate some of my frags into my LED lit system.

 

[PurpleMonster]

I hope this turns into a big thread!

I just got done printing a new skimmer lid!

I have an avast neck cleaner and im not a fan of the thumb screw lid it comes with and I don't want to drill a hole in my stock lid so I printed a new one!

edit: this was also my longest print to date (14+ hours) and first real print using pet+. luckily it worked out!

Did you already remove it in this pic or did you get some warp? Biggest pain from doing larger prints for me has been warping with ABS. Starting my prints at a slower speed for the first 2 layers has helped me some. I am going to fully enclose my printer and add a carbon filter exhaust so i can keep it in a warmer area.

 

[Glasswalker]

Things to reduce warp of ABS in order of effectiveness (a combination usually required for large parts):

1. Heated Bed
2. Good Bed Print Surface
3. Print with skirt (plenty of forum threads on 3D Printing sites for this)
4. Enclosed Chamber
5. Heated Chamber

My printer does nice big flat ABS parts just fine. But it has a heated, fully enclosed print area, with a heated bed, and uses a PEI print surface (the stuff is like magic, gets super sticky when heated, and becomes "non-sticky" when cools off).

Also I'm eager to see how PET based materials work for reef safety, I can run PET and Polycarbonate on my printer as well, and will test these out also. PET is far less warp than ABS, and has almost the same mechanical advantages.

@PurpleMonster nice frag racks! Those are pretty cool. How do you keep the magnet in (assuming those side spots are for the magnets) epoxy? Could you put the magnet hole in from the other side so the magnetic attraction actually holds it into the frame rather than pulling it out?

@805reef That ultimaker is a nice printer, I had the original ultimaker for years before switching to my Robox. One nice thing the ultimaker has is huge build volume, my robox is slightly smaller. Feel like printing my live rock prototype to try out? lol.

 

[805reef]

Did you already remove it in this pic or did you get some warp? Biggest pain from doing larger prints for me has been warping with ABS. Starting my prints at a slower speed for the first 2 layers has helped me some. I am going to fully enclose my printer and add a carbon filter exhaust so i can keep it in a warmer area.

I haven't removed it yet. That is a picture from octoprint\telegram plugin. I am still at work so I wont see it til I get home. I did check it this morning though and didn't noticed any warp. It might just be the camera, it warps the pictures pretty bad. This was printed with madesolid pet+

@805reef That ultimaker is a nice printer, I had the original ultimaker for years before switching to my Robox. One nice thing the ultimaker has is huge build volume, my robox is slightly smaller. Feel like printing my live rock prototype to try out? lol.

Yea, this printed has been great for me so far. This is my first time printing with pet+ though. I might be interested in printing your rock prototype. I'll throw it into s3d when I get home and see what it would take.

 

[Glasswalker]

@805reef one thing to note as I said far from efficient. One thought I had was to print it 100% hollow as far as your slicer is concerned because the design ultimately provides it's own infill... I tried a quick slice of it in my software and it came out as like 400g of plastic... But that was with 20% infill, and I expect this pattern results in a ton of waste with infill.

 

[PurpleMonster]

Glass walker, the magnets are casted in and I didn t go the other way because I wanted to keep as little material as possible between the glass and the rack as I always see some acrylic racks that have a tendency to fall due to lack of magnet power.

I'll post a pic of the rack in the tank when I get home

Thanks.

 

[PurpleMonster]

I have updated my Thingiverse with the MAD Rack 41 for your downloading and printing pleasure

Enjoy!

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1489484

 

[805reef]

Did you already remove it in this pic or did you get some warp? Biggest pain from doing larger prints for me has been warping with ABS. Starting my prints at a slower speed for the first 2 layers has helped me some. I am going to fully enclose my printer and add a carbon filter exhaust so i can keep it in a warmer area.

There was no warp!

 

[805reef]

@805reef one thing to note as I said far from efficient. One thought I had was to print it 100% hollow as far as your slicer is concerned because the design ultimately provides it's own infill... I tried a quick slice of it in my software and it came out as like 400g of plastic... But that was with 20% infill, and I expect this pattern results in a ton of waste with infill.

This thing is a monster! It crashed simplify3d trying to slice it. lol

 

[PurpleMonster]

There was no warp!

That looks great! worth the wait no doubt!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Also how solid is PET+? I see that its rated as easily printable like PLA with more strength! I want to order some and place it into sterile environment to see if it leaches anything.... Measurable that is lol.

Its labeled as flexible but the lid you have there looks pretty solid? Awesome once again!

 

[ludnix]

What do you guys think about the toxicity of certain plastics? Has anyone ran into any trouble? I remember reading back about only using white ABS out of concern in the pigments being highly toxic and PLA not surviving under water for more than a few months.

From this thread: http://thereefuge.com/threads/the-guide-to-3d-printing-for-aquarium-use.9437/

Designing and printing parts for saltwater use
This is what I have learned through trial and error over 1.5 years.
The best reef safe plastic you should print with is natural white ABS.
PLA will break down in water over time. Do not try it because it will not last more than 6 months.

Why white ABS?
Because the pigments added to some filament is extremely toxic to your tank.
For example a green Chinese ABS filament I tested resulted in 20 dead bristle worms and two snails (eg every living thing in the test tank at that time) White ABS is the only color that does not have pigment added to it. I have tested some other ABS colors and they were ok but for the beginner stick with white ABS and play it safe.

Keep walls over .8mm thick with 100% infill to keep things watertight. The thicker the better.

Wash and soak the parts before use, most ABS printers produce fine plastic particles which will upset everything in your tank. I normally soak the parts in water for a few weeks before use to wash away any fine particles and let any water soluble nasty’s leach out.

 

[805reef]

Also how solid is PET+? I see that its rated as easily printable like PLA with more strength! I want to order some and place it into sterile environment to see if it leaches anything.... Measurable that is lol.

Its labeled as flexible but the lid you have there looks pretty solid? Awesome once again!

From this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-safe-plastics.175329/ I took it that Randy meant pet was ok to use.

It feels good. I thought it would feel heavier than it is.

 

[PurpleMonster]

Thank you for the info, going to order a few rolls and do some in water testing. So far, I have ABS, and PLA racks in the reef for over a month with no ill effect. The ABS ones are in Black and so far my fish are fine, and frags that were in are are encrusting their plugs.

I had a bit of algae break out but I dont think it was due to the plastics. I think it was because of the T5 fixture i set on the tank, but I swapped it to an LED fixture Monday and the algae has not gotten worst, in fact it looks to be getting worked on by the snails now.

I am working on a simple fish Acclimation/Trap that can be printed in several pieces, will be put together with plastic, and affixed to your tank with magnets or hanger if needed. The longer panels will be slotted to take in a thin 1/16th sheet of acrylic(8X4) while the sides are going to be printed with many 1/4" holes for flow and what not.

 

[Glasswalker]

Yeah I'm ordering both Polycarbonate and PETG plastic (Colorfabb XT and NGen) will test those out as well. I think PET based plastics might be the best way overall, they seem to be overaking PLA/ABS as the "preferred" plastic... As easy to print as PLA, but with mechanical properties equal or better than ABS. And they are food safe.