3D Printing thread

[dantimdad]

Keep in mind, I ordered a set of shelves like VCA uses to put my printers on. The shelves will be here tomorrow and the second ender 3 will be here Saturday.

There is no end to this now.

 

[TheHarold]

 

[dantimdad]

STOP IT, YOU!

JUST STOP!

MUST... NOT... BUY... Prusa!!!

 

[TheHarold]

STOP IT, YOU!

JUST STOP!

MUST... NOT... BUY... Prusa!!!

xD

It really is a semi-pornographic experience, as it runs the first self check diagnostics and leveling

 

[dantimdad]

You really are being an enabling jerk! You would wave a snickers bar at a fat kid on a diet! ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[garbled]

PLA really isn't suited for water, as it will degrade over time. Maybe not by a "my part is broken" amount, but at least it dissolves a little bit into the water. It's probably basically just a bio-pellet.

ABS is a complete pain to print, but there are various stories of printed parts leeching various things.

PETG is basically food safe, more or less prints well (it's a little fiddly, but printable on an open frame with some adjustments for speed/etc) has good heat resistance, and is just generally a decent material. For any aquarium part, I kinda see no reason to use any other material.

I guess the downside to PETG is it's a little more brittle than PLA sometimes, and its usually more stringy.. so.. eh..

 

[garbled]

Made a new COR strainer today. Took awhile to print, but it works. I now have 2 of them running on my COR 20's

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3458251

From the thingiverse description:

The original strainer is great, but a complete nightmare to print with supports.

This tries to solve that, in addition, I replaced the 1" inlet, with a 1.5" BSPP thread. Now the strainer simply screws onto the pump, and you are done.

I printed mine in PETG, 100% infill. Supports touching the build plate. If you enable normal supports, it's impossible to get extracted. Additionally, I had to turn my retractions way down, or the extruder would break my filament with all the retractions on this thing. Print it screw side down.

I also included a mod_1 version, which doesn't have the BSPP threads, and just has a ring that fits over the COR input. In case you want that.

(This is based on the wonderful model: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2838063 )

 

[GrizFyrFyter]

I made one for one of the guys at Neptune last year. Mine is more of a half sphere screen, supports were a lot easier that way.

 

[reefwreck]

what software do you guys use for design?

 

[dantimdad]

I use TinkerCAD because I am just learning. My son uses Fusion, solidworks and another one I can't recall.

 

[dantimdad]

PLA really isn't suited for water, as it will degrade over time. Maybe not by a "my part is broken" amount, but at least it dissolves a little bit into the water. It's probably basically just a bio-pellet.

ABS is a complete pain to print, but there are various stories of printed parts leeching various things.

PETG is basically food safe, more or less prints well (it's a little fiddly, but printable on an open frame with some adjustments for speed/etc) has good heat resistance, and is just generally a decent material. For any aquarium part, I kinda see no reason to use any other material.

I guess the downside to PETG is it's a little more brittle than PLA sometimes, and its usually more stringy.. so.. eh..

I noticed the stringy part but quickly adjusted retraction and this is gone. Don't have any other issues printing it or HQA PLA+ I have some proto pasta (Thanks @JDowns!) and it's pretty but $$$.

If HQA would make a matte finish and a clear, I would probably never buy another brand.

 

[scriptmonkey]

what software do you guys use for design?

I use Fusion 360 and I slice with Simplify 3D.

I think when I go to print my final version of my Skimmer cleaner I am going to try Atomic Carbon Fiber Extreme Black PETG

 

[dantimdad]

What type, brand and color is that? It's stunning!

 

[dantimdad]

I use Fusion 360 and I slice with Simplify 3D.

I wish I could justify simplify, but every time I go to click the order button, my brain smacks my hand and says NO! You don't sell enough prints to pay for that! ;Hilarious

 

[scriptmonkey]

So it came with my Makergear M3-ID and that is the only reason I use it. I would like to play more with the free slicers because in my opinion S3D is falling behind. But the one time I did, both my print heads collided, not sure why, the right one was supposed to be parked.

 

[JDowns]

I use Fusion 360 mostly. I do have Solidworks, but I've gotten so use to the workflow of Fusion that it's my goto platform unless I need something with fancy renderings.

For slicing I use Cura since Ultimaker has great support and updates for it.

 

[dantimdad]

@JDowns I am glad to see you are using Cura. My older son loves 360, the younger one is all about Solidworks. He got a certificate in it from school.

The thing I liked about Cura right off was the profile for Ender 3. It was really close to dead on. Just a couple little tweaks.

 

[TheEngineer]

I wish these modeling tools were less expensive. I can’t justify dropping that much money when I can do 90% with SketchUp for free.

 

[dantimdad]

Agreed @TheEngineer If it weren't for my son Tim getting them free we wouldn't have them.

I am happy with TinkerCAD although I know I am going to outgrow it soon. Already, there are things it won't do and Tim has to take it over in his software.

 

[GrizFyrFyter]

I wish these modeling tools were less expensive. I can’t justify dropping that much money when I can do 90% with SketchUp for free.

Fusion 360 is free if you are a student or startup.

I started with tinkercad, it's very intuitive. I moved to fusion 360 but my pc is weak and it's a very slow process for me to use until I upgrade the computer.