3d printing

[Tinwhistler]

I've ended up with a lot of coinage, so I needed to print a piggy bank.
This one seemed a good one, and I dolled it up a bit with gold rub-n-buff

spoilered for nuuudez

Spoiler: n00ds

 

[Tinwhistler]

Dulcimer player at the local Renaissance Festival asked me if I could replicate a dulcimer hammer she had. I don't know anything about dulcimers, so these could suck big time. But they look alright.

 

[PatrThom]

Even if you get the profile right, it's more about the balance/weight distribution, a bit like a tiny khopesh.
From observation--the finger holds near the neutral (balance) point with just a shade more weight towards the front. The head should be light enough to swing/move quickly via wrist motion, but have its weight loaded vertically (thin and tall) so that striking can be exact yet bring the full weight of the head to bear in a precise vertical profile. The back end should be beefy enough to allow the fingers holding it sufficient control to "soak up" any undesired rebound or sideways deviation, but still allow enough rebound to jump high enough off the string to head towards the next one(s).

--Patrick

 

[Tinwhistler]

I was talking about this same thing elsewhere and said something along the lines that "I'm sure dulcimer players geek out about their hammers the same way whistlers geek out about their whistles. thickness, weight, balance, striking area, etc etc etc. But since I don't have years of experience to inform my efforts, I'm just gonna use my eyes and calipers and if they don't like 'em, I warned them in advance that I didn't know what I was doing and PLA doesn't have the same weight as wood"

 

[PatrThom]

Hey all it makes me think about is whether it is possible to make hammers with ridiculous geometry, or make a dead blow version, or ones that "break" like a torque wrench when struck, or come with accelerometers and RGB, or silliness like that.

--Patrick

 

[Tinwhistler]

So, the dulcimer player said that the hammers were perfectly serviceable. They weren't her favorite, but the one she gave me to model them after weren't her favorite either, so I dunno what she was expecting

Also: I can wholly recommend the BambuLab P1S as a workhorse printer. 10 minutes ago, I lost power for less than a minute. I have print jobs going on 3 different printers.

Power came back on, printers rebooted, and I just hit "resume" on each of the printers and off they went, picking right up where they left off.

 

[figmentPez]

Fidget "knife"

 

[figmentPez]

CNC Kitchen covers highlights from RMRRF 2024 (Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival)

This first video includes a toolless quick change hotend, HueForge software for art prints, and 3D prints that were left outside for 7 years.

 

[Tinwhistler]

I've been fiddling with Hueforge for a little while. But it's not something that's really in my niche, so I've only used it to make friend/family gifts.

But I did make a big purchase today. Guess who has two thumbs and a laser now

 

[Tinwhistler]

I figured you were, I just didn't know if you'd endure the headache of the other orientations in order to see whether something like "60/45/30deg angle, holes up" made any difference to playability/sound/etc.

--Patrick

So, I had a crazy thought and did an experiment. As it turns out....printing these things completely upside down like this:

means I only have to pop off the supports, which pop off cleanly, and it's immediately playable without me having to tweak a god damned thing!

Also, I have learned that if I put masking tape over my whistles before I laser them, not only are the edges of the letters cleaner but also the tape then acts as a stencil, which allows me to then dab a little paint over the entire thing without having to be too precise...peel the tape off, and voila! the maker's mark looks so much better.

 

[GasBandit]

So, I had a crazy thought and did an experiment. As it turns out....printing these things completely upside down like this:
View attachment 48165

means I only have to pop off the supports, which pop off cleanly, and it's immediately playable without me having to tweak a god damned thing!

Also, I have learned that if I put masking tape over my whistles before I laser them, not only are the edges of the letters cleaner but also the tape then acts as a stencil, which allows me to then dab a little paint over the entire thing without having to be too precise...peel the tape off, and voila! the maker's mark looks so much better.

View attachment 48166

You forgot the L in front of the MW, you lecherous man whore.

 

[Tinwhistler]

You forgot the L in front of the MW, you lecherous man whore.

Shhh...that's our little secret

 

[Tinwhistler]

I've been avoiding TPU....everything I've read on Da Interwebs says it's a nightmare to work with. But finally, I bit the bullet, manually fed some TPU into one of my machines (because it won't go thru the AMS) and...it was fine

 

[Tinwhistler]

doin the social media thing...

 

[figmentPez]

CNC Kitchen covers highlights from RMRRF 2024 (Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival)

This first video includes a toolless quick change hotend, HueForge software for art prints, and 3D prints that were left outside for 7 years.

Follow up video: DIY Wire EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining), a filament color library, and a DIY plastic shredder.

 

[Tinwhistler]

Trying to take more dynamic and fun pics as I print new models

 

[Tinwhistler]

Now that I can print squishy TPU, I can print these She says they're very comfy

 

[Tinwhistler]

"Back from the Dead" reclaimed waste skulls.

3d printing creates waste, and can create a lot on multicolor prints. Instead of throwing that waste away, it has been repurposed into these trippy multi-colored skulls

 

[Azurephoenix]

Any Helldivers here? To knock some rust off my 3D skills I made up some customized coins for my friends and I taking inspiration from the Malevelon Creek silliness that went on early in the game. Designed them in Fusion 360 and resin printed them on my Anycubic Photon X. There's a weird sheen made up of straight lines but I'm pretty sure it will disappear with some paint and primer.

 

[Tinwhistler]

Snap back to practicality, ope, there goes sanity
Ope, there goes Tin, and he dope, he so bad...

I dunno why I channeled eminem there for a second.

So, I have a bunch of product in some Ikea Kallax shelves. But, I really don't have enough shelf space--which is why you see some stuff double-stacked in the following picture.

Kallax shelves are 315mm square. They make an insert that divides that in two. But 3 of those blue bins will fit stacked on top of each other, with a little space to spare.

Ikea doesn't make an insert that divides Kallax shelves into 3. Etsy has some..for like $50 per shelf. I have 15 shelves I wanna do that to...no thanks. That's the price of the whole Kallax unit by the time I'm done!

So, i'm gonna print these shelf pins

And use this handy jig that I mocked up in Fusion to position them precisely:

Drill some holes with a 4.8mm drill bit, and just make them myself at a cost of something like 70 cents per shelf--even less if I can tear apart those pre-existing inserts and repurpose the wood.

 

[Tinwhistler]

 

[Azurephoenix]

Tinwhistler, are you running a full on 3D print business? What are you using for these multicolor prints? I have an old Prusa Mk3 as my filament printer but I might want to upgrade at some point (it's still going strong though so it wouldn't be getting retired).

 

[Tinwhistler]

Tinwhistler, are you running a full on 3D print business? What are you using for these multicolor prints? I have an old Prusa Mk3 as my filament printer but I might want to upgrade at some point (it's still going strong though so it wouldn't be getting retired).

I am, but not full time...well, except for when I did the local renaissance festival for 5 weeks. Mostly 1-2 pop-up markets a month. I'm avoiding selling online because it's basically a race to the bottom on price and quality can be suspect online. I'd much rather sell in person, set a price I think is reasonable for growth and profit, and if someone tells me "I can get that cheaper on Temu!" I wish them well and suggest that maybe they do that.

That said, there's good money in it. So far, it's paid for 3 printers with multi-material systems, and a 2009 Ford F150 to haul around all the plastic in.

I'm printing with 3 BambuLab P1s printers with AMS units.

The print room, but the shelves in the video are full now:

https://new.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1b2nd34/3rd_p1s_arrived_going_thru_calibration/

The truck:

my business facebook page:

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[figmentPez]

 

[Azurephoenix]

I am, but not full time...well, except for when I did the local renaissance festival for 5 weeks. Mostly 1-2 pop-up markets a month. I'm avoiding selling online because it's basically a race to the bottom on price and quality can be suspect online. I'd much rather sell in person, set a price I think is reasonable for growth and profit, and if someone tells me "I can get that cheaper on Temu!" I wish them well and suggest that maybe they do that.

I may have to pick your brain a bit on this if you are open to helping someone. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while but I technically have the time to really look into it and work on it now. My 15 year old son was diagnosed with Leukemia back in February and I've been away from work since then. Really looking for something I can do from home on my own time instead of for uncaring corporate overlords so that I can accommodate my son's hospital schedule.

I'm up in Alberta Canada so I wouldn't be encroaching on your turf at all lol.

 

[Tinwhistler]

I may have to pick your brain a bit on this if you are open to helping someone. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while but I technically have the time to really look into it and work on it now. My 15 year old son was diagnosed with Leukemia back in February and I've been away from work since then. Really looking for something I can do from home on my own time instead of for uncaring corporate overlords so that I can accommodate my son's hospital schedule.

I'm up in Alberta Canada so I wouldn't be encroaching on your turf at all lol.

I'm very open to discussions. I even discuss stuff with folks who come up to my booth. It's not like it's a secret formula..most folks can figure out how to do this kind of thing if they set their mind to it. I'd rather have a discussion with folks and have them leave with good feelings than be all secretive and have them come away thinking I'm a dick, and they learn it anyway. I'd rather make friends than rivals

 

[Azurephoenix]

I'm very open to discussions. I even discuss stuff with folks who come up to my booth. It's not like it's a secret formula..most folks can figure out how to do this kind of thing if they set their mind to it. I'd rather have a discussion with folks and have them leave with good feelings than be all secretive and have them come away thinking I'm a dick, and they learn it anyway. I'd rather make friends than rivals

I'm pretty good with the tech side of both FDM and resin printing... I lack the business acumen lol. For me I wouldn't even know what to start with for printing. What do you find your best selling items are? Do you make your own models or do you buy ones that have commercial rights included?

 

[Tinwhistler]

I'm pretty good with the tech side of both FDM and resin printing... I lack the business acumen lol. For me I wouldn't even know what to start with for printing. What do you find your best selling items are? Do you make your own models or do you buy ones that have commercial rights included?

Except for tinwhistles and custom work, I find models with commercial rights. I have some feelings that trying to restrict what you do with a print after you print it is not legally binding (in a similar vein to trying to restrict if you can sell a crochet or knitted item made from a pattern), but it hasn't been court tested. But my most popular stuff happens to be licensed. I pay those fees not because of the restrictions, but because having those subscriptions gives me new models every month.

As for finding the best items, I use a bit of intuition on colors and such, spend a good amount of time painting models to set me apart from the "I'm just gonna print everything in gradient filament" guys, and then print a small sample. If they seem popular, I print more. If they don't, I don't. The cost of most print runs of 1-2 items is pretty negligible.

I mostly troll around the big-name 3d print design boards (Printables, Thingiverse, MakersWorld) and look for things that catch my sense of "cool" or "cute" that also looks like there's a good profit margin possible. Some prints look amazing, and then you see it's going to take hours of assembly, and $20 in filament. In my market, the mark-up would make those kinds of items unsalable.

 

[Azurephoenix]

When you say "spend a good amount of time painting models" are you referring to painting them inside the slicer to print in multiple colours or painting them manually with an airbrush or something?

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on a Bambu P1S with an AMS unit.

 

[Tinwhistler]

When you say "spend a good amount of time painting models" are you referring to painting them inside the slicer to print in multiple colours or painting them manually with an airbrush or something?

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on a Bambu P1S with an AMS unit.

Painting them in the slicer. There's no way I could achieve that level of precision with hand-painting. My eyesight and coordination are just not that good

 

[Azurephoenix]

Painting them in the slicer. There's no way I could achieve that level of precision with hand-painting. My eyesight and coordination are just not that good

That's what I suspected. Do you do any post processing smoothing techniques or is everything just as it comes off the printer? Sorry for so many questions lol

 

[Tinwhistler]

That's what I suspected. Do you do any post processing smoothing techniques or is everything just as it comes off the printer? Sorry for so many questions lol

I try to pick models that require minimal post processing
for things with big curves, I try to use adaptive layer heights to minimize layer lines.

The folks in my area won't pay a lot for stuff, generally. So I try not to make things that will take a lot of my time once it comes off the print bed, because I can't justify the time spent versus the money I can get. My biggest sellers are $10.00 items.

 

[Tinwhistler]

Snap back to practicality, ope, there goes sanity
Ope, there goes Tin, and he dope, he so bad...

I dunno why I channeled eminem there for a second.

So, I have a bunch of product in some Ikea Kallax shelves. But, I really don't have enough shelf space--which is why you see some stuff double-stacked in the following picture.
View attachment 48331

Kallax shelves are 315mm square. They make an insert that divides that in two. But 3 of those blue bins will fit stacked on top of each other, with a little space to spare.

Ikea doesn't make an insert that divides Kallax shelves into 3. Etsy has some..for like $50 per shelf. I have 15 shelves I wanna do that to...no thanks. That's the price of the whole Kallax unit by the time I'm done!

So, i'm gonna print these shelf pins
View attachment 48332
And use this handy jig that I mocked up in Fusion to position them precisely:
View attachment 48333

Drill some holes with a 4.8mm drill bit, and just make them myself at a cost of something like 70 cents per shelf--even less if I can tear apart those pre-existing inserts and repurpose the wood.

Seems to work out just fine.

edit: All done

 

[Tinwhistler]

Fennec foxes anyone? @LittleKagsin

I really need to 3d print a moon for these three guys to howl up at

 

[GasBandit]