3D Printer Enclosure

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Not got one...

never used one...

never seen one...

BUT...  this thread makes you think,  Wish I had one to potter around with on various projects and ideas whilst 'Locking-Down'...

Very interesting reading and seeing examples of real applications, of what can be done with a home set-up...

How much "Wastage" and/or "Failed attempts" have you had on specific designs??

i.e. I am trying to compare with traditional printing...

Few years back we printed the  'Order of service' for my father-in-laws funeral...

It took a few attempts to get it all lined up and laid-out correctly across an A5- fold-out page, before doing the Full-Print-Run onto 'Posh-paper'!

So I am guessing that not every 3D-print comes out correctly first time?

Guinness  

 

[OnOff]

So I am guessing that not every 3D-print comes out correctly first time?

Nope, definitely not!   But you get better at it!

We tend to print sections to check fit before committing. CAD first, print it full size and try a paper template. Then print a slice a mm or two thick:



Progress to something a bit thicker:



Tbh I think 3D printers are a Chinese ploy to shift mountains of plastic to the West! 

The CAD renderings always look better than the prints!

 

[Geoff1946]

Thank you for a great overview of this subject.  I enjoyed reading it and now feel I know the basics of a subject which previously mystified me.

 

[Andy™]

you can be printing "benchies" within minutes of setting up. Benchies are like the standard prints everyone does first off.

never did print a benchy (i like to break the rules), but this was the first print with standard slicer settings & barely any setup / tweeking. although your projects put mine to same, rarely design & print much

 

[roys]

Right that’s it, I want one, now what to get rid off to create space, one of the bandsaws, one of the lathes, one of the many tool boxes, but no I like them all, think I will need to move house to one with a bigger workshop.

Wonder if the MOD are selling off any airbases that has an aircraft hanger or two on it. Mmmm

 

[OnOff]

When it goes wrong...

Trying to print ABS at the moment and it's a mission. It needs the enclosure nice and warm and is very susceptible to warping and coming loose. 

As aforementioned the bed on our printer is heated. The Anycubic bed is a bit special in that it has microscopic indents/dots that aid "adhesion" during the print. Another benefit is when the bed cools the print just pops off without any force or use of a scraper.

See in comparison how @Andy is printing on a glass bed. To improve adhesion there's many options from Pritt Stick, Kapton tape, masking tape or for ABS, made up ABS slurry (chopped up ABS and acetone in a jam jar).

I'm trying to avoid any adhesion promoter on ours.

So with ABS a heated environment is critical. The bed is heated and stays heated to around 80-110degC. The higher off the bed you print, the danger is the upper layers cool too fast and shrink. Then the whole thing bananas and loses adhesion.

Just to add we've not had any real adhesion issues printing PLA. Probably due to the clever Anycubic bed design. PLA likes things cool by comparison.

An ABS test. You can't see it but it warped:





One thing you can do is print a thin, sacrificial shield as you go. This acts like a wind break to keep the heat in and peels off later. 

Our first attempt at an enclosure. Done outside and printed on into the evening. Should have maybe taken the umbrella down too! 





Even with a shield this happened. The whole thing started sliding on the bed as the printer carried on doing it's thing!





The warping:





You can see the internal structure and the thicker skin plus how the shield peels off:





Pity as nice tight layers:





Trying to get ABS right as this will be a paying job for my lad!

An interesting aside: You can get an app (linked to Raspberry Pi I think) called Spaghetti. Basically a camera that looks at the print and if it goes haywire sends you a picture and an alert on your phone etc. One lad got an alert so rushed to look at his printer that was printing fine. He then looked at the picture he'd been sent. Took him a while to realise that as he'd looked into the printer to check things the camera had identified his straggly blond beard as the print going wrong!

 

[Andy™]

i can get PLA to stick reasonably well on just the glass with no adhesive and about 55 degrees, however i usually use no bed heat and PVA adhesive on the glass

tried ABS, didnt work. same problem as you no decent enclosure so lots of warping / shrinking. ill make one some day and try it again. ive had more sucess with PETG though

 

[OnOff]

i can get PLA to stick reasonably well on just the glass with no adhesive and about 55 degrees, however i usually use no bed heat and PVA adhesive on the glass

tried ABS, didnt work. same problem as you no decent enclosure so lots of warping / shrinking. ill make one some day and try it again. ive had more sucess with PETG though

No issues whatsoever with PLA sticking here. Deffo the magic bed! 

Ref PVA I've read that with a dual extruder you can print the supports in PVA and the model in another material. When finished you just soak the model and the supports dissolve. Clever!

Must try PETG some time. Persevering with ABS as as I say a paying job if we suss it potentially!

 

[Andy™]

No issues whatsoever with PLA sticking here. Deffo the magic bed! 

Ref PVA I've read that with a dual extruder you can print the supports in PVA and the model in another material. When finished you just soak the model and the supports dissolve. Clever!

Must try PETG some time. Persevering with ABS as as I say a paying job if we suss it potentially!

yep, seen that too with the dual extruder. you could either print in 2 colours or use 1 for the print & 1 for supports. getting supports off can sometimes be a little difficult

must try and get the PETG settings right. got it printing reasonably well, just some issues with layers not sticking very well. prob got the temps a little bit out

what you plan on printing in ABS? anything in particular or just whatever comes along?

 

[OnOff]

what you plan on printing in ABS? anything in particular or just whatever comes along?

Car "things" for a start. A new cap for her Peugeot washer bottle, screw rather than the original push on one.

Repair sections for the dishwasher cutlery basket.

Stuff for my works that'll live outside.

Etc, etc. 

 

[OnOff]

Still playing with 3D printing! Latest is an Aldi Ferrex battery to Bosch tool adapter. I'm designing it and the lad who it's for is printing it, giving me feedback and I'm tweaking the design!



Pretty much sorted the Ferrex (green in the render above) side. Slightly complicated by the fact the + and - terminals are on opposite sides of the two batteries. 

First print of the part that connects to the Ferrex battery. As I only have a duff Ferrex multitool and no battery I had to measure the tool base and imagine the battery. Printed here in yellow ABS. Nearly right first time! 





On the Bosch tool side I might fab the connectors that mate with the blades on the bottom of the Bosch tool. An alternative is ready made ones. These I salvaged from a duff Makita battery. Anyone know where I can buy them?

 

[roys]

Sorry can’t help you with contact sourcing, but please keep posting on this as I find it very interesting.

 

[NozSpark]

Oh Jeez...... I didn't realise that anyone on here was into 3D printing...

Just at the beginning of lockdown I bought an Ender 3 pro,, thought that it'd be interesting to learn how to use it and that I could maybe help with making visors etc (learn a new skill and be useful)

About 2 weeks in I order another printer.... an Artillery Sidewinder X1,,, it's a much better machine than the Ender 3

Now that I've stopped printing visors and ear savers I've had to think of things that I need/want,,, altering some that I've found on Thingverse and also creating a few things on Tinkercad (browser based 3D CAD)..... I did move the printer to the garage but it suffered a little bit with draughts so I need to make an enclosure for it too.... although I'm now out of isolation (I was Covid +VE) I really need to go back to work

Spaghetti, layer shifts and trying to dial in filament seems to be a constant battle - I had a lot of trouble getting PETG dialled in on my X1 but once I ignored Sunlu's recommended temperatures It got better

 

[OnOff]

SWMBO is whinging I get a working hedge trimmer sorted! 

Got an old 18V, Ni-cad, cheap one here (Performance Power from B&Q?) that I started the adapter on but the "female" part of the machine that takes the battery is so badly moulded and has so many intricate curves I put it to one side to come back to.

Still more than a bit miffed that I "burnt out" the 18V Rolson ("Quality Tools" slogan ) running it on an 18V Makita 3Ah Li-ion battery. Need to do a pm on it. Running it initially it was going like a mains jobbie. Then the smoke/smell/slowing down...

 

[OnOff]

Oh Jeez...... I didn't realise that anyone on here was into 3D printing...

Just at the beginning of lockdown I bought an Ender 3 pro,, thought that it'd be interesting to learn how to use it and that I could maybe help with making visors etc (learn a new skill and be useful)

About 2 weeks in I order another printer.... an Artillery Sidewinder X1,,, it's a much better machine than the Ender 3

Now that I've stopped printing visors and ear savers I've had to think of things that I need/want,,, altering some that I've found on Thingverse and also creating a few things on Tinkercad (browser based 3D CAD)..... I did move the printer to the garage but it suffered a little bit with draughts so I need to make an enclosure for it too.... although I'm now out of isolation (I was Covid +VE) I really need to go back to work

Spaghetti, layer shifts and trying to dial in filament seems to be a constant battle - I had a lot of trouble getting PETG dialled in on my X1 but once I ignored Sunlu's recommended temperatures It got better

I feel your pain. It's my lad does the actual Fusion 360/Cura stuff and actual printing.  All I can do is model in AutoCAD and produce the. STL.

ABS is the sticking point at the mo here. Despite the fan vented enclosure he's seeing temperatures around the psu in the mid 40s degC. He's reluctant to try again and risk the electronics. Need to give him another push to move at least the psu externally. Maybe the MOSFET board too.

Someone from another forum has kindly introduced him to an FB forum which is supposed to be really excellent for help and the site guru specialises in the Anycubic printers we have but neither he or I really do FB.

 

[OnOff]

A little diversion. A Makita battery to Ferrex tool adapter printed in black RS Pro PLA. I couldn't resist a cheap, bare hedge trimmer in Aldi.

Waiting for the copper sheet to make the battery tabs.

 

[OnOff]

I DON'T BELIEVE IT!

Somehow I've managed to design this "Mak2Fer" adapter so the + & - terminals are on opposite sides! Spin the Makita battery through 180deg and it works but then you couldn't slide the battery in without making the adapter a lot longer and having it stick out the back.

Back to the drawing board for some crossover action!

As I'm never going to buy a Ferrex battery and charger it would probably be quicker to rewire the tool itself.

But where's the fun in that?

 

[Sidewinder]

I’ve been itching to get one of these for a long time!

Didn’t realise the difference in prices, the ones in the “Corner Shop” of Mr @kerching, are reasonable, but expensive in comparison to others!

So, we know which one @Onoff has.

@NozSpark, @Andy™, what makes/models have you guys?

 

[Andy™]

creality CR10S

its sitting gathering more dust than it should though

 

[Phoenix]

its sitting gathering more dust than it should though

Thats why I have put off getting one for a long time, I've got too much stuff thats just giving dust, I tend to buy these sorts of things, unpack them, use them for a few hours, then put them away meaning to get them out again when I have some free time....