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I have a fever, and the only cure is more RepRap.
tirsdag 21. juni 2011
torsdag 16. juni 2011
My biggest print yet, and it's creepier than I thought it would be.
I've always wanted to print one of these, and when a simple straight-to-skeinforge-version with non-broken stl files was posted by RoTorIT - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9321 - I had no excuses any more. Thanks a lot. :)
The body piece is 22cm across, and printed diagonally it took every single mm of bed space I have available, which turns out to be 170x185mm. I even had to turn off skirt to make it fit, and it came dangerously close to the bolt heads on the bed. But it was totally worth it. the spider is HUGE.
Total print time was close to 24 hours @55mm/s. I had to print one piece at a time, because for some bizarre unknown reason I lose y steps if I print several objects at the same time. Some of the pieces are the same, and I'll post them here for your enjoyment:
In case you didn't notice already, it's printed in transculent blue PLA from Ultimachine, which is UV reactive. It looked far less scary when I took the pictures last night.
Imagine this scenario: You place the spider in a dark corner of the basement, with the room lit only by a single bulb. Then you hook up a motion detector which turns off the bulb and turns on several UV leds pointed at the spider. I'd do it, but it'll probably be smashed to pieces in blind arachnophobia fear, and I really don't feel like printing another one (before I have a giant bot farm).
The body piece is 22cm across, and printed diagonally it took every single mm of bed space I have available, which turns out to be 170x185mm. I even had to turn off skirt to make it fit, and it came dangerously close to the bolt heads on the bed. But it was totally worth it. the spider is HUGE.
Total print time was close to 24 hours @55mm/s. I had to print one piece at a time, because for some bizarre unknown reason I lose y steps if I print several objects at the same time. Some of the pieces are the same, and I'll post them here for your enjoyment:
- Part 6 & 7
- Part 8 & 9
- Part 20, 22, 24, 26 (small leg)
- Part 21, 23, 25, 27 (large leg)
In case you didn't notice already, it's printed in transculent blue PLA from Ultimachine, which is UV reactive. It looked far less scary when I took the pictures last night.
tirsdag 14. juni 2011
søndag 12. juni 2011
#RepRap Adventures #01
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True story!
Post your ideas/stories in the comments, and we'll see if something happens. :-)
fredag 27. mai 2011
PLA Review - supply3dpla.com
More filament suppliers is always a good thing, even more so when they are shipping from a location near you. After seeing a small advertisement on the RepRap forums, I chose to try out the PLA from supply3dpla.com who are located in Sweden.
First, the postal service managed to ship my package to Denmark, but Bo was very forthcoming, and shipped the package again. Total shipping time to Norway was 6 days, including a 4 days (unnecessary I might add) delay at customs. If you live in Norway (and outside the EU?), you can ask for the VAT to be removed, shaving a few € off the total price.
I ordered 400g of both the red and the blue, and got some samples of the transparent and black color as well. These are the only colors they supply at the moment, but Bo told me they plan to supply both green and yellow, and perhaps ABS.
How is the quality?
All the filament is "soft/smooth" to the touch, and feels quite bendable and "fresh". The diameter was a pretty consistent 2.88mm-3mm, and a bit oval. I forgot to compensate for this in Skeinforge 41 - dimensions, but the prints are looking very good, though it spit out a tad too much plastic now and then.
The PLA extrudes very easily at 185deg c, not needing a lot of tension on the extruder. All colors behave the same, as far as my small testing goes. It also stick very, very well to the heated build plate with glass @40 deg. So well in fact, that I pretty much have to clean with acetone after each build to get the stuff off.
What does it look like?
The colors are difficult to describe, as they are not a "pure" color, but rather a mix between several. I'll try my best with photos in different light conditions.
The "red"
In filament form it's very transparent, and looks delicious. When extruding it's almost completely transparent, and you need a couple of layers to really see the color. The final color is a kind of mix between red, orange and pink. I was hesitant at first, but the color is growing on me.
The "blue"
Just like the red, it's very transparent, and the same behaviour apply. The color is kind of "off" for me personally. It's like a strange mixture between light blue and cyan, and doesn't "pop" like the red one does. I might change my mind, but I doubt it. No UV-reactive goodness either.
The natural
In filament form it's almost 100% transparent, when extruded it's still pretty much transparent. In natural light it gets a bit of a yellow tint, but when you shine a led torch on it, it's quite nice and clear.
Most suppliers sell natural filament cheaper than coloured, but not here. It might be for you if you are incorporating lights in a model, but otherwise I'd go for something more funky.
The Black
This one is nice. It's a very deep, shiny completely opaque black filament. I thought the filament I have from ultimachine was black, but there is a slight difference when comparing side to side. It's difficult to catch it on camera though. Note: The filament I have from ultimachine has been laying around for more than a year, so I don't know how it compares to what they supply now.
Bottom line
The filament they supply is excellent! I'm definitely getting more of both the red and the black filament from supply3dpla. I don't know how easy it is to handle the big 5kg rolls of filament they ship, which might be a downside.
A nice little bunch with 6.8kg of filament from ultimachine just went through customs, so expect a review and comparison of that later on.
First, the postal service managed to ship my package to Denmark, but Bo was very forthcoming, and shipped the package again. Total shipping time to Norway was 6 days, including a 4 days (unnecessary I might add) delay at customs. If you live in Norway (and outside the EU?), you can ask for the VAT to be removed, shaving a few € off the total price.
I ordered 400g of both the red and the blue, and got some samples of the transparent and black color as well. These are the only colors they supply at the moment, but Bo told me they plan to supply both green and yellow, and perhaps ABS.
How is the quality?
All the filament is "soft/smooth" to the touch, and feels quite bendable and "fresh". The diameter was a pretty consistent 2.88mm-3mm, and a bit oval. I forgot to compensate for this in Skeinforge 41 - dimensions, but the prints are looking very good, though it spit out a tad too much plastic now and then.
The PLA extrudes very easily at 185deg c, not needing a lot of tension on the extruder. All colors behave the same, as far as my small testing goes. It also stick very, very well to the heated build plate with glass @40 deg. So well in fact, that I pretty much have to clean with acetone after each build to get the stuff off.
What does it look like?
The colors are difficult to describe, as they are not a "pure" color, but rather a mix between several. I'll try my best with photos in different light conditions.
The "red"
In filament form it's very transparent, and looks delicious. When extruding it's almost completely transparent, and you need a couple of layers to really see the color. The final color is a kind of mix between red, orange and pink. I was hesitant at first, but the color is growing on me.
The "blue"
Just like the red, it's very transparent, and the same behaviour apply. The color is kind of "off" for me personally. It's like a strange mixture between light blue and cyan, and doesn't "pop" like the red one does. I might change my mind, but I doubt it. No UV-reactive goodness either.
The natural
In filament form it's almost 100% transparent, when extruded it's still pretty much transparent. In natural light it gets a bit of a yellow tint, but when you shine a led torch on it, it's quite nice and clear.
Most suppliers sell natural filament cheaper than coloured, but not here. It might be for you if you are incorporating lights in a model, but otherwise I'd go for something more funky.
The Black
This one is nice. It's a very deep, shiny completely opaque black filament. I thought the filament I have from ultimachine was black, but there is a slight difference when comparing side to side. It's difficult to catch it on camera though. Note: The filament I have from ultimachine has been laying around for more than a year, so I don't know how it compares to what they supply now.
Bottom line
The filament they supply is excellent! I'm definitely getting more of both the red and the black filament from supply3dpla. I don't know how easy it is to handle the big 5kg rolls of filament they ship, which might be a downside.
A nice little bunch with 6.8kg of filament from ultimachine just went through customs, so expect a review and comparison of that later on.
-Nudel
fredag 20. mai 2011
Tips & Tricks - Tape & Layer thickness
Introducing RepRap Tips & Tricks, short blogposts where I share some of the small things you learn when you have a RepRap.
- Don't tape your PLA filament together! When you're battling with a noncooperative spool of tangled filament, it might seem like a good idea at the time. When you have to degrease the tape residue off 2kg of PLA filament to avoid clogging the extruder, not so much.
- If you have problems printing at high speed because the layer won't stick to the previous, try lowering the layer thickness under carve in Skeinforge (41). I went from 0.4mm to 0.35mm, and have done near-perfect gears at more than 50% speed increase from before. (Went from 20mm/sec to 33mm/sec).
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