3D printed fun

[Rick Kirchner]

Last week I took delivery of a Qidi X-max 3D printer. This thing is enclosed with nearly a 1 cu ft build volume. Does all the high-temp engineering plastics. Right now I'm just running PLA until I get the hang of it, then I'll be switching to PTEG or ABS for most of this stuff.

Haven't done a lot yet, but Art Smith and I are starting to collaborate.....

Here's a couple of pieces I started with. The P-clamp is designed to replace adel clamps for holding stuff to frame tubes. it separates the clamping function from the part-holding function.

The figure-8 clamp is to mount shock cans to the front frame tubes on 90-96 VDs. Pizzo makes some nice piggyback clamps for the rears, but in the front the underslung shocks means mounting the cans to the frame. I've used a mickey-mouse stack of aluminum bar and multiple adel clamps for years.

I still need to refine both of these one more time - holes properly sized for threaded inserts on one side and smaller thru-holes for the screws on the other.

Other stuff I've been thinking about either making functional pieces or prototypes are:

• Front motor mount prototype for 90-97 VD that picks up the block instead of the head, split to allow easy engine removal, has alignment pins integral to the mount split, and a vertical shock mount instead of the current horizontal one.
• Conformal catch cans with integrated mounting plate, oil tank wrench access, and removable o-ringed top for easy cleaning.
• Wheel speed sensor bracket
• Supports and separators for water, oil, and brake lines
• Oil tower service cover - for when you have the oil tower off the tank
• Fuel Cap lock
• Dash assembly - something that replaces the aluminum setup I currently have that holds the AIM box, a mount for the steering sensor, and some switches. I plan on making [FONT=-webkit-standard]removable/replaceable side "wings" for switches so that I don't have to re-spin the dash whenever I mount-up something new.[/FONT]
• Switch panel
• [FONT=-webkit-standard]Belt hooks - I currently use bungees to keep the belts from getting sucked underneath me when I get in, but a p-clamp to hold the bungee and a better hook than the wire ones I have now would work better.[/FONT]
• [FONT=-webkit-standard]Coil tray clamps/mounts - I currently have a tray mounted in the frame triangle behind my head hat holds the coil, a terminal strip for my wiring, the tach amp for the dash, and data protection for the tach amp. I think I can get all of that into one package.[/FONT]
• Positive terminal breakout box - I bought one, and it's better than my original +12 positive distribution, but I can make a better one
• velocity stack for my pit scooter
• [FONT=-webkit-standard]Clutch centering tool - I can hold better tolerances with this machine than my current Lisle clutch centering tool offers. [/FONT]

[jchracer]

Looks good Rich. I have been working with additive manufacturing for a while now. What you will find as you work with the advantages and dis-advantages of the various printers and materials is that (as always) the part design needs to be tailored to the manufacturing method. If the part design looks the same as anoptimized design manufactured with conventional subtractive manufacturing methods,you have likely not done a very good job of optimizing the design for additive manufacture. Most of these issues are related to build orientation, build supports and material weakness between build layers.

The printer I own allows me to pause the build and insert things (such as self-locking nuts) into the middle of the part. The list of tricks becomes endless.

Please share some more examples and how your designs evolve.

[DanW]

Now if we can print gearbox adapters or uprights that have become unobtanium.....

https://bigmetaladditive.com/

[Rick Kirchner]

you can do additive metal, but not at our price points. There's a BASF filament that's 97% stainless. You print it and then send it off to be sintered. It shrinks some, so you probably have to do a couple of iterations.

The filament is over $500 a pound....

You can also print in casting sand and send it off to be poured. The Navy is making a lot of orphan parts for submarines that way.

There's also laser sintering of metal powder, but you really have to pay attention to strength issues.

[DanW]

you can do additive metal, but not at our price points. There's a BASF filament that's 97% stainless. You print it and then send it off to be sintered. It shrinks some, so you probably have to do a couple of iterations.

The filament is over $500 a pound....

You can also print in casting sand and send it off to be poured. The Navy is making a lot of orphan parts for submarines that way.

There's also laser sintering of metal powder, but you really have to pay attention to strength issues.

True about additive metal, at least for now. The company I work for now makes sintered parts. Took a while to learn where it worked and where it didn't....

I think the cost will drop rapidly in the coming years. I have seen a mig torch in use on a 3D printer head at the hobbyist level, but he wasn't milling the oxide off after each layer. Clever guy on a budget.

Regards,
Dan

[Mike Holland]

Here is what I did for a 3D printer project. I can share details with anyone that wants to try it. There are two pictures that are comparison between the typical formula mirrors and mine.

[Beartrax]

"velocity stack for my pit scooter"

Clearly that needs to be moved higher up the Priority List!

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing!

[924RACR]

"velocity stack for my pit scooter"

That is the definitive example of appropriate use for a 3D printer...

[BeerBudgetRacing]

"velocity stack for my pit scooter"

Clearly that needs to be moved higher up the Priority List!

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing!

Not sure he needs to go any faster in the pits. His scooter is fast enough when he's carrying parts, tools and a binder in one hand !

[badrocco16v]

Would anyone recommend an entry level 3d printer for a hobbyist? I am thinking sub-500 dollar region.

Thanks,

Curtis

[Jamesbe]

Ender3 pro

Like $200 on Amazon

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[badrocco16v]

Ender3 pro

Like $200 on Amazon

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That one did catch my eye. Have you used one?

Curtis

[Jim Nash]

Over the years I have found many things I decide to print. Granted, nothing real structural but I find things I "need" to print all the time. It can get out of hand. Camera mounts, alignment bar parts, storage brackets, phone mount parts, radio mount, etc.

I have also found the press-in (with a hot soldering iron) threaded inserts to be handy. I don't print or tap any threads in the printed parts.

I use a nice pro printer at my work place. I did purchase a Prusa Mini for future work at home. It was under $500 but I have not got it yet. I'll know in about 8 to 10 months how useful it will be. There is a lot to learn. The pro machines are surprisingly fool-proof to use.

Jim

[Jamesbe]

That one did catch my eye. Have you used one?

Curtis

Although I have not personally I have 2 co-workers who have them, one for 2 years one for 1 year. Both recommended that printer to me, I'm on the fence on buying one as I can't think of what I would want to print now or ever needed to print.

But then once you have it, you tend to find uses for it, like any tool.

[R. Pare]

My doctor said that he needed a small stool sample, so I made him one:

[Jamesbe]

lol where do you get the threaded inserts?

[TedV]

lol where do you get the threaded inserts?

McMaster Carr

[Garey Guzman]

Over the years I have found many things I decide to print. Granted, nothing real structural but I find things I "need" to print all the time. It can get out of hand. Camera mounts, alignment bar parts, storage brackets, phone mount parts, radio mount, etc...
Jim

That looks like exactly what I would start doing! Dang, I really want one even more!

[dc]

One of my clients was responsible for the tooling that machined this beast after it was printed...

[Jamesbe]

Black friday was 80 off so I got one.

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[Rick Kirchner]

I hope we keep this thread going.

I'm trying to adapt Cura to the Qidi. Someone on Reddit produced a profile, I loaded it into the definitions folder and Cura recognizes it. Haven't had a chance to try the same part sliced with each yet. Trying to figure out the best slicer to use with the least amount of fiddling to get it going, but also the flexibility in configuring supports as well as good coverage as far as providing settings for various materials. Printed a very complex part for Art Smith and the supports were a bitch - very difficult to remove, and I know there are tricks to using them.

Anybody out there using Simplify 3D?

Also bought a book on Amazon to learn Fusion 360. Yeah, there's a ton of online videos, but you have to work your way through a couple minutes of fluff to get to the twenty seconds of stuff that might be what you need.

haven't found a good guide to merlin - the particular version of G-code most printers use. Lots of stuff out there for G-code on CNC, less on 3DP applications.

[Garey Guzman]

Black friday was 80 off so I got one.

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I was going to keep waiting till you mentioned the additional sale. Can't really afford it but hey, my boys are already spoiled, they don't need a gaming headset and an upgraded GPU!

Feel free to suggest filaments I should also order!

[Rick Kirchner]

for an open frame machine first thing to do is download the enclosure parts from thingaverse and print them in something like tough PLA. Then buy two IKEA LACK end tables and make the enclosure. That way you can print consistently in ABS.

[mikey]

Wish I had the time to get into 3D fun.

Check this out!

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31173/...hstand-3000-hp

[Rick Kirchner]

I'd shudder to think of how they will inspect those rods. Also surprised that they ended up looking like regular rods. 3DP takes a lot of conventional design constraints off. I'd have thought they would look like a solid beam with a lot of fine infill

[Garey Guzman]

Wish I had the time to get into 3D fun.

Check this out!

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31173/...hstand-3000-hp

My plan is to use my 15 and 11 year olds to get them into engineering, which may provide a gateway to motorsports that they currently have no interest in! My oldest has several older 3D printers at school and was planning to make me a representation of one of my cars for Christmas so at least he's interested in the process.

[badrocco16v]

Is there free or cheap 3D cad software available? The machine I am looking at can accept STL, obj, and amf files.

[Garey Guzman]

Is there free or cheap 3D cad software available? The machine I am looking at can accept STP, obj, and amf files.

The experienced guys above can probably better answer but I spent yesterday looking at various YouTube videos. There was a good video on free CAD software on Thingiverse.com, which leads me to think that with my background, Autodesk 123D Design will be best suited. Waiting for my son to see if they have access to a Student version of SolidWorks. He's using Inventor in his high school engineering class.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

The experienced guys above can probably better answer but I spent yesterday looking at various YouTube videos. There was a good video on free CAD software on Thingiverse.com, which leads me to think that with my background, Autodesk 123D Design will be best suited. Waiting for my son to see if they have access to a Student version of SolidWorks. He's using Inventor in his high school engineering class.

When my son's engineering class participated in the FIRST robotics competitions they received a Student Solidworks. There were limitations and a time limit IIR.

As Lathrop posted here https://www.apexspeed.com/forums/sho...l=1#post593541 EAA.ORG gets you a student version. EAA is like $40/yr. plus you get a magazine targeted at people building planes.

[Jamesbe]

Blender or sketchup

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[phantomjock]

SolidWorks has a Veteran's option - gets you 1 year at Student rate. EAA sounds like a deal too. Been using RHINO - learning curve is not as steep as SW, but a bit of work to make the GCode. But they have no Vet's option, but less expensive than full up SW -- and I'm more familiar with it too.

A fellow I know in Baltimore/Annapolis area uses Fusion 360 for his 3D printing. As I recall, it is part of the AutoCAD/AutoDesk family. From the web:

Is Fusion 360 still free for hobbyists?
To be more specific, Fusion 360 is remains free under the following conditions: If you are a student, you can try it free for up to 3 years. If you are a hobbyist or a small business (under $100,000), you can try it for free for 1 year after the initial 30-day trial expires.

and

Fusion 360 “paid” version costs $495 / year (or $60 / month if you only commit to the monthly version).

I've been thinking of getting a "hot head" for my DIY CNC machine I built 15+ years ago. Would need to make an enclosure for keeping temps stable.


Cheers - Jim

[Rick Kirchner]

I've had F360 for a couple of years now without issue. Like all CAD, it can be hard and fiddly to use. It's drag and drop until it isn't. Took me forever to learn that when I wanted to move or modify a hole I had to 1) select the exactly correct part of the hole; 2) see the proper "add hole" event highlighted in the timeline; 3) right click on said timeline feature and select 'edit hole"; 4) grab the appropriate part of the target to either move or re-size it or change it from thru hole to depth, etc. All instead of just selecting it and dragging it! I just bought a reference book because I'm tired of searching through youtubes and helpdesk posts and spending hours to figure out something that I could look up in minutes.

There's a r/3Dprinting subreddit that has a good getting started wiki

Lots of facebook pages. Best one is probably to the Prusia machine. The rest, lots of people into figurines and Boba Fett masks. There was one I was a member of briefly that was about printing useful things. The site admin was an ******* and there were a lot of thought policemen that wanted to debate what was useful or not. Gotta admit, I'm tired of seeing stuff for cosplay, WoW, and Fortnite.

I've found no forum that's anywhere as good as apexspeed. I believe there's one at all3DP, but the community tends to be a little fractured.

I've not found sketchup to work very well. Obviously some have done great things with it, just not me.

Something i just figured out: The slicers work in mm - there are no provisions for imperial units. STLs are dimensionless, so a 3" item becomes a 3mm item......The Europeans think we are barbarians for using inches, but why would I try to build a #10 screw in the metric system? As Art said - imperial units are for everyday life and the metric system is for science (or something to that effect).

[Jamesbe]

Except like every bolt on my race car is metric

I build in mm then import into cura and size is dead on.

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[Rick Kirchner]

Except like every bolt on my race car is metric

What do you have a Mygale or a Radical? I'd hate to have to buy metric rod ends....

If you own a FC you have to be "bilingual". imperial frame, bellhousing/oil tank. Metric dash, motor, gearbox

[924RACR]

If you own a FC you have to be "bilingual". imperial frame, bellhousing/oil tank. Metric dash, motor, gearbox

Hmmm, sounds more like a "morphodite: too much a' both, and not enough a' neither!"

[Gary_T]

I have a MakerGear M2, it's been quite good for me.

CAD, I Use Autodesk Fusion 360 - has been free, if you tell them every year you're still not commercial. It is very powerful, but also powerfully painful to use. The simplest things seem to be the hardest.

Slicer, I use CURA. Occasionally a hiccup, but it has been pretty good. Agreed on the dimensions part, thanks for reminding me, that may be the issue a friend who was trying to send me parts from Sketchup may have run into.

I don't use it as much as I should, and haven't done much 'useful' stuff for the race car yet, but it is a very neat tool.

[Jamesbe]

What do you have a Mygale or a Radical? I'd hate to have to buy metric rod ends....

If you own a FC you have to be "bilingual". imperial frame, bellhousing/oil tank. Metric dash, motor, gearbox

Currently PFM. Very odd that an american built car is metric.

But I guess most of the parts were sourced from the UK.

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[Jamesbe]

Did something actually productive with my printer this week. Needed space for a couple of switches and didn't like that the connector for my aim wheel was just dangling with a zip tie.

This secures everything nicely. It's solid, I'm small so lots of leg room there so no issues.

Photo is a test fit, I'll reroute the wires better later.

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[Rick Kirchner]

I was burning up F360 over Christmas. Visiting Daughter in San Diego, so no printing. Spent downtime designing. I have a bunch to print and then I'll post pics:

90s VD wheel speed sensor mount
oil separator tower block off
locking mechanism for gas cap
various tube clamps
double clamp to mount shock reservoirs to frame tubes
ARB bearing retainers
oil catch can with removable lid for cleaning
collar that holds the spring for the folding handle on my go-ped
a foot for a angle-iron stool leg
vortex generators
a saddle to support oil and water tubes

[Garey Guzman]

I haven't started designing or making race car stuff but printing almost nonstop for Christmas gifts!

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