3D printed fun

[Chris Livengood]

Chris - have you swapped bed springs for silicone spacers yet? Those are huge - no resonance to loosen them up.

Remember, just like on our spring perches they need sufficient pre-load to keep from backing off.

I made a device that allows me to put a dial indicator in where the extruder goes on the carriage. Then I run the leveling program, and I can get it to a half-thou across the build surface. there's more variance in the build surface due to getting the decal to lay flat with no bubbles, than there is in my leveling process. Then I replace the indicator with the extruder, set z with paper/friction, and fine tune with z-offset. I used to have to do that in the slicer but Qidi now offers live Z adjustment at .02mm/step with a firmware upgrade.

Some build plates aren't flat, especially when hot, and that causes people a lot of headaches. you'd have to build a fixture with a power supply, heat it up, and then flycut it to get it flat if you have that problem - or buy new parts.

I have not tried silicone spacers. I did buy stiffer springs. I also tried to mount the bed via three points instead of four, but that actually made it worse. My bed is a bit convex, high in the middle. It's not been a huge deal, but sometimes I have to run clearance tight in the center if I am going to do a large print. On tall prints I struggle with the bed being on four posts with no lateral support, so the top of print tends to move around.

[Spengo]

For all those on the prusa train you might want to re-think your choices these days especially if going to a larger format printer. They are the apple of the printer world yes they work well but man are they overpriced.

If going larger format look into the Bambu labs X1C or a Voron.

I've had a prusa i3 for many years, Bambu X1C is the first printer I've seen that has actually made me consider upgrading from my old bedslinger. Has pretty much every feature you could want.

[Rick Kirchner]

I have not tried silicone spacers. I did buy stiffer springs. I also tried to mount the bed via three points instead of four, but that actually made it worse. My bed is a bit convex, high in the middle. It's not been a huge deal, but sometimes I have to run clearance tight in the center if I am going to do a large print. On tall prints I struggle with the bed being on four posts with no lateral support, so the top of print tends to move around.

I don't see how you can effectively level it with four. 3 makes a plane. The Qidi has two in the front, one in the rear center. My scales are a PITA because of four contact points. I'm betting you are high in the middle because two opposite corners are "tight".

I'd make a dial indicator jig, loosen up all the leveling knobs, and start playing around with it - including putting a good straightedge across the bed when it's not constrained at all.

[Rick Kirchner]

I've had a prusa i3 for many years, Bambu X1C is the first printer I've seen that has actually made me consider upgrading from my old bedslinger. Has pretty much every feature you could want.

Core XY/cartesian is definitely the way to go. As the build area gets bigger it's hard to sling around a big print and a heavy heated bed. The mass of the extruder is always the same so the control system can be tuned tighter.

The new Prusa is a Core XY machine.

[Mike B]

I just uploaded an .stl for the Hewland gear storage post thing: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5891462
This is just a copy of the injection molded version that Pegasus sells. Post some pics if you print some!

[Chris Livengood]

I don't see how you can effectively level it with four. 3 makes a plane. The Qidi has two in the front, one in the rear center. My scales are a PITA because of four contact points. I'm betting you are high in the middle because two opposite corners are "tight".

I'd make a dial indicator jig, loosen up all the leveling knobs, and start playing around with it - including putting a good straightedge across the bed when it's not constrained at all.

3 points make sense to me as well, but the ender for whatever seems to prefer 4. The dial indicator method sure would make adjustment a lot easier. I might have to print up a mount for an indicator. Ideally the bed would mount on like a spherical bearing and then have two adjustment screws. This would remove the lateral slop the ender 3 v2 bed has. It's really only problematic on very tall prints, it would be nice to reliably get to like 14" though.

Speaking of tall prints I was around 12" up and there is just enough cumulative slop in everything that the machine crashed and ruined the part with about 2 hours left on a 26 hour print. Otherwise I have had good prints lately. My PETG game is spot on currently. I am working on some molds to make wing shoes for the Firman F2000 platform since they aren't available anymore. It's going to be a lot of printing. I might have to buy those silicon spacers sooner rather than later.

[Matt Clark]

3 points make sense to me as well, but the ender for whatever seems to prefer 4.

It is a "best fit" system. It calculates a mean leveled plane from all 4 points.
We do this at work on some of our engine pieces as well.

[Rick Kirchner]

I usually don't keep a rain light on the car. In SoCal, it's often "if it rains, put it back on the trailer". My rain tires are some ancient Hankooks bought old in 2015....

For years I had a cheapo LED marker light as a rain light, with the wire coiled up in case I needed to hook it up, but out of the way otherwise. But then one day, said cheapo marker light's bracket experienced metal fatigue and departed. I decided I wouldn't put one on again unless someone insisted.

Then came last weekend at Big Willow, where it rained on and off and the possibility that I might need to activate it before sliding off in a crash came to mind.

Found these on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQHYFSKZ...t_details&th=1

Hella bright, low power, and in a heavy metal shell that's potted. They come with a sort of odd rubber grommet that looks like it is designed to attach to a metal tube.

So I learned how to import airfoils into F360 and designed this underwing mount. Unfortunately unlike Chris my PETG game has fallen off (and the reason I haven't printed any LD-200 jigs lately). I changed to the latest Simplify 3d at the same time I had some extruder issues and haven't been able to get that mojo back.

Overall, not bad though.

[Keith Carter]

Playing around and designed and printed my own USB powered led name box for my sim racing seat. Turned out pretty cool....

[mikey]

any have experience with printing metal? is aluminum an option? application would be for a swivel t-stat housing water neck. I need a custom angle that nobody sells.. working with Sean Kelly to get the 3d drawing done soon.

wanted to see if anyone knows if 3d printed metal aluminum will work for this. water psi set at 16psi by the radiator cap.

[Matt Clark]

any have experience with printing metal? is aluminum an option? application would be for a swivel t-stat housing water neck. I need a custom angle that nobody sells.. working with Sean Kelly to get the 3d drawing done soon.

wanted to see if anyone knows if 3d printed metal aluminum will work for this. water psi set at 16psi by the radiator cap.

it is technically doable with a properly equipped home 3D printer, using metal impregnated filament, but then you have to sinter it... which can be a hassle.

https://www.matterhackers.com/store/...et/sk/MPQJ2NTV

[Spengo]

any have experience with printing metal? is aluminum an option? application would be for a swivel t-stat housing water neck. I need a custom angle that nobody sells.. working with Sean Kelly to get the 3d drawing done soon.

wanted to see if anyone knows if 3d printed metal aluminum will work for this. water psi set at 16psi by the radiator cap.

You could try some of the nylons available. I really like Taulman Alloy 910 for a pure nylon and Matterhackers NylonX carbon fiber infused if you need something more rigid. They won't melt and degrade the way PLA does and they're stronger than cast aluminum parts in many ways. You need something with an all-metal hot end and also a hardened steel (or harder) nozzle for the CF stuff. I also recommend a G10 build plate and enclosure to help with warping, cardboard box is fine.

[Mike B]

Made a set of steering rack locks for setting toe. Certainly not an original idea but I added small tabs to make them easier to remove, or possibly to safety wire a larger "remove before flight" flag.

[Mike B]

Speaking of setting toe, I usually try to use Gammon reels for my alignment strings but they don't have any provision for mounting to anything. I printed a housing that they slide into and bolted it to some extra 80/20 extrusion I had on hand. Overkill? Probably, but now i have enough adjustment to use these bars on multiple cars.

[Rick Kirchner]

I think I posted this thing way back in the thread. It was too big and too difficult to sand down to fit

I had a couple of spools of some filament I just hate - spent a full day printing 8 minute test coupons trying to tune it in and finally gave up. Decided to use one spool to print this.

You can see in the first pic the item it replaced - a chunk of pour foam painted with epoxy I made with my first seat over 20 years ago. Being made of expanding foam it fit pretty tightly and as it aged it became harder and harder to get it out as the devices I used to provide a puller hogged out bigger and bigger holes.

I took my original STL and reduced it by 2% in x and Y in the slicer to ensure I would have enough room. It was printed with a .1 nozzle, in PETG, with about a 12% hexagonal infill, and two perimeters. Took 16 hours to print. It weighs about two pounds, the foam one was probably 1.5 pounds.

Had I been willing to use a .04/.05/.06 nozzle I could have printed the same thing (with 7% infill) and it would have weighed half as much, but would have taken over 30 hours to print.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

Made a set of steering rack locks for setting toe. Certainly not an original idea but I added small tabs to make them easier to remove, or possibly to safety wire a larger "remove before flight" flag.

I made some like this too. Camfer the 'corners' and they will go on and off a lot easier.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

I had a couple of spools of some filament I just hate - spent a full day printing 8 minute test coupons trying to tune it in and finally gave up. Decided to use one spool to print this.

I've been using Overture PLA and PETG. I bought another brand off Amazon it was junk.
I know there are others about 20% cheaper but I have had Zero issues with the Overture products.

What are you using?

[Mike B]

I made some like this too. Camfer the 'corners' and they will go on and off a lot easier.

I did exactly that on the second set!

[BeerBudgetRacing]

So I had a leak in a radiator. Pulled it apart to fix and found the rear end of the radiator was sitting on the frame.

The original fiberglass radiator tray had been trimmed for some reason and lacked original support so it collapsed.

So as an experiement I decided to make my own. This prototype is in PLA but I plan to print one in black PETG once I get it all right.

It's in 3 pieces because of my printer's limit (8.5) so I keyed it together.
Screws hold the front and back so the middle section is just wedged in.

Will it stay together? I think so. But with about $30 in material for a bunch of prototypes and est $10 for the final, I may just print a stare.
If it doesn't work right I'll print a mold !


RadTray3.jpgRadTray2.jpgRadTray1.jpgRadTray4.jpg

[Rick Kirchner]

I'd print that in ABS and glue it. Petg is hard to glue and I've found it gets brittle over time. Been replacing stuff made from PETG with ABS or TPU with very little infill.

[Rick Kirchner]

I'd print that in ABS and glue it. Petg is hard to glue and I've found it gets brittle over time. Been replacing stuff made from PETG with ABS or TPU with very little infill.

Radiator trays on the 90-96s were aluminum hat section. Found mine worn all the way through in a couple of places and starting to get into the radiators. One of the first things I did on my major rebuild in 2003 was to have those copied in stainless. 20 years on they are still perfect. One of the things that helped was to put spacers between the radiator tray edges and the floors. This raised the tray and radiator up so they were flush with the bottom, rather than hanging down and catching curbs. There's plenty of room above in the sidepod.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

The fiberglass trays had a rubber strip for the radiator to rest on.
Plan to do that again. Think it'll help.

Haven't printed ABS or ASA yet. I might give it a go.