3D printer, anyone made something genuinely useful ?

simonfraser said:
Did it last ?

Or is it still better to get the old fashioned tools / wood / plastic / epoxy out ?
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Made lots and lots of useful things and they lasted well. Even the UV did not degrade them.

Depends upon what you are making I suppose. I wouldn't make a cleat using a 3D printer :)
 
Sailingsaves said:
Made lots and lots of useful things and they lasted well. Even the UV did not degrade them.

Depends upon what you are making I suppose. I wouldn't make a cleat using a 3D printer :)
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Yeah - but you could use it as a pattern for casting in bronze.��
 
Depends a lot on the printer and the material you put in it, the application has to suit.
You need to consider the orientation you print in, most printed materials have a huge knock down in mechanical performance through the layers.
 
I'd love to get one of these - I just can't convince myself I would get any practical use out of it.

The other question is whether the cheap printers are as useful as the more expensive ones.
 
bedouin said:
I'd love to get one of these - I just can't convince myself I would get any practical use out of it.

The other question is whether the cheap printers are as useful as the more expensive ones.
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I might be able to answer than one after christmas!
I too have always fancied one but was not convinced the use it would get would make it worthwhile, but then I saw one in the black friday sales at a very low price so guess what I am getting for Christmas :)

I fully expect it to be pretty rubbish out of the box but it will be interesting to see what it will take to get useful results. I still don't know what I will actually make on it though ;)
 
There is a well-documented problem with convertible XK8s that the headlining around the interior emergency handle recess ... which is basically just a hole in the metal plating of the inner roof ... becomes unglued and gradually the headlining looks tattier and tattier. The only proper fix is to remove the convertible roof and replace the entire inner lining but that is a "big job".

I sent a couple of photos of the inside of my roof to my Son who has a 3D printer at work and, from a couple of photos, he knocked out the perfect insert. It clips into the hole perfectly and holds the headlining tightly in place but is easily removed if I need to use the emergency handle because the roof has jammed or something, which actually never happens.

There are pages and pages on the internet Jag forums of owners calling out for an answer to this problem so I've said to my Son that he should start churning these out as a quick post on the Forums and he would be making his fortune ... but he has bigger fish to fry. :)

The photo looks a bit strange because the black plastic is shiny and it is reflecting the trees opposite. Obviously the shinyness is not an issue when the roof is closed and when it's open you can't see that part of the roof anyway.

IMG_5820.JPG


Richard
 
RichardS said:
There is a well-documented problem with convertible XK8s that the headlining around the interior emergency handle recess ... which is basically just a hole in the metal plating of the inner roof ... becomes unglued and gradually the headlining looks tattier and tattier. The only proper fix is to remove the convertible roof and replace the entire inner lining but that is a "big job".

I sent a couple of photos of the inside of my roof to my Son who has a 3D printer at work and, from a couple of photos, he knocked out the perfect insert. It clips into the hole perfectly and holds the headlining tightly in place but is easily removed if I need to use the emergency handle because the roof has jammed or something, which actually never happens.

There are pages and pages on the internet Jag forums of owners calling out for an answer to this problem so I've said to my Son that he should start churning these out as a quick post on the Forums and he would be making his fortune ... but he has bigger fish to fry. :)

The photo looks a bit strange because the black plastic is shiny and it is reflecting the trees opposite. Obviously the shinyness is not an issue when the roof is closed and when it's open you can't see that part of the roof anyway.

IMG_5820.JPG


Richard
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If that black plastic oval is what your son printed then he has a VERY nice (and I suspect very expensive) 3d printer. Any idea what it is?
 
brman said:
If that black plastic oval is what your son printed then he has a VERY nice (and I suspect very expensive) 3d printer. Any idea what it is?
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Yes, it's the black plastic oval. It has a ridged oval "tang" about 1cm deep which follows the entire outer perimeter inset 5mm from the outer edge and allows it to clip tightly into place in the oval hole beneath. I just sent him a photo taken from directly above along with the exact length of the longest dimension and he put the photo into some kind of CAD scanner or something which scans the photo and produces the file which goes into the printer and prints the insert. I think that's correct although he doesn't say much because of the Official Secrets Act.

I've no idea what the printer is but it's part of an MOD operation so it will be top quality.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
Yes, it's the black plastic oval. It has a ridged oval "tang" about 1cm deep which follows the entire outer perimeter inset 5mm from the outer edge and allows it to clip tightly into place in the oval hole beneath. I just sent him a photo taken from directly above along with the exact length of the longest dimension and he put the photo into some kind of CAD scanner or something which scans the photo and produces the file which goes into the printer and prints the insert. I think that's correct although he doesn't say much because of the Official Secrets Act.

I've no idea what the printer is but it's part of an MOD operation so it will be top quality.

Richard
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Ah, that explains it.
This is the sort of cosmetic quality I would expect from a decent home printer:
3D-Print_April_2014_026_fp.jpg

Not quite in the same league.....
 
RichardS said:
Yes, it's the black plastic oval. It has a ridged oval "tang" about 1cm deep which follows the entire outer perimeter inset 5mm from the outer edge and allows it to clip tightly into place in the oval hole beneath. I just sent him a photo taken from directly above along with the exact length of the longest dimension and he put the photo into some kind of CAD scanner or something which scans the photo and produces the file which goes into the printer and prints the insert. I think that's correct although he doesn't say much because of the Official Secrets Act.

I've no idea what the printer is but it's part of an MOD operation so it will be top quality.

Richard
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What, he's printing 'home jobs' in MOD time & on a MOD printer & your worried about the Official Secrets Act?
Perhaps thats why the Traffic Police were monitoring your movements the other day. :p
 
alant said:
What, he's printing 'home jobs' in MOD time & on a MOD printer & your worried about the Official Secrets Act?
Perhaps thats why the Traffic Police were monitoring your movements the other day. :p
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I'm expecting a knock on the door from the men in the black SUV anytime now. ;)

His Boss asked him to come up with a project to make something on the 3D printer to show that he could use it the hardware and software before they let him loose on it for real. He asked me a couple of months ago whether I had any ideas .... and I certainly did, and you can see the result. :encouragement:

Richard
 
dunedin said:
Are there any recommended low cost 3D printing services for one off simple items (closer to eBay prices rather than industrial)?

And/or what are folks recommendations for cheap but effective entry level printer to buy?
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I am curious if anyone can answer the first one, I never found any.

As to an entry level printer, I looked long and hard at this and was originally looking at things like the reprap Prusa i3 (about £500) but just could not justify it. The one I am getting for christmas is an Anet A8, similar in style to the Prusa but much cheaper (£100!) and nowhere near the build quality. From what I have read I really would not get the Anet unless you treat it as a hobby to get it going and don't really care to much about how good the results are. Like I said, I am intrigued to know if I can make something useable from it.
The market is now awash with different designs, I think you can even buy one from Agos. No idea how their output quality and usability compares though.
 
RichardS said:
I'm expecting a knock on the door from the men in the black SUV anytime now. ;)

His Boss asked him to come up with a project to make something on the 3D printer to show that he could use it the hardware and software before they let him loose on it for real. He asked me a couple of months ago whether I had any ideas .... and I certainly did, and you can see the result. :encouragement:

Richard
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What did you buy that demo piece from the MOD for?
Got any receipt?
 
i'm sure Richard is still testing its overall durability before deciding if it justifies payment...

Its bound to break at some point at which point he can decide his son really hadn't mastered the software and needs to have another go before committing to payment...
 
ShinyShoe said:
i'm sure Richard is still testing its overall durability before deciding if it justifies payment...

Its bound to break at some point at which point he can decide his son really hadn't mastered the software and needs to have another go before committing to payment...
Click to expand...

He'll be charging MOD training fees next.
 
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