Which 3D printer

[Jay_Benson]

No I use a sub contractor with that sort of shizzle. Don't do enough to warrant my own machine. Yet.

Are you looking at 3D printing for prototyping or production? Or dive kit bits?

[Woz]

Are you looking at 3D printing for prototyping or production? Or dive kit bits?

Not sure yet...!

[WFO]

Jay the modelling / printing side are largely separate - you can create the .stl files on most 3D CAD systems to then send to your slicer. Quality of what you get out of the CAD systems varies, I've mostly used solidworks but it's too expensive for DIY'ers (hookey versions are out there...). FreeCAD is appalling to use, but it is opensource and free. Fusion360 is free but only as like a crippled demo version. There are lots of others.

Printing wise we had a HP Fusionjet at work, it was the most appallingly frustrating device we have ever had the misfortune of "owning". If the likes of DMG or mazak had behaved the same way you'd have chucked the machine out the door within a month and probably slapped the sales rep into the swarf bin. (more aimed at Woz and James as these are too dear for DIYers by a few zeros)

[Jay_Benson]

Jay the modelling / printing side are largely separate - you can create the .stl files on most 3D CAD systems to then send to your slicer. Quality of what you get out of the CAD systems varies, I've mostly used solidworks but it's too expensive for DIY'ers (hookey versions are out there...). FreeCAD is appalling to use, but it is opensource and free. Fusion360 is free but only as like a crippled demo version. There are lots of others.

Printing wise we had a HP Fusionjet at work, it was the most appallingly frustrating device we have ever had the misfortune of "owning". If the likes of DMG or mazak had behaved the same way you'd have chucked the machine out the door within a month and probably slapped the sales rep into the swarf bin. (more aimed at Woz and James as these are too dear for DIYers by a few zeros)

I am conscious that I would have to spend a great deal of time creating a 3D design in a CAD system and then have the possibility for it not to actually print off properly - I now have "a guy" that does the 3D stuff for me and sends me the .STL file for me to print off. Somehow he manages to interpret my "drawings" into a 3D design.

I'm using Cura as my slicing software - dead easy to use and free. Also if I am printing multiple items of the same design I just right click, select how many more to print off and it arranges them on the printing plate fitting on as many as possible. As it looks as though I will be using the 3D print to make production items I want it to run overnight so that I come back to a fully loaded print table the next morning - one at a time is not going to be sufficient. Before anyone asks why not go down the injection moulding route, I am but the initial cost of the mould is eye-watering and the lead time is too long - also I am unlikely to need 5 trillion in the first few months - the 3D printer route is fine to get off the launch pad and I can scale up very easily by buying additional printers.

The other thing that I have done this week with the printer is to get the print table set up properly - previously there was a slight angle on it which originally was not an issue for the design I was printing off but as I have been printing off spacers and adapter plates for the Bowden tube to effectively create a direct drive to the extruder head which will allow me to print TPU (the TPU is more rubbery and has a higher friction level so is inclined to jam up in long (300mm) tubes that are curved.).

[jamesp]

Jay the modelling / printing side are largely separate - you can create the .stl files on most 3D CAD systems to then send to your slicer. Quality of what you get out of the CAD systems varies, I've mostly used solidworks but it's too expensive for DIY'ers (hookey versions are out there...). FreeCAD is appalling to use, but it is opensource and free. Fusion360 is free but only as like a crippled demo version. There are lots of others.

Printing wise we had a HP Fusionjet at work, it was the most appallingly frustrating device we have ever had the misfortune of "owning". If the likes of DMG or mazak had behaved the same way you'd have chucked the machine out the door within a month and probably slapped the sales rep into the swarf bin. (more aimed at Woz and James as these are too dear for DIYers by a few zeros)

I had a Gildermeister MF Twin 65 Lathe (twin spindle, twin turret, powered tooling, 8 axis machine) DMG Uk told me that "They would not, and could not support the machine".
The local sales rep is very aware of his likely reception should he be stupid enough to enter the premises.
My last new machine is a year old now, not a single warranty claim on it. Go Haas!
The other seven machine (Bridgeport, Citizen, Colchester, XYZ) have all had the service manager on speed dial, the Bridgeport engineer used to pop in when he was in the area "just to check"; five NC units in the first year will do that.

[Woz]

I had a Gildermeister MF Twin 65 Lathe (twin spindle, twin turret, powered tooling, 8 axis machine) DMG Uk told me that "They would not, and could not support the machine".
The local sales rep is very aware of his likely reception should he be stupid enough to enter the premises.
My last new machine is a year old now, not a single warranty claim on it. Go Haas!
The other seven machine (Bridgeport, Citizen, Colchester, XYZ) have all had the service manager on speed dial, the Bridgeport engineer used to pop in when he was in the area "just to check"; five NC units in the first year will do that.

NC? I wish. The nearest we get is a DRO on the machines...

[jamesp]

NC? I wish. The nearest we get is a DRO on the machines...

We have had DROs on the machines since 1983, it still amuses me when people consider them new technology.

The NC was the Heidenhain lump of electronics that ran to something like £8k each.
You can imagine the size of the bricks as the warranty clicked down to zero on that one.

[Allan Carr]

When I left Uni, I went to work for Rolls Royce om computer support for NC machine tools. That was back in 1968.
At the time RR had 5 out of 6 multi-access machines in the UK, 90% of the UK's milling machines, 70% of the UK NC lathes (about 200), half the NC drills and all of the NC grinding and pipe-bending machines. They had a department which designed machine tools, essentially for their own use, put them out to tender to manuacturers and then took royalties on sales to other companies.

[jamesp]

When I left Uni, I went to work for Rolls Royce om computer support for NC machine tools. That was back in 1968.
At the time RR had 5 out of 6 multi-access machines in the UK, 90% of the UK's milling machines, 70% of the UK NC lathes (about 200), half the NC drills and all of the NC grinding and pipe-bending machines. They had a department which designed machine tools, essentially for their own use, put them out to tender to manuacturers and then took royalties on sales to other companies.

Where do you think Renishaw came from?

Along with VIPER grinding, creep feed spark erosion grinding(I`ve seen the machine), and the ability to decimate whole forests with paper work that does sod all.

[Allan Carr]

Where do you think Renishaw came from?

Along with VIPER grinding, creep feed spark erosion grinding(I`ve seen the machine), and the ability to decimate whole forests with paper work that does sod all.

I wrote the post processor for the first NC spark erosion machine RR had.