New frame parts. The original design was for single pane 3mm acrylic. Not my design. These are a variation of my own design. Integrated RGB LEDs that will act as status indicators (and bling). Double pane .090" glass retainers.

 

Cool stuff!

 

The first technical prints from polycarbonate had some issues. Warping and delamination. Not totally unexpected. Polycarb is a rather difficult material to print.

I had the enclosure at 40c. 60c min is the recommendation but the stepper motors (or their drivers) start to error out at 42c. I'm working on a cooling solution but still waiting in some parts.

In the mean time I tried a couple workarounds using a printed insulating sheath called a skirt and some sacrificial interface material called a raft. Seems to have worked well. The print bed is heated to 115c so the skirt helps to keep some of that heat in the part as it gers taller. The raft is very "airy" and can flex so it absorbs some of the stress as the plastic solidifies and shrinks. While still hot, I then put the entire build into the oven at 100c fpr a couple hours to stress relieve.

 

Approaching the limits of current FDM tech. This was a .25mm dia nozzle with .15mm layer thicknesss done in polycarbonate.

I still have one smaller nozzle and these were done on the stock machine. Should have the new high temp-high precision machine done next week.

 

Some carbon fiber parts. Quite intricate. Includes a pic of two fitted together, showing the parting line. I'm pretty happy with the accuracy/precision.


Linear bearing holder shell half and extruder shell half for new machine

NEMA 17 stepper motor mount

Dry-fitted together

Parting line

 

Really looks impressive! I wonder what the low-volume/specialty/hobby manufacturing landscape will look like in another decade...

But more importantly, what happened to Lincoln's face??

 

I actually tried to scrape off that blemish befpre I took the pics. Wouldn't budge.

 

Seriously, tho, I think we're waiting for the next big tech to come along at this point.

Additive plasti, both resin and extrusion, is now attainable by most at a quality that will support most hobby applications. Resin is still not very strong and the build volume is small but you can into it now for around US$200 and print smaller items with resolutions in the 2 micron range. Extrusion is similarly priced with staggering material choices and build sizes above a cubic foot.

Desktop CNC (mill, route, laser) is also well under US$1000.

Additive needs some material refinement for better layer bonding strength.

The real problem as I see it is still design and machine setup/operation. I'm fortunate to have an extensive background in both but folk weak in either area will struggle to produce good custom/original parts. Assuming the machines and processes continue to improve, there are many sites for free community-sourced models that could be (assumption enforced) easily produced but that's not much help if you can't find what what you want and can't design it yourself.

 

The mods to the original printer turned into an entirely new printer. By the time I got all the upgrade parts purchased I realized I was 80% of the way to a complete machine so I just did the extra 20%.


Mechanicals are basically done. Still waiting on some electrical parts to arrive.

Working on a custom water cooling setup to keep the motors cool while at elevated ambient temps. Motors are rated at 100max but they reach 50+ with a 25c ambient. I'll be printing at around 80c ambient in a custom heated enclosure.

 

Man even though it is greek to me, that is one cool piece of equipment..
Like seeing what you have done with it.