I think it would be good if we were have some sort of paid system like the other areas. I see the benefit of the space providing the filament is that we can make some bullet proof high speed profiles for the filaments as we can have finer control over the calibration of profiles if we know its a stable, consistent supply. That’s not to say people cant bring in their own, but maybe either dedicated machines for the ‘house’ filaments or restricted profiles in terms of speed, capabilities on filaments we haven’t vetted. There are so many PLA variants these days that the temperature ranges and inclusions vary widely.
New 3D printing area wish list/hopes and dreams
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Err, I say we keep it simple and say any filaments are free to use. And we just kindly ask people that do large or many prints to buy another spool of filament to cover what they used. I feel like there’s always going to be some filament left over from someone. A spool of filament is 1kg so I think it’s reasonable to expect people to carry home any special plastic they don’t want to share.
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Yeah I agree.
@3dtechs - Should we all meet and start to put some planning in place for the new 3D area? Pizza and Printing meet up? Would be good to nail down a list of priorities as I fear we are close to chasing our tail and not actually getting anything done with the FDM printers. It would good if we can decide on a card holder for the pre paid card. I’m happy to if no-one else wants to. I’m down the space 2-3 times a week so can keep an eye on supplies. This way we can be actively stocking the area with filament/ resin and any other consumables. @Calin Don’t forget to submit you receipts for all the stuff you’ve stocked up so far.
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We have a pile of big extractor fans (the mdf cubes)
Are you folks on 1.75 only as I have some 2.85/3mm to pass on?
Hi Chris, We have 2.85 still for the Ultimaker so that would be great if you can drop it into the space. Is it PLA or another filament? Thanks!
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Hi All,
Realised I should have tagged all the current users for 3D. Please read above and weigh in on the situation.
Agreed with the above that print times would be a nice focus. Fire and forget machines or belt printers like the Creality CR-30 are nice but unless we see a lot of contention on the 3D printers already, I think faster print times is preferred.
Related, I know we have a vacuum chamber somewhere. That and maybe a pressure pot would be really good for teaching people that to print 100 of something, creating masters and making good resin casts is easier than you think. Expands upon the usefulness of 3d printing without requiring someone to learn to use a resin printer.
Regarding previous ownership, I had an Ender 3v2 but I didn’t do much upgrading other than a BL Touch and new bed springs.
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By the sounds of it, belt printers like the CR 30 can be a bit of a pain and It would need another full set of inductions. As it prints on an angle, you have to completely re think the way the model is constructed in terms of overhangs and supports.
You would have been a raspberry pi away from a printer that out performs the ultimaker! I’m going to have a look at the ultimaker tomorrow to see what can be done to speed things up with what we have. Im in the long waiting list or a Raspberry pi so I can give it an alternate firmware rather than the stock one.
My PIs had other uses unfortunately 
Have you tried https://rpilocator.com/ ? The stock has been frustrating but this has been good for getting Pi Zeros or similar that might not be in high demand, but often perform well enough.
Re: CR-30
Yes you do But yeah no need for such capabilities right now unless members are a bunch of projects that would require it. (unlikely)
Ah good to know about pi locator. The processing needs for the for the machines normally ask for a pi 3 or later and the added wireless connectivity means the printer can stay in a semi mobile state. Will have a look to see and find one. The last time I only had to sit on the waiting list for a few weeks.
Don’t forget the price of 2k moulding silicone or the rubber sheets, and the moulding press, and you have to inject the material with a bit of pressure to the mould to get a good finish.
Btw we have a working plastic injector with 10g injection capacity!
I’ve successfully casted two component polyurethane without pressure before, with just vents in the mould and degassing components mix in the chamber before pouring. It is quite low viscous. Lifetime of the mix was quite short though, around 10 minutes.
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