3D printer

[xtian]

New toy! Cetus 3D.

IMG_0593.jpg

[pompeiisneaks]

Nice! I've still yet to get my CNC router working, I want it to make my faceplates for me... and I'm failing

~Phil

[cbass]

Very cool. I'm jealous. of course even if i had one i wouldnt be able.to figure out how to use it.
Same with the cnc

[M Fowler]

Nice, market new cap holders for traditional style cap stacks on Trainwreck amps so we don't have to glue them down.

Mark

[pompeiisneaks]

ooh that's a good idea, you could make them with curves to hold the caps in place, and stackable, with screws on either side to bolt down to the chassis nice idea!

~Phil

[xtian]

Here are examples of the shit I've printed over the past 48 hours, both useful (60mm fan mount and grill, TS100 soldering iron stand), and artsy (monkeymatic badges, monkey, ring).

The Cetus 3D machine was VERY easy to assemble, configure, calibrate, and start printing. Open and free sites like thingverse.com offer thousands of useful objects for immediate printing or customization. PLA feed stock is cheap--most of these objects are ~6 grams, which is about $0.12 out of a 1kg roll of PLA. The dimensional accuracy is amazingly good, less than 1% error or shrinkage.

These parts shown are all printed with the "medium" nozzle, 0.4mm, with 0.2mm layers. Print times are 30-60 minutes for the objects shown. They look a bit crude, but if you're willing to wait for longer print times, you can use the fine 0.2mm nozzle and thinner layers, and the objects look pretty smooth.

Really happy with this thing!

Next big hurdle is mastering a 3D CAD program. I've been tinkering with free software Blender, FreeCAD, and SketchUp. All have STEEP learning curves. Blender is best for organic shapes (and is one of the best 3D animation apps), and FreeCad gets my vote for engineer-style dimensional drawings.

printed.jpg

[pompeiisneaks]

I've played a bit with autodesk fusion, and they'll give you a license for free if you gross proceeds for your business is under like 100k a year or some such, so they basically give free to small businesses. It also takes some time to figure out but it can then just export to a file format that can either CNC or 3d print.

~Phil

[Winder]

Too cool. Looks pretty handy, and making your own swag! I was reading yesterday about 3D food printers. We're getting closer to the Foodaracacycle ... or the Star Trek food thingy.

[dorrisant]

Looking good!! I see you don't need any help from me on this project...

For 3D, I'm using SketchUp and Cura... I have been using SketchUp for quite a while.

Then, on the CNC side of things, I'm using Corel and SketchUp to SheetCam and Mach3.

If anyone wants to talk shop about any of them, please do. I'm still searching around in the dark with SheetCam sometimes though.

At the moment I'm making a vacuum table for the CNC... Gonna be able to crank out faceplates. Already engraving pedals.

[Guy77]

Hi Dorrisant that pedal looks great. What type of CNC do you have that can engrave aluminium.

Cheers!

Guy

[dorrisant]

What type of CNC do you have that can engrave aluminium?

This one here, with the Gecko motion controller: http://www.gr3.us/2x2Rod.htm

[Guy77]

Very nice! Looks heavy duty too. Could probably even cut small automotive parts with that.

Cheers

Guy

[Guy77]

I wonder if it would be feasible to print an amp chassis with a 3D printer and have all the holes required for pots, jacks and transformers properly created. I imagine it would have to be very rigid and flame retardant plastic would need to be used to stand up to high temperatures and grounding maybe a challenge. When I look around I see so many electronics in plastic enclosures these days, although its true none of them are tube amps. Just a thought.

Cheers

Guy

[xtian]

That's a bit of a stretch. And we rely on the enclosure to provide some measure of RF blocking.

OTOH, Hammond offers all their 1590 enclosures as 3D models, so you can easily open in CAD program and add mods, then print. I'm considering doing this for a project, but have nothing in mind at the moment...

[dorrisant]

You could use carbon fiber PLA for an enclosure and probably have good RF blocking... We use graphite paint for shielding guitar control cavities with good results. I just don't know how strong it really is. I've never used it before. The biggest thing would be whether or not it could support the TXs and hold the sockets well enough for tube changes. Besides, youd have to have a relatively large printer to make even a small sized chassis.