3D Printing

I don’t know much about 3D printing but came across an interesting find today whilst looking into metal plant pots (don’t ask) and couldn’t understand how these verdigris bronze ones were so cheap. Amazing.

https://www.3dprintshed.com/products/rustic-metal-planters-bronze-iron-plant-pots-customisable?variant=32447009161301

https://youtu.be/vOzrRXxllr0

1 Attachment

Awesome. Took me a while to figure out how they're made. Looks like cold casting, which is basically metal powder suspended in a resin I think. Never seen it done irl.

For a while I was wondering if they had somehow hot cast into a mould made with Polycast, a filament designed to burn without residue.

https://www.3djake.uk/polymaker/polycast-natural

From their website:

Materials & Surface Finishes:
These bronze wall vases are 3D printed with real bronze and then
sanded, oxidised and polished to give the look and feel of ancient
bronze. The vases are oxidised (rusted) to age the bronze and develop
that lovely turquoise-green patina. This turquoise patina is left on
the recessed parts, whilst the protruding parts of the vase are
polished to a shiny finish with a special metal polish that blackens
imperfections to give the look and feel of antique bronze.
The 3D print filament is approximately 80% bronze and 20% PLA. The
process of sanding removes the softer PLA and leaves the hard bronze
on the surfaces where it is applied. Hence, it is possible to oxidise
and/or polish these surfaces, just like with any other item made from
bronze. The vases are heavy and the polished bronze feels cold to the
touch.

Sure, but on the actual product page they say

"The planters are made on demand using a combination of 3D printing
and metal cold casting techniques."

Hence why I thought cold casting instead of FDM. I'm really not sure you can call extruding metallic PLA out of a nozzle at 240+ degrees cold casting. Any sort of casting requires a mold imo. Its not very clear what they mean though!

Polycast

Superb product videos, totally the future of prototype building.

Is 3D printing just a hobby for you @Stonehedge ?

Yup, just a hobby although I've done a couple of consultancy pieces around industrial 3d printing in various scenarios so I've got to hang out with people who are pro AF at it. From room sized concrete printers to custom butt plug generating apps...

I'm getting back into making cosplay props and have been looking into 3d printing as all the markets where I usually search for repurposeable tat have been closed for ages. I've found lots of decent free/cheap .stl repositories so whacked a few on some online 3d printing services for a quote, came back at £350ish. That seems to be around the price of a half decent printer so now I'm starting down the rabbit hole...

Any good things for a noob to read for the basics?

Any thoughts on the Artillery Sidewinder X1?

Anyone ever use wood style filament? I quite fancy making some Mad Max weapons and knocking up some wooden stocks and furniture would be sweet

custom butt plug generating apps...

I do love living in the future sometimes

I've used 'wood' filament - PLA with a bamboo fibre filler - it sands fairly well (with care), can generate something like grain by playing with nozzle temperatures (mine darkens at the upper end of the temp range) and accepts a spirit stain readily.

For all that, it isn't wood - with time, effort and finishing materials I still end up with things that look like wood coloured plastic, so you'll probably need more opinions than mine.

The main reason I've tried it is related to aeromodelling - in principle it's less dense than say white PLA, in practice it's still too dense to make anything structural for model aircraft.

Good info, cheers

@Stonehedge
I don't know if you're taking on jobs but I was thinking of getting a fun design concept printed. Will send you a PM with some info if you're interested and will be happy to pay if I can afford it.
Thanks
Tom

Anybody want some 2.85mm cleaning filament?

Ordered the wrong effing size again and don't want to return it to Austria.

Would anyone be able to print me some of these please? They're tiny so I'd hope that they wont take long.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:168310
Obviously I will pay for all time/cost

Am I right in thinking this will be carrying a glass door? If so there could well be a weight issue...

I've run the file through Cura - you'll almost certainly need someone with a printer using a finer nozzle than mine (0.4mm) and even so it looks like the parts are several loosely arranged shapes that don't have much material joining them together - ok as a metal casting, probably fine if injection moulded, but not something I'd trust if I'd made it with my printer.

It might be worth trying to contact the one person who commented on the design...

I might be interested in this for the lab - do you still have it? I guess getting it to Manchester is nearly as faffy as returning to Austria though

Thanks for your reply,It's actually for an Alu door so not as heavy as you'd think. Really annoyingly you can buy the whole door (if you can even find it) but not these tiny little hinges!
I could pay for them to be printed too if someone can recommend a service?

If you're worried about the weight and willing to pay cash for the parts I would recommend Multi-Jet Nylon 12.
Jerry at Incremental will sort you out - the parts are isotropic, very strong and very precise.
Not bad price either - it's £2.50 per hinge in a dull grey and £3 per for black
Postage will bring it up to about a tenner all in.
Online ordering here - https://incrementalengineering.com/quote/

1 Attachment

more about mjf here: https://www.protolabs.co.uk/services/3d-printing/multi-jet-fusion/

Sure, you're welcome to it. Will only cost 88p in postage, wouldn't even need to go to post office. PM me an address and will put in post next week.

Have order 2 sets from them thank you, will report when they arrive

Hey all, just found this 3D printing topic as well.

Is there anyone London based who could do a prototype print for me for a small 1.88cm3 piece? Most of the places I found either has a minimum order of 25£, or they quote like 6£ individually for these, which would be a silly price to pay. Happy to pay cash/beer for your troubles.

Storytime: So a few months ago I bought a gravel frame that was an absolute bargain, however it was completely gutted - missing mech hanger, axles, headset, and all the cable guide grommets were gone.

I have spent countless hours on ebay and aliexpress trying to find the right sizes, and when I did, it was with a 2 month shipping, so thats not really an option.

So I did what any sane person would do, downloaded Fusion360, made a cup of coffee, and fired up some youtube tutorials. This is the end result:

Once I proofed my design with the prototype (snaps into place, is a snug fit, removable), I'll use a commercial place to get the all the 10 pieces done, but dont want to throw 25£ at this unless I know that its working. Any PLA-like or rubber-like material will do, colour doesnt matter either.
Thanks!

i replied on your other thread that i can probably do you one in the next few days

excellent - I'm sure you'll be impressed with the quality

Sadly they wanted c.£100 for my drip tray replacement (see upthread)... Probably a little over the top!

Indeed - the cost is in mass of material and space it takes up in the powder chamber. Geometric complexity is free but MJF powder is quite expensive. FDM is definitely the answer for printing bricks!