3 ms·

1) Thank you for writing this! Some of the techniques you've outlined here, I have thought of so many times... but deemed them too dangerous. Your post has give

by pen2l 10y ago

1) Thank you for writing this! Some of the techniques you've outlined here, I have thought of so many times... but deemed them too dangerous. Your post has given me the courage to try some of this out on my own. To begin with, I will print some artsy statue with ... uhm, a low infill (like say, 10%?) and routinely fill it with some heavy sand or viscous liquid. I think it'll work well... it'll save me material, but on the other hand it makes 3d printing very hands on huh! I suppose I should pause and fill every other 30 minutes or so. 2) > this approach is ultra powerful, and it's the same thing you see on some of the high-end maker printers (like in the TAZ production docs that describe how to use strong/precise steel parts combined together with 3D printed parts). Sorry man, what do you mean here? Can you maybe please specifically link to what you are referring to here?

akumpf 10y ago
To answer #2: If you inspect most of the FDM (maker-style, RepRap, etc.) printers, you'll notice that they themselves are constructed of 3D printed parts. But the way they use the parts is a lot different than most end-users (a single purpose item that works stand-alone; like a statue, cup, wall hook, etc.). Instead, the way the 3D printed parts on the printer are used (in general) is by combining the strengths/attributes of multiple materials. All fasteners are standard metal parts, with mating metal nuts (often embedded or even hot-inserted into the back of a printed part). Precision bushings are press-fit into printed parts to use along steel guide rails. The TAZ assembly docs show a lot of that thinking, so I thought I'd link over to it in the write-up. In short, it's the kind of thing that I'd love to see more of because it leverages the best properties of multiple materials instead of being all one or the other. :)

by pen2l 10y ago

akumpf 10y ago

To answer #2: If you inspect most of the FDM (maker-style, RepRap, etc.) printers, you'll notice that they themselves are constructed of 3D printed parts. But the way they use the parts is a lot different than most end-users (a single purpose item that works stand-alone; like a statue, cup, wall hook, etc.). Instead, the way the 3D printed parts on the printer are used (in general) is by combining the strengths/attributes of multiple materials. All fasteners are standard metal parts, with mating metal nuts (often embedded or even hot-inserted into the back of a printed part). Precision bushings are press-fit into printed parts to use along steel guide rails. The TAZ assembly docs show a lot of that thinking, so I thought I'd link over to it in the write-up. In short, it's the kind of thing that I'd love to see more of because it leverages the best properties of multiple materials instead of being all one or the other. :)