24 Jan 2018 – 3D Printing – Neil Gillies ex-GM6BZF

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In prep – psp

At the meeting on 24th January 2018, Neil Gillies, ex-GM6BZF, talked about and demonstrated 3D Printing, the state-of-the-art way of producing plastic parts using a computer. Neil gave an in-depth talk to a very full room at the Braid Hills Hotel on how to get started – types of machine available, the software required for various parts of the process, materials, what can and can’t be done with 3D printing. He provided several useful links that will be e-mailed soon and given on this site. 

Neil brought along his current 3D printer and demonstrated it in use, making a small plastic component.

The drum on the right is feeding the plastic filament to the heating head. Many types of plastic can be used.

He also brought a number of printed parts to pass around to demonstrate what various printing materials are like. 

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Powerpoint slides:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 End of Powerpoint slides.

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Another 3D-printer, the Tiny Boy after printing a plastic knob..

 

Neil with two model aircraft digitally 3D-printed.

 

Fuselage of a light plane printed in sections and stuck together with Superglue!

 

An attendee holding Neil’s model of a MIG-15 fuselage, printed in sections.

 

Neil has compiled a listing of many useful websites relating to 3D Printing:

Some 3D Printing Links (E&OE).

Printers

  1. At the top of the list, the Prusa i3 – original – difficult to beat for quality:

https://shop.prusa3d.com/ en/3d-printers/180-originalprusa-i3-mk3-kit.html

  1. HICTOP Filament Monitor Design Auto Leveling Desktop DIY 3D Printer Prusa I3 Kit – this is the one I currently have – it works – kit was pretty well done

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ itm/3D-Printer-Prusa-I3

  1. Auto-Leveling-FilamentMonitor-Aluminum-DIY-Kit- HICTOP-24V/222803544026? epid=1881058132&hash=it em33e02047da:g: 5CYAAOSwqfZaYuYR

 

  1. Turnigy Fabrikator Mini Mk1 – excellent small form factor machine:

https://hobbyking.com/ en_us/mini-fabrikatorv2-3d-printer-uk-plug.html

  1. This larger machine gets a good name:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ itm/UK-stock-CR-10S-3DPrinter-with-FilamentMonitor-and-Dual-Zaxis-300-300-400mm/ 272818292418? hash=item3f853cc6c2:g: 6jcAAOSwzb9Zpopm

  1. Felix – I include this as I owned two of them – beautifully made (I did an exact copy 🙂 – the new Tec 4 is nice: http:// www.felixprinters.com
  2. Metal 3D Printer (FIO :-): http://iro3d.com
  3. Note, you can get 3D printers almost anywhere, even Aldi were doing one (but don’t buy it)!

    Current (Jan 2018) cheapest printer – search to find it – don’t buy one though – utter garbage –

FIO 🙂 http://www.banggood.com

  1. Mini DIY Assembled Desktop 3D Printer 100*100mm Printing Size Support Off-line

1.75mm 0.4mm Nozzle: Check Gumtree or Craigslist locally for the occasional 3D printer that no-one wants :-

  1. Lots and lots of machines available, read all you can on youtube reviews before buying.

DIY Suppliers

  1. We Do 3D Printing – one of the better suppliers: http:// www.wedo3dprinting.com
  2. Ooznest – another good supplier of parts: http://ooznest.co.uk

Filament suppliers

Don’t skimp on filament, it’ll just cause headaches – these folks supply A1 filament, so I really don’t bother going elsewhere – 100% success rate so far (shouldn’t have said that 🙂

  1. Let me do an introduction and you’ll get £5.00 off your first order (and so will I off my next :-))))) ! https://rigid.ink

CAD Software

  1. TinkerCAD – this is a webapp – outstanding really for what it is: https://www.tinkercad.com
  2. SketchUp https://www.sketchup.com
  3. Fusion 360 – full application available to students/old folks/anyone who isn’t making 10K per year at their business: https://www.autodesk.com/ products/fusion-360/ students-teacherseducators

Slicer Software

  1. Simplify3D – pretty much the ‘industry standard’: https://www.simplify3d.com Cura (free)
  2. https://ultimaker.com/en/ products/ultimaker-curasoftware
  3. Repetier – free: https://www.repetier.com
  4. Slic3r: freehttp://slic3r.org

Youtube Channels

22 Thomas Sanladerer: https://www.youtube.com/ user/ThomasSanladerer

  1. Makers Muse (Angus Deveson): https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCxQbYGpbdrhb2ND-AfIybg
  2. CHEP (Chuck Hellebuyck) – has a lot of TinkerCAD demos:

https://www.youtube.com/ channel/ UCsdc_0ZTXikARFEn2dRDJh g

Many, many more – these are just a few I subscribe to

3D Models

  1. Thingiverse: https:// www.thingiverse.com
  2. Free3D: https://free3d.com
  3. Pinshape: https://pinshape.com
  4. Yeggi: http://www.yeggi.com

Online 3D Printers

  1. 3DHubs – this is 3D printing done locally – not just printing, but CNC machining etc too:

https://www.3dhubs.com

  1. Shapeways ; https://www.shapeways.com

There are literally thousands of alternatives to the above, I’ve just tried to simplify it a bit to get anyone started. I’ve also probably missed a few things that should be included too 🙂

Cheers

Neil:  neil@igull.co.uk

 

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