I need a small part printed with a Simple Metal

[RCBrust]

Hello,

I am contemplating purchasing a Printrbot Simple Metal to print some small enclosures for an electronic device. The parts are only about 1.5" x 1" by 1/4" high so I'm concerned about how they'll look and dimensional accuracy. Before I invest in the printer, I was wondering if anyone with a Simple Metal would be willing to print one for me so I can see how they'd turn out. I'm more than happy to pay for your time, materials and postage. I'm in PA.

Thanks,
Randy

[lairdb]

[RCBrust]

Let me get the model finished up and I'll post the SLT, probably this weekend. Here's a pic of what I'm looking to do:

case.jpg

It's pretty simple, just a shell with a window in the base.

Thanks,
Randy

[lairdb]

[RCBrust]

Noted, will change to chamfers, thanks.

Randy

[lairdb]

Or fillet the chamfer, if you like keeping some of the curve.

[RetireeJay]

[lairdb]

It's a bit of a threadjack, but:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/30 ... ter-prints

http://reprap.org/wiki/Print_Troublesho ... rial_Guide

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23 ... ting-guide

...are go-to for me.

[RCBrust]

I've attached an STL file. If anyone with a Simple Metal or similar would be willing to print it, I'd really appreciate it. Shouldn't take much filament!

Thanks,
Randy

[JonS]

If no one on this forum is willing to help you, you could get it printed by someone near you with a Simple Metal via 3dhubs.com.

[RCBrust]

That's a good tip, thanks.

Randy

[RetireeJay]

I'd suggest you look on the Showcase part of the forum to see what printed products look like Also look at the thread "Printing Small." No one is ever going to mistake printed parts for injection-molded parts, but nevertheless they can be quite attractive. If you have a heated bed and print with ABS, you can do vapor smoothing and get some very nice-looking parts.

There are a variety of settings, particularly layer height, that affect print aesthetics. These same settings are available on all models of Printrbot. For the most part, aside from sheer size, the different models of Printrbot can all produce essentially the same quality prints. Some of them can run faster; the Simple will be the slowest of the family for a given quality.

It sounds like you're planning to make several of these objects, perhaps for sale as part of a larger assembly or project? If you are really interested in quantity production, then a larger model Printrbot can print more of them in a single run, tiling them on the bed.

If these parts will be joined with other things in an assembly, do you have expectations or requirements for mechanical strength? Tolerance for fit with other objects? Temperature tolerance? (PLA can't take the heat of the interior of a car in the summertime). Safety concerns? Food-grade materials? Requirements for color, opacity, surface sheen, etc?

If dimensional tolerance is your biggest concern, then the answer to your question is that you can fine-tune your settings (and model, if necessary) to get pretty tight tolerance, but don't expect repeatability to be better than one or two tenths of a millimeter from hobbyist machines.

I say all this because if your purchase decision depends on having a truly representative sample from someone on this forum, then you've got to be very thorough in how you specify what you need. A thousand of us could print your file, and there's be a thousand tiny, tiny (or big) differences between all of them.

[RetireeJay]

[lairdb]

[lairdb]

[RCBrust]

The units are inches, so it's 1.24"x0.91". I have ordered a slightly different version from Shapeways to see how they look but if I can get it good enough with a PSM, the per piece cost will be a lot less.

Thanks,
Randy

[Mach-Chris]

it was a lot smaller than I though it would be haha,

Not perfect, but could be improved a little with some tweaking. As RJ stated, this is really just one representation of how it could look coming off a simple. There are lots of settings that could be tweaked, layer heights could be changed, nozzle sizes even if you wanted. Comes down to what you want to use them for, and how esthetically pleasing you want them to be.

~17 minutes 100% infill. PLA .100 layer height.
There is a small gap between the inner and outer walls, simplify3d didn't seem to want to fill it, it's likely too small an area (Could probably fix this by increasing the number of perimeters).

[lairdb]

First: Everything RJ said, in spades. You know that old joke about the control panel for men vs. women?

Man-Woman-Control-Panel.jpg

That's the difference between sending it to Shapeways and printing it on Printrbot (or any other FFD printer, AFAIK.)

I didn't get the hollow wall; I sliced in Cura at 0.10 layer, 0.8 shell, 0.6 bottom:

IMG_0966.JPG

IMG_0972.JPG

If I were to knock off that little flake on the near corner, it would be pretty good.

[lairdb]

Since it sounds like the OP is thinking about short run production:

At 0.10 layer height, it took about 25 minutes with the settings I had. Cura says it can fit 20 of them on the print bed at a time, and about 10 hours to print all 20, consuming 27 grams of plastic (about $0.67 worth.) The electricity probably cost more than the PLA.

2015-06-06 17_24_07-cura.png

[Mach-Chris]

Printed another one after tweaking a few things

Simplify 3d likes to autocalibrate the extrusion width to .48 unless you tell it otherwise, so I did, and the hollow walls went away.

18minutes, same settings as previous. Nice job lairdb!

[lairdb]

[Mach-Chris]

Part of it was my Z calibration. I haven't been using the simple as much lately and its due for a once over, I use my Plus more frequently.I believe part of the issue is this roll of filament i'm trying to burn through with random prints. It has been giving me headaches since day one. Needless to say, I haven't gotten another roll from these guys since.

[RCBrust]

Wow guys, pretty nice! If either of you are willing to send me one, PM me and I'd be happy to PayPal you to cover it.

Thanks,
Randy

[lairdb]

I've got him covered -- making a few at different layer heights, etc.