What did you 3D print today?

Toss it into blender?

 

What does one do with all the "prototype" prints that can't be used?
I checked into melting it down and reusing it, are there any machines that are affordable for this?
Or is it more economical to just haul it to the curb for recycling?

 

I briefly look into it from time to time. Even a basic consumer grade shredder and extruder is a bigger investment than a high end printer.

If anything, I wish that those were available for community use. I'd rent one for an hour every few months.

 

I promised myself no more windmills after the 3rd design.
I really need to refinish that deck.

Had a breezy weekend and they all work very well. It was cool to see them all moving in sync.
Ran out of 608 bearings, found this for a BB 608 bearing.
https://www.printables.com/model/500618-608-bb-bearing
And it worked out very well for the pedestal bearing as it needs a bit of friction anyway.

Pack it full of Super Lube and it helps with the slop too.

Anemometer's. The blue one was a Printable file, the silver one I made from scratch and used an RC bearing from some car. The silver one works much better, turns in the lightest breeze.

Wanted to make an actual one that does something cool, like light up an LED, or better yet, charge the phone. Wishful thinking.
I have a few 5vdc dynamo's that produce voltage at a relatively low rpm. So I made this.

Fits nice, turns easy.

But unfortunately not enough RPM. Without the cups, I can spin it by hand and light up a single LED. With the cups, too much wind resistance and no light.
Back to the drawing board, maybe I can incorporate a couple gears to make the dynamo spin faster.

 

Put a voltmeter on there and calibrate voltage to wind speed.

 

Made a mounting box for a wireless doorbell.
It's supposed to look like this, the button enclosure on the right.

It's pretty close, did away with the upper tab, used a "bar" to retain the top part and there is a hole in the bottom for a security screw, just like the original.

And it took this many attempts to get it right.

Although to be fair to myself, one was a test to make sure it fit snug, then a prototype that prompted me to lose the tab, and two mistakes, one somehow changed dimensions by .84mm,
and the other I tried random seams and that made "teardrops" all over the surface, otherwise it was correct in size and fit.

 

I ended up with the KE! I found a shop that was selling it with a 10% off coupon, so I got it for $200 shipped. It's been really fun messing with it. I prototyped a wheel center cap and also a ram mount extension.

 

Man, the 3D printed stuff is so convenient

@Rock Lobster did me a big favor in printing me out a 92 gram co2 bottle stand



Now the makeshift holder is gone, and my tank isn't ghetto looking anymore

 

Shit. I really meant to clean that before sending it.

My mistake, I've been distracted this week.

 

No worries, had to file it anyways

I suspected that individual machine settings can alter the dimensions of the end product

The same way an individual draws an item to a specific tolerance for a CNC table in a tab and slot setup; all my stuff measures down to a hundredth of an inch for what I demand and it's always consistent

Took awhile and many test cuts to get there though

If you place your signs that you painted on top of each other, you can even match the lead in/out points

 

Here is some stuff I made to go with a rack I built for the Tacoma. Some of it functions as anchors for the tie-dows for the things in the rack. I still need to cut the straps to length and sew loops in the ends.
There are plugs for the tube ends, and brackets for the tubing from the compressor leading to the quick disconnect. These started as check prints, but fit so well, I pu the whole thing together. They are PLA, so I’ll replace them wit new prints in something more appropriate in a bit.

 

Clever, I like it. I may use something similar to it.

Are you going to post the STL's on a file sharing platform?

 

I hadn’t thought about it, but if you wanted them, I’ll send them. They were designed to fit into Unistrut and use an aluminum back piece to hold it in. I never thought they were useful to anyone but me.

 

I have a '22 DCSB OR, a Voron 2.4 350, lots of Unistrut, and a perhaps unhealthy desire to DIY. My bed cover seems to be the factory trifold, I'm not sure if I can fold back from the front, so I may need to make some adjustments to your design. What you have designed seems to be very useful to me, and probably to others. Get an account on Thangs, Thingiverse, cults3d, or Printables and share your work (if you want to).

If you would rather just share them here - that's cool too. I'd love to print a couple of these to help organize the bed of my truck. I may even try a remix for the factory rails.

 

Okay, here is a link to where I put it on thingverse. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6650863
I put a couple of things in quickly. I’ll come back to it tonight and clean up the post.
I might make another for the factory rail, just because. I like to make things too. I like one off stuff, I like my finger prints on projects, and so on.
When I retire, all I want to do is build stuff. Metal working, machine work, 3 D printing, it’s all good for me. DIY isn’t unhealthy, it’s what will keep your brain functioning well as you get older. It seems to run in my family.

 

Today I learned how to level the gantry to the bed, using a pair of soup cans.
A single can was used at the end to fine tune it.
It worked.
Was having increasing issues with 1st layer being uneven. Repeated attempts to auto level, adjust rollers, and swapping to a new nozzle/tip had no effect.

 

I prefer a sheet of paper between nozzle and bed. Level it so that it barely makes contact at each corner. And then adjust Z offset up a few stops.

 

The horizontal gantry for the Z axis was off 1.5mm side to side. The trio of rollers on each end were not all touching either. No amount of bed leveling was going to make up that difference.
Used a pair of soup cans on the bed to hold the thing level after loosening everything up.
Tightened the screw driven side first then level out the other end, line up the rollers, and then move the axis and check it.
Took care of the first layer problems, tip was dragging across the bed on one side and was too high up on the other. Found a thread about doing this on Reddit. Common problem with the Anycubic's.

 

Damn, that's wild. Is your Z movement controlled by one motor or two?

 

One motor. The other end is basically free hanging, with the rollers to stabilize side to side pitch.