simonr Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 This week I 3D printed an iPhone holder which snaps in to the hole for the Ash Tray on the top of a Defender Dash. It's intended to fit an Otter-Box Defender Case for an iPhone4 - but it shows you the kind of thing you can easily print with a cheap 3D Printer. I have an Ultimaker The top part swivels round so you can point it at the passenger (or for LHD). The two holes on the rear of it are tapped M6 and intended to attach other things. In my case the front panel bracket for my IC706 Transceiver. I'll upload the CAD files later as it needs a small modification as the charge lead plug sits a little too high. The charge lead snaps in to a recess. I plan to thread the lead through the dash-board to plug in rather than sticking out the side of the hole. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Very very cunning, like it Si Not thinking of going into production with it? Be great if there was an adjustable version for other phones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Nice. I used Lego to mount my phone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbs Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Nice.I used Lego to mount my phone Phots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 None of it in the car, kind of hard to take a pic with the phone when the phone is in it Will try to remember to take the camera with me tomorrow. This is it holding my S2 when I made it: http://imgur.com/a/CJjS8 Now modified for holding an S4 Active, only modification needed: make it one hole wider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Great looking idea. Don't just focus on the iPhone though!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Very good Much better quality than I've ever achieved with my old reprap mondo I have an otterbox and windscreen mount from the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted September 19, 2013 Author Share Posted September 19, 2013 I built one of the very first Mendel's - but decided I needed a printer, not a project! It's commercial replacement (BFB3000) was directly responsible for the X-Defend Column lock as it required so many prototypes to make it a snug fit. I actually won the Ultimaker in a design comp, but it was so good - I sold the BFB3000. It prints with a 0.06mm layer thickness, at 16x the speed of the previous and the quality is just remarkable! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 It looks like its been injection moulded The reprap works but it's more of something people do as a hobby. I could do with one where I just press print and the item appears so might look into that! I'd like one that can print a support structure too. Well, once I get bored of the vac former I recently purchased Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted September 19, 2013 Author Share Posted September 19, 2013 The most remarkable thing about the Ultimaker is the steepness of overhangs it will print tidily. Circular holes in side faces are no problem at all and it will manage an overhang at about 30 deg to horizontal which has removed the need for a lot of support structure. My previous printer had two extruders so I could use ABS / PLA for support - but it rarely did a better job than using the same material. Using the same material for support on the Ultimaker works fine. I guess it comes down to how good the software is! It defaults to raftless printing - but has a nice half-way option of printing a skirt around the base. This has been enough to stop the print from lifting off the surface and so far, I've not used a raft on anything! I'm going to have a go at printing Defender switch caps with a snap-in transparent window as soon as the drawing is right! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 .... I'm not at all Jealous ...... honestly Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 It looks like its been injection moulded The reprap works but it's more of something people do as a hobby. I could do with one where I just press print and the item appears so might look into that! I'd like one that can print a support structure too. Well, once I get bored of the vac former I recently purchased Support structure printing is more of a software issue than a hardware issue though. Of course the hardware must be capable of printing something fine enough that it can be removed cleanly afterwards. The best I saw was a support structure printed in a different material from the main print, that was soluble in a certain fluid. This allowed you to easily get rid of all the support structure easily. Spendy machine though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted September 19, 2013 Author Share Posted September 19, 2013 PLA is soluble in caustic soda, where ABS is not. ABS is soluble in Acetone where PLA is not. If you have two extruders, dissolving the support material is easy. But it does require the software to be up to the job. The support material on mine snaps off so cleanly - it doesn't need a second extruder. Granted, if you wanted to print a ship in a bottle or something, you would need the second extruder - but most things you can split into bits and snap / glue together. The phone holder in the above is made in two bits as the overhangs which sit in the bow-tie shaped hole are too big and the underside needs to be flat. I just included two cylinders which stick up from the circular boss which rotates in the base which snap tightly into holes in the holder. The printing is accurate enough that this works very well. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 the HP printer comes with a stand alone machine to remove the support structure, reminds me of the old machines we had at school for making PCBs Out of my price range though! The software on mine allows for a second head but not to automatically build a support structure, I guess you could put it in the model though. I've managed a few parts for prototypes but they're nowhere near as good as the above. They could be improved but how much time do you put in? It gave me the information I needed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Phots? Well, I forgot the camera, so I used the webcam on the laptop... so not the best quality With phone (S4 Active): Without phone: The mount screwed into the dash is for my GSPmap 62s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted September 19, 2013 Author Share Posted September 19, 2013 Cynic-Al - the quality of your print is not great. I got much better out of my Mendel - but you're right it takes a load of time. At least buying one, even as a kit, they have done the work to calibrate the software to the hardware and give you decent quality prints within minutes of building it! You should ask for help on the RepRap forum. They helped me a lot while I was getting prints like that. Mostly just with settings and things to check but over a couple of weeks, the quality improved tenfold. Most of my problems were due to the extruder / hot end. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 I've had a lot of problems with the extruder, I limped my 0.5mm along for a long time until it finally packed up. Then I changed to the 0.25 and had to start over so lost interest. I will get back into it when I've put my workshop up and finished the garden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted September 19, 2013 Author Share Posted September 19, 2013 The Ultimaker extruder is actually 0.4mm - it just achieves the 0.06mm resolution by stretching the filament as it's extruded. After all my extruder problems - I just bought a spare assembly from Makerbot which worked much better than any of the ones I'd made myself. Might be worth seeing if there is newer firmware for yours too. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big.Mike Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 We have a HP 3d printer at work and I had a £300k Stratasys at Uni. one thing stratasys (who make the HP) have always done is heat the build envelope... I've yet to see another FDM machine do this, you might be able to improve builds still if you keep things enclosed... The service engineer also said it was essential to keep the filament dry as it is slightly hygroscopic. Particularly PLA. HP provide their packs with big silica pack, useful for clearing up spills! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 There is an option to heat the build area in my software but I don't have the hardware. You have inspired me to have another go, just need to finish the workshop, which currently looks like this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Which version of the Ultimaker have you got Si? How do you programme? Can it take solidworks models? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted September 20, 2013 Author Share Posted September 20, 2013 The Ultimaker printing hardware is the same across versions. The more expensive one just has a controller box which accepts an SD card and will print from that without tying up your PC. That's what I have. From Solidworks (or any other CAD) you export the model as an STL file. Then use the software which comes with the machine (essentially a printer driver) to turn this into the code the machine can understand. Burn this on to an SD card, stick in machine, hit 'Print' - then wait a while! I think the controller is worthwhile as unless you build a stripped down install of Windows, it tends to glitch too often (when Windows goes off to do something else like updating the screen) which can mess up a print. The controller on the other hand is dedicated to a single job without distractions! The reason you don't see many heated cabinets is that it is subject to a Patent. These days though, the software has become good enough that it does the same as if you were trying to weld without deformation - limiting the heating in any one area too much. Even without a heated bed or cab, I get good quality even on big prints. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Which one do you have? the Ultimaker or Ultimaker 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Sorry to drag you away to the phone this afternoon Si, thanks for the information though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big.Mike Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Even without a heated bed or cab, I get good quality even on big prints.Si Better than the HP then, we've had no end of trouble with it...and the linear guides are scored from cr*p bearing material. I suspect we'll get a larger printer, probably on the 2014 budget! Tell you one thing though, we use the Haas CNC machine a lot less now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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