First "big"print done

So, I'm done with my first "big" print. I'. really pleased with the result and I really hope that my friend like it. The blue colour was a little bit dark but I think it matched with my green colour in a nice way.

NOTE!
This print is downloaded from www.thingiverse.com, and I have not made the design myself. All cred goes to "ustkl".

A friend of mine asked if I could print this for him and how could I say no?

The print consists of one Oddish body and one leaf. I printed two of them as wished by my friend. In total it took approx 30 H and it took 327 grams of filament.

One of the bodies was printed right beside me when I worked from home and it was really interesting to se Oddish take shape, layer by layer.

Next I will print some smaller designs I worked with but in a few days I will start printing my first (of two) 24H prints, I'm really interested in the result.

Se you soon...

Finally refill!

Finally I could order more filament. I started with three new colours, I will not tell which, you have to wait and see.

A colleague of mine who also in to 3D printing was kind and gave me a new glass plate to my printer so I now have a spare. The glass plate is the surface for the prints.

Now, with more filament and different colours I'm going to start printing a few big projects, one is a wish from a friend (I will post it when it's finished). Although I have not designed or CAD it myself, it will be fun to print it. my friend wanted two so the total print time will be 37h : 40min. It's composed of six different objects times two, so twelve different prints.

After that I'm going to print two 24h prints. I hope printing some smaller between.

Stay Tuned...

Smart Phone stand for two

I needed a stand for my work phone and my private phone while at work, but I wanted more than just a stand. So I designed a stand that gives me the possibility to charge both phones while in the stand and the possibility to hang the stand on my desk wall, nowadays my desk has a minimum surface for standing objects so why not hang it?

In this case I only printed a prototype, but I learned a lot from that print, and was able to make many improvements to the construction.

The CAD picture is again a photo of the screen (I promise I've stopped doing that now), so the Cad looks distorted.

 

Here is a picture where it stands

Here is a picture where it hangs. Don't mind the book, it was the only book with the same measurement as my desktop wall.

But as I said earlier I've already made many improvements to the stand but I have not printed it yet. It will take around 24H to print it so....

In a few days I have will start printing a few bigger prints, in different colours than green that will take a long time to print.

O f course every print I make will be posted on this blog, so if you find this blog interesting, please follow the blog. If you read the blog on a phone, you have to scroll down to the bottom and choose "View web version" to see the "Follow" button.

The print I'm most satisfied with so far

Have you ever stood in a supermarket checking your phone and trying to push a shopping cart at the same time?  It's impossible right (think info commercial)?

So I decided to do something about that. I made a holder for my smartphone. Again, there are a lots of different solutions out there but I want to make it solely with my printer and not add anything else.

I've already have the next version worked out in my mind but I have to attach some accessories like springs or other stuff so that version have to wait.

Before I could start I had to get som measurement from my by choice favourite supermarkets trolleys. However the handlebar on the trolley differed in size about 0.4 mm, therefore I had to think a little further from my original design.

My first design did work as in it was no problem to snap it on the the handlebar, although since the handlebar differed in size my holder did only sit tight on certain places on the handle bar, and we can't have it like that can we?

So, back to the drawing board. I tried out different designs in my head and finally decided for the one below. It's not the best solution, but for now it works really fine. It take some extra seconds to get it to sit tight due to the screw and the nut, but I don't care as long as it works.

How does it work? Well since it just around 0.4 mm we have to deal with we don't need especially much torque to press the holder grip around the handlebar.

 

 

Side note, making threads with a 3D printer it's not easy. I use the Fasteners Workbench from Shaise but it's still a struggle.

 

Now it holds a smartphone with these max measurements:
Depth: 11 mm
Width: 81 mm

The holder only works on "standard" trolleys, but I will make a more versatile holder in the future. I have a lot of other prints to attend to first.

Printing stats

Holder:

 

Screw:

Nut:

Tacos

I have to start tell you about som issues about this blog. Apparently the "Follow" button doesn't show on smart phones using Safari, Chrome or Firefox? So if you want to follow my blog (which I hope you do) please visit my blog on a PC or MAC. I will investigate what causing this issue and hopefully fix it.

But enough about this, lets get back to my work.

I don't know how it is or was in other countries, but in the beginning of the Taco / Tortillas invasion here in Sweden there used to be taco holders included in some taco kits. They don't include them any more but you can buy them in different materials at web shops and such..

So, what was meant to be my first print was just that, taco holders. It's a simple enough design to start with. Instead they became my third print.

They just became a little to big then I had imagined, but they still do their job.I printed two so I can eat four at the same time.

But I guess nobody eats taco shells any more, now when we have a lot of other shapes like tubs and such, were you don't spill as much.

Other hobbies

Besides my 3D printing hobby I also have another hobby. I grow chili plants. And now with my 3D printer I can give them nice nameplates. Just to clarify, I don't give every plant an own name (maybe I should start with that), no the nameplates just says what kind of chili it is.

I made the nameplates to small but they work until I get some more white filament.

If you are in to gardening you might notice som damage to some of the leaves. But it's not caused by some vermin or pests, no it's just a cat named Alita, she likes to eat leaves and newly grown chili plants (i have more plants than these two but you get the idea).

 

Here is a picture of Alita in one of my pots from two years ago, when she was a little kitten.

I think she is cute despite that she eats my plants.

BTW

I have lots of ideas and CAD drawings that just awaits to be printed, unfortunately the printing process takes a long time. The next item I'm about to print (when I got the right colour) is going to take approx. 19-20 hours in standard quality, much more time if I print it in a better quality.

You might wonder why everything I print (except from the name tags) are green? It was the first and only filament i bought along with the printer. I just waiting for my pay check to buy some more colours. The white filament was a small sample that was included with the printer.

 

If you see something you like and have your own printer you can always ask me for the .stl file. It's totally free (unless I say otherwise) as long as you leave my name in the file and don't sell the prints.

If you don't own a printer or CAD software and have an idea, contact me and lets se if I have time and skill to design it, I could use a challenge.

My second print

 My second print was also something useful and a attachment to the printer. The material, called "filament" goes from the top of the printer down to the "extruder" (the thing that feeds the filament).

My printer has no support for the filament so the angle gets really sharp next to the extruder, and that sharp angle can result in filament snap and breaks. It happened to me once so far (fingers crossed). So I decided to do something about it.

There is a lot of solutions for this but I wanted to do something simple on my own. So I constructed a support for the filament. It took four designs before I was satisfied. The picture below shows the design process, you learn a lot when you construct and design a products.

I don't understand why I did the first designs so massive?

 

The final design.

                                

The support with filament roll in action.

 The support with extruder in action.

 

My solution works quite well and I haven't had any more filament snapping. Sure, there are more fancy solutions but i like to keep it simple.

My first print

So what to do with a 3D printer? Well you can print  anything from silly things no one ever could have any use for or like in my case print stuff that I totally have use for, want and really need.

The first thing I printed was an necessity. The handle on my favourite cheese slicer was tragically destroyed after years and years of use. Cheese is extremely good so the slicer was, to put it mildly, well used. And since I can't live without my favourite cheese slicer I just had to bay a 3D printer to fix it.

The CAD drawing.
Sorry for the potato quality but i took a picture on my screen with my phone instead of a screenshot. The idea was to make a handle with a hole slightly smaller then the dimension of the slicer tang. In the picture you can see that the hole has two different dimensions, the smaller one for the tang and the bigger one for the wider part of the tang.

The print.
Here we see the finished print and the holes. I'm quite pleased over the result, now was this on the first try? Yes, of course! No, not really, I think this was the fourth try. It's a lot of work to calibrate and configure the printer so I don't think you ever can print something perfect at the first attempt.

 

The final result.
Ta-Da!

I heated the tang and gently pressed it into the hole (not in a sexual way), then cooled it in water. Finally! Cheese with the right thickness was back on the menu.

Print time: 1:16
PLA: 16 g

 

But just hold for a while? Is it that simple? Just buy a 3D printer and print? Yes, in a mater of speaking. You will need a CAD software to draw in, and a slicer software to make the drawing understandable for the printer.

I must admit that I am trained in CAD (30 yrs ago), and in desktop publishing. So it's not like I got me a CAD software and just started drawing, I had it in my blood.

You don't even have to draw yourself, nowadays there are thousand and thousand print ready files to download and just print, some free, and some for a little fee. I on the other hand wants to draw and develop myself.

Just a reminder about my handle above. The PLA plastic I use is strong and reliable but heat sensitive. Therefore I can only hand dish the slicer and not in a machine, well I could if I choose a lower temperature, but unfortunately I put it in the dishwasher at a program with 65 degrease C.

The plastic don't melt under that temperature but it affect the plastic in other ways. As you can see att the result below.

Until next time.

What's this blog about?

From the moment 3D printers became available for common people I wanted one, unfortunately the price was to high for me under a long time. I've checked out a few printers during the last few years and it was just a month ago since I finally had the opportunity to buy me an 3D printer. And I must say, it's one of the best purchase I have ever done.

"So, what's with the antidepressant?" you might think. Well, I have and had have a depression for a long time with a little anxiety on the side just for the fun of it (not really fun), and to handle the depression I need something to empty my mind (or how I should put it). It's very comforting to let the fantasy flow and draw what comes up in  my head in CAD.

So, why the blog?
I never thought I had a artistic side, but maybe I do? At my latest therapy session I was told I do in fact have an artistic side. I like to work with photo editing, movie editing, programming, and like to make silly film clips. But nothing of the above are worth to publish than for my closest friends and family. But this, this 3D printing and CAD drawing seems to be something I have talent for, I don't say I'm good at it, but you know, maybe I can be?

Although this blog mostly are for myself I hope someone out there find it interesting and gives you your own ideas.

The printer
I bought a printer in the lower price class but still one of the most popular 3D printers for home use. Creality Ender-3 V2 (the funny thing is that my gamertag is Ender).

The material
In these days it might seem strange to do something with plastic, but the plastic I (and most of the 3D printing community) use is Polylactic acid and is made of  lactic acid and is completely biodegradable.

So, enough about this, lets start posting som of my prints and CAD's