I notice we don’t have a lot of activity here and would like to understand our local 3D printed supply and demand atmosphere. Also, though new I am to this particular community, I can offer a lot of help with RepRap (mainly Prusa i3’s, but other as well) printers calibration, maintenance and information.
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Nobody around in this area? I’m surprised. Let’s hang in there Mile 
Hey Mike! I actually went to the University of South Carolina. It’s been a couple of years, but the engineering schools there are starting to explore 3D printing more and more. It might be worth reaching out to a university around you and see if they need any expertise or help with printing 
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Hi Mike, I operate a gMax (basically a really big, sturdy version of a Mendel) in Charleston. I’m not usually in need of any calibration / maintenance information. I have my printer pretty well tuned, but it would be nice to see some calibration / quality questions posted here by people in the area having issues. I am always looking to improve my knowledge on the subject. I would say I am no novice, but also no expert at identifying and solving problems on printers.
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Well thanks for the feed back guys, I’ll have to get in touch with USC too. On a professional side note: Have any of y’all printed a working version of the NASA Space wrench?
I have not tried yet. Is it challenging?
I have printed it 3 times, the prints look great but it does not operate as a ratchet. There are parts that are barely touching and fuse during the print. The tolerances are miniscule.
I have not tried it yet. I’ve got a couple things lined up in my print queue right now, but I should be able to give it a shot during the upcoming week.
I just took a look at the stl file and quickly sliced it to see what I would be dealing with. The tolerance between the driver sprocket and the handle doesn’t look too bad. The tolerance between the sprocket and the ratchet looks pretty tight. Extrusion width / extrusion multiplier and filament width will have to be dialed in perfectly. It wouldn’t hurt to have a small nozzle size either. Mine is 0.4mm. I think I can pull it off, but possibly not on the first try. I may have to reduce extrusion width on the layers where the ratchet is nearest to the sprocket.
I have a .35 nozzle and I have come VERY close to a functioning version. How do you change layer width for particular components?
I paid for Simplify3D. It’s totally worth it. It can do per model or per layer (or some combination) parameter changes. Also, the support it generates is every bit worth the price too. I recently had an order through 3D hubs which required a lot of support and it all just popped off.
I have heard much about it, I use Slic3r and KISSlicer at the moment
I got it printed off last night. I didn’t have to use any special settings in Simplify3d. I am using filament from filament direct which I know runs a little narrow at 1.72mm, so I adjusted for that. I also like to use 0.95 as the extrusion multiplier for that filament. I sliced at 0.23mm (nothing fancy). I was able to take a peek at the print partially through. I think the ratcheting lever may have slightly bonded with the gear, but after the print finished the ratchet broke loose easily with pliers on the socket nub. I did not have to use much force at all. It works, and I am really surprised that it did on the first print. It loosened up with use and I can now turn it by hand similarly to a metal ratchet, but not as smoothly. I am very happy with how it turned out.
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That is outstanding. I will print at a similar resolution. Perhaps I should use S3D as well. Slic3r is working well ffor me, but it does not hurt to try.
I think I had a little bit of fusing of the pieces, but it came loose easily. I’m not convinced that my success is directly attributable to S3D since I didn’t use any features Slic3r doesn’t have.
I would just try tuning the extrusion multiplier in Slic3r down a little bit – That’s the number one thing I think that could cause an otherwise well tuned printer to fuse the parts in this model. 95% is what I found works well with my particular filament and printer, but that could be a little bit different based on those two variables.
I have succeeded, and I did use Slic3r. I must say, I printed at a very high layer height in comparison to most (.2394), but it certainly works very well.
Hey Mike -
ZVerse, located in Columbia, is one of the largest in full color 3D print applications. We have not been very active on 3D Hubs, but trying to be better about it. We design software for 3D Print and we do production today with 4 Projet 660s.
Let me know if we can be of help.
Thanks,
John
I too am new to this community. Mike, we’re located about 7 miles apart. I’d love to see a Prusa in action *wink wink*
. My weapon of choice is the Replicator 2. I can do some rudimentary work in solidworks. My thingiverse profile has some replicator 2 improvements (http://www.thingiverse.com/funkshin/designs). I’m happy to try and help with replicator 2 questions.
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The replicator 2 is definitely a capable machine. My Prusa does fantastic but plastic is so very limited. Its integration with other materials for a full function item is what I am working on now. I intend to build rc cars / quad copters to test that application. I’d love help and input.
Hey man I posted a new thread I would like for you to look at.
