3D Printer yet?

[beanflying]

Yep I brought it 

Seemed like a good box of bits to add to the kit with the Large format Laser build coming up and I was planning to dismantle and rebuild a little 3018 CNC I have had for a few years that was always just 'ok'.

[Zucca]

I still dreaming to get a crappy DIY laser cutter or wood CNC with all the chinesium parts I took off my E5.

[mnementh]

I made this for my Fluke today; so tired I can't see right now so gonna post the whole thing tomorrow.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Ughh. Usage testing reveals a fatal flaw in the above part... it is just plain inconvenient to use. I've revised the design; of course now it's twice as big and uses twice as much filament.

We'll see. A complete re-envisioning of this part may be required. 

mnem
 

[Canis Dirus Leidy]

Want a sea of wild outrageous sex? Then build a 3D printer with CoreXY mechanics. Of course, it does not reach such an extent as in the joke about the fairy and the tankers, but it still gives a lot of new interesting sensations.

[mnementh]

  did he just say...? 

mnem
             
*obviously looking in the wrong Russian-English dictionary*

[beanflying]

I suspect something is lost in translation

Nice printer build though 

[Canis Dirus Leidy]

did he just say...? 

It was a reference to an old anecdote about a dialogue between a tank crew (engaged in field repairs) and a fairy who offered to have sex for real: “Then the fairy waved her magic wand and the tank's tower fell off” (in another version, it was a student and a genie who poured out the whole cup coffee on the just finished drawings).

P.S. Adapter for installing a 6 × 30 Chinese finder on Meade Polaris:

[mnementh]

   

89%...

mnem
i suppose i can finish it out with bloo...

[mnementh]

Guess you can't cut it much closer than that!

mnem
I really need to run out and get a Lotto ticket right now...

[mnementh]

Bench Stand for FLUKE 189 & 87/IV DMM

      

This is what I've been doodling around with the last couple days... a properly rigid bench-use stand for my Fluke 189 that incorporates a lead holder. This unit snaps in place of the molded rubber test-lead keeper usually found on the back of these meters; it does not interfere with the original flip-out stand in any way. The idea was to have all my most-used accessories and the leads all tidy and right there when I need them. The design scope was:

   

A) Easy to print: Stand base is designed to print flat on its back, while both parts make heavy use of gradual tapers and curves; this means they print well without supports as long as you have Bridging Mode enabled and rotate the part to present areas that need bridging best to the fan. Any stringing caused by printing without supports tends to be much easier to clean up than the mess left behind by supports.

         

B) Easy to use: Once assembled, entire unit snaps in/out easily. The oversized back disc serves a purpose; it makes it easy to loop the wires over the groove one-handed and the optional wire across the middle allows similar one-handed clipping of favorite alligator leads up to 24" long as well as IC grabbit leads. Reliefs in the stand serve to keep loose alligator wires from causing trouble, and magnets in the pockets keep the screw-on alligators in place.

*continued in next post*

[mnementh]

   

2) Minimal BOM: Aside from ~150g filament, all you need is (2) 10mm neodymium disc magnets and some ~8mm round dowel, tube or rod approx 300mm long. I found this closet widget which can yield 5 segments of straight tubing 285mm long for $2 at the local Dollarama. Magnets are glued in with epoxy or CA gel.



Same epoxy, CA gel or hot-glue can be used on the tube sockets at final assembly; the entire assembly lies flat which makes it easy to get it all perfectly square. Hot-glue has added benefit of being easy to undo; just hit the tube with hot-air gun and it'll come right apart.


     

C) Easy assembly: The stand base snaps into the Hanger accessory slots on back of the Fluke 189; one side has a deep tab that fits precisely, while the other side that snaps in is designed a little too thick so you have to sand/trim with a knife to get it to snap in just right.


    

E) Better with Upgrades: 1mm holes at 90° angle for the wire are part of the model; tin-plated steel mechanic's wire or the center core from a scrap of CATV R6 works well here. Push through the hole, pull tight then melt-embed in the plastic with a hot soldering iron. Cut wire flush with nippers, then pot hole from iron with epoxy. If you can't be arsed, 1mm hole is easy to ignore. If you just want the base, I've got multiple versions with no hole in the top.

Cheers!

mnem
 

[mnementh]

STLs are posted here in the Knobs & Feet thread in .ZIP format. Enjoy!

Direct link; right-click then "Save Link As" to your desired location:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacement-knobs-feet-and-fittings-for-test-equipment/?action=dlattach;attach=1152546

mnem
 

[Zucca]

Sorry I was/am busy designing a plate for my Trianglelab Matrix hotend, and a new belt attachment to keep them finally alligned...




 

PS: Had to jump on FreeCad 0.19, because it has Assembly 3.

[raptor1956]

There's been some talk about different 3D CAD/CAM programs to create 3D models but I'd like to make this a more formal question.  I've looked at FreeCAD and am not all that pleased at how it works and have largely ignored Fusion360 but I have no experience with the free version of Fusion360 to know how useful it could be for the kinds of 3D models I want to make.  I mentioned before that I'm not all that interested in making action figures and am much more inclined to designing 3D models as engineering scaled prototypes.  I have used one version of CAD or another for nearly 40 years but almost exclusively 2D CAD so I would have some learning to do no matter which program I was to settle on.

So, what are the strengths and weaknesses of FreeCAD and Fusion360 and what other programs are either free or reasonable and what our there strengths and weaknesses?


Brian

[Zucca]

I never touched Fusion360 because it is a cloud thing. Many people are happy with it.

I jumped in FreeCAD and:

Pro:
- no subscription / cloud
- open source / python hackable
- if you post on the FreeCAD forum, you get your problem solved in hours...
- integration with KiCAD (for me big +)
- decent manual and how to available on internet

Cons:
- not stable, sometime you solve the problem by restarting and reopening the file
- jungle of tools. Because it is a free development platform if you have an idea you can implement it, and you do not know there is another tool that could do 50% of the job. then you put the backwards compatibility and it's a mess. you end up with 1000 tools that overlap in functionality.
- slow as hell sometime.
- I am sure it takes 3 steps to do in FreeCAD what in others you can do with one click (sorry I have no concrete examples but it's my feeling). Unless you play the Python magic card...

Basically it boils down to this IMHO:
Do you hate cloud, love to stay indipendent, need to do simple stuff and have some patience to burn: FreeCAD.
All the others Fusion360.

Unless you don't want to put money on the table for a CAD SW....

[CJay]

Dislike cloud based continually licensed software, it can be changed or withdrawn at any time.

Having said that, I do like Designspark Mechanical, it's not sophisticated but it does more than enough for  most of  my needs.

I am also blessed with free copies of my employer's CAD packages for when Designspark doesn't do enough but they're of little relevance here as they're ridiculously expensive to buy.

[mnementh]

Agree with all of the above complaints. But bottom line is for the most part, Frustion360 just works. It is confusing, there are many things that are counterintuitive, yet it is by far the most usable thing out there.

Most of what they've taken away from the free version is tools primarily used for corporate-level collaboration and specialized formats for manufacturing. Very little that you might want for design of components one can reasonably make with home 3DP has been taken away, and by far more than anyone needs for such use remains.

My solution to it being in the cloud is as follows:

I export a copy of my project locally as .F3D as soon as I finish it. Other formats are available: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-export-a-design-in-Fusion-360.html

I now create my STLs by exporting individual bodies to STL one at a time; this tactic means my models are rendered locally. Much quicker.

I have given up on the notion of privacy in this aspect. I know some asshat at AD can probably see everything I ever designed. Big fat hairy deal. 

FUCKING. FUSION.

Why the FUCK is it so gawddamn HARD to add text to an object? Why the FUCK does Fusion automagically HIDE SHIT all the fucking time?

This is supposed to be software to HELP me create... I should be able to just select a fucking surface and add text to it, for FUCK's sake. 

Instead, it just    every time I try to do what other people show me in a dozen different videos. I should NOT have to fucking outwit the gawddamn software that's supposed to be HELPING me.

/

mnem
*toddles off to put ice on my aching balls*

Welcome to CAD. You get to pick where it hurts, not whether it hurts.

Scram is absolutely right here; this exchange pretty much sums up working with any 3D CAD program. Speaking as a user with very weak Kung-Fu, Frustion360 is the one you will more often get progress along with your      instead of just repetitive testicular trauma with no visible cause or end in sight.

mnem
"Since I gave up all hope, I'm much better now. I used to be constantly disgusted; now I'm merely amused."

[sleemanj]

I use OnShape for the most part.


*  Cloud, runs in your browser, no install, just go to onshape.com
*  Huge feature set way more than I ever use
*  Versioning built in
*  Pretty easy to use and fairly intuitive
*  Free if you don't mind everything you do being technically publically available
*  Very much made for "engineers" not "artists"

The main downsides are that it's cloud (yes this is an upside too, depends how you look at it), and if you want to progress beyond free everything-is-public then it's $$$, and of course, free could easily go away (you can of course export your designs in common formats if you want local backups to account for that danger).


 

[mnementh]

         

Boring Mundane Print number 144.

120mm fan bracket and feet to allow turning Hitron CODA cable MODEM/Gateway on its side so I can deploy under my desk.

Details & STLs on the Knobs & Feet thread here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacement-knobs-feet-and-fittings-for-test-equipment/msg3428390/#msg3428390

mnem
 

[Zucca]

The Trianglelab Matrix upgrade is definitely a challenge, there is no space for it on the Ender5.
I have to redo and custom design a lot of stuff. 

[mnementh]

*cringe*   

mnem
*currently modding LED COB lighting onto my CR-6SE*

[Zucca]

You do the LED, I am fighting with this custom 5015 blower mount, WIP

[mnementh]

         

Current progress. Something interesting here; on the CR-6SE, CReality has started doing something I've been doing for years: ordinary heat-sink compound on the heater and thermistor. I knew it was a good idea; it ensures good thermal performance, and as a side benefit it reduces corrosion and the tendency for these parts to seize up in the aluminum heater block.

All those asshats in the Tevo forums who concocted all sorts of bunk nightmare scenarios as to why I shouldn't (no, seriously; days of argument ) can now officially kiss my scaly dwagon arse. 

I usually prefer to make these kinds of bits out of aluminum, but this bit of plated sheetmetal (an old DIN radio pull-tab) was exactly the right dimensions so I used it. Total weight is only 4 grams, plus the steel raises the resonant frequency of this little tuning fork much higher than a similar bit of aluminum, which I think is a good thing here.

Right now I'm potting the wires with epoxy after soldering; once my packet of 1W metal-film resistors arrives, back on the printer she goes and I'll start working on the electrical bits and the overhead LED.

mnem
*tinker-tinker... putter-putter... tinker-putter-tinker...*

[Zucca]

ordinary heat-sink compound on the heater and thermistor

In the assembly Matrix Triaglelab they not mentioned it, they recomend to put a little of it on the heat break.
So you are telling me to put regular CPU heat-sink compound on 285 max °C part? It sound an aggressive question but I only want to understand.

Thanks.