Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Good point. Only problem I found when I made that is it took nearly two days to dry

[nfmax]

And Holy shitballs. Decided to wing it on something. Put together a part in FreeCAD, just a simple 25mm long bar with 3mm holes in each end, 3mm thick with rounded ends. After one fuck up where I scaled it 150% due to reusing a cura workspace, one fuck up where I left a bulldog clip in the home position and one fuck up where I didn’t set the right option generating the mesh in FreeCAD, the damn thing puked the part out perfectly in 10 mins. Screwed two M3 screws into it and went at it with the callipers. Dimensional accuracy is absolutely excellent. Once I’ve nailed the silly workflow issues I can see a 30 min turnaround on small parts.

Measure twice, 3D print once! 

[Zucca]

I hate you bd with all your 3D friends here. Truth is I hate the most myself, now I have to start to print 3D at home too. Shit it will be a mess and I have no space for a 3D freakinter.
Man I though I was stronger.... I am weak like a teenager girl... so disapponinted about myself.


 

[bd139]

No space here either. My printer lives on the fireplace in the living room 

[beanflying]

Server Racks and 12-15U per printer depending on model with the rest of the rack for TEA 

In the zip below is the hollow fucktopus @bd and others as per the photo yesterday. There is a few problems with the original and the STL not sitting flat on the bed. This one has been shaved for easier bed adhesion. I think the rest on thingiverse are solid models.

[McBryce]

I hate you bd with all your 3D friends here. Truth is I hate the most myself, now I have to start to print 3D at home too. Shit it will be a mess and I have no space for a 3D freakinter.
Man I though I was stronger.... I am weak like a teenager girl... so disapponinted about myself.

May I join you in cursing the 3D crew here. I'd been considering getting a 3D printer for a very long time (despite having no space for it). Now I'm on the Creality website with my mouse pointer hovering over the order button!

Btw: What software comes with the Ender 3? Is it any good or are most of you using 3rd party freeware such as FreeCAD?

McBryce.

[beanflying]

Re software I only currently use FREE software with CAD / 3D printing

For Cad Fusion 360 or maybe Freecad the others come with forced open sourcing of designs or other issues.

Slicers best ones are Prusa Slicer and I am having a relook at Ultimaker Cura.

Have a look locally on evilbay Creality seems to have set up drop warehouses around the world for printer supplies. You might even find it cheaper Tax paid than importing from outside the EU.

[McBryce]

Doh! I went and hit the order button.

As for where to order. The Creality site ships from within the EU and had the best price I could find at the moment. They have a sale on and even gave a further discount cos' I ordered a reel of PLA at the same time.

You'll have to excuse me now, I have a rabbit hole waiting to be fallen into.

McBryce.

[Mr. Scram]

@bd139, that looks like a half useful printer, not sure that I would find one all that useful TBH, but it is something that is on my radar for the future at some point but for now, if I had the space to put one, it would be gathering dust most of it's time.

Most 3d printers are gathering dust after an initial bout of printing and that's fine.

[beanflying]

The average buyer gets sold on them as being cool and you can print all these things and with limited skiils on CAD and technical deserts minor fail and the dust starts. Some never leave the box when they get home either brought on a whim from X and ogh gee that looks complicated.

Broke one of the soft hammerheads I made from PETG  maybe a year ago smacking a steel plate back into shape, flicked on the printer and heated it up in an hour and 5 I had a new one- hammer heads are unobtanium I machined the handle when I was 13 or 14 at school.

Made a set of power supply mounts for a commercial job as well today - yep I could have made them from stock with a saw and files but looks would have been worse and more time dedicated to do it instead of letting the printer run while I got on with other stuff. In this case I could have also fired up the laser and made a stacked mount with glue but the printer is IMO a better result.

Each to there own but the more use it gets the faster the drawings get done and the more often they work easier and first time (when you remember the handle  )

[bd139]

The average buyer gets sold on them as being cool and you can print all these things and with limited skiils on CAD and technical deserts minor fail and the dust starts. Some never leave the box when they get home either brought on a whim from X and ogh gee that looks complicated.

Broke one of the soft hammerheads I made from PETG  maybe a year ago smacking a steel plate back into shape, flicked on the printer and heated it up in an hour and 5 I had a new one- hammer heads are unobtanium I machined the handle when I was 13 or 14 at school.

Made a set of power supply mounts for a commercial job as well today - yep I could have made them from stock with a saw and files but looks would have been worse and more time dedicated to do it instead of letting the printer run while I got on with other stuff. In this case I could have also fired up the laser and made a stacked mount with glue but the printer is IMO a better result.

Each to there own but the more use it gets the faster the drawings get done and the more often they work easier and first time (when you remember the handle  )

Exactly this.

Quick example. My brain actually got fried yesterday from context switching so much so I didn't post about it.

FreeCAD in.



Reality out.



Literally 20 minutes from concept to having part in hand. It's a small part but this is being integrated into my workflow carefully.

Edit: just a point on workflow. It's difficult to insert new tools into a workflow so you have to do it very gradually which is the approach I'm taking. Starting painting by painting the Mona Lisa is how you fail. Failing to analyse failures is how you fail. So all the little suggestions about temp towers, calibration blocks and benchy are absolutely the best place to start - learning that very very quickly.

[McBryce]

@bd139, that looks like a half useful printer, not sure that I would find one all that useful TBH, but it is something that is on my radar for the future at some point but for now, if I had the space to put one, it would be gathering dust most of it's time.

Most 3d printers are gathering dust after an initial bout of printing and that's fine.

That's why I wasn't prepared to spend >€1000 on a printer a few years ago, but at €200 I'm willing to find out, and if it ever gets mothballed, I can still use its parts for other projects. I have many small projects that could do with some sort of small case instead of just being a bare PCB, so I already have quite a few jobs lined up for it.

McBryce.

[bd139]

You can't lose. They sell built for the price you buy them not built too if you want to shift it

[beanflying]

It was under two years ago I had a long talk to a slightly older EE than me who had 'built one' about printers and I actually heaped some poo on them at the time for a lot of the 'historically accurate' reasons. Came home and watched a few youtube videos and went wow they are much different to the last one I saw. Watched some more and dropped the $ for my first one. 

The modern experience for those with the increasingly rare common sense or some technical skills and ability to take in the content of others instead of shoving there heads in molten PLA is getting more like @bd's more often. The big thing is getting through the less technical is they are not a Star Trek replicator.

[McBryce]

I have the advantage of having worked for a very small prototyping company in the distant past, where the EE's had to do their own 3D CAD work (AutoCAD), so that's one bit I don't need to learn. The only learning curve for me will be the temperatures, supporting structures and general issues that these machines might have. However, I built my own CNC machine a few years back with very similar mechanics, so I'm expecting similar issues.

McBryce.

[med6753]

The first of the 191s is done and ready to find its new forever home. This is one of the early units, so isn't in one of the fancy cases like the 106:

Interesting. My 191 is in a slide in cabinet like your 106 and also the recently acquired 114.



Did you have to replace the caps in the low voltage supplies? I did. They were really crusty.



I didn't do a full calibration as you did. I did some spot checks and found the unit to be pretty much on the mark so I left it alone. 

[med6753]

Watching this 3d stuff with great interest and it's way cool but I find myself with the same dilemma as others have mentioned. First, no room for one. Yea...right....make room.  But 2nd, and this is the "show stopper" for me. What the heck would I use it for?  I'm not typically fabricating stuff so 99% of time the 3d would collect dust. 

Although it definitely would be cool to play with. 

[PA0PBZ]

Although it definitely would be cool to play with. 

Isn't that the exact reason for most of the stuff you have?

[bd139]

Exactly. I’m now printing a swearing octopus.   

[Specmaster]

Watching this 3d stuff with great interest and it's way cool but I find myself with the same dilemma as others have mentioned. First, no room for one. Yea...right....make room.  But 2nd, and this is the "show stopper" for me. What the heck would I use it for?  I'm not typically fabricating stuff so 99% of time the 3d would collect dust. 

Although it definitely would be cool to play with. 

I think the whole 3D thing is very interesting and fascinating and love the idea if a small part is needed, (like that knob I needed for my TDS210) that the printer could be fired up and with the right input via a CAD package and Slicer but heres the kicker for me, space, I already have enough stuff here that gathers dust.

Secondly with all the uncertainty here in the UK at the moment, cash is important and when I do the analysis, it would take a very long time for the printer to become justifiable as there are other ways to get what I require fabricated locally to me at a mere fraction of the outlay and at a far higher quality than I'd be able to achieve with an entry level printer.    

[tautech]

Exactly. I’m now printing a swearing octopus.   

Wondered how long before you got to that one ! 

Truth be known printing a few of them to place in all MY precious places is the only reason I’d buy a 3dp.

[Specmaster]

Exactly. I’m now printing a swearing octopus.   

Once the initial excitement dies down, all of these little bits that you're producing will all find their way into the trash bin before too much time has gone by I expect 

[med6753]

Although it definitely would be cool to play with. 

Isn't that the exact reason for most of the stuff you have?

Exactly, which is the very reason why, for now, I'm resisting in buying one. 

[beanflying]

Exactly. I’m now printing a swearing octopus.   

Once the initial excitement dies down, all of these little bits that you're producing will all find their way into the trash bin before too much time has gone by I expect 

I needed another to send to a 'special' person 



The brought one to print trinkets makes for dust collectors for me it is incorporated into projects for me and one offs for $ where appropriate. In jobs for $ alone my printers are most likely paid for against the time it would have taken me to make or have parts made.

These tools for stripping down and repairing Espresso machines run to several hundred $ as an example. Yep the real deal is Aluminium but the PLA ones are holding up fine and if I break one $5-6 to make another. The long bar is a spring compressor for an 8mm wire diameter spring needing well over 50kg to compress. Getting them made in a shop would have sent me broke and being able to tweak them for a different machine if needed suits me well.

It is far from a prefect solution for all cases but far better for far less $ for most small/home options.

[med6753]

Exactly. I’m now printing a swearing octopus.   

This one would be better. Or perhaps someone could print me a Papa Smurf flipping the bird?