Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

If one of my friends needs this tool (preferably after I finish moving) I'll happily print one when I have time.

Jeezus... some of you guys make trying to be nice a fucking ordeal. 

mnem
"No good deed goes unpunished."

Here, you guys can go duke it out. 

[mnementh]

Good lord... as fat as I am, that whole thing would fold up around me; make me look like a jumbo one-a-deez...

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Fair dinkum. But honestly... thinking about how often I'd need that battery-powered scope...

OK, who are you, what are you doing in the TEA topic and what have you done with Mnem?

[mnementh]

0.2mm is the layer height I use when I’m in a hurry and I don’t care much what the print looks like. 0.12mm is “normal” and 0.08mm is what I think of as “fine”.

Some modern slicers also offer adaptive layer heights that change with the geometry automatically.

Yup. Cura does. Default profile for my Diggro has .12 as fine profile, and that's a entry level machine with single Z and V-channel/roller design. A proper rods/linear bearing design can get much higher res without breaking a sweat. Depends on just how much fettling you're willing to do to get everything perfectly square.

Like xrunner; 3DP for me is one of many hobbies. It is just one that is also a tool.

mnem
moo.

[Cerebus]

NSFW (if you have multimeters around you)

 

[mnementh]

Fair dinkum. But honestly... thinking about how often I'd need that battery-powered scope...

OK, who are you, what are you doing in the TEA topic and what have you done with mnem?

Okay... I confess. I was once mugged with a GRID laptop; that NASA pic I posted STILL gives me PTSD flashbacks.     

No way in 'ell I'd ever have its cousin on my bench, staring me down over my morning cuppa. 

mnem
*juddering in the corner*

[mnementh]

SLA is gorgeous. But what I HAVE is FDM.     Defeats the whole "I have these tools, I want to make this, this is the easiest way" pro of 3DP.

Also... making a 300mm rod would be much more expensive; both in resin and in terms of a machine with adequate build volume. That is a really big con to SLA.

mnem
 

Sure, but you will note I was replying to bd's comments on resolution for bogie sideframes.

Personally, if I had needed to make a spacer for the connector, I would probably have found some metal washers or just drilled a hole in a piece of wood. But then I don't have a "hammer".

D'OH! And I see bd answered exactly the same anyways. 

Don't get me wrong; I'd love to mess around with SLA. I'm just pretty sure it's not a good match for the family environment with dwagon puppies who still like to chew... 

mnem
*g-naw...g-naww... gnaww-gnaww=gnawww...*

[Cerebus]

A fail on so many levels. But the biggest fail is that he didn't get the actual magic smoke release on video. 

I want my 3 minutes back. 

Looks like a Lithium battery failure from the directional "jet" towards rear of bench. Normal fire goes up.

Fire goes wherever you tell it to, if you do it right. 

I'll just drop the phrase shaped charge here and wait for Saskia to appear as if by magic.

[Robert763]

Come on C... this is ME you're talking to. The fucking TOOL-DWAGON.   Making stuff with my hands is literally my LIFE.

I'm just saying that this isn't a job for for which 3DP is the best choice. I think made my case succinctly and I think convincingly - I certainly didn't think I'd be required to provide a full time and motion study, complete with cost of acquisition of materials study. What's next the fucking Spanish inquisition? You can choose to disagree or agree.

And I'm saying that since I have the printer... and I have the filament... I would literally rather print it than be arsed to gather the materials to build it from stock. This is is very low-stress tool; the original is made of plastic, and I know from experience that a 3DP version will exceed the need. If I had some suitable rod handy, would I use it? Of course. I'd STILL probably print the handle tho.

Maybe that is the difference here... experience.    I don't have a lot of experience with 3DP; but I do have enough to be confident in its ability to make this tool. Will it make a heirloom tool I'd hand down to my grandkids? No. Will it make a tool I could... say... print up and mail to a friend who wanted to trim out one of those little voodoo 500MHz nuvistor oscillators and know it will do the job, and probably be around for the next one too, but not care if I never see it again?

You betcha.

mnem

So how much did this printer cost? How long did it take you before you learnt how to to use it and the CAD software you need to input data? How much space does it take up? These are just as relevant as the time taken to find, store and use stock and file handles.
3DP may be easier for odd shaped tools but these will have longer design inputs and the strength of the prt may be questionable. We have have professional very expensive 3D prnters at work and while I am not directly involved in them I've been in contact with their output. To be usable for anything at all structural they need expensive filament and to get a good finish, post processing, both these need extended print times. We tend to use 3DP for prototypes and shapes that cannot be fabricated using stock materials and machining.
They have their place but I don't think printing rod is the besy way.

How about some pictures of the finished tool ?

Oh sweet cheese and crackers...

I LITERALLY answered every point you just made in the post you just quoted. The equivalent to my 3DP is the shop full of tools to form the rod and the store to go buy a file handle from. Apples-apples man.

This is a low-stress tool; "the best way" is not needed here. All that's needed here is "the good enough way". If I didn't have any appropriate plastic tube, I'd print that too, because it would be good enough.

If one of my friends needs this tool (preferably after I finish moving) I'll happily print one when I have time.

Jeezus... some of you guys make trying to be nice a fucking ordeal. 

mnem
"No good deed goes unpunished."

No you did not. Certainly no capital cost, size or learning curve time and no photo.

[Cerebus]

Too bad it's all in I assume Hindi or some other Indian dialect where I guess he explains what happens.

Yup, Hindi, but his accent isn't typical of the Hindi speakers that I know.

Edited to add: The nickname for Hindi in the UK used to be "Bombay Welsh" because of the sing-song up and down of the Hindi accent, just like the typical Welsh accent. I picked up on this guy's accent as odd, not because of its flatness, but because early on he makes some guttural noises that I regard as typical of Arabic or Farsi. Thinking about it just now I realised that the typical Hindi accent (whether speaking Hindi or English) you hear in the UK nowadays is much flatter than it used to be. If you used the phrase "Bombay Welsh" to describe it I doubt that anyone who didn't already know the phrase would twig what you were talking about.

[Cerebus]

I get the feeling there wasn’t much to see other than blackness with a sound track of “oh shit oh shit oh shit” 

I'm quite tempted to walk across the road and ask 'Auntie' what the Hindi for that actually is.

[bd139]

I think it's "oh shit oh shit" as well

[Robert763]

0.2mm is the layer height I use when I’m in a hurry and I don’t care much what the print looks like. 0.12mm is “normal” and 0.08mm is what I think of as “fine”.

Some modern slicers also offer adaptive layer heights that change with the geometry automatically.

Yup. Cura does. Default profile for my Diggro has .12 as fine profile, and that's a entry level machine with single Z and V-channel/roller design. A proper rods/linear bearing design can get much higher res without breaking a sweat. Depends on just how much fettling you're willing to do to get everything perfectly square.

Like xrunner; 3DP for me is one of many hobbies. It is just one that is also a tool.

mnem
moo.

A Diggro eh, only Diggro 3DP I can find is the Alpha 3 which has  a maximum print dimension of 250mm so you can't actually print a 300mm rod in one piece 

[drussell]

I get the feeling there wasn’t much to see other than blackness with a sound track of “oh shit oh shit oh shit” 

This is why all properly equipped workbenches have an Explosion Containment Pie Dish! 

[Cerebus]

[Fx: Basso Welsh accent] "The Pie Dish of Doom".

[mansaxel]

A Diggro eh, only Diggro 3DP I can find is the Alpha 3 which has  a maximum print dimension of 250mm so you can't actually print a 300mm rod in one piece 

While I'm firmly on the side of the "file it from stock" crew, because that's what I'd do, still there must be a way to tell the printer to make the rod diagonally, and

Code: [Select]

sqrt (220^2 + 250^2 )
333.01651610693425185639

says that a 300mm rod would fit, albeit squeezily..

[bd139]

I get the feeling there wasn’t much to see other than blackness with a sound track of “oh shit oh shit oh shit” 

This is why all properly equipped workbenches have an Explosion Containment Pie Dish! 

It did make me crack up laughing when I heard that. Then I had flashbacks to chowing on veins and gristle out of the particular pie brand and shuddered slightly.

[mnementh]

0.2mm is the layer height I use when I’m in a hurry and I don’t care much what the print looks like. 0.12mm is “normal” and 0.08mm is what I think of as “fine”.

Some modern slicers also offer adaptive layer heights that change with the geometry automatically.

Yup. Cura does. Default profile for my Diggro has .12 as fine profile, and that's a entry level machine with single Z and V-channel/roller design. A proper rods/linear bearing design can get much higher res without breaking a sweat. Depends on just how much fettling you're willing to do to get everything perfectly square.

Like xrunner; 3DP for me is one of many hobbies. It is just one that is also a tool.

mnem
moo.

A Diggro eh, only Diggro 3DP I can find is the Alpha 3 which has  a maximum print dimension of 250mm so you can't actually print a 300mm rod in one piece 

mnem
 

[Mr. Scram]

What about SLA? Much smoother; the camera doesn't like to try to focus on it.

2mm pitch thread. The facets in the barrel are in the model, and aren't a printing artefact; the facets are 2mm wide.

SLA isn't mechanically comparable. It tends to be much more brittle and not quite as long lasting.

[mnementh]

I get the feeling there wasn’t much to see other than blackness with a sound track of “oh shit oh shit oh shit” 

This is why all properly equipped workbenches have an Explosion Containment Pie Dish! 

It did make me crack up laughing when I heard that. Then I had flashbacks to chowing on veins and gristle out of the particular pie brand and shuddered slightly.

I have a 18" ceramic floor tile with rubber feet glued to it that I use as a flash shield for charging my LiPos. In one event it did its job quite well; protected my bench and me and provided a safe means to get the little bundle of fire out and on the sidewalk.

Yeah... a similar experience with finding a piece of critter tooth in a beef pot pie made me stop buying Swanson's for my lunch bag. And there was another brand I can't remember now with a square of skin big enough to identify as pig, hairs included. *blerk*

mnem
 

[Mr. Scram]

Oh sweet cheese and crackers...

I LITERALLY answered every point you just made in the post you just quoted. The equivalent to my 3DP is the shop full of tools to form the rod and the store to go buy a file handle from. Apples-apples man.

This is a low-stress tool; "the best way" is not needed here. All that's needed here is "the good enough way". If I didn't have any appropriate plastic tube, I'd print that too, because it would be good enough.

If one of my friends needs this tool (preferably after I finish moving) I'll happily print one when I have time.

Jeezus... some of you guys make trying to be nice a fucking ordeal. 

mnem
"No good deed goes unpunished."

Being nice doesn't seem to be the issue, but the painful process of admitting there are better ways is. I don't think an open admission would have provoked much discussion.

[Cerebus]

And there was another brand I can't remember now with a square of skin big enough to identify as pig, hairs included. *blerk*

What? You asked for dead pig, you got dead pig - where's the problem. 

At least it wasn't chittlin's.

[tggzzz]

I get the feeling there wasn’t much to see other than blackness with a sound track of “oh shit oh shit oh shit” 

This is why all properly equipped workbenches have an Explosion Containment Pie Dish! 

Insufficient for the cases where the equipment's fan blows a jet of RIFA fumes across the room.

Replace the head in the picture below with the equipment under testdestruction, and you will get the idea.

[tggzzz]

What about SLA? Much smoother; the camera doesn't like to try to focus on it.

2mm pitch thread. The facets in the barrel are in the model, and aren't a printing artefact; the facets are 2mm wide.

SLA isn't mechanically comparable. It tends to be much more brittle and not quite as long lasting.

Not necessarily. It entirely depends on what you are making and the stresses on it.

[mnementh]

And there was another brand I can't remember now with a square of skin big enough to identify as pig, hairs included. *blerk*

What? You asked for dead pig, you got dead pig - where's the problem. 

At least it wasn't chittlin's.

It was supposed to be a chicken pot pie. 

mnem
At least it wasn't rabbit.