132 replies to this topic

[NormL]

Went to Harbor Freight and got a heating ultrasonic machine.  The hot water vibration did the trick and freed the only non broken dolly.  It is fully functional and the original design does work, .. well if you go to Harbor Freight and spend money.  The lever is too weak still.

 

This gives me lots to think about in the hub design for the Atom, calipers riding on brake disks, central bearings and the ilk.  I am thinking now that the hub will be printed assembled with the suspension arms, so, I can control their motion and that I will make the central bearing surface more of a bolt on thing

 

 

 

 

And NO I do not answer to Ham Hands ....

Edited by NormL, 14 March 2013 - 05:31 PM.

[NormL]

It is my desire to be able to print the Atom in FUD without much post preparation.  I order to accomplish this I need to be able to print without the need of a ultrasonic machine.  I don't think I will get out of the need of an acetone or alcohol bath.  I am going for dolly print no. 2 and Atom FUD print no. 1 soon and I am going to print drain holes to weep out the excess wax and see if that alone can solve the bearing issue without a hot water bath.  If, I can't get motion in the Atom FUD print it is not a deal breaker as I will not sacrifice accuracy for function this time, I just want to eat my cake too.  It is clear to me that at anything close to minimum gap tolerance, no amount of alcohol and swearing will be able to free the larger bearing surfaces (74sq mm) without heat.

Edited by NormL, 14 March 2013 - 05:10 AM.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Over-the-top, way-too-cool. Loving this work.

 

It's always fun to watch someone breaking new ground.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy, 13 March 2013 - 07:18 AM.

[NormL]

I haven't posted for a while as I was testing different spacing for bearings with the FUD printing process at Shapeways.  My conclusion is that Shapeways is too inconsistent to print with motion in mind.  I will get prints that look great and others that are very grainy.  The ones where the material looks grainy are always problematic on motion the ones that look smooth are the ones that will work.  Reading on their forums it sounds like they can fix this but do not regard themselves as "Engineering" grade only art grade.  I will print things in FUD on Shapeways, but, no more will I expect motion from what comes from them.  I will be using a different place for those prints and will probably try Chief Joesph's "Moddler.com" that I saw he was using.  I printed three different sizes of a Wild T3 surveying instrument a 1/4th, 1/8th and a 1/12th.

 

I got three very different results.  The 1/4th has a grainy outer texture over portions of it and some of the knobs spin and others do not.  From Shapeways three of the knobs that were supposed to spin were broken off and in the bag.  The main scope does not turn nor does the main body.  All of the knobs on the tribrach spin and both mirrors spin.  The focus rotates and the three adjustments on the back rotate.  The micro tangent door at the base swings open to a spinning micro tangent.  If this were printed and packaged better it would be sooo cool.

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1/4th pics:

 

[NormL]

The 1/8th scale was a complete success which is the reason that I am a little perterbed about the 1/4th scale print.  The gaps are exactly the same between these two prints ...  The scope rotates and so does the base and focus.  Nothing else was designed to function at this scale.  Don't worry Scale Master, I did not sacrifice accuracy for function once in these prints.

1/8th pics:

 

 

The 1/12th scale print suffers from some of the same grainy issues as the 1/4th scale does.  It also has nothing functioning, which, at this scale was only the main body and scope.

 

1/12th pics:

 

 

The big lesson here is the gaps do work as printed, when the printer has the alignment correct and all of the nozzles firing.  At least that is my understanding after reading the Shapeways forums.  I am going to leave these as sulpture only on the Shapeways site and if they print with motion great.  I will search for a less production driven printer for the Atom "kit"
 

 

 

 

[NormL]

Some screen shots of the model it was printed from for reference.

 

[Chief Joseph]

Great work, Norm.  Until Shapeways offers customers a way to specify print orientation, we'll be dealing with inconsistent quality on FUD parts.  Other print services will orient the model to optimize surface quality.  You'll pay for it, though.  In addition to www.Moddler.com, you can look at www.Finelineprototyping.com and http://www.PCSEngineering.com.

[NormL]

I would agree with you that it was orientation, ... well except, I cheated.  I printed all three models in one stl and kept them just below 1 million faces.  All had to be printed with the same orientation.

 

Thanks for the links

Edited by NormL, 08 May 2013 - 03:17 PM.

[GTMust]

What a fascinating and incredible thread to follow!!!

Unfortunately I don't understand a word of the technical side of it.......... but that's what happens when you turn 70 and technology leaves you in the dust!

But keep it going...... I'm absolutely amazed at what can be done these days... and I'll try to follow along.

Tony

[NormL]

Joesph, I guess I am spoiled by the consistency of their sintered plastics.  I have never had a consistency issue with them.  A couple of weeks ago I thought that I wanted a phone case so I measured up my phone and sent it in.  Since the sintered plastics are a hard shell I made the tolerances tight.  Granted that FUD are tighter than the WSF products, but, the phone case was exactly what I expected.

[NormL]

Got the motion up on YouTube.  Sorry if this seems like I am beating it to death ...

 

Both of these are in 1080 and the detail is much easier to see at that resolution

 

Edited by NormL, 09 May 2013 - 09:48 AM.

[Chief Joseph]

I would agree with you that it was orientation, ... well except, I cheated.  I printed all three models in one stl and kept them just below 1 million faces.  All had to be printed with the same orientation.

 

Thanks for the links

Did you connect them together on one axis?  I have seen at least one of the scale train guys on Shapeways who connects three copies of a part on a sprue, each one oriented on a different axis.  He claims this way he gets at least one consistent, usable part from each printing, no matter how the Shapeways operator orients his order within the larger job.  Costs a little more, but cheaper than waiting on a part to be reprinted.  If your three components were "free" within the STL file, i.e. not together on a sprue, Shapeways may have split them and oriented them differently from what you intended.  This is just a theory; Shapeways seems to have no consistent procedures and there is apparently a wide variation between what their operators can achieve with the printers.

[NormL]

Good point!  They were not sprued, but, I had packed them all close together into one blob.