3d printed LS engine block

[Mooneyzs]

Chris, I built the printer. I have less than 1k in it. The most expensive purchase was the Acer 6510db dlp projector. It ran $607, but is considered one of,if not, the best. Makerbots are filament layering printers like my diy Prussa I3 in my avatar. Not really something you would not want to consider. Formlabs1 is an sla printer. That is, it uses a laser to cure the same uv resins that the dlp beam does. The B9 creator will go to 25-30 microns. Where it can get confusing is understanding 3d printing and these numbers. I may very well get to a 10 micron layer height, but that isn't really needed unless you like to wait a long time to print something. My engine block was printed at 100 microns layer height. The height is the z axis. x & y are the side to side and front to back axis. A filament printer uses all three. The laser printer uses all three. that is what creates a non smooth surface. It is also very time consuming. A dlp printer projects a beam of uv light that cures an entire layer in 3 to 6 seconds. There is only an x axis that moves. It took 39 minutes to print this engine block. I could easily add 3 to 5 more on the build platform and print 4 to 6 engine blocks in the same 39 minutes.

Doug.... Thank you so much for taking the time to explain it. That is awesome you built this printer for 1/3 the cost of these others out in the market. I have been eyeing a 3D printer because I think it would be awesome to have and print my own parts. But I have been sending my 3D models to Shapeways and having them print them in the Frosted Ultra detail for my 1/16th scale builds. That is so cool you can get down to a 10 micron layers. I might have to consider building my own printer one day but at the moment I really would love to get a mini mill and lathe so I can machine some parts. Do you have a pic of your printer you could share with us by chance? and from what I am gathering here is that the DLP printer is beter than the SLA printers. Looking forward to seeing more parts that you print up.

[my66s55]

Resin is resin. Cut it. Sand it. Paint it. Isn't harmed by chemicals including break fluid, acetone, alcohol, yada,yada,yada. You can electroplate it. Doesn't contains any v.o.c. Just resin. Comes in a variety of colors and consistency. Soft and flexible like you would want for making tires. I'm printing one out now, as that is the resin I bought. General purpose which is hard, but not brittle and castable for making thing like jewelry.

[Chief Joseph]

Hey Doug, that's awesome that you assembled your own homebrew DLP printer. I've been looking at getting a Form1+ but those things just aren't ready for prime time. Also been looking at various DLP kits. Does yours do a peel or are you pulling directly off the vat with the Z axis motor?

[my66s55]

Thanks Chief. I looked at both bottom up and top down pros and cons and decided to do a top down. There has just been too much in the way of problems with the flex vat. The main draw back originally with the top down was the high cost of resin and the fact that you could only built to the depth of the vat. The flex vat bottom up has a high print failure rate due to tearing of the print during the flexing. Also problems with larger prints not being able to separate from the vat. The cost of resin is now less than half what it was 2 years ago. You fill the vat up to about 2 or three inch from the desired resin height with salt water and then top it off with resin.

[1930fordpickup]

So how long is the resin and saltwater mix good for?

[my66s55]

Until the resin won't print good anymore. There are guys reporting 2 and three weeks and everything is still good. The resin and salt water don't ever mix. If you stir the vat up, the resin only rises to the top. The resin can also be drained off the top.

[my66s55]

Here's a good example of the difference between a part that's printed on my filament machine and the dlp machine. Last picture is the stl file,first is the filament print and the other 2 are the dip print.

[my66s55]

Thus is a better picture of the the engine block.

[charlie8575]

Is that starch plastic (PLA) or conventional petroleum plastic?

Very nice, Doug.

Charlie Larkin

[GlueTube]

This is the stl filed I used.

Hey Doug,

How long did it take you to create the the file?

Regards

Brian

[1930fordpickup]

These parts are looking better than anything I have seen printed in scale.

[Jeremy Jon]

Very nice result on the printing, it certainly is an amazing new tool ...like with most things, the catch is the design process & time it takes, I'm always amazed by people's results, but fully aware of the hours they put into the initial design work to create a STL file

[Chief Joseph]

This keeps getting cooler, Doug! Did you use the Noble open-source plans to build your printer? I have a ton of sample files I could send if you really want to give your printer a workout

[my66s55]

Is that starch plastic (PLA) or conventional petroleum plastic?

Very nice, Doug.

Charlie Lark

The resins appear to be chemical based, Charlie. Go here: http://www.buildyourownsla.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=68 if you would like a like of suppliers.

[my66s55]

Hey Doug,

How long did it take you to create the the file?

Regards

Brian

I don't recall, Brian. It was done as a part for the front suspension of the 1935 LaSalle convertible coupe model I am printing. At the time, I was still learning to use Blender and didn't know all the shortcuts. It wouldn't take that long today. Here are the files.

[my66s55]

Very nice result on the printing, it certainly is an amazing new tool ...like with most things, the catch is the design process & time it takes, I'm always amazed by people's results, but fully aware of the hours they put into the initial design work to create a STL file

So true Jeremy. Can you imagine though,going to a web site and finding files like these already drawn?

http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/antique/delahaye-135m-figoni-and-falaschi-convertible-1937

http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/standard/buick-skylark-convertible-1964

http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/antique/delahaye-t165-1939 http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/antique/bugatti-type-57sc-atlantic-1936

http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/luxury/cadillac-eldorado-convertible-1953

http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/antique/oldsmobile-88-1957-convertible--2

http://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/car/antique/oldsmobile-88-1958-coupe--2

I didn't create the file for the ls engine block. I down loaded it and other files like the tire in the response below. They were free on the grabcad website.

[my66s55]

This keeps getting cooler, Doug! Did you use the Noble open-source plans to build your printer? I have a ton of sample files I could send if you really want to give your printer a workout

I am very incuraged by the amount of interest. I used the 2 websites I listed in post 16 of this thread for the majority of my referrence. It helped having the experience of building the fdm printer. I already knew how to set up the electionics and software, plus getting it working and calibrated. The dlp printer is a very simple machine and quite easy to construct. The beauty of building your own is that you can it make how you want. I will be 70 years old in a couple of weeks. There is not a lot of empty desktop room in my house. I wanted to be able to stand while using the laptop, so I built my printer 48 inches high from 2 pieces of plywood I had in the garage. I left the ends open for access and cut an opening in the side for access to the vat and easy repair, build, etc. The height also enable me to put a large container under the vat incase of spills.

I would be elated to have the opportunity to print some of your files. Here are and example of a wheel I created and a tire from Grabcab. I didn't clean the dust from them before painting and it shows. The resin I am using is ver soft and breakable. It shows in the prints and is not caused by the printer not printing correctly. The tire broke while I was cleaning it. Alcohol is used to remove the excess resin. The stl. also needs to have the tread raised as it didn't print.

[Chief Joseph]

Well, you make it sound simple to put something like this together but it definitely isn't, LOL. I'm going to send you a PM in a few minutes.

[GlueTube]

I don't recall, Brian. It was done as a part for the front suspension of the 1935 LaSalle convertible coupe model I am printing. At the time, I was still learning to use Blender and didn't know all the shortcuts. It wouldn't take that long today. Here are the files.

Thanks Doug, I am not aware of Blender. I have been struggling trying to learn Draftsight.

Regards

Brian

[my66s55]

Thanks Doug, I am not aware of Blender. I have been struggling trying to learn Draftsight.

Regards

Brian

Brian, Blender is free open source software that is cross platform. I was made by and developed by people in the trade. There are tutorials on youtube:

as one example. Their web sight has more help. There is a free Blender for Dummies that is downloadable, The software has functions to help make your file 3d printable. Shapeways mentions Blender on their websie.

[Drake69]

Awesome stuff. This actually gives me hope of building a model of one of my all-time favorite cars/trucks...

[Mooneyzs]

I still would love to see a pic of your printer set up. I like the fact that the price is much cheaper than buying. Another good site to find 3D models is 3DContentcentral.com. all of the parts that I have modeled and drawn up has been in Solidworks. You can see some of them in my 1/16th scale Army Vega funny car build thread. I could also post some pics of various parts I have modeled and printed up for my build.

[my66s55]

I still would love to see a pic of your printer set up. I like the fact that the price is much cheaper than buying. Another good site to find 3D models is 3DContentcentral.com. all of the parts that I have modeled and drawn up has been in Solidworks. You can see some of them in my 1/16th scale Army Vega funny car build thread. I could also post some pics of various parts I have modeled and printed up for my build.

Sorry for the delay in answering this request. When I went into this project, I was not sure of the end result. I knew that I could resell the projector if things didn't

turn out favorably. With that in mind, I did some parts as cheaply as possible. After seeing the success of the project, I needed to make some upgrades to improve the end results. With that in mind, here is my dlp printer as of now. I have included a build list of what I used.

[my66s55]

Here is the list of materials used to build this. Add another $20 for misc hardware and you have the cost. The software is all free.

[Lownslow]

Not bad, this looks like something i think i could do during the summer.