Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms 3D printing

Ive been getting quite into 3D printing for a couple of weeks or so. I had originally purchased a resin printer and while it worked very well and printed off very fine detail the finished print needs a lot of post processing with cleaning off the resin etc. This is messy and stinky !

So I purchased a filament printer instead and its been just great ! The printer is an Ender 3 and it cost just over 200 quid from a seller on amazon. There are tons of 3d printers out there but this came on top for me as I searched reviews, there are probably more just as good as this though at this price point.

Its part made with only a few bits that need putting together and after a bit of calibrating etc its good to go.

Im amazed at the detail this thing churns out for a budget machine ! I couldn't be more happy with it. If you have or are thinking of 3d printing then fire away with any questions ( there is no point in me rattling on if there is no interest :-) here and I will see if I can answer them.

I bought this for some jobs around the workshop but Ive printed off some things for the machine itself, like the light bracket, a fan housing and a pulley cover.
I have also just started printing off a big model of a bypass engine. Ive done the fan unit in 6 parts so far and the start of the fan housing. Ive added a pic of progress so far.

There are tons of free files to download on places like thingyverse, grabCad, etc so need to have to draw your own. Files are then put in a slicer ( I use Cura ) where you can set parameters for the job like resolution, temperature of bed and filament etc

The only down side is the time it takes to print. The prints take a long time depending on resolution. One 3rd section of the fan took 10 hours ! but I pop it on in the morning and forget about it, just look in from now and then.

Here are some pics of printed bits and one of what the finished engine should look like. Should make a nice model for the Shed

I think these are great fun. Super clean, quite and small enough to put anywhere with zillions of free files to print off. If you have grand kids or even just for the fun of it id recommend having a go !

Bonesie

Oh Wow!

Oh, Double Wow..!!

That head would make a lovely rad cap mascot. Any other designs in a similar vein, I wonder..? Hmm..

Triple wow. That jet engine is a thing of beauty.

Jump on

Thingyverse

and pop something in the search, tons of stuff :-)

- very impressed with your 3D work Bonesie.

I would love to have a play with some 3D printing ( by coincidence,I did research the Ender 3 machine) but I'm not sure I could cope with the CAD files/Slicer software, etc.

How easy is it to say e.g. draw/sketch a gizmo (cover, bracket,etc.) and then convert it to a file that the printer can work with?

Do you need to be able to juggle advanced Maths !?

How about a ' Bonesie's guide to 3D printing for idiots...."

James

Hi James

Not my 3D cad work at all, this engine was designed by a chap who put it on thingyverse for people to print off.
Its so dead easy, you dont need any CAD knowledge at all !! Unless you want to draw your own things / products

The slicer software is easy peasy lemon squeezy, honestly !

:-)

This is the finished section of the fan housing

You will note that in the still pictures above there are some wiggly bits less well formed. These are supports because obviously the printer cannot print in thin air, it build up these low res supports. These snap off easy when the print is done

For a dead easy to use but very powerful 3D CAD system, check out Fusion 360 from Autocad. The hobbyists version is free, there are loads of tutorials on the web, and it's very intuitive and straightforward to get to grips with.

I'm in awe, where will 3D printing end?