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I’ve always wanted a 3D printer, but could never justify a real need, until I decided to make rewind adapters for my Elmo 16mm rewinders - these rewinders are in excellent condition and a pity I was not able to dual purpose them.
After looking around a bit I purchased a Creality Ender 6 3D printer which can print objects of 250mm wide x 250mm deep x 400mm high and can print 150mm per second - that is quite fast for an amateur 3D printer, although in reality it seems that one typically prints a bit slower than that. The adapter below takes about 27mins to print for example.
The next task was to find a 3D modelling or CAD program and an electronic calliper. I initially settled on OpenSCAD which is open source and free and more geared to programmers as you type out your model using geometric commands like translate, cylinder, cube, etc and it takes a bit to get it right, but it does render your model so you can see what it looks like as you proceed.
Then you need a slicer programme to convert the *.sft file from the 3D modelling programme into a *.gcode file that is understood by the printer, but there I used the one that came with the printer. I have an old cheap electronic calliper that barely works, so will upgrade that in due course.
It took me about 4 attempts to get the sizes just right, but it works very well.
The printing filament is PLA+ which results in an adaptor that seems very strong and should last for a long time.
it is early days and I have a lot to learn, but it is very satisfying so see a 3D object being made from nothing. Next on my list is a scope bracket.
Some pictures:
After looking around a bit I purchased a Creality Ender 6 3D printer which can print objects of 250mm wide x 250mm deep x 400mm high and can print 150mm per second - that is quite fast for an amateur 3D printer, although in reality it seems that one typically prints a bit slower than that. The adapter below takes about 27mins to print for example.
The next task was to find a 3D modelling or CAD program and an electronic calliper. I initially settled on OpenSCAD which is open source and free and more geared to programmers as you type out your model using geometric commands like translate, cylinder, cube, etc and it takes a bit to get it right, but it does render your model so you can see what it looks like as you proceed.
Then you need a slicer programme to convert the *.sft file from the 3D modelling programme into a *.gcode file that is understood by the printer, but there I used the one that came with the printer. I have an old cheap electronic calliper that barely works, so will upgrade that in due course.
It took me about 4 attempts to get the sizes just right, but it works very well.
The printing filament is PLA+ which results in an adaptor that seems very strong and should last for a long time.
it is early days and I have a lot to learn, but it is very satisfying so see a 3D object being made from nothing. Next on my list is a scope bracket.
Some pictures:
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