Lmao. Thanks dudes.
Chino. what do the raw materials cost to build a 3-D model from the printer?
Also, are these your designs or do you find a thingy online and click print?
Relatively inexpensive in my opinion. I think it's dirt cheap as far as being able to create intricate 3D structures in your house goes. A quick look through my Amazon history, and it looks like I've spent roughly $400 on material in the last 3 years. I've used maybe half of that across all my projects. You can't see it in the pic above because it's blocked by the bench, but on the bottom shelf of my 3D printing rack, there's about 15 unfinished spools of yet to be used material.
For example, for this project, the bed, headache rack, logs, side mirrors, battery mount up front, body mount in the middle, electronics box, and the rear bed mount (with 3D printed hinges) were all 3D printed. With draft and test pieces, that was less than $15 worth of material. In the hobby world, such customization might has well be free at that price. Years ago, you'd have to make that out of polystyrene (not as strong and labor intensive) or metal, which would have cost significantly more. Hell, the cans of spray paint I needed to paint the parts cost more than the 3D printing material
Now, the material can get expensive though. I use a material called PLA, and it's the cheapest material there is. It's easy to work with, can be finished nicely without much effort, and it suits my needs perfectly. That's typically $18-$24 per roll (the truck above used maybe 2/3 worth of a roll of material) pending what kind you're getting. You can get plain colors toward the $18 range and glow in the dark/metallic/granite effects will be closer to the $24 mark. I use one type that's like 22% saw dust and it looks like wood(ish) when you're done. It will even accept stain. There are some really high end filaments that are $60+ a roll. They're laced with carbon fiber and whatnot. They're tough to print with, but they're really strong. It's comparable to steel depending on the application and how you print it. A lot of the 3lb-12lb combat robot guys use it.
As for the stuff I print, it's a combination of my own designs, designs other people have made, and hybrid of the two.
There's a website,
www.thingiverse.com that's pretty much the largest database of 3D models for 3D printing. I've pulled dozens of prints off there and just printed them as are (changing the scale if needed). Sometimes I take models other people have made and I'll modify them. For example, the logs in that truck above were originally made for a D&D map. The trees were shorter and more tapered at the bottom. I took the models and I modified the original object to better match the look and of type of log I was looking for.
Then there's the stuff that's 100% all me. I use an opensource CAD software (
www.tinkercad.com) to draw up my models. The part below is the center body mount for the truck above (silver piece with velcro). I designed it after work one day, and by the time I woke up the next day, the part was finished.
Whether you design your own, or download someone else's, it's never exactly just "clicking print". Each model is a little different, and in time with experience you learn how to set up your printer to best print each one. You need to determine things like infill density, resolution, where you want supports (if at all), print speed, print orientation, etc.. It might sound intimidating, but it's really straight forward. If you know how to properly set 5 or 6 key printing parameters, you can print 99% of the stuff you download off that site above.
Topic: The Hobby/Project thread (Read 27983 times)
