I bought a 3D printer

Anyone want a new axle printed? Some BEBs?

After wanting a printer for a while I finally found enough of a justification to buy one.


It's rather bizarre watching it print something that you can then hold. Quality is far better than I was expecting and designing stuff in Sketchup is simpler than I had expected. (Not done very complex stuff yet though)

The printer:


and the print:


Anyone want a chess piece printed - I've got loads now

How about printing a few models of an 80 series?

Cool start taking orders for roof consoles , instrument panels , bonnet scoops , clips and god knows what else you could make with that , whats the material it uses looks like tough plastic , you could probably redesign your entire dash !

That would actually be quite fun. If someone can find the model online I'll print it.

Or, when I get one of these, I'll scan it

A good point Shayne - if someone wants one and can do/help with a design, I'll print it.

Material is PLA or ABS - I'm printing parts for the heli with ABS, I believe PLA is fine for most things but is hygroscopic.

Print quality is very good, the edges are finer than the edge of a ream of paper. while the top and bottom surfaces are less so but still quite fine.

The examples of objects I've seen from a 3d printer were similar to a hard polythene material. Aimed more at 'printing' patterns for casting in a stronger material I guess. OK for ornaments too but of limited use for something that requires tensile/torsional strength or rigidity. Can they print in different materials?

Impressive. Hand for those little bots and bobs that get broken. Bushes, spacers, knobs etc.

Yup, I needed a plastic spacer and try as I might to cut the round bar with a square face I could not. It was half a mm difference one side which would have screwed up other stuff. That was the final straw I used for justification.

Texture wise Towpack, it's not the prettiest, not like blow-moulded plastic. Materials are ABS and PLA for this one.

Now that's a man toy

I could do with this

http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/my-grocery-getter.797745/page-3#post-9362487

Useful to carry as spares


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you can get the file for printing we can try.

5 minutes after i posted i was driving and thought BINGO! I was about to order a new centre console lid but they are crap even when new and i don't need the cup holders . I would much prefer a lid that gives me a shallow tray to leave mobile phone and fags on soooooooooo Crispin any chance do you think ?

If you can design it in sketchup (or a detailed pencil drawing of it) then I'll try print it.

My next purchase along these lines is a small CNC machine. The "hobby" versions are becoming cheaper by the month. Loads of BYO versions now.

I will try to draw it at least it doesn't have to be accurate as such , an 8x12x2 box is a rough description though i haven't measured it . I will take it of tomorrow and see what i can do ? . I played around with sketchup once before and it wasn't difficult but i soon got bored with it and returned to pen and paper .

Crispin said:

My next purchase along these lines is a small CNC machine. The "hobby" versions are becoming cheaper by the month. Loads of BYO versions now.

Click to expand...

Really Really want one of them..

Make sure you install the CNC in the LOUNGE with the printer. Most important .

I can't see what the problem is with having it in the lounge. It might drown out the annoying noise the 3D printer is making


Ok, so I need your help in honing my sales pitch to SWAMBO.

"Our 5 year old daughter would love a hamster. Hamsters need a constant supply of sawdust. I have this (re-labelled) sawdust maker. I think we should get that too".

Personally, I can't see what is wrong with that.


Dave - I can't find it now but there is an option out there which is not horrendous and is targeted at the hobby market. It will do aluminium very very slowly and anything softer is ok. They had a pretty successful version one and last I saw they were releasing a V2 with a load of improvements. It was, IIRC, about 600-700 mark. Perfect for what I want it for - I'm not making anything from steel or anything harder and larger.
If I can find the link I'll post it.

Years ago my 10 year old daughter was forbidden to have a second/replacement hamster for the first one that died. That's because she ignored her promise to me to keep it clean and guess who had to take over. I found out a long time later that in fact she was only without a hamster for a few days as she was secretly keeping one in the bottom of her wardrobe with Super Mario etc. The smell and the fact the wardrobe door was difficult to close gave the game away in the end.

I'm lost. Is the suggestion here that you're going to print a hamster?