Choice of CAD software and Printer for 3D printing

Tim G wrote:good luck David. i would use fusion 360 to designs the parts. full autocad program and free for hobby use too

Thanks Tim. That does look good but unfortunately I was unable to find and download a maker version of this for my 32 bit laptop (a few years old!)

I have been using the SketchUp Make 2016 32 bit software and this seems to suit me so far. (You need to download an extension to be able to export .STL files.)

David

no problem, couldn't get on with SketchUp but to be honest i didn't give it long before removing.

Fusion 360 is a very capable program. I have been using it for some time now. It does need to be on-line quite often. Relies on an on-line account, which it seems to need to check-in with. The only significant downside is the lack of a manual. There are lots of You-tube tutorials and videos explaining how to do various things and a regular 'watts new' video gets posted frequently.

I have used it for all of my own design 3D printed stuff.

Upgrade the laptop ;-)

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been doing a little bit of investigating and it turns out that the Laptop HAS 64 bit processing but my updated Windows 10 software is only 32 bit.

So I may need to buy a full Windows 10 copy.

David

* It may be better to buy a new laptop with Windows 10 already installed. Technological growing pains!

If your current laptop is more than (say) two years old, I'd get a new laptop rather than buy Windows 10 for an older one. Unless the older one had quite a high spec.

Are you using the 3d printer for sub stuff?

Yes. I am looking to deck guns, hand wheels and the like. Tricky to make by other means.

But it is very early days yet. Underlying it all is I want to have a go with the technology.

David

Got my 3d printer a year ago. Started using Autocad, but Autodesk discontinued it, rolling all the functionality into Fusion 360 (plus some from other Autodesk products). F360 has way more functionality than I will ever use, especially the CAM and stress simulation functions.

I bought a Flashforge Creator Pro. It has dual extrusion, which I thought at first I would use,, but nozzle alignment is very fiddly. I bought a removable glass print surface as I didn't like the idea of scrapping prints off the heated and aligned integral print bed.  I can't fault the machine otherwise. I upgraded the extruders to 'all metal hot ends'. I have also printed some add-ons for the printer from Thingiverse. Mostly from 'Dr Lex', who also has a useful informative website about his use of the printer.

The manual isn't very good and is a bit out of date wrt the current version of the printer.

The Flashforge slicer program, Flashprint, is pretty good I think. Easy to use and seems to give pretty fair results.

I have printed using PLA, ABS, PETG and ASA filaments and am experimenting with nylon and flexible filament, though thats very early.

Have you already bought a printer? If you would like to chat about any aspect, I am happy to share my limited knowledge.

still playing with mine, got some abs to try soon as find out pla not water tight

Well the Tronxy X1 kit arrived from China last Friday. Not bad taking just under 2 weeks.

An impressive box of bits. Looks well made.

Found the instructions on the microSD card.

First impressions pretty good for £115 delivered (no extra charges.)

Now to build it!

looks good.

this is a handy site https://www.thingiverse.com/

You might find this Youtube video useful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQirk6AA0HE

If it doesn't work search Tronxy x1 Makers muse

Many thanks for the suggestions. The kit went together quite well in a couple of days. The manual stored on the microSD card is very good. Most of the mechanical problems mentioned in the Youtube videos have now been fixed.

Some suggestions for anyone building one of these:

- You will need to replace the mains lead with one for a UK plug.

- DON'T use any form of Loctite on the nuts and bolts. This crazes the acrylic badly. (I knew of this particular problem from Nigel who had seen it before. But I didn't know that acrylic was the plastic used in the kit.)

- Do make sure that you plug the stepper motors in the correct sockets. I swapped the X and Z steppers which had me scratching my head for several hours!

This first photo shows the whole thing. Still some cable tidying etc to be done. The first test piece is shown on the RHS. (I have added a glass mirror print bed to the kit.)



The first test piece in close up.
Pretty good in my view. The circle is a circle! Not sure about the ribbed sides though.



So I am quite impressed so far. Seems pretty good for not much money. OK for a beginner? Just about but you need to stay calm and sort things out step by step.

I now move onto printing something useful. I tried (and failed) to print a 6 pounder gun from Thingiverse (Thanks Tim!) but the file set the extruder temperature to 210 degrees - too hot for PLA. (Later edit - sorted in Cura Engine of slicer)

David

looks good David,

one word of advise is to calibrate each time to make sure the bed is level as changes in the temp(found out the hard way.)


also when disigning parts i would give a bit of a gap for shrinkage. about 0.3 i've found.

Cheers

The tolerances that various 3D printers can achieve varies, with the settings settings used in the slicer and probably the type (an possibly manufacturer) of the filament used.

This may be helpful to determine the tolerances that your printer can manage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnJBpCWf9Mc&feature=youtu.be

Its a print with a number of rotating parts, printed as one file, with a set of different tolerances around the parts. Seeing which is free or can be freed gives you an idea of the tolerances that your printer can achieve with the settings used. I printed three versions of his earlier tolerance test with different settings to try to get the best performance.

Thanks Rob, I will have a go with that.

I've put the printer to some use already:



I won't say what the, sub related, project is yet, but at the very least these will act as formers. They look a bit odd at the moment because of my drafting errors! Nothing to do with the printer. (Still working with Sketchup but planning to move onto Fusion 360 shortly.)

David

I used a lot of 3d printed parts for my U-Boot deck. I designed everything using FreeCAD, but I have now switched to Fusion360, which is far more capable, although it takes more computer resources. I am using a Prusa 3d printer.



When printing in abs, all the pieces can be easily "welded" together with a mix of acetone and abs. This also comes in handy for smoothing and filling gaps.

My build log: https://www.theassociationofmodelsubmariners.com/t1734-172-u-boot-scratch-built

wow that brillant. need to start printing in abs as pla jut to ruff finish

Yes, pla is a pain to sand to get rid of the layer lines.
Although with big abs parts you can get wrapping (the piece's corners bend up because of temperature differences).

Very impressive superstructure, Juan! (That's got to be the way to go.)

My experiments are going well. I have started on my deck guns and my conning tower is nearly done.

I've replaced my laptop so that I can run Fusion 360. (The laptop was old and slow but I originally thought I would save money by not ordering printed 3D parts from Shapeways by doing it myself!!)

I had problem with adhesion to the printing bed but this seems OK now by using blue painters tape on the (cold) glass bed and using the "Brim" option in the software (The Repetier slicer.)

David

ASA filament seems to be a good alternative to ABS. It is supposed to be more 'weatherproof' than ABS. I have printed some items with it, using similar settings to ABS. It can be acetone smoothed (though i wasn't very successful with that) and it seems to glue really well with the Revell plastic kit glue.

An update on the Tronxy X1.

A very simple and cheap 3D printer which I still find very useful for producing small fittings and deck assemblies.

I have recently started using the flexible (polyurethane??) filament TPU which produces a flexible item which resists all manner of knocks and bashes on and under the water. Very useful for the sharp nose cones which 19th century submarine designers seemed to be keen on e.g Resurgam and Pioneer.(Thanks for the tip Joe T !)
You can use exactly the same temperature settings as PLA.

David