[Coco] 3d printing

[John Strong]

The XYZ printer that I bought first, failed in less than 30 days, pass refund period at Microcenter, however they allowed me to exchange it for a powerspec 3d pro. (twice the $$) Both "take quite a bit of finessing", which is what I was hoping to avoid when I bought an assembled machine.
I had to add a glass print bed to the powerspec to get wrapping under control.

 

Expect a steep learning curve.

 

Currently using FreeCad for design (save often! not bug free).

Makerware to slice and print.

 

Be aware that even different colors of plastic (same brand and type) may require different printing temperatures. 

I'm using PLA plastic to print the CocoSDC cases. ABS warps too much.

 

My CocoSDC cases take about 6 hours to print.

 

I bought mine to design and print cases for various electronics and robotics projects.

Haven't made it to any robotics project yet.

 
John Strong AC8ML

StrongWare
 

> Date: Tue, 5 May 2015 22:41:10 -0500
> From: Zippster <zippster278 at gmail.com>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coco] OT: 3D Printers...
> Message-ID: <3C1DEC22-C746-464E-9681-99EAA84152C8 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
> 
> It’s really good to see all the development with 3D printers going on.
> 
> So many people are becoming involved that it’s only a matter of time before really
> easy to use, reliable versions come out. I’ve been keeping eye on the status of these
> things from time to time over the last several years and it seems like they’re really starting to
> get there.
> 
> I really want one to design and print cases for various electronics projects.
> Wouldn’t even mind paying a thousand or more for the right one, but I’m waiting for the tinkering-free
> models to come along. My impression is that they all still take quite a bit of finessing
> to get them to work really well, or have pretty small printin capacity (size).
> 
> When they get to the point where I can just design things and print them without spending
> a lot of time getting them to work right, definitely getting one. I should take a look at them again.
> 
> - Ed