HM v4.1 3D printed case


 
I tried Ace Hardware, and they are a no go. The only place to get the correct size is to order them online. Although, if you have an Menards, I have not checked them, I keep forgetting when I'm there.
 
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I had the same experience, tried Home Depot, ACE etc etc and nobody had long enough M3 bolts for the case. I ended up ordering a box from Amazon...
 
We must be well stocked out here in KS. Not that I would want to buy many of them from ACE. They are crazy expensive.
 
That was another thing, when I found the M3 bolts that were too short at ACE they were also crazy expensive. I found a box of 100 on Amazon that cost about the same as it would cost for 4 (too short) bolts at ACE.
 
KPatterson said:
Is there anyone that would be willing to print me a case and ship it? I will of course pay.
Click to expand...

Since the case is Tom and Matt's design I always give first crack at printing to them, if they are busy or indifferent I would be glad to print a case for you...
 
How difficult of a print is the 3d case?

I'm realistically maybe a month from having my RepRap up and running, but being a newbie I don't know what kind of results I should expect right off the bat.
 
The case is not difficult to print but it will test how well you have your machine tuned. If you look at the reprap forums, you will find lots of people posting pictures of vases, yodas, and other irregular objects to show off their printers. The one thing all of these have in common is that they hide systematic error in your printer. In my opinion, the single greatest test of a 3D printer is a vertical face with perpendicular through holes. When you print something like this, any problems with the pitch and consistency of your z-axis, mass of your x carriage and bed plate, and tuning of your speed/acceleration will become very obvious. You will find that you will be able to print a usable case very early on, but you will probably spend some time getting the hang of your machine and fine tuning your print settings before you are completely satisfied. The fine tuning is the most enjoyable part to me, and also how you learn the most about subtle mechanical design features of the printer and their relation to print quality.

Let us know if we can be of any help.
 
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With Tom's help, I was able to get my printer up and running quite nicely. Printing the case wasn't difficult at that point, just took a long time.

dave

KellyMc said:
How difficult of a print is the 3d case?

I'm realistically maybe a month from having my RepRap up and running, but being a newbie I don't know what kind of results I should expect right off the bat.
Click to expand...
 
When I built my printer the first thing I tried to print was the flap for the first servo damper, I knew next to nothing about slicing, support structures etc... I remember watching the printer make big loops in open air and scratching my head, hmm, how the hell is that gonna work? LOL Of coarse it didn't....

The next thing I printed was a HM case, that actually came out pretty well! Took some time but I had a usable case when it was done... I'd say go for it, the case needs no support, and there are no fancy angles that are hard to print or anything...
 
Thanks, guys. I've got my printer mostly built, but haven't wired it up or looked at software.

Including the printer, I'm working on a $700 HeaterMeter.
 
Can anyone tell me how much the case weighs? Without the screws and interiors of course. We got a 3D printing service in town and I got to pay by weight in grams. The printer is a MakerBot Replicator 2X and there are three different quality levels from low to high. Should I use the highest or doesn´t it matter? Sorry, I´m an absolut newbie to 3D-printing.
 
I just weighed one and it came in at 73g. But it depends on the amount of infill that's used. It should weigh less than 100g.

How much are they charging per gram?
 
Thank you so much. Thats good to know.

Upfront payment:
Low - 3,- €
Standard - 7,- €
High - 12,- €

and 0,24€/gram

In US-Dollar it would be:

Low - 4.10 USD
Standard - 9.50 USD
High - 16.30 USD

0,33 USD / gram
 
I just printed one and it weighs 98.4g. Do they tell you what quality means? I'm guessing layer height?

EDIT: that was with PLA though. You have to check the density of PLA vs. ABS. I'm pretty sure PLA is more dense

EDIT2: PLA is roughly 1.23 times as dense as ABS so you will save money by printing with ABS if they give you that option. Ask them what the quality refers to. If it is layer height, I would take anything that comes at 0.3 mm and below.
 
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The MakerBot Replicator 2X does pretty small layer heights. The "low" resolution is 0.3mm, "medium" is 0.2mm, and "high" is 0.1mm. Low is almost certainly fine, as the case doesn't have any fine details or anything.

A v4.1 top with 25% infill, 2 shells, 3 solid layers is 37 grams and the bottom is 42 grams, in ABS. Hey looks like Matt and I are ABS buddies.
 
Great, do I have to do anything special then to adjust the files to the printer or do I just use the files I got from here? I hope that I don´t have to pay for top and bottom extra. Is there a way to print these like side-by-side in one step?

I just called the service and the information on their homepage is outdated. Right now they use PLA with the Ultimaker 2 printer. I am curious to find out if it works as advertised.
 
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