HM version 4 Rpi 3d print case


 
Alan Erickson said:
I heard back from materialize and the cost is around $125 for a top and bottom. I think their quality would be better from talking with them but that price is pretty hard to swallow. Would be nice if we could find someone to work with and get a quantity discount.
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I am close to a solution. This reprap thing has completely consumed my free time and taken much longer than expected but I finally have it printing pretty well. I am going to start a print tonight for a case. Will post pics when it's going.
 
I've been lurking for a while but registered to say I'd be very interested in getting in on some kind of case order. Thanks Bryan and Tom and everyone else for all your hardwork on this project.
 
Printing slow makes the quality a bit better. Here is the reprap and pics from my first attempt at printing the case. I had some trouble with the case warping during the print and coming off the bed. I need to put tape down to make it stick better.

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Very cool. Is this process similar to the process that Shapeway uses (with powder somehow)?

Also, lurking around the Shapeway's forums they talk a lot about how print orientation has a big impact on the quality. The two that turned out good for me from Shapeways it looks like they were actually printed vertically, at least that's the way it looks from some of the printer lines. One was vertical one direction and the other is vertical the other direction. The one bad one looks like it was printed flat, which is completely counter-intuitive to what I would think would be the best way.
 
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That is so awesome. It is amazing what you can do with some threaded rods and a few motors. I want one but the only use I can think of is making HeaterMeter cases.

Shapeways is reprinting my case's bottom based on the photos I sent them showing how clearly wrong it was. I guess now I have to order another top to go with it.

Their 3D printer works differently than the RepRap. The RepRap is an extrusion printer, meaning it lays down melted plastic out of the print head. The Shapeways printer is a granular system. Basically there's a container that has a layer of powdered plastic in it, and a laser sweeps over the top and melts where it needs to and then another layer of powder is applied. What I bet they do is combine a bunch of models to fill the whole fabrication bed and print them all at once, which is why you never can tell which direction your model will be printed in.
 
Bryan Mayland said:
That is so awesome. It is amazing what you can do with some threaded rods and a few motors. I want one but the only use I can think of is making HeaterMeter cases.
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It becomes a very time consuming hobby just tinkering with all of the settings and the quest for perfect prints. Plus, if you go wandering around thingiverse for a while you will find tons of crap to print that you never knew you wanted.
 
Tom, how would you say the print quality is re: extrusion vs sintered printing? I've seen some high resolution pictures of reprapped stuff before that at least at first glance didn't look like it would allow for very tight tolerances (like bevelled edges, tabs, etc). Have you had luck producing a non warped case to try out yet?
 
Kyle Christensen said:
Tom, how would you say the print quality is re: extrusion vs sintered printing? I've seen some high resolution pictures of reprapped stuff before that at least at first glance didn't look like it would allow for very tight tolerances (like bevelled edges, tabs, etc). Have you had luck producing a non warped case to try out yet?
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I think that without a doubt the sintered printing is much higher res. That's not saying you can't get some nice prints with an extruded printer. There are guys that have this down to quite a science and can make things that I am simply unable to do at this point in time. I will get there and think that if I can solve the warping problem, this case should be easy to print.
 
I finally have been able to print an entire case. I needed to get rid of the tabs because they are just not going to work with a reprap. I increased the lateral wall thickness by 100% and this thing is much more sturdy. I have some more tweaking to do to the design but it's almost there. The nice thing is that it only uses maybe 2$ in plastic. Here are some pics of what I've been doing:

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Holy macaroni, only $2 in plastic?! Now I really want one of those. It really looks great!

I other news, I got my replacement case bottom from Shapeways and this one fits perfectly. The dimensions of the probe jack area are totally different than the first print of the same model so something clearly got mixed up.
 
Is it possible to clean up reprap printed models via sanding? I'm curious how they'd look smoothed up and painted, I bet it would be pretty close to the $75 version..
 
Have you the stl files for the new case. I have built a couple of cases, and don't think they will stand up to too much. I haven't quite figured out the hows and whats on changing existing cad files to change the thickness, etc.
 
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