Hi Roland, To the average machinist - ok, ALL machinists, the parts produced by homebuilt FDM machines look awful. There is visible banding along the Z-axis, variations in the amount of plastic extruded, occasional slumping at overhangs, and places where support material had to be snapped off. If you want to produce 'perfect' parts, the technology is not there yet. (but 'junk' depends on your requirements for the parts, budget, and time pressures)
That being said, FDM machines have several advantages that your milling machine can't do. The RepRap machines routinely produce hollow or partially filled parts. Some of them can print in multiple materials (hard/rubbery, different colors, water soluble support material). Most of them (not mine) are portable. They have very low material waste (I don't have to vaccum up a big pile of chips when done). They allow fixtureless, one shot printing - no repositioning the workpiece and touching off. In general, they have a low machine cost (homebuilt). They can produce nested or high complexity parts using only three axis. I can be printing while my children are sleeping in the next room. The bottom line? If you already have access to high-end milling machines and you are uninterested in the underlying technology, forget it. You will be disappointed with the results. If you want a low cost entry point to complex plastic shapes and quality is a secondary issue, give it a try - but keep an open mind. For me personally, I see an opportunity to contribute to an emerging field. I think it's worthwhile for that reason. Alex On May 30, 2012 2:52 AM, "Roland Jollivet" <roland.jolli...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Alex > > Do you mind saying what you are printing, and if you feel the printing is a > worthwhile exercise? I've been looking at different printers for months, > but they only seem to be able to produce junk. Cnc'ing it out of a block of > plastic looks far more effective. > > Regards > Roland > > > On 29 May 2012 18:22, Alex Hunt <al...@ieee.org> wrote: > > > Hi Jeshua, > > > > I mounted a "Wade" type extruder to my gantry router and have been 3D > > printing with LinuxCNC for about 6 months now. The extruder thermal > > control is managed by RepRap firmware on an Arduino. I have to manually > > set the temperature of the extruder before printing, but it works. I > have > > a Mesa 5i20 card for control with 2M542 motor drivers, but the extruder > > driver is a simple single chip stepper driver. > > > > My intent was to close the thermal loop with a thermocouple to PWM > circuit, > > but I'm not there yet. Sending serial port commands from LinuxCNC would > > automate my current setup better, so please let me know if you make any > > progress on that. > > > > When you get your hardware ready to go, I might be able to help you > smooth > > over some of the speed-bumps getting started. > > > > Regards, > > Alex Hunt > > > > On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 12:00 AM, Jeshua Lacock <jes...@3dtopo.com> > wrote: > > > > > > > > Greetings all, > > > > > > I have been dreaming of making a removable plastic extruder nozzle for > my > > > machine. It would turn it into a *huge* 3D printer. > > > > > > So I read this page with great interest: > > > > > > http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5233 > > > > > > Is it possible to make those changes to LinuxCNC? In other words, can > > > LinuxCNC currently command a serial port using those additional M > words? > > > > > > If not, I would be willing to write some code and commit it. Some > advice > > > to help me get started would be extremely helpful as I have never > looked > > at > > > the branch. > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > Jeshua Lacock > > > Founder/Engineer > > > 3DTOPO Incorporated > > > <http://3DTOPO.com> > > > Phone: 208.462.4171 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > Live Security Virtual Conference > > > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > > > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. > Discussions > > > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in > malware > > > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Emc-users mailing list > > > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Live Security Virtual Conference > > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Live Security Virtual Conference > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
