Hardware & Technical 3D Printing, how to, problem solving, general talk.

[lysan]

So I think i covered most of it in the headline.

3D Printing! is it something you do?
what printer do you use?
what suggestion would you have to improve you prints?
what software do you use?

I got a printer, and I use it for small projects, however I'm really tired of printing stupid figures i can't use for anything, I mostly use it for small tools and improvement in my workshop.
However i got one problem I can't solve, I need to make a part, I got the real part, I tried to digitize it using photography technique to get the 3D model into my 3D app, and that was fine. My problem is that the part does not fit even if I scale it according to the real model. What I need to do a painful measurement of the model and then reconstruct it in the 3D app, and that is doable, however for future project there must be an easier way to get a real object into the 3D app without the need to measure every little curve and bump.

My printer is the Tevo Tornado, I installed smoothers and a glass bed on it.

 

[Chinfox]

Not sure this will help you any, in any case I haven't used photography to reproduce existing stuff so I can't help you with solving your particular problem.

My printer is a Renkforce RF1000 (from Conrad, pretty popular in German speaking countries) and I use Repetier software to drive it. I used to build my STL files using Sketchup Free, and more recently with Tinkercad. Especially the latter is pretty easy to use after some initial training designs, and it exports STL files that often need not be corrected for non-closure problems. Maybe it's quicker making your own design?

 

[lysan]

Not sure this will help you any, in any case I haven't used photography to reproduce existing stuff so I can't help you with solving your particular problem.

My printer is a Renkforce RF1000 (from Conrad, pretty popular in German speaking countries) and I use Repetier software to drive it. I used to build my STL files using Sketchup Free, and more recently with Tinkercad. Especially the latter is pretty easy to use after some initial training designs, and it exports STL files that often need not be corrected for non-closure problems. Maybe it's quicker making your own design?

Well I use autodesk to design my projects, but I wanted to make a copy of a part to repair or improve some parts. Sometime these parts are pretty complicated geometrical shapes, so photography digitizing is a fast way to do this, however the scale it difficult to match in one shot.

 

[starman]

What is stopping widespread adoption?

 

[Chinfox]

Well, it isn't exactly design and print, lots can go wrong on the way to a usable final product as you designed it. First problem is measurements - most plastics used in FDM printing have the tendency to shrink when cooling, so you have to calculate in an extra few percent (which depends on other dimensions of the object, I.e. no fixed correction factor). Then the printing itself... too hot, and the object remains malleable for too long after printing and sags; too cold, not enough material and/or not enough fusion between layers; too much material: sloppy prints; then object retention on the printing bed is a whole different chapter, as well as the possible need for an enclosure to avoid object warping etc. etc.
That goes for the common plastic FDM printers you'll find for the consumer market. Laser sintering is sexy as you can make metallic objects, but beyond reach for anyone less than specialised industrial outfits.