Let the 3D Printing Begin
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Mike Hankey wrote:
Nice work, the board looks good.
Thanks so much. That is my first board and learning Kicad wasn't easy and I'm amazed I actually got it all together & working.
Mike Hankey wrote:
There are a lot of free CAD programs out there, it'll take longer to master them then the printer.
Yeah, I'm overwhelmed by it all already. But I gotta take a shot at it. Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software? Update: Right after posting I saw your #3D Printing article. Reading it now. :thumbsup:
raddevus wrote:
Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software?
AutoDesk offers a web based CAD tool. I've used it with my 3D printer. It's free for a moderately crippled version.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Mike Hankey wrote:
Nice work, the board looks good.
Thanks so much. That is my first board and learning Kicad wasn't easy and I'm amazed I actually got it all together & working.
Mike Hankey wrote:
There are a lot of free CAD programs out there, it'll take longer to master them then the printer.
Yeah, I'm overwhelmed by it all already. But I gotta take a shot at it. Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software? Update: Right after posting I saw your #3D Printing article. Reading it now. :thumbsup:
raddevus wrote:
Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software?
No, I've used TurboCAD for years and it's not free. I'm getting better at doing CAD but still have trouble here and there.
The less you need, the more you have. Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally. JaxCoder.com
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After much amazon searching, I've just ordered the following "beginner's" 3D printer (with a couple of rolls of filament). ELEGOO Neptune 2S New Upgrade Version Large FDM 3D Printer Fully Open Source Ultra-Quiet Printing with Resume Printing DIY 3D Printer Ideal for Beginners Printing Size 220x220x250mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific[^] I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^] into a through-hole Printed Circuit Board (some components added)[^] Just the board[^]. and I've built out the entire thing on new circuit board[^]. Now I want to build a product case for the device. I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
Have a look here: Adventures in 3D printing Part 1: Fusion, you CAD![^] Adventures in 3D Printing Part 2: Rise of the 3D Models[^] Adventures in 3D Printing Part 3: Making Complex Apertures - Recovering from the Bends[^] And very important things: 1) Getting the bed levelling right is really important. If it's "low" on one side then that side will print too loose and then it'll detach and melt itself to the hot end. And it's a PITA to clear it off because the head needs to be 180C or so to melt the filament it's covered in so you can't touch it (especially not with a wet cloth!) 2) After bed levelling, the next critical thing is the bed and nozzle temperatures. Check the filament manufacturers recommendations and start right in the middle of those. 3) Material. PLA is easy to work with, but not very strong, and it's glass temperature is pretty low - so it'll sag if you leave it in a car in the sun! It's also not as durable as PETG, which is about as easy to work with, though it needs a higher print temperature. ABS beats them all in everything except actual printing - I abandoned ABS because PETG gives be much more reliable printing. My hot end still has traces of ABS from the last "birds nest" it created ... Have a look here as well: PLA vs PETG: Which Material Should You Choose? - 3Dnatives[^] Good luck - and persevere! It's surprising just how many things you didn't know you needed to make that can be printed. For example, I'm making kitchen cupboard doors - so I've printed three jigs for the handle locating holes: they are a
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raddevus wrote:
Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software?
AutoDesk offers a web based CAD tool. I've used it with my 3D printer. It's free for a moderately crippled version.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Have a look here: Adventures in 3D printing Part 1: Fusion, you CAD![^] Adventures in 3D Printing Part 2: Rise of the 3D Models[^] Adventures in 3D Printing Part 3: Making Complex Apertures - Recovering from the Bends[^] And very important things: 1) Getting the bed levelling right is really important. If it's "low" on one side then that side will print too loose and then it'll detach and melt itself to the hot end. And it's a PITA to clear it off because the head needs to be 180C or so to melt the filament it's covered in so you can't touch it (especially not with a wet cloth!) 2) After bed levelling, the next critical thing is the bed and nozzle temperatures. Check the filament manufacturers recommendations and start right in the middle of those. 3) Material. PLA is easy to work with, but not very strong, and it's glass temperature is pretty low - so it'll sag if you leave it in a car in the sun! It's also not as durable as PETG, which is about as easy to work with, though it needs a higher print temperature. ABS beats them all in everything except actual printing - I abandoned ABS because PETG gives be much more reliable printing. My hot end still has traces of ABS from the last "birds nest" it created ... Have a look here as well: PLA vs PETG: Which Material Should You Choose? - 3Dnatives[^] Good luck - and persevere! It's surprising just how many things you didn't know you needed to make that can be printed. For example, I'm making kitchen cupboard doors - so I've printed three jigs for the handle locating holes: they are a
Thanks so much for taking your time to give me those tips. I will definitely check out the resources you gave. As I was purchasing I saw all kinds of stuff about Bed Leveling but had no idea why it is really that important. These few sentences you gave me helped me more than a lot of other stuff I've read elsewhere. Didn't know about nozzle temp importance either. really great stuff. Thanks again.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Thanks so much for taking your time to give me those tips. I will definitely check out the resources you gave. As I was purchasing I saw all kinds of stuff about Bed Leveling but had no idea why it is really that important. These few sentences you gave me helped me more than a lot of other stuff I've read elsewhere. Didn't know about nozzle temp importance either. really great stuff. Thanks again.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
You are more than welcome!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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After much amazon searching, I've just ordered the following "beginner's" 3D printer (with a couple of rolls of filament). ELEGOO Neptune 2S New Upgrade Version Large FDM 3D Printer Fully Open Source Ultra-Quiet Printing with Resume Printing DIY 3D Printer Ideal for Beginners Printing Size 220x220x250mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific[^] I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^] into a through-hole Printed Circuit Board (some components added)[^] Just the board[^]. and I've built out the entire thing on new circuit board[^]. Now I want to build a product case for the device. I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
Congratulations ! I'm curious as to what your gizmo does. cheers, Bill
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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After much amazon searching, I've just ordered the following "beginner's" 3D printer (with a couple of rolls of filament). ELEGOO Neptune 2S New Upgrade Version Large FDM 3D Printer Fully Open Source Ultra-Quiet Printing with Resume Printing DIY 3D Printer Ideal for Beginners Printing Size 220x220x250mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific[^] I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^] into a through-hole Printed Circuit Board (some components added)[^] Just the board[^]. and I've built out the entire thing on new circuit board[^]. Now I want to build a product case for the device. I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
Excellent. Just look for some 3D Model that is 'boxy' enough to fit your boards and then modify it so that it can actually be used as a case. My current favorite as a case for the Zwölf would be this thing: Galileo shuttle by 3dmax - Thingiverse[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Congratulations ! I'm curious as to what your gizmo does. cheers, Bill
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
BillWoodruff wrote:
I'm curious as to what your gizmo does.
Thanks for asking. It is a very simple device really. It tracks room temperatures and allows you to log them to the SD Card. It also allows you to read the temperature from any room where the device is via Bluetooth on your phone (I have a prototype android app also -- and later there will be iphone). It also allows you to retrieve the data on that is written to the SD card over bluetooth so you can view graphs of the data and see spikes (or dips) in room temperature very easily. It's just a temperature tracker on steroids. :-D
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Excellent. Just look for some 3D Model that is 'boxy' enough to fit your boards and then modify it so that it can actually be used as a case. My current favorite as a case for the Zwölf would be this thing: Galileo shuttle by 3dmax - Thingiverse[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Excellent. Just look for some 3D Model that is 'boxy' enough to fit your boards and then modify it so that it can actually be used as a case. My current favorite as a case for the Zwölf would be this thing: Galileo shuttle by 3dmax - Thingiverse[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Excellent. Just look for some 3D Model that is 'boxy' enough to fit your boards and then modify it so that it can actually be used as a case. My current favorite as a case for the Zwölf would be this thing: Galileo shuttle by 3dmax - Thingiverse[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Have a look here: Adventures in 3D printing Part 1: Fusion, you CAD![^] Adventures in 3D Printing Part 2: Rise of the 3D Models[^] Adventures in 3D Printing Part 3: Making Complex Apertures - Recovering from the Bends[^] And very important things: 1) Getting the bed levelling right is really important. If it's "low" on one side then that side will print too loose and then it'll detach and melt itself to the hot end. And it's a PITA to clear it off because the head needs to be 180C or so to melt the filament it's covered in so you can't touch it (especially not with a wet cloth!) 2) After bed levelling, the next critical thing is the bed and nozzle temperatures. Check the filament manufacturers recommendations and start right in the middle of those. 3) Material. PLA is easy to work with, but not very strong, and it's glass temperature is pretty low - so it'll sag if you leave it in a car in the sun! It's also not as durable as PETG, which is about as easy to work with, though it needs a higher print temperature. ABS beats them all in everything except actual printing - I abandoned ABS because PETG gives be much more reliable printing. My hot end still has traces of ABS from the last "birds nest" it created ... Have a look here as well: PLA vs PETG: Which Material Should You Choose? - 3Dnatives[^] Good luck - and persevere! It's surprising just how many things you didn't know you needed to make that can be printed. For example, I'm making kitchen cupboard doors - so I've printed three jigs for the handle locating holes: they are a
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Have you tried TPU? We're using it for some bearing covers for work and like the flexibility of it.
I haven't - I know my printer can handle it* but I don't need flexible printing at the moment. * Anycubic Mega S and TPU - Best Settings & Upgrades[^]
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Mike Hankey wrote:
Nice work, the board looks good.
Thanks so much. That is my first board and learning Kicad wasn't easy and I'm amazed I actually got it all together & working.
Mike Hankey wrote:
There are a lot of free CAD programs out there, it'll take longer to master them then the printer.
Yeah, I'm overwhelmed by it all already. But I gotta take a shot at it. Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software? Update: Right after posting I saw your #3D Printing article. Reading it now. :thumbsup:
Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software?
I really like OpenSCAD - CAD for programmers. I've been able to make some pretty cool designs without a lot of difficulty.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
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After much amazon searching, I've just ordered the following "beginner's" 3D printer (with a couple of rolls of filament). ELEGOO Neptune 2S New Upgrade Version Large FDM 3D Printer Fully Open Source Ultra-Quiet Printing with Resume Printing DIY 3D Printer Ideal for Beginners Printing Size 220x220x250mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific[^] I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^] into a through-hole Printed Circuit Board (some components added)[^] Just the board[^]. and I've built out the entire thing on new circuit board[^]. Now I want to build a product case for the device. I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
raddevus wrote:
I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^]
Where did you get the breadboard done? I've got a couple of projects and started the research, but was a little overwhelmed. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
-
After much amazon searching, I've just ordered the following "beginner's" 3D printer (with a couple of rolls of filament). ELEGOO Neptune 2S New Upgrade Version Large FDM 3D Printer Fully Open Source Ultra-Quiet Printing with Resume Printing DIY 3D Printer Ideal for Beginners Printing Size 220x220x250mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific[^] I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^] into a through-hole Printed Circuit Board (some components added)[^] Just the board[^]. and I've built out the entire thing on new circuit board[^]. Now I want to build a product case for the device. I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
Personally I'm avoiding Autodesk Fusion 360 because it's 100% cloud-based. I've settled on FreeCAD for my first attempts at learning this stuff, but I have nothing more to offer you other than the following: Andreas Spiess just put out a video about how he prints his project boxes.
- Owen -
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Any recommendations on "best" FREE CAD software?
I really like OpenSCAD - CAD for programmers. I've been able to make some pretty cool designs without a lot of difficulty.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
-
After much amazon searching, I've just ordered the following "beginner's" 3D printer (with a couple of rolls of filament). ELEGOO Neptune 2S New Upgrade Version Large FDM 3D Printer Fully Open Source Ultra-Quiet Printing with Resume Printing DIY 3D Printer Ideal for Beginners Printing Size 220x220x250mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific[^] I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^] into a through-hole Printed Circuit Board (some components added)[^] Just the board[^]. and I've built out the entire thing on new circuit board[^]. Now I want to build a product case for the device. I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
The thing that's always stopped me from buying one, is uncertainty about the cost of feeding it. About how much filament would it take to print, say, the angel shown on the Amazon page?
Truth, James
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raddevus wrote:
I've recently converted my breadboard prototype (rat's nest of wires)[^]
Where did you get the breadboard done? I've got a couple of projects and started the research, but was a little overwhelmed. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
I downloaded Kicad[^] (FREE schematic / PCB design software). And watched a couple of videos on getting started with it -- if I find the links I will send them along. I had to create my PCB direct -- meaning I skipped the schematic creation step -- which is probably not advised -- and I directly designed the PCB. That's because i didn't know how to match a schematic symbol to the through-hole part that I wanted to end up on the PCB. I was in hurry, because I'm always in a hurry. :laugh: Well, I finally somehow got a basic PCB designed. OSHPARK Somewhere I saw this Oshpark.com - PCB manufacturer in US[^] (maybe on twitter) Very Cool : Upload Test Here's the cool thing. I noticed that I could upload my PCB to the oshpark site and it would generate a board preview -- a real image of what my board would look like. I kept altering things & uploading over and over and that really helped me get to the final. I used Oshpark and got three boards for $30.50 USD. Shipping is included in that price -- but it is slow (via US postal service). It's a long wait when you want to test it to see if it even works. :) But I got them in about 14 days or so. I really like Oshpark and how their site works. Very helpful. And I still can't believe I got it done because I have no idea what I'm doing. :rolleyes:
