3D Printed Charge!

[Poncho65]

I was graciously offered a 3D Printed Charge by member cnlson and accepted the offer

He asked if I would take some pics of it and I have obliged I took them along side my G10 Red Charge and all I can say is that this thing is super cool and awesome 

He Printed it with orange scales (which is very nice ) It opens and closes, the outside tools lock in place as well as the inside tools, the pliers operate as well does the scissors 

Just all in all amazed at how well this thing is and am.aqestruck how far along 3D printing has came in the last few years

Now on to the pics 

[cnlson]

Looks perfectly at home with the red g10. 
I might try to make a Tom Sachs white version next

[ReamerPunch]

That's so cool!

[trichosirius]

That is really cool right there   
I’m always amazed at how far tech has come and the talent it takes to utilize it to make things like this. Awesome 

[Poncho65]

Looks perfectly at home with the red g10. 
I might try to make a Tom Sachs white version next

Can't wait to see it and again thanks

This thing is just so awesome

[Poncho65]

That's so cool!

 

[Poncho65]

That is really cool right there   
I’m always amazed at how far tech has come and the talent it takes to utilize it to make things like this. Awesome 

I can only imagine how far it will be in say 5 or 10 years

[cnlson]

I’m always amazed at how far tech has come and the talent it takes to utilize it to make things like this. Awesome 

I can't take credit for the design, and the printer does all the hard work.

[Poncho65]

I am sure it still takes a bit of setup though

[SteveC]

Pretty freaking cool !   

[Poncho65]

 

[Sos24]

I can't take credit for the design, and the printer does all the hard work.

It looks awesome.

Don’t sell yourself short, there is a lot to knowing how to create/set-up the file for the computer to print from.  And for those of us who are barely computer literate, it is like magic.

[Juan el Boricua]

 

[McStitchy]

...well done like everything 

[primeholy]

I can't take credit for the design, and the printer does all the hard work.

Do you have to use CAM software to tell the printer what to do? I am a CNC programmer, but I’ve never thought about getting into 3d printers. I’ve got so many other things that take up my time

[cnlson]

Do you have to use CAM software to tell the printer what to do? I am a CNC programmer, but I’ve never thought about getting into 3d printers. I’ve got so many other things that take up my time

3d printing in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is pretty much the opposite of CNC. instead of taking away a layer at a time you are building a layer at a time. So what you do in reverse. In fact, It uses the Gcode that you use in your CNC. You start with a block and carve away everything that isn't the elephant. And i start with nothing and build the elephant. Quite complimentary. There are other methods of 3d printing using lasers and resin, or sintered metal like zipwizard does. but the first 2 are the most popular. You can get a rudimentary machine for $100-200 and filament is $10-30 a kilo. Modelling in cad software is exactly the same and once you create a model (or download one off of thingiverse.com) you import it into a "slicer" which slices the layer by layer additions like your CAM software. There are feed rates, and so on, just like in your CAM software. The printer I have, A Prusa mk3s+ is their latest and it is regularly recognized as the best in it's category. They also make a great resin printer, but those are not really for home based since they need ventilation of the poisonous fumes.  the $100-200 will get you a creality or similar, chinese printer which will teach you about bed leveling and require lots of babysitting to get decent prints off of. depending on the brand there are also concerns where some manufacturers will shut off safety features like over temp, loss of temp sensing and use fake parts like xt60 connectors that can result in a fire. If you go to thingiverse and search for the printer model, often there are prints to make the printer safer and if you dig on forums there are firmware updates to add back in the safety features that are part of the Marlin developer code (the open source firmware that almost all printers use) The Prusa gets regular firmware updates and has every safety measure available enabled. but it is more expensive at $800. But well worth it. Prusa makes a path to upgrades that mean that you will always be able to upgrade, relatively at a low cost, to the latest version. The printer i have was originally purchased in 2017 and has 2 generational updates applied for a total of around $50. from their first printer, the MK0, to current you can upgrade what you have to the latest version.

I am sure it still takes a bit of setup though

not that much, you need to know the slicing software, and orientation can be important from the stand point that different orientation (horizontal, vertical) will give you different strength vectors. but for this model, the person who designed it was explicit on how things should be oriented, they also made an incredible design. For instance the main body of the tool is printed flat and has to be folded up. so the "hinged" sections were really interesting to print. maybe a single layer thick in those spots. but the slicer does the computing work, I send the file to the printer via wifi, the file contains all the directions on how to build the parts, I start the printer and walk away. hours later I come back, lift the magnetic bed, flex it and all the parts just pop off.

It looks awesome.

it was super cool to assemble, amusingly I put the handles on reversed at first and couldn't fold it up so i had to pop it apart and put them back on.

Don’t sell yourself short, there is a lot to knowing how to create/set-up the file for the computer to print from.  And for those of us who are barely computer literate, it is like magic.

It almost took longer to download than to setup the prints. One for the colored scales and one for all the steel gray parts. There is very little to do after you send the print to the printer.

i am on my 3rd 3d printer. The first was like a 1980s harley, looked amazing, never worked. The second was actually a Chinese knock off of what i have now. It took constant work to keep it printing. parts would wear out or wires would break. but I was able to overcome the frustration and do a decent amount of printing. My latest printer is almost frustration free in comparison. Bed levelling, since you are depositing plastic on the bed and need it to stick, is one the major tasks with printers. In the cheap printers you have to use a sheet of paper under the nozzle and you have 4 manual adjusters, one in each corner to level the bed. In my new printer. it has a sensor and levels based on 49 points (7x7 grid). If i run out of filament on the new printer, it pauses and allows you to load more filament. If the power goes out momentarily, it uses the capacitors in the power supply to bleed off enough power to store the spot where the outage is occurring so it can resume the print when power comes back (as long as it doesn't cool off too much) It has a magnetic bed with a removable flex plate so you can easily get the prints off the bed. The cheaper printers have fixed beds that you use a scraper to chip the prints free of. The new printer also has great customer support, they even build their own slicer software which is dialed in for the printer and filaments.

[Chako]

That looks really nice. 

[cnlson]

That looks really nice.  .

I want to send you one but I don't know how much it would cost to send it to lower kanukistan, and I'm sure everyone else would like one so id have plenty more requests.

[Poncho65]

Keep meaning to bring the 3D Charge with me to work and take some outside pics but keep forgetting 

[SteveC]

I want to send you one but I don't know how much it would cost to send it to lower kanukistan, and I'm sure everyone else would like one so id have plenty more requests.

Just send him the files, Chako has a couple of 3D printers himself. 

[cnlson]

I couldn't resist... $5000 less than eBay

[cnlson]

Just send him the files, Chako has a couple of 3D printers himself.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5026678

[Chako]

 

[Poncho65]

That looks so cool Probably fetch a good price on the bay of E being that it says NASA

[pa_strunk]

 

[cnlson]

That looks so cool Probably fetch a good price on the bay of E being that it says NASA

maybe but i can't sell it, The license is non commercial derivatives (adding the nasa logo) allowed
so i can make it, i can give it away, but i cannot profit from it.
in the maker community using someone else's work to profit from is heavily discouraged
https://3dprint.com/120727/ebay-licensing-3d-models/

[Poncho65]

Ah yes, was not thinking of Registered TM

[cnlson]

Ah yes, was not thinking of Registered TM

actually it is a creative commons license for the thingiverse thing. So when you put something on thingiverse you can choose what license you are sharing it under. most are non-commercial licenses and you can discuss with the owner if you want to sell and maybe get a different license from them. I put all my licenses for things i've posted as non commercial and i've caught a few people selling them on etsy and such and they took down my designs when  i pointed out non commercial aspect. I'd never do that to anyone else.

[Poncho65]

  Stand up guy I never made anything like that so I had no idea

[cnlson]

Stand up guys I never made anything like that so I had no idea

I think this sums it up