3D Printing What Are You Printing Today?
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ljwilley
I’m pretty sure it will work…
Live camera from my printer:
The camera only takes like 2 frames every second, but it is super cool for timelapse videos!
Very true. Looks like a wonder filament, but I'll have to hit the limits of PC-CF before I consider it. What GF Nylon are you using?
Chuck @cwbullet bought a roll of Nylon GF recently. Not sure if he's tried it yet.
I've not gone past ABS GF. Printed a nosecone out of it and couldn't break it, and I was trying..... Bambu has a good range of colours in ABS GF and they work well with a 0.4 nozzle. I'll be moving to 0.6 shortly. That was my favorite size for balance of speed and quality on my previous printer.
It came to my farm. I had a launch this weekend. I will try it next weekend. I will try a print on My Mk4s and Bambu and see which doe better.
crossbound
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Currently designing a short 4 inch diameter rocket and printed a 16 inch long nosecone for it this weekend
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Can you share the SCAD file. I'd like to see how you did the fillets.
Today, I will print the parts for a a couple Estes Menaces.
Nice design.
I made this after New Year 2024 on my printer. I know it's not new, but I am to the group so I wanted to share it. Our old tree topper was showing its age so I thought it could be fun to do something like this with the translucent filament spike at the top. Got some 3V LEDs from Evan Designs to light up the spike. Kind of a fun one.
Attachments
I was going to print a present for a friend but my printer had a clogged nozzle and if I hadn’t been working in the room then it would have been a blob of death event but I noticed in time, so I tried to change the nozzle but then the brass broke off where the head meets the screw so now the need to get a screw extracter.
Oh man, I just had a blob of death event a couple days ago. Haven't had the time to get out there and clear the nozzle, etc.
One thing I've noticed with the Bambu, (not this printer with a clogged nozzle
) is the amount of time it spends on preparing the nozzle. feeds through some plastic, wipes the nozzle multiple times, lays down some plastic on the plate perimeter and then prints.Check your start G-Code to make sure it's doing something similar.
It does.One thing I've noticed with the Bambu, (not this printer with a clogged nozzle
Check your start G-Code to make sure it's doing something similar.
I've been circling the drain with the Nike Smoke Fin profile. The complex taper has been giving me a bit of a time. I was able to finally figure it out but when I took it to the slicer, it was rather garbage with a bunch of weird facets and jaggy edges. I haven't been hitting my head hard enough to get it from sketch to printed yet, but I will get there.
I was able to get a diamond fin for the Nike printed out. I split it down the Y-axis and also printed it upright. The flat split version took longer, had stair steps but turned out good. The upright one seems pretty strong and looks better. For the 4-in Nike, I think I'm going to FG the fins (or try any way) so surface finish isn't my primary concern.
Iteration = learning
I was able to get a diamond fin for the Nike printed out. I split it down the Y-axis and also printed it upright. The flat split version took longer, had stair steps but turned out good. The upright one seems pretty strong and looks better. For the 4-in Nike, I think I'm going to FG the fins (or try any way) so surface finish isn't my primary concern.
Iteration = learning
I got my nozzle out safely but it was a bit bound up from heat, etc. so I had to go slow and careful to get it out. Anyway, I ended up ordering some thermal paste to give that a try when installing a new nozzle. Might make it easier to remove the next nozzle when the time comes.got it out, but I lost the replacementso the new ones will be here on Tuesday.
The fin shape I used on this fin can (just a few posts above):
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/what-are-you-printing-today.150480/page-63#post-2674756
is basically a scale version of the Nike Smoke fin. I found a scale drawing online, and used the root and tip outline and in OpenSCAD with hull(), which is the same as a loft in most other 3D programs, to create the fin. So it's just two outlines joined together in 3D space. I'd be happy to send you the outlines I used as SVG files that should allow you to do something similar in your 3D program.
Tony
I know there is a contouring add on that post processes the G-code for flat printed objects that gets rid of the step. Of course, the head needs to have suitable clearance. Can't be long before it's included in a slicer somewhere.
Like this.... https://hackaday.com/2016/07/27/3d-printering-non-planar-layer-fdm/
Funny that you would want non planar to make a plane wing....
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That looks very promising. Thanks for posting it.
I feel like I'm getting closer on the Nike Smoke Fin design. I used the loft method like @manixFan suggested, and I'm close. There are still some facet artifacts on the surface. The loft isn't maintaining a flat surface between the edge and the base of the triangle. I assume this is some aspect of lofting I am missing while using Fusion. When I took the model into Fusion, it didn't look very good after slicing. The leading/trailing edge was very rough, but I realized it was a razor edge, so I added a 2mm fillet to those edges and it resliced much better.
I prefer the diamond profile over this complex profile, but this is the profile that everyone recognizes as "THE" Nike Smoke, and since I'm struggling with it, I'm kind of dog-on-the-bone at the moment. I'm going to print one to see how it looks, and I'll post the results.
Fin Layout
Fin End Result
Before the fillet on the edges
After Fillet
I prefer the diamond profile over this complex profile, but this is the profile that everyone recognizes as "THE" Nike Smoke, and since I'm struggling with it, I'm kind of dog-on-the-bone at the moment. I'm going to print one to see how it looks, and I'll post the results.
Fin Layout
Fin End Result
Before the fillet on the edges
After Fillet
As you've discovered, it's very difficult to print such a taper – the minimum 'bead' of melted filament that can be extruded is basically just a hair bigger than your nozzle. You can have very small layer heights, but short of changing to a smaller nozzle diameter, you really can't change the extrusion width very much as a practical matter. While not perfectly scale, you'll need to add some width to your leading and trailing edges. Since the fins I printed are going to be tickling Mach, I have the root at 6mm and the leading and trailing edges at 2mm at the root, and tapering to about 1/2 that at the tip. You can see that in the photo below. And of course the fillet to the body tube isn't scale, but I picked the fin shape because it's robust, not to try and be scale. Adding the fillet increases survivability.
One of the limitations of nearly all filament printers is the inability to create very fine edges or tips – try printing a conical nosecone you you'll find it takes a lot of finagling with the layer speed and cooling as the tip gets sharper. I sanded the leading and trailing edges a bit after printing, but mostly just to smooth out the layer lines some.
Good luck!
Tony
PS: you might consider a brim on your fin root to help make sure it stays stable during the print.
View of the Nike Smoke fin showing the slight modification from the very sharp leading and trailing edge taper to a more printable flat edge. I tried photographing it edge on, but it was very difficult to see the edge clearly. For reference, the fin root is 65mm and the tip is 31mm, span is 48mm.
(edited for clarity)
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This has been very helpful, thank you!
FWIW, I usually print individual fins like that by putting the leading edge down. Add support to the root so it doesn't fall over. That gets the layers oriented a bit better for strength.
That's a great point about printing with a 3D printer – thinking of the layer lines like the grain in a sheet of balsa. Printing the leading edge down emulates cutting a fin by aligning the grain with the leading edge. So printing the fin root down would be like having the grain in a balsa fin running parallel to the root edge, which we would normally avoid doing.
That's one reason why I like printing my fins as a fin can – I can print vertically with puts the layer lines in a good orientation, and I have all the fins pre-aligned and all with identical fillets. Plus once the entire fin can is slid over the body tube, the underlying tube really reinforces the entire structure.
EDIT: I saw a post recently where the builder slid the fin can over a coupler that slid into the main body tube so there wasn't a discontinuity in the tube diameter. But of course that would not work for a minimum diameter rocket, but it's a good solution otherwise.
Tony
Sliced image of the fin can – there is a brim in the interior of the tube that's not visible:
Horse stands
David, what are these used for?
To hold model horse upright so they do not fall over when someone bumps the table. My neighbor is into them and does horse shows.
