Sunday 28 October 2012

1.7mm Wood has arrived!

I was pretty excited to receive my 1.7mm wood sample the other day. It looks really good. very flexible, to the point it is quite difficult to snap, unlike ABS.

I quickly put it in the UP and extruded at 200C. All looked good for a while, as I attempted to print out the cyclonic shape I printed with the Crysta-Line filaments. Anyway, after about 10 minutes the extruder blocked. Damn. Although when cleaning I discovered the tip hadn't blocked but the tube above had! Not sure why, as this is 2mm wide. I later discovered that it is also reccomended to use a nozzle of .5mm. I have a spare which I will drill out ( the stock Up nozzle is .35mm) and try again.

One thing I found was that due to the texture of the wood layers almost disappear.

Here is a picture of what I managed to print out.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Tuesday 9 October 2012

New products in the Crysta-line range.

I just had a quick look at some samples of the new colours coming in the clear Crysta-line range.

For now the choices will be

Ruby red
Amber yellow
Sapphire blue
and the original clear.

Should be available in the next 2 weeks.




Watch for splinters!

I received my sample of laywoo-D3 wood filament today. To say this stuff is weird wood (hehe) be an understatement!  Unfortunately its only available in 3mm at present, and I can only print in 1.75mm.

Its very brittle, so its clear it would need quite a large reel. Or sold only as loose coil.

I plan on getting some for stock as soon as possible.

I got two samples, one is almost a chocolate brown, the other a tan. I believe the extruding temperature will effect the colour also. Higher temps result in darker wood.

Here's a pic..


UPDATE  I should have some 1.7mm samples very soon!

Sunday 7 October 2012

A sneak peak.

Here's a quick look at one of the new ABS filaments I'm working on. Should be available soon. Other colours coming too......

This is a rose bud sitting atop a torch. A bit hard to capture in a photo, but it looks pretty cool. I think if it was printed with less internal support it would look even better.


Monday 1 October 2012

UP Plus Enclosure




I've been working on this on and off for a few months, and I think its finally ready for prime time.

After having quite a few larger prints fail due to warping and delamination I decided to build an enclosure. The biggest problem was keeping the print area hot, but not overheating the electronics. Many designs for enclosures I had seen also enclose the electronics housed at the bottom. Not ideal. The unrestricted access to the air vents on the sides in this design leaves the electronics unaffected.

By not using active heating I feel I have come to a good compromise between reducing issues, and not creating new ones. Although I would like to get the chamber up to ~65 C during printing, this is just not an option with the extruder stepper motor inside. The thermal limit of which is 80C and normally runs around 30 C above ambient.

To keep the extruder temp under control I have mounted 2 40mm heatsinks and fans.  On testing I found just one kept the temperature at 60C  . So 2 should improve on this.

I settled on this design, after a few experimental builds. I wanted something that would compliment the UP Plus's looks, and yet still stay compact, and thanks to the handle on top, very portable.

All the mounting parts, handles and hinges are printed on the UP. While this allows for easy repairs and modifications it also keeps the costs down. Hey isn't this what 3D printers are for?

If there is enough interest I'm going to have a batch cut and powder coated red.

Contact me if you want one.

Here's an earlier prototype.