3D Printing Thread
- Thread starter Biowarejak
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No, not really
It's more an upgrade to my current DIY board, a Sentraq S60-X:
I will replace the plate, PCB, and a few of the keys and stabs to fit the new layout, but apart from the lower right corner and spacebar, it will look and feel mostly the same. New PCB will be the BananaSplit 60, and because the GB only has a silver plate that has lots of holes for layouts I'm not going to use, I want to print the plate myself.
So the plate will be held together by the switches being soldered to the PCB. That's also why I went for the complicated MX cutouts with switch opening instead of simpler universal ones, so the switches fix the plate to the PCB in all three axes.
If that makes the whole thing too flexible, I will experiment with different solutions.
For example, the main plate might flex when pressing keys towards the right right now because it isn't really supported there. So a solution would be to split the plate more evenly towards the middle, because there is a support screw there.
Another, more general approach would be to let the plates overlap by one switch position each time (which complicates printing in some areas), and then glue or otherwise bond them together to make the whole thing one solid piece.
Maybe its also possible to bond them together with butt joints as they are now, but I reckon surface area might be too low for those joints not to break under typing.
If you want more info on the keyboard side of things, feel free to ask me in our keyboard thread
Something I'm working on today (fan duct). Just in PLA.. to see how it comes out.
This is only the 3rd print I have done so I wasn't sure how to handle the overhangs. There is a 90 degree part of my model where the fan must screw into the hole so I put supports there. Cura's supports are... strange. It was printing garbage strings for two of the supports which I had to cut off with a razor blade a few times.
A little warping on this section where there was a steep overhang.
Will post another pic when its done
What software do you guys use for slicing??
Looks awesome! I wonder if you can get decent performance with this, it does look quite adventurous
I've watched this comparison video, and I'm inclined to just start with Slic3r Prusa Edition and then move to simplfy3d if necessary.
Oh molly, now I want a 3D printer
If you have the money and like PC modding, get one! @3lfk1ng can tell you all about how awesome 3D printing is for modding.
About $300 for a Chinese one that requires a lot of modding (+$100-200), but can be pretty good when taken care of.
About $600-$1000 for a more reliable and better built consumer one.
$3000+ for a commercial one which isn't necessarily better than consumer ones in terms of quality, but has much better support and potentially health & safety compliance which is important in a workplace.
About $600-$1000 for a more reliable and better built consumer one.
$3000+ for a commercial one which isn't necessarily better than consumer ones in terms of quality, but has much better support and potentially health & safety compliance which is important in a workplace.
It also depends on your desired print volume. The Fabrikator Mini for example is less than 200€ and quite a good machine, but it only has a 100x100x100 build volume, so if you wanted to print a bracket to hold a 120mm fan, you'd have to print it in two to four pieces, depending on the shape.
Or in your home. My printer almost caught fire because it was manufactured with internal headers that couldn't handle the current flowing through them. Thankfully I did my research and swapped them out as soon as I smelt the smoke.
Looks great! I'd love to see some smokey flow analysis, that could look super satisfying. How are the fans kept from falling out?
Jup, lots of cheap printers need to be modified to be safe in any way. There are a few horror stories of people who started a print, left for work, and came back to a partly burned out house
Like an idiot, I made the cutout area exactly 50 mm. The fans are 50mm.
So the fans fit snugly without needing hardware.
Although it works, next time I will leave a gap and fit some rubber feet on each edge, should reduce vibration that way.
Well there isn't much specific temp improvement... but it does help the airflow situation in the case when the lid is on, because the case is otherwise passive and has no intake fans. It's designed in the wierd shape to fit over the 24 pin ATX connector and the ram slots like this.
Couldn't you print a second part that goes over the cooler and connects with your intake funnel?
Also, I just realized that 3D printing would be an awesome way to make FlexATX PSUs super quiet without having to cut holes into them. So many applications!
Also, I just realized that 3D printing would be an awesome way to make FlexATX PSUs super quiet without having to cut holes into them. So many applications!
Yes that is the plan! I haven't modeled the shroud part you are describing yet but it will contain the air over the heatsink and out through the I/O area. Then I am planning to do a new I/O panel with the necessary vent holes.
It's printed in PLA currently and so I'll need to reprint the second version in either ABS, PETG or another heat-resistant material... Leaning towards ABS because acetone smoothing might be useful. Alternatively, there is that XTC-3D coating for sale which seems to be useful.
I read good things about Colorfabb filaments, but they have to be smoothed with Methyl Ethyl Ketone which is outlawed here.
In addition to the fan, I've been dabbling with two other prints, a cosmetic GPU backplate, and a new enclosure for my PSU since I destroyed the original case when I gave it a haircut.
This is the render of the backplate model for the 1080, the holes are based off of this excellent 980 model with a few adjustments to one of the holes, which I found to be different on the evga 1080.
Because it's too large for my build area, I decided on this layout for the three separate parts.
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I've used that coating; it's okay but not totally great. PETG definitely has the advantage of not smelling while printing though.
In addition to the fan, I've been dabbling with two other prints, a cosmetic GPU backplate, and a new enclosure for my PSU since I destroyed the original case when I gave it a haircut.
Huh interesting, why does that plate have such a rough texture? Normally with FDM I'd expect to see the lines of the top layer. Did you finish this somehow?
Ah sorry... I was just showing the render so you can see it all.
This is what I have printed so far, it's just the middle part, and it's in PLA to make sure the measurements worked and such:
The lines from jumping around are apparently called "Combing" in Cura... they weren't an issue with the .4mm nozzle in PLA.
But it caused a huge problem when I switched to .8mm with PETG prints because it left sizable lines of globs.
So next I tried retraction on everything. It solved the lines problem, but it is retracting for stupidly small gaps which is also bad and making little bumps everywhere. So i'm trying to solve that now.
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Ah that looks much more like the surface finish of PLA I know That was a pretty good render then, certainly got me fooled.
I don't think there's much you can do about this sort of thing. You can select different top layer patterns to somewhat mitigate the problem. Circular can look pretty nice, for example.
Though from what I know, this problem is more pronounced with shiny filaments. If you choose a flat colour like white or black, these lines should be a lot less visible.
That was a pretty good render then, certainly got me fooled.I don't think there's much you can do about this sort of thing. You can select different top layer patterns to somewhat mitigate the problem. Circular can look pretty nice, for example.
Though from what I know, this problem is more pronounced with shiny filaments. If you choose a flat colour like white or black, these lines should be a lot less visible.
For some reason, the Ultimaker ships with nothing but a piece of plastic about the size of a toilet paper roll which is supposed to hold the filament spool. Its pretty shocking how inadequate it is, for what is otherwise a great machine.
Unfortunately when I put on a roll of Esun PETG, it caused so much friction that the thing was making horrible clicking noises and grinding the filament. I spent most of the weekend making this low friction spool holder:
I used two bearings that a skate shop let me have and cleaned them up. It's been a great improvement in noise and print quality. I am working on an enclosure for this unit now in preparation for ABS printing.
On the subject of PETG though, I'm finding that using the supports is really tricky. They are hard to remove and scar the underside of overhangs really badly.. the support structure is tending to fuse with the print solidly, so trying to separate it with a razor blade is not effective. Any ideas on this?
Unfortunately when I put on a roll of Esun PETG, it caused so much friction that the thing was making horrible clicking noises and grinding the filament. I spent most of the weekend making this low friction spool holder:
I used two bearings that a skate shop let me have and cleaned them up. It's been a great improvement in noise and print quality. I am working on an enclosure for this unit now in preparation for ABS printing.
On the subject of PETG though, I'm finding that using the supports is really tricky. They are hard to remove and scar the underside of overhangs really badly.. the support structure is tending to fuse with the print solidly, so trying to separate it with a razor blade is not effective. Any ideas on this?
In general, avoid supports where you can. I have a link that was a good trouble-shoot for PETg as it really is a different beast than ABS or PLA, I'll look for it.For some reason, the Ultimaker ships with nothing but a piece of plastic about the size of a toilet paper roll which is supposed to hold the filament spool. Its pretty shocking how inadequate it is, for what is otherwise a great machine.
Unfortunately when I put on a roll of Esun PETG, it caused so much friction that the thing was making horrible clicking noises and grinding the filament. I spent most of the weekend making this low friction spool holder:
I used two bearings that a skate shop let me have and cleaned them up. It's been a great improvement in noise and print quality. I am working on an enclosure for this unit now in preparation for ABS printing.
On the subject of PETG though, I'm finding that using the supports is really tricky. They are hard to remove and scar the underside of overhangs really badly.. the support structure is tending to fuse with the print solidly, so trying to separate it with a razor blade is not effective. Any ideas on this?
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