KMPKT 3D Printing Service

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936


As some of you may know, I recently purchased a Markforged Mark Two 3D printer to meet KMPKT Design's prototyping and production needs. Having put the printer through its paces, I would now like to offer printing services to the smallformfactor.net community. This unit prints extremely high quality and high durability parts in both Markforged's proprietary Onyx material (chopped carbon fibre infused nylon) as well as Nylon. It also has the capabilities to inlay carbon fibre, kevlar, fiberglass or high-strength high-temperature fiberglass (useful for injection molding parts) to create incredibly light weight and strong composites. Specifications are as follows:​



TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS


BUILD VOLUME
320 mm x 132 mm x 154 mm

PLASTIC MATERIALS
Onyx, Nylon

FIBER MATERIALS
Carbon Fiber
Fiberglass
Kevlar
HSHT Fiberglass (High-Strength High-Temperature Fiberglass)

Z LAYER RESOLUTION
100 micron

If you want to know more about the machine, there is a great review from Thomas Sandlanderer here:

You can learn more about Onyx here:




We are currently planning to offer printing in Onyx for 0.75 USD per CM3 plus shipping. There may also be a nominal service fee that is as yet undetermined to account for time and labour requirement in running the machine. If you wish to use Carbon Fibre, Kevlar, of Fiberglass, I am happy to give pricing for composite parts on a case by case basis.

While I live in Canada, I have my unit residing with @Josh | NFC in the USA. As such, all printed parts will ship from inside the states which will hopefully be beneficial for a large number of our members. If you are interested in using my services, please PM me directly and we can chat about specifics. I will update this thread as needed with FAQ and other pertinent information.
 
Last edited:

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
How much would that run someone, say if they were to print an S4M with this 3d printer?

I'm going to be mega rigid on this, but I will absolutely not print any component or complete case that is the wholly owned intellectual property of another member of this community without express written consent from that creator to do so. Furthermore, that creator will have the right to stipulate whether printing privileges are on a single case or ongoing basis as well as retaining the right to revoke printing rights for their intellectual property as they see fit.

This policy includes but is not limited to the patented work such as the Not From Concentrate S4M and S4M-C, as well as other unique cases such as the Dan Cases A4 SFX, Dr. Zaber Sentry, Lone Industries L1 (although this may be an amazing way to resurrect this case), CCD-MI6, NCase M1, and Lazer3D LZ7.

I will however allow free printing of parts that are meant to add to or enhance the function of these existing cases. If the creators request that I discontinue printing a certain part for clients, I will decide whether or not to respect this request on a case by case basis. I essentially don't want to cut into anyone's profits, nor do I wish to enable modifications that damage their platform.


What do we have to do to the model before sending to you? might have one i'm drawing in illustrator currently before the 3D pass

The Markforged printer uses a cloud based printing software called Eiger which accepts (it appear) only .STL files. It will be up to you to create your part and convert it to this format. If Eiger will not accept your files, we will determine why and provide you with instructions for modification.
 
Last edited:

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
Unfortunately the S4M is outside the build envelope for this particular unit. If you look at the specification, the build envelope on the Mark Two is 320mm x 132mm x 154mm. I hope to eventually get a larger unit (Markforged X3) with a more suitable build envelope (330 mm x 270 mm x 200 mm) if I can make a go of selling print time on this machine.

The Mark Two is more appropriate for printing the following:
  • Custom mounts for hardware (fans, HDD/SSD, radiators, pumps, AC-DC and DC-DC power supplies, etc)
  • Micro STX or Mini STX enclosures
  • Stands, feet or mounts for cases
  • Custom cable combs, bulgin switch faceplates, heatsink shrouds, fan grills and other custom aesthetic parts for your build
Ideas I have currently for parts to be printed for limited run production on this unit include:
  • Internal mounting solution for HDPlex 160W AC-DC in S4M using Skybracket Mounts
  • Internal mounting solution for Dynamo 360W in S4M using Skybracket Mounts
  • Internal mounting solution for Dynamo 160W non-plugged in S4M using Skybracket Mounts
  • HDPlex AC-DC to SFX mounting hardware for those who want DC-DC in their DAN-A4/NCase M1/Zaber Sentry/etc.
To answer your question about case cost, it would really depend on the case and how well you managed to part it out, design it with proper infill in mind and how thick you made each part.

If anyone else has good ideas for parts they'd like to see go into limited run or per order production, let me know. Would also be interested in working out some sort of royalty or IP purchase for anyone who would want to develop a product for me given there is a market for it.
 
Last edited:

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
Can we print whole sff cases with this? How much would that run someone, say if they were to print an S4M with this 3d printer?

Yes you can print out whole cases, but not those that are the IP of others. Please see FAQ at top of thread for more details.

what do we have to do to the model before sending to you

Please see FAQ at top of thread
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: VegetableStu

RenG

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jul 17, 2016
141
76
Do you offer post processing as well? or just straight out of the printer?
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
Depending on the post processing you need, @Josh | NFC is a man of many talents and can likely offer some sort of enhanced services. What did you have in mind?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Biowarejak

tinyitx

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 25, 2018
2,279
2,338

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
So using your part and putting it into Eiger, it comes back with a volume of 7cm3. At 0.75 per cm3, that would be a material cost of 5.25 USD per part. Like I said, there may be a processing fee per print but nothing is set in stone yet. Does this price seem fair to you (I am still gauging the price and whether it is fair).
 

VegetableStu

Shrink Ray Wielder
Aug 18, 2016
1,949
2,619
it's on par (less all labour and shipping) with shapeways at the moment. I don't mind that ballpark

(I'm using the absolute volume of my previous 3D print project without any support structure redesign, so anything more expensive should usually indicate a bigger model (like printing an entire shoe or something))
 

tinyitx

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 25, 2018
2,279
2,338
So using your part and putting it into Eiger, it comes back with a volume of 7cm3. At 0.75 per cm3, that would be a material cost of 5.25 USD per part. Like I said, there may be a processing fee per print but nothing is set in stone yet. Does this price seem fair to you (I am still gauging the price and whether it is fair).
I think it depends on the 'quality' of the printing as well as the 'quality' of the materials used. I have had neither one on my hand to feel nor even actually seen one. It is hard to say but, if I have to say based on those pics online, I would say 5.25 USD per piece seems fair to me.
 

RenG

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jul 17, 2016
141
76
Depending on the post processing you need, @Josh | NFC is a man of many talents and can likely offer some sort of enhanced services. What did you have in mind?

Nothing major. Just without the jagged lines and rough edges. That it looks like a finished/molded piece rather than prototype-looking part.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
They pretty much come off the machine with a really nice finish. I will get Josh to put up some photos of the parts he's printed already so you guys can get an idea of untreated surface finish.
 

Nightblade

Airflow Optimizer
Nov 29, 2017
293
243
Hey, I have a question, if I wanted to print 2 sheets of a 20 x 10 grid with each null space square being at minimum 0.75 inch x 0.75 inch and maybe like 0.5 mm to 1 mm tall. Each walls' thickness would also probably be about 0.5 mm. would you be able to do that? and how much would that cost?
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
Original poster
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
If you can send me a .stl file I can give you an exact quote. Doing so without a file to throw into the software is pretty difficult.