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Hey guys,
Can I print the car stereo frames I attached below using a 3D printer? Including the metal support brackets?
I would guess the answer is yes, what printer is the best possible one you recommend it for this, regardless of price tag?
And if I already own the products I attached, can I somehow make a scan of them so the printer can save their models and make multiple copies of them?
Thank you my friends!
the plastic frames and parts - no problem - any fdm machine will easily print those
Probably starting at around £250 and working your way up.
As far as scanning the frames goes - it's a LOT easier to just design the frame from scratch - usually faster too.
Unless you've got £20'000 for an industrial scanner :-)
The metal frame - trickier.
Yes it could be 3d printed in a metal printer. The printers start at £85'000
There are print bureaus who could probably do both.
Once you've designed the part - you can print as many as you like :-)
What sort of money were you thinking of spending ?
Cheers for the reply! I am looking at about 30-35.000 euros as a budget. The metal brackets - I can do without the metal printers. The scanner - I DO need one!Quote:
Originally Posted by curious aardvark
I've been watching some youtube vids the last couple nights, am particularly fond of Ultimaker S5, because I've been talking with the Ultimaker reps in my country and it seems like a great printer from the youtube reviews.
Looking forward for your recommendations on printers and scanners! Maybe there's a way to scan cheaper than 85 grand? these frames are small, 99.9% are within 40cm*30cm*10cm
Looking for all the possible creative solutions out there. Some frames are hella complex and there's no way in hell I'd be able to replicate them in an 100% accurate model made from scratch. No sir, no way, not me at least lol.
well the best budget scanner is the scan-in-a-box
https://www.scaninabox.com/product-d...-a-box-fx.html
I can't get the website to load at the moment.
Okay lets talk complexity.
Assuming you get a scanner, and it works and the parts are dimensionally accurate - you are going to have some tricky prints.
Prints that will need parts supported.
The best way to do this is to have dual extruders.
The best way to do that -mis to have Dual Independant Extruders - or IDEX.
This means that you can have one extruder using a soluble support filament and one using whatever other filament you choose.
Now assuming you are selling these parts to people with cars that are going to be in hot and sunny countries (ie: NOT where I live in england :-) You will be wanting to use heat resistant filaments like polycarbonate, maybe,
So you will also need Hi-temperature hotend and an enclosed print volume.
I am pretty sure that ultimaker do not make an enclosed idex printer, they also do not make a printer big enough - to be honest I'm not sure anyone does.
the s5pro has a build volume of: 330 x 240 x 300 mm
It also has concentional dual extruder setup (side by side on the same carriage. So you can't do 2 things at once or mirroring and you will waste time on larger purgewalls and wipe towers.
compare this to the Leapfrog Bolt - which has all the features I listed above:330 x 320 x 205
https://www.lpfrg.com/products/leapfrog-bolt-pro/
Personally I'd take the bolt over the ultimaker any day of the week.
The bolt also comes with simplify3d slicing software - which is head and shoulders above ultimakers cura. Both in ease of use and versatility.
Also worth a look is the flashforge creator 3 - approximately 1/3 the cost of the other two and only (only !) a 320x250x200 print volume. But other than that it stands up very favourably to the bolt.
Not quite the heavy duty engineering of the bolt - but not made of tinfoil and ductape either :-)
https://www.flashforge.com/professio...eator%203?id=1
Looking for bigger print volume leapfrog do a more expensive machine the Xceed and the xceed 2.
Weirdly I can find no listing for the build volume.
Add to the fact that firefox refuses to download the brochure and while I'm pretty sure it has a larger build volume than the bolt - I can't find out what is.
wonder if there is a youtube video...
Hmm well the xceed looks like: 350x270x200 - but as far as I can make out it's just a conventional dual extruder NOT ideax - so I'd probably not bother.
Ah - now we're talking !
The BCN3D epsilon.
enclosed idex 420x300x400 Nice !
https://www.bcn3d.com/bcn3d-epsilon/
They are all under 10,000 euros.
And that's all I can find :-)
The other approach would be a very large sla machine or a small sls machine.
Sla is resin - and resin has a whole lot of issues that come with it.
sls is laser bonded nylon.
The only decent one within your budget would be the formlabs fuse - but the build volume is only 165 x 165 x 320 mm.
for anything bigger you're into proper industrial machines all well over £100,000.
Fdm is probably your best option.
And from everything I can see putthere the bolt or the bcn3d epsilon would be my choice.
The epsilon for sheer build volume and the bolt for just being the best engineered and best looking fdm 3d printer I've ever seen :-)
The scan in a box fx - should do the scanning well enough.
I think last time their website worked the fx was just over 5000 euros.
The cheapest industrial, which would probably give comparable results would be over 20,000.
So a bolt or epsilon and a scan in the box fx - would clock in at around 15.000 euros (both companies are mainland europe based).
with your budget you could buy both printers, or two of the same :-)
Wow, thanks a lot for all this great info! I am new to this, I am barely good at replacing my cartridges at my regular paper printer! Your info has helped me a lot, I feeled it steered me in the right direction I otherwise wouldn't have found.
The epsilon printer looks very nice, but beyond looks, the volume size is great for my needs. Not sure if I could use the simplify3d slicing software on the epsilon.
The scan-in-a-box website doesn't load for me neither. I will keep trying.
General question. Assume I buy 2 epsilons enclosed idex, or 1 epsilon and 1 bolt. Does it come with everything needed? Or I need to buy materials / accessories on top of the printer too? Let's say I want to print a black frame and a brown frame. I'm guessing I need to buy and fill both colors into the printer. Do you reckon is it hard to learn and master the printer and maintain it as a total newb to this like me? Or I need to have a technical guy handle it at the start. Thanks!
one advantage of buying a more upmarket machine is that things like filament loading is usually semi-automatic.
Simplify 3d will work with the bcn3d no problem.
Even if you have to buy it it's currently $149 - which is a lot for most people - but a fraction of your budget.
Once you've got used to the actual process and what a printer can and can't do - it's pretty simple to run them.
Having met and spoken to a bunch of the leapfrog team at various tct shows - I can recommend the company's after sales support.
Likewise the bcn3d folk also come across as knowlegeable and friendly.
The version of cura bcn3d use looks like it's been customised to a large degree - so start with it and if it works and does what you want in an understandable manner - stick with it.
So, not sure if the ultimaker people touched on this - but 3d printing is slow.
Particularly if you want to get as close to a finished product as possible - this usually requires printing at a high resolution (really thin layers - 0.1mm or possibly thinner).
So even running at full speed - I reckon a panel near the full size of the epsilon, would take anywhere from 8- 20 hours. Potentially longer if using a tricky filament.
How many of these things do you intend on making and how quick did you actually think it would take per unit ?
Printers will usually come with one or two rolls of filament - usually PLA. In random colours, which usually means white or black or red.
All other colours are available.
For an idea of what kind of things are available to the fdm printer have alook at this website: www.globalfsd.com
And they don't carry everything there is - not by along way :-)
I noticed that leapfrog will supply you with a sample part printed on a bolt - so do that first. Can't remember if bcn3d do the same thing - but I suspect if you ask them they will. Just gone back to the bcn3d site and yes they send samples.
Can't get the bcn3d cura to download - and I'm not filling in their 'send me spam' form properly lol
The scan in a box website is down - but these guys sell them, so looks like the company is still going, weird: https://3dgarage.shop/en/scanner/32-...-a-box-fx.html
Also have a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rttYJdatPQ
not sure where leapfrog are bot bcn3d are in italy somewhere.
I'm pretty sure if you could get to them - both companies would give you a hands on demo for their machines.
Can't hurt to ask :-)
New scanners now work good and don't cost as much as they used to. I am working on an app that will use the new iPad Pro LIDAR scanner to accomplish such a thing. Technology is a wonderful thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by karx7777
Instead of printing with metals I would look into the new carbon fiber printers and other similar materials.