Material Types & Print Size Questions

Not a printer & not very knowledgeable about 3D Printing: Have one experience; used entry-level online CAD to draw a part for a boat. Tried to duplicate a 4" diameter x 2" thick plastic cylindrical shape. I had one fabricated in a machine shop (has some intricacies like bores, hubs, screw holes, and a spiral groove around the circumference). The machined plastic was solid and therefore "heavy" and when I received the 3D printed one, it felt only 1/10th the weight. Put it under water and it soaked up enough to almost be as heavy as the solid one. It worked ok for the application but I didn't expect it was porous. So first question: Can a 3D print of a type of plastic, say PVC, be "solid" almost like a purchased piece of stock (or at least not porous enough for water to leak through the material)?

Next question: Is it possible to 3D print a simple, "plastic" of some sort, very small boat (visualize a small paddling boat but this one will have a small electric motor with footpedal steering installed after building - also see the pic attached) approx 10' long x 32" wide x 12" high and it be "strong" and waterproof (unlike my porous disc)? There would be plenty of details (structural parts/ribs/braces, storage boxes, double-walls for trapped air for flotation in case of getting swamped, wire and/or water conduits (tubes) printed into the side walls and/or floor (within the double-walls), "molded" mounting shapes for things like head lamp, gauges/switches, hardware mounting, etc. For this purpose (a fairly low cost item for the size), does this sound like a job way too expensive until some day in the future of 3D printing or feasible today? If feasible, any recommendations for printing services of this type/size? And what could be an off-the-cuff, out-the-air, top-of-the-head, ballparkish price (basically your best WAG) in the closest $100 (or $1000) range?

Many Thanks!!
Cliff

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Hi Cliff,

Welcome to the forum and those are some good questions.

The short answer to both of your questions is yes.

However, Ill go into some more detail.

1) A 3D print can certainly be solid ad this is something that can easily be made to happen by changing the infill setting on the 3d slicing software (a piece of software to slice a CAD model into many layers). However, a solid model does not automatically make it water tight and a model that is not solid is not automatically porous. As a 3D printer builds up layers of plastic, sometimes water can seep through the layers. Therefore, whether a print is water tight depends on how the print is printed (e.g varying temperatures and layer heights). With careful attention to the printing it is possible to make completely hollow prints water proof.

2) Yes it would be possible to print a boat of the size you require but only on some industrial mammoth of a printer. A print bed of over 10 foot long is going to be very hard to find and if you do find it it will probably be very expensive to use. Of course it would be possible to make your boat in many parts and then assemble them, however, considering most consumer 3D printers have a build bed of 10" x 10" x 10" or less it would require many parts to make the size of boat you require.

I hope the above answers help you and if you need any more advice feel free to ask.

You can also get in touch via our email : support@3dexfilament.com

Hi 3dex ltd. Your answers and comments are very clear. Thank you!! Cheers, Cliff

Glad my comment helped. All the best!

You can finish all your prints with an epoxy varnish that will make it watertight : http://www.smooth-on.com/Epoxy-Coati...429/index.html

Indeed a kayak has been printed in ABS in (something like) 30 pieces : a long term project. There are simpler solutions than all 3Dprinted for that.
http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...-58-lbs-of-ABS