Doing little mass production with 3D printer

[techpik]

Hello,
I want to do little mass production with 3D printer. I need to produce 25-50 "L" shape pipes. Dimensions - 10x6x4cm and 32,4cm3.
I want to use ABS or Nylon material, how much is the material cost (approximate)? Other expenses (electricity, machine repair, moving parts)?

I calculated that I need about 32,7g of ABS (1.01 g/cm³) for printing this 32,4cm3 tube? Is it correct?

Surface has to be smooth, how can it be done? Whats the cost of that?
smoothing-3d-printed-squirrels-wired-design-660x400.jpg

[curious aardvark]

best way to calculate is to simply plug the .stl file into a slicer. Set the cost per kg and the slicer will calculate weight and/or cost for the part.

smoothing the surface is pretty easy with sandpaper. And if using abs just paint with acetone/abs mix paint.

It sounds to me like you might be better off sourcing these plastic pipes from a plumbers supply or hardware store.

You obviously don't already have a printer. Or you'd know about the slicer filament usage calculation.

So by the time you've bought a printer, filament, and printed your pipes - and round pipes with right angles in aren't going to be that easy to print.

You could have simply bought some pipe and right angle fittings for a few quid and done the job.

In other words - sometimes 3d printing isn't the best way to do something.
Given that round plastic pipe in any size and configuration you can think of is readily available all over the world.
Why print what you can buy for less: time, money & effort ?

[Geoff]

best way to calculate is to simply plug the .stl file into a slicer. Set the cost per kg and the slicer will calculate weight and/or cost for the part.

smoothing the surface is pretty easy with sandpaper. And if using abs just paint with acetone/abs mix paint.

It sounds to me like you might be better off sourcing these plastic pipes from a plumbers supply or hardware store.

You obviously don't already have a printer. Or you'd know about the slicer filament usage calculation.

So by the time you've bought a printer, filament, and printed your pipes - and round pipes with right angles in aren't going to be that easy to print.

You could have simply bought some pipe and right angle fittings for a few quid and done the job.

In other words - sometimes 3d printing isn't the best way to do something.
Given that round plastic pipe in any size and configuration you can think of is readily available all over the world.
Why print what you can buy for less: time, money & effort ?

Makweware's preview also gives you the estimated weight - its very accurate, to the mg.

[techpik]

best way to calculate is to simply plug the .stl file into a slicer. Set the cost per kg and the slicer will calculate weight and/or cost for the part.

smoothing the surface is pretty easy with sandpaper. And if using abs just paint with acetone/abs mix paint.

It sounds to me like you might be better off sourcing these plastic pipes from a plumbers supply or hardware store.

You obviously don't already have a printer. Or you'd know about the slicer filament usage calculation.

So by the time you've bought a printer, filament, and printed your pipes - and round pipes with right angles in aren't going to be that easy to print.

You could have simply bought some pipe and right angle fittings for a few quid and done the job.

In other words - sometimes 3d printing isn't the best way to do something.
Given that round plastic pipe in any size and configuration you can think of is readily available all over the world.
Why print what you can buy for less: time, money & effort ?

Thank you for your thorough reply.

This L pipe has to be custom made because it has to be in specific size. I cannot buy this from shop. Sorry for my first post that may have mislead you.

Can you tell me more about this "round pipes with right angles in aren't going to be that easy to print." ? Maybe you can give me some examples.

I calculated the cost of this pipe and I got about $3 per one pipe. I also contacted many businesses who are offering 3D printing and they are asking about $70 for this one pipe?
Have I missed something or this $67 is the profit and business expenses?

[richardphat]

Basically, the transition from horizontal to vertical through edge filet or external radius will cause an unappealing visual effect. It happens on the external shell typically.

Your pipe could be designed as flat rectangular or square on the outside but can be "circular" on the inside. But even then I would go for a losange for the internal cavities to avoid squished circle.

See picture, the circle spot is where you will have ugly area and filament that won't adhere to each other. As a result you will have stress concentration that might be important depending on the application.

techpiknik.jpg

[Marm]

Yes, that is profit and business expense. There's the built in startup cost for a print, labor to get the object from a file into the printer (that may range from a few minutes to a few hours), and then the cost of the print itself. Plus if they factor in demand, they can easily increase their costs and still be running at full efficiency. And then they add the profit margin on top of that.

Any dealings with the free market, I have always followed this simple principle: If it sold, it was too cheap, If it didn't sell, it was too expensive. (Most major industries follow this simple rule, Oil (they raise the prices and people keep buying gas), Pharm (Why should they invest millions in research when they will only net a few hundred thousand since there's only a select few people with a disease), etc etc....).

That also seems like a fairly difficult build (at least for me it would be). I would have to build that with supports to get a right angle in a hollow pipe, then I may not be able to get the supports out. You may want to rethink your design. Reshape the other parts to fit a standard size. Or buy standard size, and print an adapter to fit the odd size and the standard. Or print 2 tapered tubes and use a standard angle joint. There's more than one way to skin a cat. What exactly are you trying to do with this project? We might be able to help.

Shop around though, you may find someone willing to print at a better price. But do a little math first. 50 tubes, at $50 each.... hmmm... carry the 7... that's $2500. You can buy a very good printer for that cost that will fit your needs, and you will now have a printer!

[3DPBuser]

Printing is kind of like hiring a painter: All skill, little materials.

[curious aardvark]

What you could do is stand the pipe on end.
Print it in 2 pieces with a right angle join.

That would print fairly easily.

But to print it on one piece you'd need either a lot of support - or to lay it flat.
If you lay it flat you only have the bottom of the curve in contact with the build plate - now that might work with the right printer and really good adhesion to the build plate. Or you could add a lot of supports.

Any way you look at it - a one piece L-shaped pipe is going to be a pita to print.
A two piece with join - pretty simple.

As has been said - Re-design.