FDM PLA 3D printing - with a model making inclination

[Dave Ward]

Totally useless - but I printed out the vase from Thingiverse by 'Tubby__' it's about 130mm tall, 90 dia.

Took just over an hour - 1 filament thick, printed in one continuous spiral. It's too thin to be of any real use - the grey filament prevents it from being decorative!
Dave

 

[stillp]

Well, you could always paint it Dave!
Pete

 

[Jim R]

That's good Dave.

All very mystifying, but so interesting Dave .

I certainly agree with that.

 

[Dave Ward]

I levelled the Z-axis, then levelled the build plate - taking the advice from Neil about the model data - I actually sliced the same base with a programme called Bambu ( a 3D printer maker ) - I'd read that this was quite good, so I gave it a whirl. I made extra sure that the base of the model was flat on the build datums.

Although thesettimgs for printer & filament were the same, this seemed to print much more smoothly - this is the triangular infill on the base, about an hour into the three hour print.
This is the result

More than happy with that, compared to the previous effort!

Looking at the bottom of the two prints ( new on the right ), I can see what has happened

Thebuild plate didn't need levelling that much, but the printer only obeys what's on the gcode file.- the file yesterday didn't have the datum on the build plate, possibly a mm above it. The printer extruded the filament, and it stuck to the plate, but in a coarse uneven pattern, this then skewed the whole print. The new print on the right shows the sort of contact you need.
What I've learnt from this is the printer can be set up perfectly, but if the gcode file generated from the model is faulty, then the print will not be up to scratch!
If you're wondering about the cost of the material - I'm paying just under £11 for a 1 kg reel of PLA - which is 330m of 1.75mm dia filament, which runs out at 3.3p per metre. The slicer program tells me that the print uses 9.36m. so total cost was 32p. Setup & printer time not considered
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

I printed out another diorama/vignette base from the same source - it wasn't 'till I printed it out that I realised what it was!
Both bases primed in Olive Drab ( first bottle to hand ). New print on the right

................it's a tree stump, with roots........
Both of these could be scaled up/down to suit most scales - difficult thing would be finding a figure in the correct posture. There are a lot of other plain bases, with cobbles, paving etc. , but they didn't seem much of a test to print out.
I've been looking for suitable figures to go with these bases, but so far, not much luck. There are figures, but either they are suited to only resin printing, or are some weird dungeons & dragons/ fantasy/sci-fi things, which I don't fancy at all.
All the prints I've found have been from Thingiverse, and the conditions of use are - for private use only, and not for financial gain, which is fair enough. I have found a few models that you pay for, but - not yet!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

A true model making effort - again from Thingiverse by ' PC_Model_Yard ' a 1/700 model of 'Bouvet' a French 1898 pre-dreadnought c. 175mm long

Under flash light this looks pretty poor, but I'll wait until tomorrow & I'll prime it & give a verdict.
It also has 2 large turrets, two medium turrets, and 8 small turrets, all as separate prints - I don't think I have a hope of printing the gun barrels, but will probably just scratch the barrels onto the turrets. The fore and after bridge may not print very well, but I'll have to wait & see!
Dave

 

[Tim Marlow]

A true model making effort - again from Thingiverse by ' PC_Model_Yard ' a 1/700 model of 'Bouvet' a French 1898 pre-dreadnought c. 175mm long
View attachment 474152
Under flash light this looks pretty poor, but I'll wait until tomorrow & I'll prime it & give a verdict.
It also has 2 large turrets, two medium turrets, and 8 small turrets, all as separate prints - I don't think I have a hope of printing the gun barrels, but will probably just scratch the barrels onto the turrets. The fore and after bridge may not print very well, but I'll have to wait & see!
Dave

Something a bit different Dave. Interesting to see what she looks like under primer…..in the raw like that she looks a bit like an undersea weed covered wreck……

 

[Dave Ward]

Something a bit different Dave. Interesting to see what she looks like under primer…..in the raw like that she looks a bit like an undersea weed covered wreck……

Or without my glasses!
Dave

 

[Jim R]

I am also interested in seeing the ship in primer. Straight from the printer the results do not photograph well, especially with flash.

 

[Dave Ward]

I'm thinking that this model is more suited to resin printing - there's no comment saying which method of printing ( FDM or UV Curing ) it's meant for. I reckon that deciding which method, is just down to experience, trial & error.
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Having said the above, this morning I primed it & doesn't look too bad, however it does have a warp, or curl to the bows - this is a problem caused by trying to print too sharp an angle on the plate, the filament gets dragged back & doesn't stick.
I;m not going to post the picture of the primed model, I'm going to print out another, with a few tweaks to the settings. I don't have enough filament left on the spool, so a new spool of blue filament will make its debut.
I've been out for most of the day, and I think that the tweaked Bouvet will take at least 6 hours to print, so changing filament & printing can wait until tomorrow - I need a good nights sleep, all that fresh air has left me somewhat fatigued!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Second attempt at the Bouvet, tweaking settings & new filament, then primed

That has come out better than I thought - it seems that each individual model should be assessed before slicing, and tweaks applied - I've still got a bit of warping at the stern, but not that noticeable, and I know which setting to alter to prevent that. I'm going to give the printer a bit of a rest, I need to finish the Renault UE, before any more 3D experiments
Dave

 

[Jim R]

Good to take a break when you're on a high note. That looks good and your understanding is getting better all the time.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looks good Dave. Layer lines are far less noticeable that I would have expected.

 

[Dave Ward]

In looking to see which paint schemes the Bouvet carried there seems to a lot of conflicting illustrations. about how high the hull black was carried up - what colour the upperworks were, from ivory to buff. Of course, no colour photos!

Dave

 

[JR]

Really admire the way you have got to grips with this printing , having the" I can " attitude.

 

[Dave Ward]

Really admire the way you have got to grips with this printing , having the" I can " attitude.

John,
well, I wouldn't to waste all that money, would I?
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

OOOh - it had to happen, sooner or later - set up a print - the first layers seems to have stuck OK, so I went and had a little snooze - 2 hours later I return & find a whole mass of blue filament on the build plate & the part cooling duct on the floor. The models must have fallen off shortly after I left it - the extruder kept on extruding & the axes kept on moving, the mass of filament was dragged back and forwards, until it jammed under the cooling duct & pulled it off. Rather annoying - it printed five parts off OK before the failure - maybe the surface picked up some grease?
I've had prints not stick before, but it was generally in the first few minutes & I caught it - but this is the first 1 hour & 37 minutes of creating knitting.
This blue filament does seem a little less forgiving than my original grey stuff. I cleaned the build plate, then re-levelled it, & now it's printing the part out - this is a holder for a micro sd card reader extension, that arrived from China. One end plugs permanently into the mainboard & the other will fit on the top plate, where it is easily accessible - no more crawling around looking for escapees!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Have a stinking head cold & not feeling like doing much at all - but hopefully normal service wil be resumed as soon as possible...............
Dave

 

[adt70hk]

Have a stinking head cold & not feeling like doing much at all - but hopefully normal service wil be resumed as soon as possible...............
Dave

Sorry to hear that Dave....something is doing the rounds.....we all have it in our house and so do several colleagues.