A very big 3D printer

My friends at Metrix Create: Space have just completed the first major step in yet another very cool project.  They have converted an old CNC router table into a FDM 3D printer.
They are using a industrial shredder to convert old milk jugs into HDPE chips.  They are then fed into a hopper and a drill and auger bit push them into a custom extruder heater body.

While most RepRap sized printers use a 0.5mm nozzle this printer is using a 6mm nozzle.  This size is needed to have reasonable print speeds.  They initially plan to print a boat (for a milk carton derby?) and are looking for feedback on what they should print next.

I think 3D scans of people printed life size could be very cool.  Maybe this would be an interesting thing to print...

A new species is born!

We would like to share something we made:

Patrick Hannan, Jared Knutzen, Nicholas C Lewis, Joy Markham 

AdderFab
ME495 - University of Washington
March 9, 2011
Open3DP 

Stay tuned for more details...

More Hollow Prints

After last week I am, at least temporarily, hooked on hollow prints.  So I downloaded MakeHuman and did some experiments with making my own human forms.  I then printed a male and a female.

After examining them I determined it would work better if I printed them upside-down.  So I re-trimmed the files and printed them again with very nice results (the above pictures are of the upside-down prints).  I have uploaded these to Thingiverse (male and female) and hope others are inspired to create more human forms to print.

I also printed a large hollow version of a 3D scan of my face.

Be sure to check out more pictures on Flicker.

Leaking Heaters...

My current heater was working very well extruding PLA at 230C, which seems a little high but the parts are coming out nicely.  It had started leaking like many of the others I have seen with PTFE insulators.

Then it finally plugged up...  I tried cleaning it out without disassembling it, but this did not work.
I then disassembled the hotend to find the plug and remove it.  During this I discovered that the wood retainer I had been using was starting to char away.

So I began work on a new design that I had been thinking about for a while.  This is based on the BfB hotend that many people like but can be built with only a drill press, hacksaw, rotary tool (Dremel), and belt sander (I plan to post directions soon).

I also found an excellent source for bootlace ferrules.

You can buy these at craft stores in the jewelery section.  They are designed for crimping necklace cords and this bag cost $2.99.

So far I have done hand push tests and can easily push filament at 165°C.

Now I have to change out my x carriage for  larger one (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3594, which I already printed before my failure).

Willow's First Complete Mendel Offspring!

Willow has recently completed it's first complete set of Mendel parts!  It looks to have taken about 30 hrs to print (plus my load/unload time) and consumed just under 2 lb of UltiMachine Natural PLA.

They are on eBay starting with a $49.99 opening bid.  I have cleaned them up some but have not reamed the holes.  They come with a certificate of lineage (for anyone tracking that) suitable for framing.  Check out the eBay listing for more information.