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Anyone have any experience with 3D printing?


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I really don't know shit about it and I'm looking to get some parts done.   I need the material to be firm yet have some give like a firm or dense foam.   Is this even possible or must the material be hard plastic?

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10 minutes ago, Highmark said:

I really don't know shit about it and I'm looking to get some parts done.   I need the material to be firm yet have some give like a firm or dense foam.   Is this even possible or must the material be hard plastic?

They can do many different materials these days. The softer stuff we us that's more like a rubber or dense foam and works well for a quick prototype part but it dries out eventually and cracks. They can do dual shot type parts with varying materials also. 

We typically use DuraFoam for soft and Accura Extreme for rigid. I'm sure there's many other options depending on the 3D Printer shops capabilities. These are just the ones I have experience with.

Edited by Skidooski
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13 minutes ago, Highmark said:

I really don't know shit about it and I'm looking to get some parts done.   I need the material to be firm yet have some give like a firm or dense foam.   Is this even possible or must the material be hard plastic?

Funny thing is my 14 year old son does 3d printing. He doesnt have one I think he uses one at school. I dont know shit about it either. 

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9 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

They can do many different materials these days. The softer stuff we us that's more like a rubber or dense foam and works well for a quick prototype part but it dries out eventually and cracks. They can do dual shot type parts with varying materials also. 

We typically use DuraFoam for soft and Accura Extreme for rigid. I'm sure there's many other options depending on the 3D Printer shops capabilities. These are just the ones I have experience with.

Getting some samples done out of PETG.   I can't believe how reasonable its been.  Shop said it takes 2 hours to produce one of these parts and is charging $15.00 for 4 of them.   $1.88 per machine hour not including any materials or labor.   WTF kind of margin is that?  Crazy.  

Edited by Highmark
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4 minutes ago, Highmark said:

Getting some samples done out of PETG.   I can't believe how reasonable its been.  Shop said it takes 2 hours to produce one of these parts and is charging $15.00 for 4 of them.   $1.88 per machine hour not including any labor.   WTF kind of margin is that?  Crazy.  

That’s is crazy

Why even turn the machine on for that kind of money?

:lmao:

 

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Keep in mind how your printed components will be used.  Printing is done in layers.  There is a considerable variation in strength.  Think of the component like a piece of wood and going with the grain vs. cross grain.

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33 minutes ago, Highmark said:

Getting some samples done out of PETG.   I can't believe how reasonable its been.  Shop said it takes 2 hours to produce one of these parts and is charging $15.00 for 4 of them.   $1.88 per machine hour not including any materials or labor.   WTF kind of margin is that?  Crazy.  

Quick, don't tell him he's losing money.  Likely a Liberal.

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17 minutes ago, favoritos said:

Keep in mind how your printed components will be used.  Printing is done in layers.  There is a considerable variation in strength.  Think of the component like a piece of wood and going with the grain vs. cross grain.

different cross sections. The dense ones are heavier making them more expensive. Some of the parts are completely useless.

2 kids here built their own printers and use them in their dorms

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2 hours ago, Highmark said:

Getting some samples done out of PETG.   I can't believe how reasonable its been.  Shop said it takes 2 hours to produce one of these parts and is charging $15.00 for 4 of them.   WTF kind of margin is that?  Crazy.  

That's dirt cheap and quick as well. We ran most in house on a small FDM machine for quick test pieces, had some made at GM that are very good quality but also had some outsourced to a rapid prototype shop that was charging thousands per piece.

Edited by Skidooski
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9 hours ago, Highmark said:

I really don't know shit about it and I'm looking to get some parts done.   I need the material to be firm yet have some give like a firm or dense foam.   Is this even possible or must the material be hard plastic?

Get ahold of Redeye, which is a company owned by Stratasys to do custom printing.  Maybe something done on a Objet Polyjet will be what you are looking for. 

How big is the part?

https://www.stratasysdirect.com/

Edited by racinfarmer
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9 hours ago, Highmark said:

Getting some samples done out of PETG.   I can't believe how reasonable its been.  Shop said it takes 2 hours to produce one of these parts and is charging $15.00 for 4 of them.   $1.88 per machine hour not including any materials or labor.   WTF kind of margin is that?  Crazy.  

Quality is where the money comes in to play with 3d printing.   A FDM machine printing PLA is cheap to run but the prints are not that great and fairly weak in nature. SLA is higher quality of a print and I would expect to pay quite a bit more for that level of print.

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