I'm Thinking About Getting Into 3D Printing, What's Should I Know ???

I will just get this out of way now. These are guys that live 3D printing every day. I have found them to have very nice presentations.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8Rde3uRL1ohROUVg46h1A
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgBDBrwsikmtoLqtpc59Bw
https://www.youtube.com/c/3DPrinterGuides/videos
https://www.youtube.com/c/AlexKenis/videos [This guy can be funny sometimes]
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisRiley/videos

I am going to just jump right in without trying to cover the basics in a logical order. I see this thread not as a complete analysis of 3D printing, that’s going to take you from the beginning to end. But just the things I am printing, problems I encounter and the process to get from idea to finish print. More of a journal.

I have already done a couple of projects, which you can find in the link below.
Wanted - Enclosed Car Trailer

The first print for this thread is going to help me with the installation of a transmission cooler in my tow vehicle the Lincoln Navigator. The frame is not flat across the top, nor is it perpendicular to the engine’s radiator. Therefore, I need to print a wedge that has an angle of 20.5°. But first a photo to give you an overall view of the project and the problem I need to solve. Nothing very complicated to model.




To print something, you first have to create your part in a 3D CAD software. I’m using FreeCAD since I believe it’s my best bet to learn a software that WILL ALWAYS BE FREE! It’s also a Parametric Modeler which I like.

FreeCAD: Your own 3D parametric modeler
Parametric vs. Direct Modeling | PTC

Once you have a 3D model, then you will have to export the file to STL or something similar. It is this file that you will open in the SLICER SOFTWARE (SS). Once I had it open in CURA (My SS), then I can slice the object and send it to my printer.

Ultimaker Cura: Powerful, easy-to-use 3D printing software


For the majority of parts printed there is Post Processing (PP). Could be cosmetic or for dimensional needs. Typically holes need to be opened up with the correct size drill bit. This time I got one end too long, so instead of printing another wedge, I just cut off one end with a hacksaw.




Problem solved although the angle should have been more like 19°, hard to measure an angle on a rounded surface. Yes, the aluminum angle is over kill (2" x 3" x 3/16"), but it’s what I already had. Posting Processing (PP) will be used even more in the 2nd part printed for the trans cooler.



There are details that are not included above, but if you keep reading I will cover most of them eventually. Again I’m not trying to publish an article that is logical and steps thru the processing in order, that would take too much effort. But if this is something that you really want to try, then over time I will cover most of those details. Also you can do some of your own research using the links at the beginning of this post.

Be sure to share any experiences you have !

Hope you enjoyed this post in what I hope to be many over time!
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Rick, you could print a little wedge to go under the bolt head.

 

Yes, I could of course do that. That is one of those things that I didn't figure out when thinking
about the angles. Similar to the offset of the bolt hole and the reason that I trimmed one end of
the wedge.

I did have to drill and tap the hole for that bolt, which is done by eye and one of those things
that is not GM or Ford quality, but part of my journal of things that didn't turn out perfect. I'm
trying not to spare my ego, but tell it like it is.

You know ....... trials & tribulations of using 3D printing !!!

 

Before I retired, the company I was working for, purchased a 3D printer. I was the main operator. I designed many of the parts we made using Solidworks. At that time the machine cost about $2,000. The material used to make the parts was, if I remember, was PLA. It looked like weed eater string. The end results were a part that you could touch and feel to see if you liked the design and maybe the fit. They didn’t have much strength and could not be used for much else.
I’m sure prices and quality have come down quite a bit since that time. It’s like most things. Once they’ve been out for a while prices drop kind of like the first VCR I bought when they first were on the market. I payed about $800 for my first one. Toward the end of their run you could buy one for around $29.
Go figure.

 

On this part I had to do some Post Processing(PP), which is typical in 3D printing. PP can
include many things, drilling, sanding, smoothing w/ acetone, etc. This was a new filament
for me and I've had little experience with anything other than plan PLA. This new filament
should be considerably stronger and temperature resistant. It got pretty rough trying to print
this bracket with it's chamfered edges as you can see in the photo. With every filament there
is a suggested Bed Temp and Extruder Temp, but these are only starting places. With some
testing, a much nicer print should be possible. I did some sanding and also used some
acetone to smooth the surface. Perfection was not required, but strength and temp was,
since this will be behind the grill. This should be a good test.



You will have to consider how you position the part on the bed to be printed, this is an
important consideration. There is no way this part could be printed in the up right position
(see graphic above). You cannot print something that is just hanging out in space without
something called supports that connect to the print bed. Since I could print the part on it's
side, then supports are not needed and would just be more plastic and time to print.



This video shows using the new filament Apollo X by FormFutura to print an automotive air box.
ApolloX



Supporting Info Below:





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I pre-filled the cooler since I could connect the lines before I put the cooler on it's side where
it would be mounted. While trying to manipulate the cooler onto it's mounting studs I put too
much stress on the thermostat mount and it broke. Some plastics can be glued or repaired in my
case with acetone. I'm pretty sure I used too much acetone and I also applied too much heat
with my halogen lamps. When I tested my repair for strength it broke again in another place.

Note: Typically plastic parts are not printed as a solid piece, but with what's called infill. You
can set the density of the infill to anything you like. You can control how thick the walls are
and therefore how much of the part will be printed with infill.




I believe my problem with this new to me plastic was the inter-layer adhesion. Every printer
and plastic likes a different bed temp and extruder temp. Some plastics also require a heated
enclosure. Many times it takes some testing to get it right.

I didn't feel I had the time, so I went back to something I had experience with. The Lobsta Run
in Portland Maine is getting close. But standard PLA just cannot stand up to the temps required
in this application. But as long as it doesn't actually break, it will still provide the support I
wanted for the thermostat.

 

I have the 3rd member out of my Ford 9" rear end for one of my winter projects to change fluid, but one thing leads to another thing and to another thing. So I finally noticed after all these years that my rear brake drums don't match exactly, although they do function without any problems. It's basically their shape are slightly different and I don't like that. I found on RockAuto some very nice looking drums from Dynamic Friction that look like they would be balanced better than what I have now. One of my drums does not have a balancing weight, hard to believe it's that perfect.

Dynamicfriction.com - America's Preferred Automotive Brakes Manufactuer - Products

New drums means I have a problem since my Centerline wheels have a 5 inch bolt circle and the new drums for a Ford 9 inch will come with a 4-1/2 inch BC. Therefore I have to drill my new brake drums for a 5 inch BC, but all I have is a bench top drill press. Not something you can eyeball and get it close enough.

So I'm going to use my 3D printer to make some fixtures so I can transfer the 5 inch BC holes from the old drums to the new drums.

Below is an overall view of how I'm going to approach this project.


The brake drums are centered off the center of the axle and NOT the studs, so first I came up with fixture to align the centers.


Now I need a fixture to align the hole for the stud and a way to hold the center punch.


Now I need to make sure the rest of the holes are indexed at 1/5 of 360°. So I drilled the first hole with an 1/8 inch drill and then inserted a indexing fixture, drill the next hole and repeat. Figured two indexing fixtures was good enough. So I center punched the remaining holes and drilled to 37/64 (0.578) inch for 1/2 inch studs.

The factory holes are still bigger, the fixture I made are 0.618 inches ! Why ??? Comments ???
The only reason I can see is so that you can rotate the drum to help remove it.

 

I forgot who sent me the patterns for that change over, on my PC with no internet connection. Made mine out of 1 inch thick aluminum rectangle blocks. Went from one hole to another and drilled in between.

May have been George Barnes.

 

I’ve been without my printer for quite some time now. The two fans on the printer head quit. One cools the extruder and one cools the new part. My first guess was the main board (MB) had failed on these two circuits. To save some money I ordered a new MB without the bootloader. Without a bootloader, what you have is a piece of Dum copper, solder and plastic, it doesn’t know how to boot up. I had hopes of adding the bootloader with the adapter I bought, but that didn’t work. So I bought a different adapter to plug into the MB and add the bootloader, that didn’t work either. It appears I’m in over my head here, I gave up!





I went back to the manufacture AnyCubic and bought a new MB WITH a bootloader. Problem was it took about 45-50 days to get here. Of course, other things are going on, so nothings happens immediately upon arrival.

What is a bootloader and how does it work?

Bootloaders ensure that all relevant operating system data is loaded into the main memory when a device is started. During the boot process, the firmware transmits the required information.

Guess what ……. That didn’t fix the problem either after all that time, well dang it!



Then I started checking continuity thru the cables that supply the 24v to both fans. There are 5 connectors between the MB and the fans. I found 2 out 16 conductors in the cable that runs from the control box to the extruder. Now do I really want to build this cable myself …. I will need crimpers, connector housing, connectors, wire, I can’t buy the cable from AnyCubic, but I found two 3rd party suppliers for about $40-$50. The eBay person accepted an offer of $35 on a $40 price, but he still had shipping charges and taxes. Total cost was $49.00. But the wires seem to be of a higher quality, more flexible. The repetitive motion of a 3D printer is hard on cables.





After replacing the cable, I still could not get the Part cooling fan to run manually using a program called “Pronterface” and sending Gcode commands. After several more hours of research someone mentioned that it doesn’t run until the extruder temperature is above 65°C. On my system it needed to be 100°C. Sure wish AnyCubic would put this kind of info in their manual!!!

Printrun: Pure Python 3d printing host software

In the process of trying to replace fans that did not come with the correct size JST connector and me removing connectors from boards multiple times for testing. I needed to have all the connectors on hand so I didn’t have to wait every time I needed to make a change or repair something in the future, so I had to learn about all the different JST connectors and which ones I needed.

Common JST Connector Types – Matt's Tech Pages

I’ve ordered the follow now …..

www.amazon.com/dp/B07FP2FCYC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
www.amazon.com/dp/B08SC3F658?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
www.amazon.com/dp/B01DUC1S14?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZWBHJC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
www.amazon.com/dp/B01DUC1O68?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Trying to predict where this thread was going to go was like trying to predict my career path in life! I named it “I'm Thinking About Getting Into 3D Printing, What's Should I Know ???”, but now I can see that it should have been more general like “I'm Getting Into 3D Printing, Here Is My Journal?

Well it’s time to put the printer to the side and get back on the TBucket winter projects.
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Just watched this video, he explains the fans, nozzle and extruder that are shown in my pics. The first 5min:30sec in the video does a way better job of explaining their purpose.



This is part 4, so if you are just getting started with 3D printing then go back and start at part 1. In fact, in my very first post he is my very first link! He produces excellent video! Here is that very first link again, and you will find part 1 of 5 at the top of his page.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8Rde3uRL1ohROUVg46h1A
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Don’t feel too bad. I spent years crawling around in hospital and doctor office x-ray and dark rooms troubleshooting various machines. Missing or incorrect data was not uncommon. It’s maddening when you are expected to have answers but the “support” just evades you. I’ve went as far as having conversations with the actual design engineers while being on site, describing real world issues, in an attempt to remedy issues, instead of just throwing parts at it and throwing my hands up... as previous techs did. My reward? Pissed off administrators! Some, few, actually appreciated the effort to assure a proper repair, but most were annoyed about the down time. No win!

 

Just glad to have it working again! Thanks for the comment.