Anyone used online 3D printing services

[Temp]

PS: Right now I'm having issues with what I think is under extrusion. See the inside of the lid that's not painted. I'm getting very visible print lines. Previously it's not been anything like as obvious. 

Edited April 3, 2020 by Temp

[Onoff]

Well, the Makita to Rolson 18V Adapter 3D printed project has exceeded expectations! 

 

Now there is we think an option to put female 1/4" spade connectors straight onto the spring connectors up inside these existing old tools to save taking them apart but that would be too easy! Instead I went for disassembly, clean and soldering new wires straight onto the motor and switch. Bit of a pita taking the grinder apart of course as to take the case apart you have to take the head off to get to 2 of the screws.

 

 

Gave everything around the motor a blast of contact cleaner whilst I was in there:

 

 

Some old HO7RNF gave up some wire for the new leads:

 

 

All soldered on:

 

 

Blue crimps a nice tight fit onto the fabricated battery connectors:

 

 

First switch on video, SUCCESS!

 

 

I'm using it now on the mower deck. It's got some grunt, not far off the corded one. 3Ah clone batteries. I'm being over cautious at the mo, just swapping them when I feel they might be slacking a bit:

 

 

Circular saw is next up (best I sort the mower first or risk SWMBO's wrath)! 

 

[Onoff]

Whoops...

 

The Rolson grinder running on the Makita  18V Li-ion clone battery started to smoke. It still runs but much slower. ?

 

The Makita Li-ion clone battery that was on the grinder as the time seems to run the Makita impact driver and the drill OK, but put it on the charger and after a few seconds you get a flashing green LED which means the battery is fooked I believe? Only hope is when it runs down on the proper Makita tool it might take a charge again. 

 

Any ideas why this is happening?

 

Cheers

[dpmiller]

sounds like shorted turns on the rotor.  How much contact cleaner did you douse it in? you might have filled the gaps in the comm with conductive dust...

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, dpmiller said:

sounds like shorted turns on the rotor.  How much contact cleaner did you douse it in? you might have filled the gaps in the comm with conductive dust...

 

Not a lot, honest!

[Onoff]

It's now a completely dead grinder, it is no more, it has ceased to be.

Post mortem tomorrow.

 

Battery is charging now though.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Onoff

[Onoff]

The bare Einhell chainsaw turned up: 

 

 

Found a Makita battery to Einhell / Ozito adapter on Yeggi. Done a quick and dirty print in PLA to check the fit. A bit too loose for my liking.

 

 

As the video below shows. The guy on the Yeggi link says it's not tight tba. Doing another print and just upping it by a couple of percent on the off chance that might make things tighter.

 

 

Need to get some 1mm copper sheet off my brother to make the connecting plates.

[Onoff]

@Temp, PLA print problems!

 

This prints this way up. Only 25% infill, doesn't look too bad...this side.

 

 

But turn it over and the underside of the V shape release clip, that had supports (snapped off) look dog rough. Any suggestions? Cheers.

 

 

 

[Temp]

Unfortunately it's always pretty rough where supports have to be used. There are some solutions but its not always possible to use them. 

 

Sometimes you can...

 

Rotate an object and print it at an unusual angle so that overhangs are nearer to the vertical so either it doesn't need supports or the supports are in a less important place.

 

Split the object in two horizontally in CAD creating a flat face, print both parts side by side with the split face down out and glue back together. (The split face doesn't actually have to be flat because any rough parts caused by supports will end up hidden inside the part when it's glued back together).

 

Frequently I modify a design in CAD to avoid needing supports. So called "design for 3d printing". For example splitting a part to create a joint. Easy in F360 to create matching pegs and holes or dovetails from the same sketch. 

 

Not quite sure what to recommend for your part. I'm guessing that central bit needs to flex as it's a spring clip of some sort?

 

[Onoff]

The Makita battery to Einhell/Ozito continuation:

 

Einhell it seems bought Ozito. From that came the Power X Change system. Seems the same batteries fit both makes.

 

Off of Thingiverse we downloaded a ready made adapter by a chap named Seibar.

 

 

That itself was his take on a model developed by a chap, sportsedan. Seibar's was a little loose for my liking so we increased widths/thicknesses here and there and made it a bit tighter.

 

The visible face on his, you would see, where the Makita battery clips on looked dog rough imo:

 

 

So our 1st print was done with the layer orientation at 90deg to Seibars:

 

 

 

It fits nice and tight, Face you see not too bad:

 

 

But.....it was printed with this end sitting on the bed, where the supports came off, it's horrible:

 

 

The clip broke as well. Pretty sure the layer orientation didn't help:

 

 

Printing another with the end squared off and more "meat" on the clip:

 

 

0.2mm layers, black Steadytech PLA.

 

Watch this space about 8pm tonight!

Edited April 20, 2020 by Onoff

[Onoff]

Pretty happy with that I think. Second one just started printing.

 

 

 

 

 

The battery "terminals" for this are fab'd from 1mm copper sheet, soldered together. Some deft tin snipping to be done.

 

 

[Onoff]

Got up at 4, my lad still hadn't gone to bed! ? He had though printed the second battery adapter:

 

 

 

A little rough at the very apex but there's a bit of a uniform pattern in the "weave":

 

 

Copper sections next to make and solder. Then fully assemble the chainsaw and test with Makita Li-ion batteries. Hoping PLA stands the test of time and I'm not left wishing I'd printed them in ABS!

Edited April 21, 2020 by Onoff

[Temp]

After a lot of agro with my printer (blown fuses, failed bearings *2, crap prints) I've just finished printing a batch of visor headbands for the NHS. Part of this project..

https://national3dprintingsociety.co.uk/medical-am-covid-19/

 

 

[Onoff]

14 minutes ago, Temp said:

After a lot of agro with my printer (blown fuses, failed bearings *2, crap prints) I've just finished printing a batch of visor headbands for the NHS. Part of this project..

https://national3dprintingsociety.co.uk/medical-am-covid-19/

 

 

 

Wouldn't mind printing some. So many designs though it's knowing where to start. 

 

What material are you printing in?

 

Can you print just the bands or do you need to supply the visor part too?

[Jeremy Harris]

How are these being disinfected? 

 

I only ask, because I've read a fair few articles recently about the inherently porous nature of 3D prints, because the layer adhesion is never 100% perfect, means that it's very difficult to guarantee that pre-use disinfection with liquid disinfectants (which is essential before they can be safely used) may not be effective.  Part of the spec from the NHS is that the stuff arrives in a sealed bag and is guaranteed to be free from contamination, so there's no risk that someone who's asymptomatic but shedding the virus whilst making these can accidentally transmit infection via these parts.

[Temp]

5 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

Wouldn't mind printing some. So many designs though it's knowing where to start. 

 

What material are you printing in?

 

Can you print just the bands or do you need to supply the visor part too?

 

The team behind that project have been working to get a design approved by the NHS. The stl files are on their site and were updated to version 7 today. The ones I've been printing were the previous version which I think are only accepted by care homes. They have been designed to be stackable eg you can print a stack of 4,8,16 etc in one go then split them.

 

They have to be printed in PLA or PETG. Other materials might be acceptable but they haven't been tested yet.

 

You just print bands. They have people making the clear part and doing assembly. The clear part is just a ring binder cover with 4 punched holes.

[Temp]

4 hours ago, Jeremy Harris said:

How are these being disinfected? 

 

I only ask, because I've read a fair few articles recently about the inherently porous nature of 3D prints, because the layer adhesion is never 100% perfect, means that it's very difficult to guarantee that pre-use disinfection with liquid disinfectants (which is essential before they can be safely used) may not be effective.  Part of the spec from the NHS is that the stuff arrives in a sealed bag and is guaranteed to be free from contamination, so there's no risk that someone who's asymptomatic but shedding the virus whilst making these can accidentally transmit infection via these parts.

 

The project team have a company sterilising printed bands. Thats the reason they say you should not send them to hospitals yourself. My guess is they either irradiate them or soak in bleach. 

 

 

[Onoff]

4 hours ago, Temp said:

 

The team behind that project have been working to get a design approved by the NHS. The stl files are on their site and were updated to version 7 today. The ones I've been printing were the previous version which I think are only accepted by care homes. They have been designed to be stackable eg you can print a stack of 4,8,16 etc in one go then split them.

 

They have to be printed in PLA or PETG. Other materials might be acceptable but they haven't been tested yet.

 

You just print bands. They have people making the clear part and doing assembly. The clear part is just a ring binder cover with 4 punched holes.

 

Thanks. Material stock would be my issue immediately. How many grams per band / bands per kilo and can it be any colour?

 

I wanted 1kg of black Steadytech PLA the other day. Had to settle for x3 300g. 

[Jeremy Harris]

5 hours ago, Temp said:

 

The project team have a company sterilising printed bands. Thats the reason they say you should not send them to hospitals yourself. My guess is they either irradiate them or soak in bleach. 

 

 

 

That makes sense.  Our volunteer team ran into similar issues with infection control, but I have to say the NHS have put in place a pretty good system for informing and helping people to comply. 

 

The technique for disinfection that has been reported as being the most effective on pretty much any material is to heat to 65°C in a dry oven.  Most plastics can tolerate this, and there's a study that's looked at the effectiveness of this method and found it comes out ahead of other methods, particularly for potentially porous materials (like FDM prints), where liquid disinfectants may not penetrate all the pores.  The dry heat technique also works well for disinfecting single use PPE, if it runs short.  It's the only practical technique for disinfecting N95 type masks, as they are made with a high surface charge on the fibres, to enable them to trap fine particles, and wet disinfection destroys this, apparently.

[Onoff]

Cutting the copper battery terminals for the adapter was fiddly. The rectangular ones are good. The L shape ones need a little fettling with the needle files:

 

 

This is the Makita battery side. The leg of the L gets bent over and soldered to the face of the rectangular bit sticking up. That engages with the Makita battery.

 

 

The other side that engages with the Einhell tool. I'm pointing to the other leg of the copper L. I have to "kink" this leg to make contact with the Einhell tool;s battery connector "blades".

 

 

The soldering might be fun. I don't want to burn the PLA when I do it. Might print off a sacrificial "former" to hold the pieces for soldering.

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Onoff

[Onoff]

The 1m copper L gets put in and bent over. Found it easiest to do with a bfo screwdriver with the end ground flat. one leg is 20mm that gets bent and soldered, the other leg 21mm. You MUST get them the right way around!

 

 

 

 

Ready to solder. Just realised I'll have to do this all in situ and risk melting the PLA behind:

 

 

The "springy" bits that engage with the blades on the Einhell tool were next. Took a stab at bending them over a small drill bit then levering the copper with the same bfo screwdriver:

 

 

Which is how I unfortunately managed to break the clip that locks the adapter to the Einhell tool (again)! Definitely because of the layer orientation I'm sure. Nothing to do with my heavy handedness.....Going to super glue it and squirt a shot of CT1 down behind.

 

 

 

[Onoff]

All soldered up and tested. The jury's out. Need to try with good batteries. I'll assemble the chainsaw with the blade etc tomorrow and try it:

 

Short video:

 

 

 

[Onoff]

?????

 

The Einkita / Makhell hybrid chainsaw only WORKS! It's alright too. 

 

No proper oil so I've put 20w50 (for the Capris) in.

 

Video tomorrow / the weekend.

[PeterW]

Just now, Onoff said:

No proper oil so I've put 20w50 (for the Capris) in.

Please don’t do that. It’s not expensive and go buy some biodegradable chain oil instead of spreading crap into the environment. 
 

And please wear proper PPE for the saw - you can’t outrun the chain when it snaps, and it won’t be pretty if it does. 

[Onoff]

11 hours ago, PeterW said:

Please don’t do that. It’s not expensive and go buy some biodegradable chain oil instead of spreading crap into the environment. 
 

And please wear proper PPE for the saw - you can’t outrun the chain when it snaps, and it won’t be pretty if it does. 

 

?I'll drain it off and get some biodegradable stuff. Have to be mail order I assume at the moment unless either of the garden machinery places is open. Hardly essential tbh, it's enough knowing it all works!

 

As for PPE what's the requirements? It's really quiet compared to a petrol job so are ear defenders required? Saying that I imagine they could protect your ears against a chain breaking and whipping up! I'd never even considered that!