So, the 3d printed v1.03 has arrived. Printed with Brassfill (80% brass & 20% PLA) at 100 microns. Unfortunately, the 100 micron gives it a not so nice quality on the print leaving it not air-tight & thus defeating the purpose. I’ve plugged to airpumps into it to test if it passes the air, which it does, albeit weakly. I am considering sealing the exterior with something to provide air-tightness & see if that makes a difference to the final output pressure. I feel like it is leaking a lot of the air through minute gaps.
Other than that, I’m quite satisfied with the print, just it isn’t functional without dodgying it up. So I’ve ordered another print, from the original printer that used Resin/DLP printer for my first attempt. I am fairly certain that this time around my design is sturdy enough to cater for the strength/weakpoints (as I filleted everything & increased the attachment area for the input nozzles). So, we’ll see how that goes when I get it printed.
For the meantime, I will brush the exterior of this with hot beeswax (as that will air-tight it & I have heaps laying around). Then I’ll give it some tests to see functionality with my 2x weak aquarium air-pumps.
@Donna_Gray So far, no joy on this piece. Next print will be with resin & much higher quality (25 micron slices instead of 100, so 4 times the resolution). Hopefully will get that by next week (4 business days after he accepts the print before I can pickup). I’ll keep you informed as to the success/failure of this part.
@donkjr Don’t have any lacquer or polyurethane laying around, so I was just planning to beeswax it to seal it for this one. Although, I do have some lacquer/sealer for my leatherwork which may do the trick. I’ll give that a go & see what happens.
@Ariel_Yahni_UniKpty I am unsure the resin he was using, but I will check that later. The part done with resin did break, but I didn’t fillet joins/etc so it was weak on those areas (3mm outlet pipes with 1mm walls & 6mm inlet pipe with 1 maybe 2mm walls, can’t remember on that one). Both the inlet pipe & outlet pipes joins were super weak, but the rest of the part (2mm walls) was actually quite strong.
@I_Laser Yeah I just had to sand the interior hole. It was 26mm in design to fit the lens mount section, but was just a tad too tight. Might be that 26mm is not precise measurement as I don’t have vernier calipers to get it spot on, I just eyeballed it with a ruler haha. Could also be the print distortions that made it too tight. Either way, after sanding/smoothing the interior it fits the lens mount.
@Ariel_Yahni_UniKpty It just says “Castable Resin” or “Resin” in his material choices. I’ve increased the thickness on most areas of joins in the design to cater for the weakness.
Anyone have a 3D printer that would like to do test prints? It is getting costly for me to keep paying $30 per print. If so, I’m happy to provide the STLs.
I actually chopped this one open with a knife to see what is going on inside it. I wanted to see if the air channels were blocked during the print. Surprisingly they were not, so the issue with the air coming out super weak was due to gaps between the layers when printed (which I couldn’t see but could vaguely feel the air exiting them). So this one is destroyed. Getting it printed again by the guy who does it in Resin.
@I_Laser No, they were photos from the guy who printed it. Obviously not as close up as I took them.
@funinthefalls Thanks for that Anthony, but I’m trying to create one that has a lower profile overall & minimises the chance of hitting the air-assist with the beam. How much does that one extend below the lens itself? This version I am trying to get a test of extends only 10mm below the lens. Also, the internal beam hole is 6mm diameter.
@HP_Persson Yeah, go for it HP. I’m happy for anyone to use the design if it works for them. If anyone prints it & gets it working, keep us all updated on the progress.
One thing I noticed (when testing this BrassFill one yesterday) was that once you put your lens mount in, you can’t get it out. Well, not easily. In order to get it out I had to use pliers (with some cloth in between the teeth to protect the lens mount) & pull it out that way.
Also, I’d suggest printing with as small a layer slices as possible. 100 microns just didn’t seem to do the job to satisfaction.
