Well, here we are a full 18 days after my first post A Beginner's Adventure in 3D Printing! where I started to get my feet wet in consumer-grade, at home, 3D printing.
Here are the highlights so far, in no particular order:
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SURPRISE!: Believe-it-or-not, and quite unexpectedly, I received an "order" for 100 elevator button housings to replace broken, chipped, and malfunctioning elevator button housings for an approximately four 40 year old Hitachi YP series elevators. I had no idea or remote concept that I would start a little having extra income from this $250 printer; but it turns out these button housings used to cost around $70 when they were sold; but now they are not available anywhere on line. The building needs about 200 button housings total, and asked me if I would print 100 for them at $12.50 each after I designed the housings using Fusion360 (starting to learn more about CAD design) and printed a prototype. The building maintenance team were trilled with "big eyes open wide" when I showed them the first prototype. The short story is that I bought a $250 Ender 3 v2 to make some things around my home and within a few weeks, got an order for $1,250 USD worth of elevator button housings. This came as a total surprise, paid for my 3D printer, and saved the building $5,750 USD in their first 100 pieces order ! Anyway, I was willing to help them for free to learn 3D CAD design, so this was a pleasant "bonus" for a novice 3D printer.
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YOUTUBE: How did I come so far so fast with 3D printers, materials, slicers and CAD and go from zero to a surprise commercial order in less than three weeks? The answer is YT tutorials. There are many great YT videos on all aspects of 3D printing and CAD design; so I'm slowly advancing in CAD design, and in particular Fusion360. I also discovered there are a lot of "bad" YT videos on 3D printing, some totally wrong or just posting "for the sake of posting"; but it does not take long to find the good tutorials and to weed out the bad ones. There is no doubt that 3D printing and CAD design, and "making" DIY in general remains trendy and is still a hot topic.
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PROTOTYPING: It is no surprise that 3D printers (additive manufacturing) do not have the material strength and precision machining tolerances when compared to working with subtractive manufacturing(traditional machine shop tools like CNC mills and lathes). We cannot print in plastic with the same precision as milling from steel or aluminum. This means that, at least for my beginner CAD skill level, that I end up with a cyclical work-flow of adjusting my design in CAD and then printing the prototype, testing it, and then adjusting the design and doing it all over again. I found this true when creating fasteners (threads) and mechanical parts such as the elevator button housings, all of which have mechanical actions. Maybe I will eventually buy a CNC mill and laser cutter. Maybe.
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MATERIALS: So far, I have only printed with PLA and PETG. PLA is by far the most widely used filament and it is great for prototyping. PETG is stronger but stickier to print, requiring higher temperatures. This means I tend to prototype in PLA and if I need additional functional mechanical strength or better temperature or chemical resistance, the final print will be with PETG. However, that is just the beginning, and I am going to buy some more expensive, stronger filament like nylon and nylon with carbon fiber added when I need even more mechanical strength.
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FUTURISM: Many futurists has predicted that 3D printers will become as common in the home and office as microwave ovens are now. They predict that consumers will pull down the digital files from the net and print the part and spare parts they need. After 18 days of non-stop 3D printing, I tend to agree with the futurists. Why spend time driving to the hardware store or begging the manufacture to provide an overpriced spare part for some device when we can just print it ourselves. So far, only as a complete beginner, designed (and printed) numerous replacement fixtures for our bathrooms, the table vise for my boom microphone, an LED flashlight holder for my 3D printer, a trigger holder for my Makita inflator, and of course, an Hitachi elevator button housing. I have these models (except for the Hitachi elevator buttton project) at Thingaverse. Keep in mind, I'm just a novice. Think about what you can do and who you can help with your 3D printer!
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SUMMARY: I am focused on learning Fusion360, step-by-step and having a lot of fun. Who would have thought that buying a $250 USD 3D printer would be so much fun and, by accident, profitable? Here is my current step-up:
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Printer: Creality Ender 3 v2 (around $200 to $250 USD)
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Slicer: Ultimaker Cura (free for home use)
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CAD: Fusion360 (free for hobbyists )
The software above is truly "out of this world" for "free home use" and the Ender is simply a high value, amazing entry level 3D FDM printer. I need a shop with 5 3D printers, since one printer is not enough because it takes so long to print.
That's all for now.
If anyone has any interest or experience in 3D printing, please share your thought and experiences with our community.
