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FoxShot

3D Printers and Printing

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So, I've been thinking about 3D printers for a little while now. Should i get one???

I have several Ideas of parts I'd like to make, either in a different stronger material, or some custom bits for my Bruiser and race cars. However, this is a subject that is completely new to me and can see there being many other possibilities of things I could make. particularly for my 1:1 cars.

I have a few questions:

Any particular makes to look out for/avoid.

What type(s) of filament should I be looking for when it comes to making RC parts?

What are the material costs like, and the running costs?

How easy is it to scan an item you want to replicate? How easy is the software to use? (again does this come down to make?)

What size should i be looking at?

Am I looking at this subject thinking it will be easy, and it's not?

Anything else I should consider?

 

Manyh thanks in advance for your input and feedback :)

 

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No consumer 3D printer makes parts that are strong enough for loaded use in racing (the parts are all weaker than the equivalent injection moulded or machined parts you would be trying to replace).

Good fun for unloaded or decorative parts, or for a car that is not run hard. Also a good way of learning CAD software and seeing the outcomes.

The default filament these days is Tough PLA, but there are variety of others available for different purposes.

Even the best printed output has a finish that is not smooth enough for a visible "scale" part, you either need to accept there will be stripes in it, or spend extra time sanding, filling and painting before use. Same goes for holes/threads, you have to draw them oversized to overcome the margin of error (the process is simply bad at printing small holes) they will need to be drilled/tapped for accuracy.

Couldn't comment on the range of printers available today as I'm not in the market for another. I have a DaVinci Jr 1.0 that only prints in PLA, it hasn't been a restriction for what I want to do but getting a printer that can handle a wider range of filaments is worth considering (costs more though).

DaVinci printers seems to have a bad reputation among enthusiasts but to be honest I haven't had any problems with it. It's fully enclosed so much easier to deal with in a normal house/workshop.

Filament doesn't work out expensive. A reel last me ages. But then again, I'm not an enthusiast and I rarely use it.

3D printing was a bit of a fad a few years ago when people thought it was going to change the world. It won't. For a hobbyist, it's just another one of the many toys available to fill our time!

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This is very broad topic that probably cannot be summed up in a single post. I'll try to cover some basics and direct you for further research.

First, I'd recommend looking up Tom3D and CNC Kitchen for various material, printers and printing techniques tips. Of course, there are many other sources of information, these are just first that come to mind. 

First thing you should know about 3D printing is, that it cannot achieve same strength as injection moulded parts, with exception of industrial SLS printers. Especially FDM technology (which is probably one you'll end up with if you want functional parts) is prone to delamination of print layers. You can reduce this issue with right print settings and certain materials, but it never disappear. This needs to be addressed in design and print orientation.

SLA printers are capable of finer details at the cost of weaker parts - as they are basically just plastic particles bonded by epoxy resin.

17 hours ago, FoxShot said:

Any particular makes to look out for/avoid.

This is very subjective, especially now when new generation of consumer oriented printers shows up. Until recently, I'd say go for Prusa - which IMO is good balance between price, support/documentation, capabilities and DIY approach. But the i3 is becoming obsolete, Mini is limited in size and XL is expensive (assuming they'll even ship). Also, it still has that reprap look..

Creality is another well known brand - but their base printers lack many quality of life features and their supports relies hardly on community, which often leads to rabbit hole of tinkering and upgrading (my experience 😀)

There are new brands Bambulab or Anker that are supposedly directed to accessible user friendly machines - but there isn't much available info yet.

This is just tip of the iceberg, there are many other options.

17 hours ago, FoxShot said:

What type(s) of filament should I be looking for when it comes to making RC parts?

What are the material costs like, and the running costs?

There are "Basic materials" - PLA, PETG and ASA (which replaces ABS) - none of them is really stronger than plastic that Tamiya uses, but they are easy to print (ASA printing temperature might be beyond  limit of cheaper printers) and you can often add material to weak points to make the parts usable. These materials are also relatively cheap, with 15-30$ per spool.

Nylon and Polycarbonate are plastic that Tamiya uses and can also be printed - but they are more challenging, both require enclosure and drybox and limited layer strength is still present. There are carbon fiber variants, but since the fibers don't run across layers, they've same limitation.

Running costs depend on your energy costs - typical printer consumes 150-200W on average - but high temperature prints can go beyond that

17 hours ago, FoxShot said:

What size should i be looking at?

Depends on what you want to print. Even small printers are large enough for majority of RC parts, but even larger ones are too small for whole bathtub or body.

17 hours ago, FoxShot said:

Am I looking at this subject thinking it will be easy, and it's not?

3D printer is just a tool - which means it also requires knowledge and skill like any other tool. It's more accessible than other manufacturing technologies, but It's still far from Star Trek replicator 😀

That leads to another question:

17 hours ago, FoxShot said:

How easy is it to scan an item you want to replicate? How easy is the software to use? (again does this come down to make?)

Scanning is not really an option - tools to do that are expensive and result still needs lots of post-processing. 

However, RC parts are often very simple shapes, consisting of various primitives connected together, which can be easily replicated in a CAD program.

Currently one of the most used is Fusion360, which has free of charge licence for individuals - although it's becoming more and more limited, I think it's good introduction with tons of tutorials available.

3D printer itself requires a slicer program to generate code for the machine - there are two main "competing" free programs - PrusaSlicer (itself is fork of Slic3r and forks into other projects) and Ultimaker Cura - which one you choose is a matter of preference, each have its strength and you have to try it yourself.

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I've found the Creality Ender FDM printers to be decent quality and well priced. They also make it in a couple of sizes to suit your application.

PLA is probably going to be the filament of choice, you can get filaments with a level of carbon fibre content for a bit of added strength. ABS and Nylon filaments would be worth experimenting with as well - but these can be hard to print with on hobby grade printers.

A couple of things that are worth considering:

- You'll get better / stronger prints if you can keep the moisture levels in your filament low, you can get gizmos to help with this.

- Getting an enclosure for you printer (or making one) can really help when printing ABS or Nylon

 

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Thank you everyone for your input. Certainly given me things to about.

I had a google, and was getting lots of different conflicting information. Nothing like asking people directly with experience.

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It might not directly answer your question in a summary fashion, but there's a huge amount of useful content about 3d Printing in the TC Designs forum:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/forum/53-tc-designs/

 

This thread is quite old but still has good overview information:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/75115-3d-printed-parts-faqs/

 

One of my favorites projects just to show one small way in which 3d printing makes RC more fun:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/99442-ampro-sand-scorcher-chassis/

 

And lastly, my two cents: run, don't walk, to your favorite retailer, and just buy a Creality Ender 3 S1 printer. You can spend a lot of time worrying about the "best" of this or that, but in reality, 3d printing is a long (and joyful) journey, and for a beginner (like me - just got my Ender S3 a few months ago) the most important thing is *getting started*. There's no one answer to any question about 3d printing, for the most part. The magic is this: the innovation and creativity of the entire world is suddenly a downloadable file away. Most of the designs are totally free, but I've found designs for $5 or $10 that I consider absolutely incredible. I have 3d printed parts on quite a few of my vehicles now. Even small things like body mounts, clips, battery switch holders (all good starter projects) provide a lot of joy, and then you can work your way up to serious functional improvements like better bumpers, wing mounts, and anything else you can imagine.

@Pintopower (who is an artifex and designs incredible 3d parts for many tamiya vehicles) said it best on a forum thread that asked "how has 3d printing changed your enjoyment of RC". His response was "It is better to ask how 3d printing has changed my enjoyment of LIFE..." (tried to find the thread - it is over in the TC Designs section somewhere - you might have a look). I'd agree - I enjoy RC a great deal more because of 3d printing, and beyond RC,  even my family members enjoy coming up with ideas which we then design and implement together.

 

Buy it, enjoy it, and don't look back. Best $400 I've spent in a very long time.

 

 

 

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To build on the points that others have made; They've pretty well covered the subject.

As with learning anything new in the hobby, or anything new in general, there is a learning curve. For 3D printing, that learning curve can be a little bit steeper.

Prusa is a good recommendation on brand of printer from my research. If you want it to be a little easier (less issues and tweaking off the bat), stay away from printer clones. IE copies of other brands.

I went with a used Monoprice MP10 as a beginner (I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner; I tinker and modify on the daily so slightly less of a learning curve for me). It's a clone of a Creality CR10, which is a decent printer, but not on the higher end.

My experience,

Off the rip I upgraded to a metal extruder (The part that feeds the filament)

Capricorn Bowden Tube (Tube that goes from the extruder to the hotend, Capricorn has less friction)

After the first month or so, various issues would pop up with the bed level sensor and print bed, so I would order another metal build plate, fix the level sensor, auto level again, and would go back to normal. Same issue would crop up over and over. the build plate would slowly warp, and the bed level sensor would go out randomly and the nozzle would scrape the bed and damage it.

Eventually the level sensor went out altogether, with no replacement available unless I wanted to modify a bunch of stuff to install a BLTouch system.

Instead, I went to a glass bed, and deleted the level sensor, instead using the Z axis Limit switch (up and down) to set bed level. Since then its put out some really nice prints, but still is not 100%.

I printed primarily PLA, and now am printing PETG, and am about to give TPU a try. PLA and PETG are good for RC parts that don't bear a heavy load (hubs, suspension arms, etc). So body post stiffeners, I used some for a tray to cover openings under the steering to stop rocks from binding the steering, driveshaft cover, etc...

I have designed and printed aero parts for the tt02 chassis (posted in the TC Designs subforum on here) to block off the underside of the body, and have tested and tweaked to the point that they are as strong as can be with PETG, but a hard enough impact will still break them; Which is ok, as that will absorb most of the impact energy and prevent damage to other parts in most cases.

Sometimes the printer has had me to the point where I was ready to just up and toss it in the bin and be done with it. Though no matter how much abuse this printer has seen, I was always able to get it to the point it would work almost properly again. At least well enough to get functional, strong, and halfway decent looking prints.

I use TinkerCad, which is a web browser based CAD program that's free. Though options are limited, there is more than enough for what I need.

So while you're experience may very well be nothing like mine, I just though I would toss my personal experience up here for you, so you have more info to look at as a whole to base your decision on.

-RC Perspective

My thread over in TC Designs to give a few ideas of what I have made and uploaded. I have many more designs than whats listed here - 

 

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On 11/2/2022 at 11:12 PM, RC Perspective said:

I use TinkerCad, which is a web browser based CAD program that's free. Though options are limited, there is more than enough for what I need.

 

I also use Tinkercad. It's free, easy to use and fun to play with. I feel it's a  little like doing drawings in ppt, yes, there are professional options, but for a simple graphic, it's really fine. I can also use it to modify more complex parts like this MF01x spacer.

8pqqzxl.png

but simple things like wheels can easily be made in minutes.

APymoSx.png

I use a Tiertime UP Mini 2, and I print in ABS+. I've found that you need to play around with setting and print direction to get the best out of it, but parts are usually pretty strong when you need them to be. Print direction and height of print play a big part, as does fill settings. 

I work next to here:

https://imperialhackspace.com/the-hackspace/facilities/

So I've got access to some serious 3D printers, but for now the UP mini 2 is good enough for me. 

 

 

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On 11/2/2022 at 3:57 PM, smirk-racing said:

It might not directly answer your question in a summary fashion, but there's a huge amount of useful content about 3d Printing in the TC Designs forum:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/forum/53-tc-designs/

 

This thread is quite old but still has good overview information:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/75115-3d-printed-parts-faqs/

 

One of my favorites projects just to show one small way in which 3d printing makes RC more fun:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/99442-ampro-sand-scorcher-chassis/

 

And lastly, my two cents: run, don't walk, to your favorite retailer, and just buy a Creality Ender 3 S1 printer. You can spend a lot of time worrying about the "best" of this or that, but in reality, 3d printing is a long (and joyful) journey, and for a beginner (like me - just got my Ender S3 a few months ago) the most important thing is *getting started*. There's no one answer to any question about 3d printing, for the most part. The magic is this: the innovation and creativity of the entire world is suddenly a downloadable file away. Most of the designs are totally free, but I've found designs for $5 or $10 that I consider absolutely incredible. I have 3d printed parts on quite a few of my vehicles now. Even small things like body mounts, clips, battery switch holders (all good starter projects) provide a lot of joy, and then you can work your way up to serious functional improvements like better bumpers, wing mounts, and anything else you can imagine.

@Pintopower (who is an artifex and designs incredible 3d parts for many tamiya vehicles) said it best on a forum thread that asked "how has 3d printing changed your enjoyment of RC". His response was "It is better to ask how 3d printing has changed my enjoyment of LIFE..." (tried to find the thread - it is over in the TC Designs section somewhere - you might have a look). I'd agree - I enjoy RC a great deal more because of 3d printing, and beyond RC,  even my family members enjoy coming up with ideas which we then design and implement together.

 

Buy it, enjoy it, and don't look back. Best $400 I've spent in a very long time.

 

 

 

I stand by that statement still. 

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