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3D printer at Home Depot


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Don't know if this has already been discussed I just found out about it.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Dremel-Idea-Builder-3D-Printer-3D20-01/205448581?cm_mmc=socialmedia|Facebook|W01|20150803|DremelIdeaBuilder|IdeaBuilderMaker1L1

 

 

Trying to talk local Home Depot in to doing a demo to see if it is worth it.

 

Tom

 

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Tom,

 

Did you read the reviews?   I'd be very cautious on this bit of tech.

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
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 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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I was going to recomend that whenever you look at these types of machines you do your research on the quality of the finished product or it's resolution. A 100 micron finish isn't very smooth. A machined surface of this specification would likely show machining marks or steps, they would tend to blur together but it's a very rough surface. So I guess some additional processing would be required.

Current project: Retired

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You maybe might be able to rough out a hull such as you used to get in those old kits, but check the price and decide if it's worth having the ability to do a poor hull of undetermined material once for each ship.

The working plastic guns you see on the news are made with a machine with vastly higher resolution than this one is likely to be.

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The good news is that if HomeDepot is carrying something like this the product will continue to get better and cheaper.  In a few years it may be possible to buy a decent 3-D printer off the shelf in your local big box store for a reasonable price.  Early days yet on these things.

My advice and comments are always worth what you paid for them.

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I actually still have one....a Commodore 64 mint in box with plenty accessories.   .....and games.       B) Got it when I was 16 years old.

 

Chuck

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Chuck, That C64 is another part for retirement. :)

An original in box are more expensive today than in the "glory days".

You are lucky.

 

If Dremel has released a 3D printer available through Home Depot that says a lot about what is happening on that market.

That doesn't mean I will buy one ....... not in a long time, if ever.

 

Byrnes table saw along with a Sheerline 4001 lathe has higher priorities.

And modeling should be more about hand crafting than machining in my humble opinion.

Wood workers or hand crafters 30 years plus ( I am stretching the timeline to cover myself, as I don't know when the first 3D printer came out), would probably say this is a disaster!

Where will the charm and warmth of crafting be with machines doing our work? 

Just think about the model ship crafters in the 18th century just using hand tools and creating just amazing ships.

Guessing, some of them would turn in their graves knowing what is available today.

On the other hand Da Vinci would probably like it!

He would had been happy with a 3D printer.

 

But this is just my 2 cents.

Edited by Nirvana

 

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Respectfully

 

Per aka Dr. Per@Therapy for Shipaholics 
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Finished: T37, BB Marie Jeanne - located on a shelf in Sweden, 18th Century Longboat, Winchelsea Capstan

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Don't know if this has already been discussed I just found out about it.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Dremel-Idea-Builder-3D-Printer-3D20-01/205448581?cm_mmc=socialmedia|Facebook|W01|20150803|DremelIdeaBuilder|IdeaBuilderMaker1L1

 

 

Trying to talk local Home Depot in to doing a demo to see if it is worth it.

 

Tom

Tom,

 

I am off half day tomorrow and will go to my local Home Depot to see this product, do need other supplies.

However reading the spec's I am not impressed at all.

Wondering if any of the staff of Home Depot knows how it works.

Looking forward to hear your opinion.

Thank you 

Edited by Nirvana

 

Please, visit our Facebook page!

 

Respectfully

 

Per aka Dr. Per@Therapy for Shipaholics 
593661798_Keepitreal-small.jpg.f8a2526a43b30479d4c1ffcf8b37175a.jpg

Finished: T37, BB Marie Jeanne - located on a shelf in Sweden, 18th Century Longboat, Winchelsea Capstan

Current: America by Constructo, Solö Ruff, USS Syren by MS, Bluenose by MS

Viking funeral: Harley almost a Harvey

Nautical Research Guild Member - 'Taint a hobby if you gotta hurry

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Check this website for "hobby 3D printer

Dremel is not mentioned at all.

 

Please, visit our Facebook page!

 

Respectfully

 

Per aka Dr. Per@Therapy for Shipaholics 
593661798_Keepitreal-small.jpg.f8a2526a43b30479d4c1ffcf8b37175a.jpg

Finished: T37, BB Marie Jeanne - located on a shelf in Sweden, 18th Century Longboat, Winchelsea Capstan

Current: America by Constructo, Solö Ruff, USS Syren by MS, Bluenose by MS

Viking funeral: Harley almost a Harvey

Nautical Research Guild Member - 'Taint a hobby if you gotta hurry

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The Home Depot people will likely have no clue, unless there is a demo setup to show you the pretty frog or whatever that it can make.

 

Years ago (yes lots) when the Commodores and Radio Shack computers came out I went to RS to look at their computer. The salesmen there had NO idea what their computer did, They could not even answer questions as basic as how much memory, or the number of pixels in the resolution. Nothing even close to the info in a Commodore add.

 

Ended up with a Commodore 64, and over time most of the needed accessories. Made some money off it back then, I wrote a few articles on programs for it.

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Kind of intresting where that old flat paper plotting is evolving into. Used to watch them run at Trade Shows, then, here came the drum plotters, steps in diagonal lines and all. Think that flat technology has been used to guide torches used to cut steel, probably is what controls the laser cutters of today. Wait and see what comes down the pike, right now the manufactures are pushing comerical use. They will reach a point when they see that they can have a larger market by making a home shop edition, that is when the price will come down and the product quality will be high.

jud

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"Byrnes table saw along with a Sheerline 4001 lathe has higher priorities."

 

"Where will the charm and warmth of crafting be with machines doing our work?"

 

Dr Per surely you see the irony in your two statements....;o)

 

Tom

I certainly can, in my defence which is weak, I will still be holding a tool or material to be fed. I know I will be attacked for this because the software being used with the printer is considered a tool. And a person has to design the item he or she wants to get printed. You need to be able to understand at least the basics in 3d design. Just my 2 cents.

 

Please, visit our Facebook page!

 

Respectfully

 

Per aka Dr. Per@Therapy for Shipaholics 
593661798_Keepitreal-small.jpg.f8a2526a43b30479d4c1ffcf8b37175a.jpg

Finished: T37, BB Marie Jeanne - located on a shelf in Sweden, 18th Century Longboat, Winchelsea Capstan

Current: America by Constructo, Solö Ruff, USS Syren by MS, Bluenose by MS

Viking funeral: Harley almost a Harvey

Nautical Research Guild Member - 'Taint a hobby if you gotta hurry

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Actually, Tom, I believe lathes have been around for centuries in one form or another. There are some tasks that just can't be accomplished easily by hand tools. I also get considerable "warmth" from setting up my Sherline mill to make complicated cuts. I suspect that Nirvana and others using laser cutters and 3-D printers derive the same satisfaction, as it takes considerable knowlege and skill to set up and execute these programs. Chacun son gout!

Greg

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I recently had to make a gear for the anchor windlass on the model of Alma I'm building. No way to buy a ready-made gear that would look anything like the real one. I had to buy a plastic gear for an RC car, cut out the middle, and fashion, as best I could, a representation of the spokes and hub. It sort of, kind of looks like the original but it's far from a perfect replica. If I had a 3D printer and the skill to design the part, you can bet I would have done so in a heartbeat. I still love working with wood and I can't see that I'd ever want to build an entire model using a 3D printer, but for some specialized applications like that gear, it sure would be nice.

 

Cheers -

John

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I agree entirely John.   I would, or rather will use the 3D printer when the price comes down to a hobbyist level.   Problem is for now, the ones you assemble yourself and those at or around $1000, do not produce a suitable finish for modeling ships.  Somewhere here there is a thread about someone making ship  parts, sorry don't recall where or who, and those were very good looking parts.  A more expensive machine as well.

As the market grows the price will come down.  My 50" TV cost $1500 5 years ago, now they are going for a third of that. (Time for a 70", football starts in a couple weeks, good luck on selling the admiral on that).

 

of course, currently quite a few piece parts in kits are machine made, and even in scratch building we need to buy some parts ready made.  Lets just build make what we can, buy what we need and enjoy the fruits of our labors.

 

Tom

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I can see many areas these type of machines can be useful, but for ship modeling?

 

As for standards we are looking for, I have a hard time to imaging the 1000 dollar machine will deliver the quality and details we are looking for.

 

Now here are some questions;

As for learning how to create the small 3D piece to manufacture at homebase:

Is it worth the learning curve of software for the items we look for?

Is it worth the cost of filament that each machine demands? (Each detail has to get a final finish)

Is it worth the cost of trial and error, even though the 3D software says one thing?

Is it worth the time working the machine instead utilizing the time towards the model you are building?

Is the final finish of the part worth all the time and effort and cost?

 

 

 

Again just my two cents, I do believe the 3d printing maching will have a market        ..... later on, what I have seen is promising!

 

I don't want to step on any-ones toes,

but the bottom line, I think what we have of today of mechanical machines type Byrnes will satisfy many of us, this along with hand tools.

 

 

Please, visit our Facebook page!

 

Respectfully

 

Per aka Dr. Per@Therapy for Shipaholics 
593661798_Keepitreal-small.jpg.f8a2526a43b30479d4c1ffcf8b37175a.jpg

Finished: T37, BB Marie Jeanne - located on a shelf in Sweden, 18th Century Longboat, Winchelsea Capstan

Current: America by Constructo, Solö Ruff, USS Syren by MS, Bluenose by MS

Viking funeral: Harley almost a Harvey

Nautical Research Guild Member - 'Taint a hobby if you gotta hurry

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Been following this topic casually from work and now have a minute to jump in.

Last December the boss purchased a Makerbot Z18. Assuming your 3d file is clean it does a very respectable job although there is cleanup involved. Based on what we get out of a $6k printer I cant imagine the Dremmel printer would be good for much more than the novelty of it all. You might get a decent hull out of it but detailed parts? I am very skeptical. Now, a print from a printing service? If your file is good absolutely. A couple of weeks ago we received some prints from a client that were done on a much higher quality printer than ours, the output was night and day. Almost like a ceramic or porcelain figurine. Amazing detail. I wish I could post pictures but I am not allowed to take pictures of our work - Non disclosure and all that. We build theme park attractions and our clients get very fussy about their product being posted online.

Below are some prints I was allowed to make at work for an offline collaborative effort with some other MSW members. G's 3d file was superb which made all the difference in getting a decent print. The prints are considered "Hi-res" and took better than 36 hours per horse - something else to think about if you buy a printer, the budget machines are SLOW. Also Makerbot recommends you replace the print head after 200 hours of use. They are $180.00 US last I checked, do the math for cost per hour just on the print head. Add in the cost of PLA plastic and a print can start adding up depending on your budget.

One of the issues with the printers that use melted plastic - perhaps higher end printers too, is the need to support overhangs. In the case of the horses, we determined that it was better to print upside down so the bridges were in easy to clean up areas. With that there were still places that required a fair amount of cleanup. Had we printed right side up there would have been extra clean up under the chin, neck and belly, we felt the rump would be the easiest place to work on.

 

Also, after and incident Saturday, if you print a part hollow - without what is called "infill" - the parts are fragile. I was removing a part from a jig I used to bore out for some animation and broke it into 3 pieces. Had it not been for 5 and 30 minute epoxy as well as a Sculpy like material we (I) would have been looking at close to 100 print hours wasted. The break started at an access panel we cut in and traveled more or less along the natural cleavage plane where one layer of PLA ended and the next began.

There is also a pretty steep learning curve not unlike what I have read here about laser cutters. Both for the drawing software as well as the print process. One of the reasons the boss said yes, is it gave our tech some time to play with out deadlines and art directors watching every move. After much talk back and forth between the 6 of us regarding size, quantity, color etc, the boss said he!! yes do it!

 Just my 2 cents, not trying to talk anybody out of experimenting, just dont expect outstanding results right out of the box and maybe never with the lower end printers. Where our printer is becoming very valuable, for our work at least, is we can print up a mackette for our sculptors so they, and the client, can see the part before we sculpt full size or if the end product is small enough we have even used prints as a mold plug after clean up or sometimes a bit of Polygem work (Sculpy)

 post-326-0-93478500-1441318369_thumb.jpg

This is a good shot showing the infil mentioned above

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This is in process, you can start to see the beginnings of a horse.

 

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Completed and still in the machine, click on the image to see the time it took to print just one of four horses.

 

EDIT - The 33 hours you see is the ESTIMATED print time, not the actual print time. We are learning that the actual print time is up to 2.5x LONGER. As I recall each horse took over 60 hours. 60 hours of listening to the sounds of R2D2 meets the 'Twiggy" character from the 1980' era Flash Gordon series. "beeeeb beeep! wirrrrrrr...click click"

 

 

post-326-0-01561500-1441318404_thumb.jpg

Completed horses, you can see the areas where some clean up will be required.

 

post-326-0-41971700-1441318397_thumb.jpg

Close up of the face, this is where your 3d modeling skills will shine or fail. We were fortunate to have a very good file to work with. Even the boss was impressed. Usually the best you get out of him is "That looks pretty good" This got a "Wow"As good as this looks the service prints we received for the job mentioned above were even better.

 

post-326-0-33906700-1441318399_thumb.jpg

This shows just where the budget printers need improvement. Even with the extra bridging there were areas where the plastic sagged. Some of this can be cleared up by adjusting print speed and print head temperature. Even after 9 months this is something we are still figuring out.

 

Hope this helps somebody,

Sam
 
 

Edited by src

Current Build Constructo Enterprise

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