Saturday, October 13, 2012

The new black

Ever since I heard about 3D-printing many years ago it has been in my mind that someday I would join the wave.

Now it is time for exploring the posibillities of 3D-printing.

I have spent a few hours on the net studying several designs but most of them fails because they are build using 3d-printed components. Chicken and egg problem.

Yes I could go to Ebay and buy a kit but ...

Then I found this Mendel90 design that uses mdf for the basic structure plus (again) lots of 3D-printed plastic parts.By studying the design I soon found out that all the parts can easily be replaced by either wood- or metal-parts.


Basically a 3D-printer is a glue-gun that can be moved in three dimensions so the first challenge is to build a structure for that. The same challenges as for my CNC-machines stable structures with precise movements of a tool..

Here is the very first mockup for my first 3D-printer. A simple T-shabe from two sheets of plywood.

In front of the vertical sheet is some of the parts I will use for the vertical movement of the glue-gun, extruder in 3D-language.

The plywood-sheets is held together with this ingenious "Ikea" screw and nut.
In german the bolt and nut is called "Quermutterbolzen und Rundmuttern". It took me quite a while to find out :-)


Can it be used for miniatures? Maybe.....

3D-printed Queen Anne Chairs in 1:48 scale.

More to come.
/Niels


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6 comments:

  1. Dorien LitjesOctober 13, 2012 at 4:49 AM

    I like to see your next move. Are those Queen Anne chairs made out of plastic ??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marie-LaureOctober 13, 2012 at 8:57 AM

    Hey !
    You said too much or not enough ;-)
    Once you've assembled the 2 sheets of plywood, what happened ?
    Please, tell us more !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. nielsOctober 13, 2012 at 12:34 PM

      More to come. This is just the first post about my journey into the 3D-printing world.

      Delete
  3. JosjeOctober 13, 2012 at 10:41 AM

    That's really cool Niels! A very exciting project which I will follow with interest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. DeboraOctober 16, 2012 at 9:38 PM

    Indeed, very interesting indeed! Cos how, when, where...!?
    And even if the chairs aren't your creation, is the base (carpet :)) they are standing on yours then? A first test? And where do the chairs come from? An aquatinted fellow engineer? Cos they look like they are made using 3D print...
    Indeed, very interesting indeed!
    ps. I'm still over the moon with your 'Peter Chair', an early Niels :D that i cherish and love to take apart and assemble again.

    ReplyDelete

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