Digital Making | Week 2
Moving forward from last weeks initial findings, I’ve begun looking at the printers available as well as filaments which can be locally sourced.
The FabLab
Our digital fabrication lab at The Squarehouse, is home to three different types of 3D printers; the Tiertime UP Plus 2, Flashforge Finder & the Makerbot Replicator 2. Each of these have their advantage over each other, however, they are all at a disadvantage to our goal.
MakerBot Replicator 2
The Replicator 2 boasts the largest print bed out of the 3 printers with a build volume of 28.5x15.3x15.5cm. However, its downfall is that it can only print in PLA due to it not having a heated bed.
It is still a great printer but is no longer in production, despite its success it has been quickly outdated. Due to its large build size, it is a highly sought after printer across the students who use the space, meaning they are constantly in use. Now that they are out of production, parts have become an issue and as problems arise, more of the Replicators get pulled out of the FabLab.
Tiertime UP Plus 2
Unlike the other two printers, the UP Plus 2 supports both PLA & ABS filaments due to its heated bed, however has a much smaller build volume. Only having a build volume on 14x14x13.5cm it is on the smaller side of printing, ideal for small parts and possibly not a great use. Unfortunately, it is the only of the 3 printers that does have a heated bed.
Flashforge Finder
Like the UP Plus 2, the Flashforge Finder is on the smaller side in terms of build volume, only being able to print objects in a 14x14x14cm volume. It is also strictly bound to printing in PLA however, it is the newest of the three and has a great slicer.
So Now What?
Luckily for me I had ordered myself a Balco 3D printer. Based off the Wanhao Duplicator i3 v2.1, the Balco is a clone built for the Australian market.
Now what’s great about this printer is that it covers the issues of the above printers. The Balco is able to print in a variety of filaments due to its heated bed, has a build volume of 20x20x18cm and is based off a popular printer, meaning a large community of users already exists. Now I can freely print without the worry of another BE student racing and lining up to use the printers.
Filaments
With the printer sorted, I took initiative in sourcing filaments. Heading down to Bilby3D in Alexandria, I discussed with a gentleman there about the use and ideas revolving the filaments I had in mind, offering me some advice involving past experience with some filaments.
Last week I spoke of four types of specialty filaments; flexible, glow in the dark, conductive and heat changing. The only one from the list which is unusable is the conductive filament as it requires a dual extrusion printer.
Flexible
At the store i was able to view some sample prints that they had. The flexible filament they carried was quite rubbery and offered very little rigidity, however, there was a newer type called TPU which while still being a rubber like compound, it was more rigid than the other types, however no sample prints were available to see.
Glow in the Dark
Bilby offered two types of glow in the dark filament either a green or blue glow, that being a bone white which glows green or a pale blue which glows bright blue. I ended up purchasing the blue variety and tested a sample print below:
Heating Changing
Whilst consulting about this filament, I was informed that the heat required for the filament to change colour was very minimal. The heat from your hands is enough to cause a change and with the pavilion being outside it will only be visible once temperatures have lowered enough (i.e. night time). The heat change colours available were red to purple and blue to white.
Instead of purchasing a heat changing filament, i opted to the other option, uv light changing filament. This filament requires uv light in order to change its colour, possibly creating a different experience at night as the colour shifts. Options were white to blue or white to purple, opting for the latter the results are below:
Why Not Buy More?
Alongside the purchase of the uv light change & glow in the dark filament, I also picked up a 1kg roll of black ABS plastic. The two specialty rolls were only available in 200g spools as they aren’t too popular. I also have a spool of white PLA which may just be more than enough despite my initial concerns.
Previously, i mentioned that PLA is a biodegradable plastic and may not fair well outdoors. However, the gentleman at Bibly3D informed me of previous work they had done with PLA in outdoor situations. Over the course of 1–2 years, the most significant change was the discoloration of the filament. The three biggest factors to consider were direct sunlight, water and salt. PLA will break down rapidly if it is submersed in salt water, however it is still possible to use PLA outdoors.
To combat the moisture issue, Bilby also sell an industrial grade of PLA & ABS; Pro PLA & Industrial ABS. Both spools have been tested to not retain any moisture after being in a washing machine cycle. However it comes at a cost, standard pla being $37.95 and the pro version being $45.95. Respectivly, ABS is $39.95 and the pro version is $49.95.
The glow in the dark & uv light change filaments cost $19.95. Another reason for not picking up the TPU flexible filament was the cost for a possibly useless filament, $78.75 for 1kg.
Wrapping Things UP
With the filaments in my possession and the potentially endless models available on Thingiverse, I decided to test these filaments out as well as try a few 3D printed joints that were readily available.
Printing the joints in ABS produced some great initial results, however, infill settings will have to be adjusted as part of the ‘body’ snapped here:
Here are the two joints off Thingiverse. Both are a very similar type of joint, approached in two different ways:
As far as pricing goes, the only sort of discount available from Bilby is when purchasing 10+ spools of filament, which will result in a 10–15% discount.
