3D printing options?

[GuyContinental]

So, I’m trying to make a tool for holding a freehub body steady so that I can remove embedded cogs from the splines- really I’m using it as an excuse to build something with additive manufacturing… I have the CAD done but found that Shapeways was a little steep for a V1.0 budget- is there a local maker community with access to a MakerBot or other tabletop printer? I’d love to print one for fit and tolerance testing before I spring for hardened plastic.

Any “makers” out there in BA land?

Topic

[Tim Kelley]

Vicegrips and a flat head screwdriver always worked for me! Now I buy the steel freehub bodies.

[GuyContinental]

@Tim Kelley 57347 wrote:

Vicegrips and a flat head screwdriver always worked for me! Now I buy the steel freehub bodies.

You sir, are missing the point. I’ve been looking for an excuse to make something but wanted to make something that I could actually use. After a recent flailing with every known cassette extraction technique (including the TSA (throw sh&* around) method) I came up with a better way. Now I shall have a tiny army of plastic minions build it for me out of the ether. Because I can.

[Amalitza]

We have one at work. I’m quite certain I can’t use it for personal items. Abuse of hard-earned taxpayer money, you know.

That’s not AT ALL helpful, is it?

(if you want, I can ask our mechanical design guys if they have any vendor recommendations, but I doubt they’d have someone cheaper than you can find on your own).

[GuyContinental]

@acl 57354 wrote:

We have one at work. I’m quite certain I can’t use it for personal items. Abuse of hard-earned taxpayer money, you know.

That’s not AT ALL helpful, is it?

(if you want, I can ask our mechanical design guys if they have any vendor recommendations, but I doubt they’d have someone cheaper than you can find on your own).

I need to find one of these workshops:

http://wiki.metrixcreatespace.com/3d-printers

Looks awesome… $0.50/min to use a ‘bot.

[nikki_d]

@GuyContinental 57342 wrote:

…is there a local maker community with access to a MakerBot or other tabletop printer? I’d love to print one for fit and tolerance testing before I spring for hardened plastic.

The DC library will have a 3-D printer available starting 7/17!! http://www.dclibrary.org/digitalcommons

[ShawnoftheDread]

@acl 57354 wrote:

…Abuse of hard-earned taxpayer money, you know.

… I can ask our mechanical design guys if they have any vendor recommendations, [BOLD]but I doubt they’d have someone cheaper than you can find on your own).[/BOLD]

Heh heh

[GuyContinental]

@nikki_d 57363 wrote:

The DC library will have a 3-D printer available starting 7/17!! http://www.dclibrary.org/digitalcommons

Wow… anyone with a DC library card wanna learn about 3D printing with me? As an added bonus you’ll get a first addition freehub tool thingy of dubious quality and functionality

As a side note, any bets on how long it takes before someone produces something obscene in that thing?

[mstone]

@GuyContinental 57387 wrote:

As a side note, any bets on how long it takes before someone produces something obscene in that thing?

Are the IT guys already working on setting it up?

[nikki_d]

@GuyContinental 57387 wrote:

Wow… anyone with a DC library card wanna learn about 3D printing with me?

DC and most area libraries have reciprocity so you likely qualify for a free card of your own! http://www.dclibrary.org/getacard

(As a DC resident, I know this since our purchasing budget is so low it is often the only way I ever get some of the books I want to check out.)

[Steve]

@GuyContinental 57387 wrote:

Wow… anyone with a DC library card wanna learn about 3D printing with me? As an added bonus you’ll get a first addition freehub tool thingy of dubious quality and functionality

As a side note, any bets on how long it takes before someone produces something obscene in that thing?

If you actually do this, can you post when you are? I am very interested in seeing this go down.

[dasgeh]

@Steve 57419 wrote:

If you actually do this, can you post when you are? I am very interested in seeing this go down.

Ditto

And I found this:
Who can get a card?
Anyone who resides, works, pays property taxes or attends school in the District of Columbia can get a card. Library cards expire after three years. Library cards can only be renewed in person at any DC Public Library branch. We ask you to renew in person to make sure that we have all of your current contact information.

Or, if you are a resident of one of the following counties or cities you can get a DC Public Library Card for free:

Montgomery
Prince George’s
Fairfax
Loudoun
Arlington
Prince William
Falls Church
Alexandria
Frederick

If you live elsewhere, you can apply and pay for a nonresident card.

[GuyContinental]

Yup- 30 seconds and a form and I have my card!

It opens on the 17th so I’ll try the following week, probably during an early lunch.

[Amalitza]

@GuyContinental 57360 wrote:

I need to find one of these workshops:

http://wiki.metrixcreatespace.com/3d-printers

Looks awesome… $0.50/min to use a ‘bot.

Don’t know if you already have an idea about the time to build. In case you don’t, and are wondering…

just for reference, this part was a 6-1/2 hour job in ours. Not a very large part, nor very complex. No moving parts or anything like that. That was a relatively short build time– most take longer, quite a few take 24 hours, some take a couple days. I do not know if the time increases are more due to size/amount of material used, or complexity. (Or both.) I do know our machine only has the capacity to make fairly small parts.

(very cool if DC library has one, but I’m guessing it’s not free?)

[GuyContinental]

Whoa… 6.5 hours at $0.50 makes it a very expensive thingy. Shapeways was considerably less. We’ll see about costs in DC, I’ll post when I go and my findings.

[nikki_d]

@GuyContinental 57443 wrote:

It opens on the 17th so I’ll try the following week, probably during an early lunch.

They posted a Vine of it in action today- https://vine.co/v/h7YJOOj7FZm

[Author]

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