My Monoprice Mini doesn't print TPU out of the box, it needs a small mod (a feeder widget) that can be 3d printed out of PLA. Obviously others have already figured out how.
Conversation
Here is the mod somebody made, on thingiverse
1
1
A video on TPU printing... he's using the same printer as mine, so I'm hoping I can do it too, though he seems much better at the finicky stuff than I am. I get impatient. 3d printing is like the Potions class at Hogwarts.
1
5
First time trying to print a design with difficult overhangs: yak horns for use with yak rover
Quote Tweet
made a 3d model of yak horns that can be 3d printed and bolted on to any of our robots... forms in onshape) #yakbot
1
2
Auto support generated by Cura looks dubious but ok
1
Nope. Support adhesion failed near end of print. I think I need a raft for this. And/or design in my own supports. The two pillars at horn tips got ripped up. Wonder why? Up-tension from horn curve?
1
On the plus side got to try my dremel for clean-up cutting off of supports and sanding.
1
1
Not the best job but am starting to get the hand of using a dremel. The high-rpm/low-pressure way is much more fun than a drill.
0:08
698 views
1
1
Recently remembered one of my earliest introductions to engineering thinking: my dad (a mechanical engineer) posing a classic CAD brainteaser to me when I was a teenager: what object looks like a circle in the top view, a triangle in the front view, and a square in the side view?
1
1
2
Later in freshman engineering school, our engineering drawing instructor posed the same brainteaser, before proceeding to demonstrate the answer by shaping a piece of chalk into the answer (whittling a piece of chalk by rubbing it on a board is legit machining btw)
1
5
The answer, which I just made in OnShape using the loft feature, is a thing which may have a name, I don't know, but is kinda like an oddly shaped cone frustum. Here is the drawing:
Replying to
Ignore weird lines. They are an artifact of how OnShape does lofts geometrically. A loft is when you smoothly transform one face of an object into another. In this case, the 2nd surface should actually be a 1-d edge, but OnShape needs a face, so I made a very narrow rectangle.
1
Another way to pose the brainteaser is to ask: what object can plug a square, circular, or triangular hole, depending on how you orient it? So just for fun, I made a stencil of that too.
1
1
Stay tuned... 3d printing both rn, and will have a video presently.
1
I actually don't know if this is the "only" correct answer. Afaict, a 3-projection view completely determines a solid model, but maybe complex surfaces have indeterminacy. I think I'll have to sand off some edges to make it the right answer.
1
1
Doh. Of course the solution is not unique. This one is skew symmetric. Any set of contours that fits within the 3 contours will do. I could have added a halfway loft plane with an ellipse cross section and that would have forced symmetry.
1
Anything contour that stays within the bounding box defined by square and triangle projection lines will work. Blue is what OnShape generated. Red is what I’d force if I wanted.
1
Also reprinting the horns from yesterday. Scaled down 50% with raft. Dunno what all that wispy stray fiber is. Too dry? From supports being printed coarse? PLA spool being not as good? Drip during travel?
1
Done. Messed up a bit tried to make the triangle equilateral and the rectangle a square at the same time. Doh. No way to satisfy this template. If you have a square, triangle will be isosceles.
1
1
3
The horns printed fine but that fuzz is a mess. Not sure it will clean up easy.
1
After some cleanup. Not much better.
1
1
Called on the brain trust for help.
Quote Tweet
3d printing mavens… any tips for sanding PLA prints down to a smooth finish? @divalbanerjee @h_thoreson @chenoehart
1
Much excite. Printing TPU for the first time. If it works I’ll be able to design my own tires 🥳😱
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermopla
Just a simple rubbery washer to start with.
2
5
Fingers crossed. Seems to be printing fine. Shiny with some stringing. Used Cura generic presets for TPU-95, whatever that is. Higher nozzle temperature (228F) but lower bed temperature (45) than PLA (205/65)
2
Ok it’s ugly and messy and needs a haircut but it basically works.
1
4
ugh broke thread... continues here
Quote Tweet
Decent compliance, rather stiff at normal resolution printing with 60% infill. I bet I could get much wider range by messing with infill density. But clearly settings need work. But unlike PETG this feels different enough as a material, it’s worth mastering.
Show this thread
0:12
1.1K views
1
1

