- Thread starter Dr.Al
- Start date
dieselsamurai
Too many projects not enough time!
- Messages
- 1,431
- Location
- Hampshire
Making a storage unit for my Easychange tooling but didn't like the rubber grommets' they had before so a few lucky measurements knocked these up got 23 to print so doing in batches
They are threaded underneath and got to print out the nuts next but very pleased with the fit
They are threaded underneath and got to print out the nuts next but very pleased with the fit
Printed that orientation for a smooth internal face? Might have been quicker flipping it and using pla/petg/pla interface or sharpie pen interface trick?
dieselsamurai
Too many projects not enough time!
- Messages
- 1,431
- Location
- Hampshire
Yeah i should have flipped it really , originally they had a solid bottom so made sense to do it this way but agreed there was a better way
whats the sharpie trick ?
Enjoy
dieselsamurai
Too many projects not enough time!
- Messages
- 1,431
- Location
- Hampshire
Needed a Dro mount for the Mill/Drill i accidently started a rebuild on
a few measurements and 30mins in thinkercad knocked this up ,should do the job still retains the the original stops and will have a perspex cover
a few measurements and 30mins in thinkercad knocked this up ,should do the job still retains the the original stops and will have a perspex cover
Misterg
Member
- Messages
- 1,385
- Location
- North Wales
Conduit adapter for the stupid-large knockouts in a 16A socket. (I tried to drill it to 20mm, but the whole knock-out just cracked out.)
Slightly notable, as it was the first time I’ve done a ‘print in place’ nut.
This is how it looked on the printer, but dig the support material out, and the locking ring just screws off.
(It takes a standard 20mm adapter - I had to make it twice, as I didn’t twig that the nut on the adapter was octagonal until I tried to fit it…)
Does the job:
Slightly notable, as it was the first time I’ve done a ‘print in place’ nut.
This is how it looked on the printer, but dig the support material out, and the locking ring just screws off.
(It takes a standard 20mm adapter - I had to make it twice, as I didn’t twig that the nut on the adapter was octagonal until I tried to fit it…)
Does the job:
dieselsamurai
Too many projects not enough time!
- Messages
- 1,431
- Location
- Hampshire
finally finished my easychange collet holder for the bridgeport , had a wierd shelf thingy that was rusting away outside but turned out to be made for the job
Just got to make a 3 hole holder that goes above the power feed on the bed as handy to have a couple close when you are swapping them around
Just got to make a 3 hole holder that goes above the power feed on the bed as handy to have a couple close when you are swapping them around
DAPPH
as dyslexik as I'm daft
- Messages
- 7,491
- Location
- Near to Cross Hands Llanelli SouthWales GB
Not sure if this is the right place to post if in the wrong place please advise me & give the correct title .
Wed 13 March 2025 I'm due to have my left hand cut open and see if the trigger finger nerve pressure can be eliminated so I can get better use of my left hand . Likely to be 6 weeks before I can reasonably use it . Then a few weeks later I'm likely to be called forward to have a reversed complete left shoulder joint replacement joint done . It's then likely to be a five to six months rehab afterwards , providing I escape getting Covid , septicemia etc in the hospital .
I want to use the nine months or so down time to relearn 3D printing. I've got my own Prusa 3i S and numerous sealed bags of Prusa's own filaments . I had started using Fusion 360 ( as a student freebie ) but several episodes of Covid and long covid knocked it on the head for me .
Happy to pay ( But would rather not pay ) for a programme that is similar , any suggestions from you who are currently 3D parametric drawing, slicing & printing etc.
Wed 13 March 2025 I'm due to have my left hand cut open and see if the trigger finger nerve pressure can be eliminated so I can get better use of my left hand . Likely to be 6 weeks before I can reasonably use it . Then a few weeks later I'm likely to be called forward to have a reversed complete left shoulder joint replacement joint done . It's then likely to be a five to six months rehab afterwards , providing I escape getting Covid , septicemia etc in the hospital .
I want to use the nine months or so down time to relearn 3D printing. I've got my own Prusa 3i S and numerous sealed bags of Prusa's own filaments . I had started using Fusion 360 ( as a student freebie ) but several episodes of Covid and long covid knocked it on the head for me .
Happy to pay ( But would rather not pay ) for a programme that is similar , any suggestions from you who are currently 3D parametric drawing, slicing & printing etc.
Dozzer
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 567
- Location
- Essex/Suffolk border
I use Orca for slicing, its free, open source and works with my Creality printer.
As for CAD software, most of the big companies do a cut down version for students & learning that are free to download.
NX and solid edge have free versions and i think autocad does as well.
Soldiworks & Catia (same company) charges for the student edition. but only £48 for the year.
its more trying to find a CAD system that you get on with, i have used most of the them, the user interface and the way they build geometry are very different in each.
Misterg
Member
- Messages
- 1,385
- Location
- North Wales
You can still use it for free as a hobbyist - it’s what I use. There aren’t any significant limitations in the free version as regards 3D printing (I have it set to transfer to Orca for slicing and printing).
Happy to help with any questions.
Dr.Al
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 2,494
- Location
- Gloucestershire, UK
If you've got a Prusa printer, then you might as well use Prusaslicer for slicing. It's excellent (and can import STEP files, so you don't need to ever bother with STLs).
For 3D CAD, there are loads of options; if you want something free I would usually recommend the first stop being OnShape, then Solid Edge Community Edition, then perhaps Fusion or FreeCAD. If you don't mind paying a little money (about £50 a year if memory serves), then Solidworks is in another league to any of those (in my opinion). If you're on a Mac rather than Windows, then it's Onshape, Fusion or FreeCAD.
OnShape (& Solidworks) are quite intuitive as 3D CAD goes. In my opinion they're also closer in operation to most other CAD applications: I can switch reasonably easily between OnShape, Solidworks, NX, Solid Edge, ZW3D and FreeCAD, but Fusion is different enough that everything takes me much longer. That means that if you learn Fusion and decide/need to change, you might find it harder to learn an alternative tool.
Fusion also seems to require a lot more power (judging by how often the fan comes on and what process explorer shows), despite the fact the PC is ridiculously powerful (i9 13th generation) with loads of RAM (64 GB). With Solidworks it barely breaks into a sweat. Onshape runs in a browser and some of the work is done by their servers rather than your PC, so it works relatively well even on slow old PCs.
If you struggle with traditional 3D CAD, then the "Synchronous" mode of Solid Edge Community Edition is worth a look: it's a (little) bit closer to the Sketchup/DSM style of modelling. Solid Edge also has an "Ordered" mode that's closer to traditional CAD.
In Fusion, Autodesk have done a masterful job of marketing and as a result it has become one of the most popular options, but I think there are far better (but less well marketed) options available.
I say this all the time, but whichever tool you use, get in the habit of regularly exporting STEP files of your work. If you lose access to your CAD tool of choice, then you can open the STEP file in another CAD application. If you're using Prusaslicer (and possibly some others), then you can use the STEP file for 3D printing, so you do this almost by default anyway (I never export STL files any more). If you're using Fusion and Autodesk decide to pull the plug on the free version (or just further reduce the free version's functionality), you'll lose access to your models. If you've got a STEP export, you have something you can edit in other CAD applications. With some CAD applications (e.g. Solidworks, Solid Edge, NX) this is arguably unnecessary as you can import directly into other tools, but that's the exception rather than the rule and a STEP file is still a good insurance policy.
bigegg
Scream Not Working Because Space Make Deaf
- Messages
- 9,642
- Location
- Leeds, West Yorkshire
It used to be, possibly still is, that fusion was designed to utilise a gaming GPU for the processing, rather than the CPU, so your 13th gen i9 may not be suitable if you are just using "onboard" graphics, rather than a separate, powerful, card?
Case in point: my "shed" pc is a 15y/o gaming PC - fx8350 + r390 GPU - and it still runs fusion at a usable speed.
Dr.Al
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 2,494
- Location
- Gloucestershire, UK
It's got an NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada GPU (according to Task Manager), whatever that means. It's the same family of PC as my work specify for any 3D CAD user. Solidworks uses that GPU and I expect Fusion does too.
It's not that Fusion isn't usable. Nothing really struggles as such on my PC. It's just that the fan kicks in quite often and processor usage shown by process explorer is always relatively high. With 24 cores it doesn't really affect the use of the computer (apart from the increased noise from the fan). With Solidworks, Onshape or Solid Edge the fan stays off most of the time and the graph showing processor usage barely acknowledges the PC is awake. That makes me think that Fusion is perhaps a little less optimised and needs a more powerful PC than the other CAD applications do.
Misterg
Member
- Messages
- 1,385
- Location
- North Wales
F360 runs perfectly happily on my laptop which supposedly is 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11370H @ 3.30GHz with 8GB of RAM, despite me having some quite complex models. The only thing that slows it down is when it's working out large CAM simulations.
Agroshield
Member
- Messages
- 6,002
Now it is done, consider the benefits from a debris-collection point of view of turning everything upside down. Or print some hats for everything.
All the ER holders have a decreasing taper the way they are shown, so anything that falls in will collect. With the Easychange taper, if that is uppermost, it is an increasing taper, so will shed anything that falls onto it.
bigegg
Scream Not Working Because Space Make Deaf
- Messages
- 9,642
- Location
- Leeds, West Yorkshire
Sandwich/lunch tray.
Mounts to (one of) the phone mounts.
The arm is a RAM style 1in ball system.
Screws into the fascia, then a home-designed socket (the brown one)>
An arm made from 20mm conduit + home-designed clamped-in ball ends>
A long Temu supplied alloy socket>
then the phone mount.
All printed in PETG.
Mounts to (one of) the phone mounts.
The arm is a RAM style 1in ball system.
Screws into the fascia, then a home-designed socket (the brown one)>
An arm made from 20mm conduit + home-designed clamped-in ball ends>
A long Temu supplied alloy socket>
then the phone mount.
All printed in PETG.
MattF
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 17,543
- Location
- South Yorkshire
He could simply print them with open bottoms.
MattF
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 17,543
- Location
- South Yorkshire
