Adafruit 3d printer

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salemend
 
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Adafruit 3d printer

Post by salemend »

has any one have any experience with this unit ? I am wondering if it could be used for making jewelry.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by Franklin97355 »

Plastic jewelery, yes. For metal and other materials try shapeways. Just a thought, if you could print in a medium that would burn out like wax in a lost wax casting you could use the printer to make the template.

salemend
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by salemend »

That is what i am thinking about. My concern is- can it give the detail that the jewelry designs require?

salemend
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by salemend »

What is shapeways ?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The printer is capable of fine detail. But the surface finish will have a striated texture from the layers. You would need to do a bit of hand-work to make it smooth.
What is shapeways ?
http://www.shapeways.com/

salemend
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by salemend »

do you have an enlarged pic so i could see how the surface looks

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I don't have one here, but there are lots of photos over at the Makerbot site and Thingverse:
http://www.makerbot.com/blog/
http://www.thingiverse.com/

Some more information on finishing here: http://www.makerbot.com/blog/tag/printing/
http://www.makerbot.com/blog/tag/finishing/

salemend
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by salemend »

how does the surface of this 3d printer compare to say "safeway" -- is there a big difference ?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Adafruit 3d printer

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Shapeways uses industrial-grade machines costing many times more than these desktop 3D printers. These machines can print with various materials with different levels of surface quality. See this link for information about the various options: http://www.shapeways.com/materials

Extruder machines like the Adafruit/Makerbot can be as accurate and detailed, but the surface quality direct from the machine is generally not as good. Many people use these to make low-cost prototypes before sending their files to a commercial printer like Shapeways for the final product.

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