From Interlock Rochester Wiki

There are a ton of things about 3D printing out in the big bad Internet, so let's focus on what we have used, what we are using, what we have near-term plans to use. Our main reference points are the RepRap community and Thingiverse, with perhaps a nod to Shapeways.

The 3D Printing meetings have been scheduled for 2nd Thursdays, starting April 12, 2012.

(On this page should list software, links to hardware we actually have, configuration files, lists of what we've printed, wishlist of what we want to print, consumables purchased and on hand, wishlist of consumables, *maybe* wishlist for other hardware (though that can get crazy). When we get that done, we can delete this paragraph, consigning it to the revision history.)

Problems, Tweaks, Workarounds, Victories, Defeats, Lessons Learned

So far, printing seems to work best from the microSD card.

Contents 1 Printer Hardware 1.1 Designs 1.2 Suppliers 2 Auxiliary hardware 2.1 Workstation 2.2 Print monitoring 2.3 Feedstock management 2.3.1 Storage 2.3.2 Feed spools 3 Feedstock Supplies 4 Software 4.1 Design, Viewing, Converters 4.2 Printer communication and control 4.3 Configuration files 5 Workpieces 5.1 Printing HOWTOs, Checklists, Do's and Don'ts 5.2 Ready-made designs 5.3 Parts printed 5.4 Parts to print

Printer Hardware

Designs

The first printer in the space is a Prusa Mendel design Brian bought as a kit (link to specific design and supplier).

Jesse brought in a kit for a (name of design etc here).

Suppliers

Auxiliary hardware

Workstation

For most of March 2012 have mostly been using Alex's old thinkpad, but Bill might have an old laptop that can be dedicated to the job.

Print monitoring

Through most of March 2012 has mostly consisted of people sitting around while prints were in progress. This isn't very sustainable, as it is inconsistent with both keeping the printer running while having printer folks maintain the jobs they use to buy more cool printing stuff and supplies.

Feedstock management

Storage

Apparently, PLA should be kept in a cool dry place.

Feed spools

Alex and Bill wound up the orange feedstock on a black plastic spool, then Alex hacked up frame for the spool with extruded aluminum, PVC pipe, and blue tape. Joe fished out a spool that can be disassembled from under the 2D color printer. It has three long bolts with 3/8" heads that can be unscrewed to disassemble the spool so that unspooled feedstock can be slipped over the center of the spindle.

Feedstock Supplies

For feedstock, we're pretty much using PLA.

Brian bought some orange and natural from http://ultimachine.com/ with some samples of opaque white and translucent green.

Alex has an order pending from https://www.protoparadigm.com/

Bill is about to order some.

Software

Design, Viewing, Converters

Linux 3D viewers and converters:

http://www.subdude-site.com/WebPages_Local/RefInfo/Computer/Linux/LinuxGuidesByBlaze/apps3Dtools/3D_viewers-converters/3DviewersANDconverters_intro.htm

Printer communication and control

During the March 2012 push to get the printer working, Alex was running printrun and Slic3r. Based on that, and some cursory web searching, Joe downloaded http://dl.slic3r.org/linux/slic3r-linux-x86-0-7-1.tar.gz and https://github.com/jmil/Printrun/zipball/chenlab but it looks like that's maybe a fork of https://github.com/kliment/Printrun

Configuration files

Alex or Brian: Please put the current Slic3r configuration file here.

Please put config files for other printers as they come online, too, please.

Workpieces

Printing HOWTOs, Checklists, Do's and Don'ts

Ready-made designs

Parts printed

Include short descriptions here, links to thingiverse or other downloadable design file archives, pictures of pieces being printed and of finished pieces and of any finished assemblies including finished pieces.

Parts to print

What do you want printed?