3D Printing.

[Crispy]

Fusion360 is free (as in beer, not speech) and very powerful solid modelling

 

[electroplated]

I was getting some pretty mixed results with my printer kit and wasn't sure whether it was me, the printer quality or the objects I was downloading to print but seem to be getting some more consistent results now - managed to make a case for my raspberry pi, a few random toys for the kids and some printer part upgrades.

Covering the heated bed of the printer with pritt stick made a huge difference in getting the first few layers to print correctly and stay stuck to the bed without warping... once all the bed levelling had already been done and adjusted a dozen times...

Am currently trying to get my head round Fusion 360 to design a couple of parts I can't find online but the learning curve is quite steep - need some good tutorials I think

 

[Sasaferrato]

I'm not sure I would trust a gun that had been 3D printed not to blow up in my face. Too many points at which there would be weakness in the material. Like every single point at which a new layer was printed, I would have thought.

Laminate is often stronger and more durable than single layer.

 

[Ralph Llama]

I`m looking into making this or probably a mix of different ideas around the same idea which is a machine which processes plastic waste into an extruder.

A hypothetical business plan -
print a load of grinders Herb Grinder by ganjamantingboi with recycled plastic and sell them to rich hippies.... I`m using wind and solar so could add made 100% DIY recycled solar wind etc.
haven't exactly thought it through yet though :/

 

[dervish]

Great idea but have you actually printed any yet? PLA/ABS is not very strong when printed, those teeth don't look like they will last very long. The quality of the plastic has a lot to do with the eventual print quality, not sure how stable it would be with random mixed plastics. I love the design though, looks like great fun to build.

 

[Ralph Llama]

Absolutely, the sourcing of stronger, common thermoplastics could be the key. No, haven't printed one out yet... am currently messing about with the design with Blender. I`m considering a simple enlargement just to get definition on the points. I`m going to print one out tonight or tomorrow and do some R+D. Of course, the main time is going to be spent on the plastic recycler extruder.

Edit:

Have dropped the grinder modelling for now and am now looking at a machine that could create the filament out of recycled HDPE preferably.
LYMAN FILAMENT EXTRUDER II by hlyman - some kind of large grinder on top of this? Ideally something you could throw a bottle into.
HDPE - RepRapWiki

I am using a Tron XY- It came missing a few bolts and with the wrong kind of washers. The bed isn't supported in the centre so it sags- fixed by replacing the board with window glass. Printed perfect first time.

 

[Ralph Llama]

... made a few more mods to the TronXY X5s -

Ply boxed it, with a perspex window at the front and a back tilting lid.
Control panel needed longer ribbon cables to reach the board (now outside back of box in ventilated box.
Added 2 strip cree LED`s on lid.. with switch next to control panel on the front.

Energy efficiency greatly increased ! Although I have been printing in temperatures from -5 to +5.
Will rate it in controlled environment.

Noise levels decreased dramatically.

Next - intending to insert a camera for app-based monitoring and a thermometer to register box background temperature.... and at some point build the plastic recycler to filament extruder.

This could seriously absorb my life.