3D printed 'natural looking' frag plug holders

[brobak]

Was just putzing around learning meshmixer and created a few frag plug holders I thought I'd share.

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4253653

 

Give Thingiverse some time to generate the renders on their website, they are super slow lately. But check the filenames for the sizes you want.

 

 

[ImGoingCoastal]

How often do you print stuff?

I ask because I'm trying to justify whether or not I want to buy one.

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[brobak]

I posted a thread here on DIY a few months ago about printing things for the community just because I enjoy printing and trying to give back.

 

My printing come in waves. I'll get an idea and start to work on something and make a ton of prints all at once, and then I'll let it sit for a few months.

 

Tell you one thing, if you are planning on getting one, don't get a Chinese knockoff printer for cheap. They often are very unsafe in terms of thermal protection, and the wiring and power supplies tend to be sub standard.

 

If I was going to get started, I'd go for the Prusa Mini. The only issue there is that there is an enormous wait at this time due to #1 the popularity and #2 the corona virus causing supply issues.

 

A close second on the cheaper end to get your feet wet might be something like an Ender 3 Pro. Look to make sure any printer you get has a heated bed and if at ALL possible, automatic bed leveling (also sometimes called bed leveling assist).

 

If I was looking on the higher end of printers, I'd go with the one that I have, which is the Prusa MK3S. I got it as a kit and built it so that I would know how it works when things invariably have a hiccup. Took me about 8 hours to build, and I could probably do it a second time in maybe 4-5 (FOLLOW THE **ONLINE** guide, it has really good comments vs the paper guide).

 

Anything more expensive than the MK3S and you're really just paying for commercial support at that point, and the quality doesn't really go up meaningfully given that the next steps up triple the price (or more).

 

If you have any questions, just let me know.

[ImGoingCoastal]

Awesome. You're the second one to recommend the PRUSA mini. I'd probably order one of them if they weren't backordered until July. Ill look into the 3D ender in the mean time.

Thanks!

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[sethsolomon]

I have the ender 3 and I really like it.  I feel like a 3d printer is something that collects dust until you find some problem that could easily be solved by 3d printing.  I mainly use mine for 3d printing TPU gaskets for things to keep them air tight.  and occasionally I make brackets for holding specific items.

[ImGoingCoastal]

I've been thinking about things I want to make and can think of a few little things. A lot of the stuff I want to make I am trying to "invent" but I don't know how difficult that will be.

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[sethsolomon]

19 minutes ago, ImGoingCoastal said:

I've been thinking about things I want to make and can think of a few little things. A lot of the stuff I want to make I am trying to "invent" but I don't know how difficult that will be.

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its going to just take a lot of time to learn a 3d design tool. once you get the hang of the tool its really easy.

[ImGoingCoastal]

Thanks to you both for the info.

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[brobak]

If you are feeling froggy the 'right' answer for design is usually Fusion360, just have to find their hobbiest version on their site. They hide it pretty well. If you want more lego-style stuff, you can go to tinkercad.com and check things out there. Thats what I learned first. It's much easier than Fusion, but I wish I had learned fusion. There is definitely a steep learning curve, but there's a guy on youtube that does fusion tutorials that is a good place to start.

[Matt LeBaron]

My Ender 3 sees almost constant use but that is mostly because I am printing for my war gaming addiction. I did print covers for my MP40 and MP10 along with a seahorse feeder recently though. Printed them in PETG, which is a bit more difficult to print with than PLA but still worked.

[ImGoingCoastal]

My main concern is less the design and more of the precision. Like if I am making something to be a precise size. Is that difficult to do?

 

For example if I wanted to make a holder for my TV remote, id want it to fit snug. Would that be difficult to do? (Just an made up example off the top of my head).

 

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[brobak]

No thats not hard. Most of the plastics don't shrink very much on cooling. You just need a cheap set of calipers to measure what you want, then add a teeny bit for wiggle room. For instance, when I made those frag plugs, and assumed a 1.25 inch hole, when I made my design, I made it 1.3 inches, or .05 inches larger than specifically required. 

[ImGoingCoastal]

So I was going to order the ender 3 pro but its apparently out of stock. Do you happen to know the difference between the 3 and the 3 pro? Worth waiting a month for?

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[Eric Mio]

My brother is big into 3D printing and I want to commission him to make me similar things. What 3D printing materials are reef safe or best for use inside of the tank. He commonly prints with PLA, PETG, PET, ABS, and Nylon. Thanks!

[Matt LeBaron]

PETG is the best, it is food safe so in turn is fish safe. PLA has not shown any negative side effects but it can slowly break down over time, that time would likely be something on the order of 5-10 years but people have not been using 3D printed stuff in reef tanks for that long to know.

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[Eric Mio]

4 hours ago, Matt LeBaron said:

PETG is the best, it is food safe so in turn is fish safe. PLA has not shown any negative side effects but it can slowly break down over time, that time would likely be something on the order of 5-10 years but people have not been using 3D printed stuff in reef tanks for that long to know.

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Thanks, Matt! 

[ImGoingCoastal]

I ordered myself an ender 3. Can't wait to use it, if it ever ships.

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[Matt LeBaron]

Reach out if you have any problems getting it printing. I'll be honest, FDM 3D printing is much more of an art than a science right now, you'll have to spend a bit of time getting your individual printer settings dialed in to get solid good looking prints and reliable printing but once you get everything set it becomes a lot easier.

 

My Ender 3 has been going almost non stop for close to 2 years now, it's really been a work horse and has performed well.

[ImGoingCoastal]

Good to hear! Their customer service responses are a bit underwhelming. Hoping that is not the case with the printer.



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[Origami]

On 4/2/2020 at 8:12 PM, brobak said:

If you are feeling froggy the 'right' answer for design is usually Fusion360, just have to find their hobbiest version on their site. They hide it pretty well. If you want more lego-style stuff, you can go to tinkercad.com and check things out there. Thats what I learned first. It's much easier than Fusion, but I wish I had learned fusion. There is definitely a steep learning curve, but there's a guy on youtube that does fusion tutorials that is a good place to start.

 

Agreed. I use Fusion 360 and it, along with Cura, integrated the design-t- print workflow (on my Anycubic I3 Mega) much more enjoyable. Parametric model-building using something like SCAD is one approach I'd like to learn to use more. Printing in PLA is easy and fast. PLA is strong, but more brittle than many other plastics. It doesn't really require a heated bed and doesn't shrink much. It's probably the first plastic that we all start with. Next up was ABS. It's harder to print with, because it shrinks during printing benefits from a heated bed and  an enclosure to capture heat to minimize warping. PETG was a pleasant discovery for me. Easy to print and more durable than PLA, but also slighly less strong. Easy to store, too. For me, nylon is the final frontier. It requires higher heat than a lot of printers deliver routinely (but some manufacturers have nylon that works within the temperature range of my e3d v6 hot end). It's hygroscopic (absorbs water), so you have to keep the filament bone dry for it to print well. Sometimes that means putting it in a warm oven for a few hours if it's been sitting on the shelf a while. Printing polycarbonate would be the end-end all. But, alas, the temperature for polyc is far too high for my printer. 

 

Paulb started playing with 3D printing recently. I believe that he's using an Anycubic Photo (a liquid resin printer that flashes UV light to print with ultra high layer resolution). Very cool printer and I've been tempted, but the build volume is just too low for my needs. 

 

Brobak, I like the new frag plug idea! 

[Matt LeBaron]

What is Paulb printing with his Photon? I have one as well as my FDM Ender but the resin used for the SLA/DLP 3D printers like the Photon is extremely toxic. Many of the resins have significant fumes and the resin itself requires gloves to handle since some peoples skin breaks out in fairly bad chemical burns to direct exposure. I don't it to seem like it's going to kill anyone but it demands some respect. Now once it has been cured I am not sure how reactive it is with water/air but I would not risk putting anything I printed with resin near my tank. The resin 3D printers can print things with a significantly better strength than just about anything you can do on a FDM printer though.

[paul b]

Paulb didn't print anything to put in his tank with his 3D resin printer, but he would put it in his tank if he wanted to.  He told me so.

 

The thing does have some foul smelling resin which is the reason it comes with carbon infused masks which work very well and you can't small anything through them.  Of course since this Corona Virus thing I have been using them to go to a supermarket or if I see a Supermodel that I want to talk to.

 

I have been using the same 2 masks now as that is all they give you and now you can't get masks for anything.

 

You also have to use Nitrile gloves to clean the printing surfaces along with rubbing alcohol which you also can't get now.  But I have a large supply.

 

The resins come in various colors and I have used the black and gray.  I really like the thing after a dismal starting out phase.  Now I think I could print just about anything.

 

The stuff cures with UV light or sunlight and I am fairly sure it is inert.  I would use it in my tank but I would put just about anything in my tank.

This thing on the left was a failure.  The two on the right are what I was trying to do.

With a 3D printed you have to also print those supports that you cut off after it is done.

The printed stuff almost has the consistency and feel of wood after it is cured

 

 

 

Those pieces I printed are on the top and bottom of  the glass tube here with the firelight in it.  The glass tube is the middle of a wine bottle.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by paul b

[ImGoingCoastal]

Pretty cool Paul!

I FINALLY got my ender 3 today yesterday (a month and 2 days after ordering). I'm enjoying it immensely!

I learned about those supports the hard way 1st picture.

Second picture is what is currently printing after I realized I could just rotate it and print it without needing supports!

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[paul b]

Yeah, the supports were the tough part to learn and I also had trouble turning the things just the right way to print.

Nice job.

[ImGoingCoastal]

Thanks. I ended up snapping all the test tube drying posts off while trying to pull the base layer off

Huge learning process. One of these days I'll have it down.

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