First Start to Finish Project. FreeCad to Cura to Ender Pro 3

[MariaMakesItOnAMac]

I am posting words of thanks to Dr. Vax and the forum members here. I am still very new to the whole 3D Printing Scene. I got my printer as most of us went into Social Distancing. I really think it has helped my mental health.
I have modified my printer, printed with different types of filament, and now have successfully modeled a part in FreeCad and printed it. I played the three videos on FreeCad over and over as I was ready to understand each tidbit of information.

My brother challenged me to make a stand he had picked out on Amazon for his WFH setup. Yes, he could have easily hit order and had the stand the next day, but he was patient and let me have a few days to see if I could make it. It is not exact. It doesn't have moving parts like the Amazon stand, but because we knew the exact measurements of his laptop, I could custom make the part.
I also added some cable management and access to the bezel of the iPad for swiping up on the screen, which I considered an opportunity to improve on the original.

I already have two changes to make. I need to make a deeper pocket where the iPad sits to allow the lightning cable to come down into the cable channel. I am also going to make the cable channel narrower.

Again thanks for the support on this forum. We might be small in number, but we are mighty in service. :-)

m

[Geit]

Cool!

This is the way to go!

[roon4660]

Yes, the forum is small but it is intimate. A group of friends.

[Vassili Finellis]

Nice!!!!!!! Keep going!

[Ender5r]

I am not generally a fan of printing things I can buy, especially when they're cheaper to buy. One of my prime exceptions to this is when the print is used as a learning experience, exactly as you have. Well done.

[Geit]

I am not generally a fan of printing things I can buy, especially when they're cheaper to buy. One of my prime exceptions to this is when the print is used as a learning experience, exactly as you have. Well done.

They may be cheaper, but they need ordering, transportation, days to deliver and the energy footprint they are making are far higher than just printing one in a few hours. Especially when the delivery does not fit, arrives broken or incomplete. Then you personally need additional time to resolve the issue. You you simply reorder because they are so cheap, which doesn´t make it better. And of course there is always this little detail you don´t like, but you cannot do anything against it.

I just did something like that, too. Below you see TPU covers for the mount of my new satellite dish. I sometimes need to climb onto the roof and the screws of the pole mount at kind of in my way causing injuries, when not carefully. Since I now can print TPU I printed a cover, so they don´t rust and also unsharpend the end of the four screws. I also covered the entire length of the screw and the nut, so they are protected from getting rusty, too. You probably can buy covers for that for a few cents, but why invest the time in searching and ordering, when I can have them printed and installed right now for probably even less money.

PS: This time I included squished images.

[Ender5r]

Most of the stuff I order can be ordered in a couple of minutes, certainly far less time than would be required to prepare an STL for printing, plus all the work getting the printer itself going. Then, most times, what I ordered is delivered the next day. I don't recall the last time something arrived broken or damaged: it's been years for sure. And, very seldom are there any little details I don't like. Even on occasions where there is such a detail, I can often do something about it.

Your use of TPU to make bolt covers is pretty inventive. I have no idea if you can order such covers. I don't have any satellite services but, if I did, I would have searched for up to 10 minutes for covers. If I found suitable ones that can be delivered in a day or 2, I would order them. If not, then, as you say, make 'em.

LOL, nice "squish" pictures. 😉

[Geit]

If I want to print something, I sit down at my laptop, open the browser, connect to the printer, power it on and preheat it, while I am launching cura and slice the model. I sent the gcode directly to the printer and hit print.

Just when I require a different filament, I need to get up and leave the room, to change the filament locally at the printer, but usually I start it blindly and check the action via webcam. Octoprint is a time saver.

When the print is ready I usually just remove the object and start the next print. Designing the covers took about 30 minutes. Each of them was printed in around 75 minutes. I could have printed them together, but I wanted to avoid stringing. TPU also gets off the build plate quite easy. I just grabbed them, got back into my office and hit print again. Since no additional preheating is required I guess this method is about as fast as printing 4 together.

Since I already have a huge database of finished prints in my octoprint instance of each printer, I can skip slicing for many things.

[roon4660]

They seem to have printed well and seem quite squishy.

[Geit]

They are actually quite robust do to the wall thickness. It takes a good amount of force to get the initial bending. and it flops right back into position. The layers are bond together like hell. The brim cannot be removed using a knife. I needed to use scissors.

[roon4660]

I was thinking about ordering a roll but I still haven't even tried my roll of PETG. I'm not even sure what I would like to print with it. If I had something I would really like to print that would entice me more. I've already printed enough octopuses in various forms.

[Ender5r]

Basically, I look to PETG for things I feel can benefit from higher heat resistance, or greater flexibility than PLA, or will be used outdoors. For decorative things that will remain indoors I see no reason to not use PLA, except when other factors, such as high flexibility, come into the picture.

[roon4660]

That's why I haven't used my PETG yet, I haven't had a project that requires it. It is often cheaper than PLA I noticed. It seems to be more problem.

[Ender5r]

You're lucky in a way then. I haven't found any PETG that's cheaper than PLA.

[roon4660]

Of course often when I see a cheaper price for filament or other things for that matter it is because the shipping costs are more than making up for it. I like amazon free shipping. I like how most things come very fast.

[Ender5r]

Agreed. Amazon Prime is very useful.

[Vassili Finellis]

You're lucky in a way then. I haven't found any PETG that's cheaper than PLA.

Check eSun's. I print many mechanical things with eSun's PETG in solid Orange and Fire Red ( almost unbrakable) colours up to now while the Black is a kind of fragile ( don't know why) .
Same printing temperatures like TPU( 210C ), but need 70-90 deg Celcius for the bed instead of TPU that need room temperature.
Hopfully from next week i'm gonna try PA.