Today in ASL I ... (Day to day ASL doings)

Sparafucil3

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Print had a little stringing. Pretty darn good for a first real print. I used the print to store half of my BFP aircraft counters. I have to wait until I get another roll of PLA to print more. Having fun with this so far. -- jim
 

Michael R

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Print had a little stringing. Pretty darn good for a first real print. I used the print to store half of my BFP aircraft counters. I have to wait until I get another roll of PLA to print more. Having fun with this so far. -- jim
I find it odd that these machines are called 3d printers, rather than moulding machines.
 

von Marwitz

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Just one proposal for improvement before you print large numbers:

14276

I believe it would be a good idea to create notches for tweezers at (some) of the places indicated in red above.
This will ease retrieving counters from the corner-positions. As the counters will fit the inserts pretty precisely, retrieving them from those positions might otherwise be troublesome.

von Marwitz
 

Sparafucil3

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I believe it would be a good idea to create notches for tweezers at (some) of the places indicated in red above.
This will ease retrieving counters from the corner-positions. As the counters will fit the inserts pretty precisely, retrieving them from those positions might otherwise be troublesome.

von Marwitz
My next print will probably have those. I am a little worried about strength if the notches are there. That's what proto-typing is all about though :) -- jim
 

von Marwitz

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My next print will probably have those. I am a little worried about strength if the notches are there. That's what proto-typing is all about though :) -- jim
Instead of dice throwing against the wall, you might think about a bit of insert throwing...

von Marwitz
 

Sparafucil3

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Valid point. What about extruders?
This would be closer to the mark, but I believe that what most refer to when they use "extrusion" also involved a mold. The hot end of the print does heat the filament to the melting point and pushes that out the nozzle where is forms a line of plastic. Those lines melt into each other, forming layers. You build up layers one on top of the other until it's done. -- jim
 

Michael R

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FWIW my first permanent job (44 years ago!) was in a quality control lab for a plastics factory. We had mini-versions of the big machines in the factory for making testing pieces. We mixed polystyrene pellets with colour and other stuff and put it in the extruder. The extruder is a long machine with a heater and an internal screw that looks like an inches-wide drill bit. The molten mixture is forced out at the end of the screw as strands of plastic that are pulled through a water trough to cool them down. The strands then go through a cutting machine to become plastic pellets. We used those pellets in our lab molding machines to make testing pieces.
 

Gordon

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Just one proposal for improvement before you print large numbers:

View attachment 14276

I believe it would be a good idea to create notches for tweezers at (some) of the places indicated in red above.
This will ease retrieving counters from the corner-positions. As the counters will fit the inserts pretty precisely, retrieving them from those positions might otherwise be troublesome.

von Marwitz
Shouldn't all the notches extend down to the base plate to allow gripping of the bottom-most counter?
 

von Marwitz

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Shouldn't all the notches extend down to the base plate to allow gripping of the bottom-most counter?
Good point! I overlooked that.

I seem to recall that Jim was concerned about stability. Dunno if a thicker 'base plate' could amend that.

von Marwitz
 

Gordon

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Good point! I overlooked that.

I seem to recall that Jim was concerned about stability. Dunno if a thicker 'base plate' could amend that.

von Marwitz
I would think that with all the connections between the walls, stability/rigidity shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not the one printing and using them.
 

Sparafucil3

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I would think that with all the connections between the walls, stability/rigidity shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not the one printing and using them.
The bottom is 3 layers of fused plastic. Each layer is about .18 mm thick. Making the openings go to the floor of the container would likely make it very flexible (relatively speaking) along those openings. I have a couple of varieties of filament to try. To date, I have been using PLA because it is easy to work with. I will probably try to print a couple using different materials to test the tensile strength. I have PTEG and ABS on hand (I am out of PLA :) ). PTEG operating range is 250C +/- 10C. The operating range for PLA is 245C +/- 15C. PLA is around 200C, +/- 10C. To use PTEG/ABS, I need to replace the bowden tube (the tube which guides filament to the hot end where the plastic is melted). The stock bowden on Creality printers starts to melt and degrade around 240C. I have the new tube here on hand and the change out is not difficult so perhaps I will take that on tomorrow. PTEG is also a little more difficult to work with as the adhesion to the bed can be pretty firm (firm enough to cause glass to break off with it) so a few extra preparations have to be made. Still, for where I am in the learning process, I am pretty pleased. -- jim
 

fenyan

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I think the 4x6 vehicle-size counter trays are fine, as they do seem to have enough wiggle room for tweezers to contact and tip over the bottomost counter from one edge. However the 5x7 infantry-size counter trays are a tighter fit and probably would benefit from notches (or maybe one notch--going all the way down to the base) for the corner compartments.
 
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