wildebus
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As mentioned before, I had a 3D printer around 6 years ago. It was from what I recall a Prusa clone and arrived in flatpack form for the buyer to build.
Built it up and had it working and was ok, but never really got that great results. Was it me? was it the model files? was it the printer? was it the construction? could be any or a combination of some or all of those, but generally speaking I could make prints sucessfully but the quality was not really there
A bit like expecting to get HD quality but getting a 405 line output (for those who recall 405 line TV )
When a piece of the printer broke, stopping it working, I put it aside and then a couple of years ago decided to sell it for spares/repairs to just get it out the way.
Fast Forward 6 years and I needed a way to get small storage containers to suit and work with my tool and parts storage system and looking at options, 3D Printed parts seemed to be the way to go. I could have bought printed parts of eBay from enthusiasts, and Steve on the forum offered to make me some at essentially cost price, which was very kind of him, but I decided after some thinking to try doing my own printing again...
And how times have changed!
I bought a little desktop 3D Printer called Tina (actually 'Tina2 S') that arrived fully ready to use, took up far less space than the old printer and had the oh-so-important bonus of a self-levelling base (something not had the luxury of before). This is the Printer I bought - https://amzn.to/3UEPy3v
Now there are two limitations which may put others off this ....
1) Upgradablilty. From what I have seen from youtube videos, changing and upgrading parts of 3D printers is all part of the hobby? TBH, I don't really want to bother with that but I appreciate others may.
2) Print Bed size. The Tina only has a print bed of 100mm x 110mm and a max height of around 120mm, which certainly is a real limitation of what you can print. I considered this before purchasing and for what I wanted to print right now, and what I have printed in the past, everything would fit in that space, so I was happy to accept that given the other benefits Tina would give me.
From unboxing Tina to starting the first print was maybe 30 minutes and the first print (the "Benchy" boat model test) came out very well and quality wise was better than any print I had made on the old 3D printer!
Went to start making an insert (shoutout again to Steve & Tommy to editing one of the files to adjust a divider height parameter tomake it better for my purpose), and then using the Wiibuilder program supplied with the printer to adjust the proportions, made a selection to suit the bins these were going into ....
Bin Inserts by David, on Flickr
How they fit into the original Bins (which are from Stanley/Dewalt organisers)
Inserts Fitted by David, on Flickr
As I made these, I tweaked the dimensions. The initial one was to drop into a shallow bin. I adjusted the heights so I could use them in the tall bins and also halved the height so I could double-up on the shallow bins - allowing upto 8 separated compartments in a Stanley bin supplied with just one space! Great for the tiny bits and pieces used in electrics and electronics.
I also stretched the design in all directions so it could take the place of an actual Bin, or rather a half-Bin more accurately to fill a space where there is no original one supplied (idea is to use this where I am mixing storing parts and tools in the same box).
The original bin is on the left and the 3D-printer one is on the right.
Half-Container by David, on Flickr
Overall, I am very impressed with the quality and consistency of the prints from Tina. I have only had a few failures - and they were interestingly ALL using one specific filament - PLA like all the rest and the same spec. Changing back to a different filament got everything back on track, so that filament went back for a refund
I don't really need these inserts to look as good as these as they are made to be functional and not to look at, so they are actually a great item to try out different settings to learn how to get the best results and how changes affect the output as even if a setting makes something worse, I can still use the result
Built it up and had it working and was ok, but never really got that great results. Was it me? was it the model files? was it the printer? was it the construction? could be any or a combination of some or all of those, but generally speaking I could make prints sucessfully but the quality was not really there
A bit like expecting to get HD quality but getting a 405 line output (for those who recall 405 line TV )When a piece of the printer broke, stopping it working, I put it aside and then a couple of years ago decided to sell it for spares/repairs to just get it out the way.
Fast Forward 6 years and I needed a way to get small storage containers to suit and work with my tool and parts storage system and looking at options, 3D Printed parts seemed to be the way to go. I could have bought printed parts of eBay from enthusiasts, and Steve on the forum offered to make me some at essentially cost price, which was very kind of him, but I decided after some thinking to try doing my own printing again...
And how times have changed!
I bought a little desktop 3D Printer called Tina (actually 'Tina2 S') that arrived fully ready to use, took up far less space than the old printer and had the oh-so-important bonus of a self-levelling base (something not had the luxury of before). This is the Printer I bought - https://amzn.to/3UEPy3v
Now there are two limitations which may put others off this ....
1) Upgradablilty. From what I have seen from youtube videos, changing and upgrading parts of 3D printers is all part of the hobby? TBH, I don't really want to bother with that but I appreciate others may.
2) Print Bed size. The Tina only has a print bed of 100mm x 110mm and a max height of around 120mm, which certainly is a real limitation of what you can print. I considered this before purchasing and for what I wanted to print right now, and what I have printed in the past, everything would fit in that space, so I was happy to accept that given the other benefits Tina would give me.
From unboxing Tina to starting the first print was maybe 30 minutes and the first print (the "Benchy" boat model test) came out very well and quality wise was better than any print I had made on the old 3D printer!
Went to start making an insert (shoutout again to Steve & Tommy to editing one of the files to adjust a divider height parameter tomake it better for my purpose), and then using the Wiibuilder program supplied with the printer to adjust the proportions, made a selection to suit the bins these were going into ....
Bin Inserts by David, on Flickr
How they fit into the original Bins (which are from Stanley/Dewalt organisers)
Inserts Fitted by David, on Flickr
As I made these, I tweaked the dimensions. The initial one was to drop into a shallow bin. I adjusted the heights so I could use them in the tall bins and also halved the height so I could double-up on the shallow bins - allowing upto 8 separated compartments in a Stanley bin supplied with just one space! Great for the tiny bits and pieces used in electrics and electronics.
I also stretched the design in all directions so it could take the place of an actual Bin, or rather a half-Bin more accurately to fill a space where there is no original one supplied (idea is to use this where I am mixing storing parts and tools in the same box).
The original bin is on the left and the 3D-printer one is on the right.
Half-Container by David, on Flickr
Overall, I am very impressed with the quality and consistency of the prints from Tina. I have only had a few failures - and they were interestingly ALL using one specific filament - PLA like all the rest and the same spec. Changing back to a different filament got everything back on track, so that filament went back for a refund
I don't really need these inserts to look as good as these as they are made to be functional and not to look at, so they are actually a great item to try out different settings to learn how to get the best results and how changes affect the output as even if a setting makes something worse, I can still use the result
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