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How about some small parts??

Discussion in 'Projects' started by 330SC, May 4, 2014.

  1. 330SC

    330SC Member

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    I haven't determined exactly how small I can make things yet but this is getting close. Using a .07mm (.003") nozzle and .05mm layer eight shooting ABS/Carbon filament. The extruder is doing a remarkably good job of metering at these low flows but that will ultimately be the limiting factor for size. Need to come up with a different design and/or smaller filament.
    Impeller is about as good as its going to get. The connecting rod and sprocket need some more fiddling to get 100% infill.
     

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  2. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    That's amazing. Did you do those on a robo?
     
  3. 330SC

    330SC Member

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    yep
     
  4. Soupaboy

    Soupaboy Active Member

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    woah, great prints. e3d?
     
  5. SteveC

    SteveC Well-Known Member

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    Very cool! At some point could you post some details on your settings and setup? What hot end, specific filament tried, slicer settings, design rules etc?
     
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  6. Montravont

    Montravont Active Member

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    That's impressive and gives me hope for some of the smaller things I want to print later on.

    Also, where does one get a nozzle that small?
     
  7. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    You can buy blanks and drill them out.
     
  8. Montravont

    Montravont Active Member

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    Ahh, that makes sense. I'll have to look into that as I have some stuff I want to do with some pretty fine details.

    Anyone willing to do that for a fee? I don't currently have the tools to do something like that.
     
  9. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Ship me the drill bits and the nozzles I could throw them on a lathe
     
  10. bret4

    bret4 New Member

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    Really nice work!
     
  11. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I'm certainly impressed! You could probably regear the extruder to get a slower feed rate.
     
  12. 330SC

    330SC Member

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    I may not be a good idea to try for such a small nozzle. A .2mm will make small parts without the issues of a super tiny hole i.e frequent clogs, difficulty with accurate extrusion metering and then actually making the smaller hole. I am a machinist and even for me it wasn't easy. A human hair is .07-.1mm. I would take Mr Kelly up on his offer though
    I use the E3D nozzle, ABS/Carbon filament from Filabot but the Taulman nylons work too and actually provide better detail. I'm sure PLA will work but haven't tried it. I have been running the bed at 60c for the ABS, Filament temp is whatever is typical for the type. Maybe on the high side since we are pushing through a smaller hole. Fan on towards the top of print......maybe
    The slicer settings aren't anything special. Just scale everything down. I use Repetier/Slic3r. You need to be able to visualize the filament path- infill, perimeters, etc.. Calibrate the nozzle. Make it print like it looks on the screen or slightly fatter. Get a magnifying glass. 1st layer is critical. Pick a spot on the bed where you will work. Maybe a 900-1000 sq/mm area. I used an indictor to find a nice spot. the bed is kinda flat but there are some areas that are better than others. Glue a small piece of notebook paper down (900-1000 sq/mm) with Elmers Pro Bond and a light coat of Elmers Craft Bond glue stick on top of the paper (apply glue stick @ 60c bed). If you can get the paper to stay down with just the glue stick it will be easier to remove. Set the nozzle to zero with a .001" feeler gauge on top of the paper (hot so there is no solid filament sticking out). 1st layer is .05mm +-. Keep tweaking your limit switch until the 1st layer looks like it was drawn by a semi-sharp pencil (assuming you are using black filament) but not digging in. The limit switch repeats very well (less than .01mm. verify yours repeats too) so once its set that should be it and you will have a nice area to make several attempts/parts.
    Speeds are slow. 5-8mm/s. Settings- Retract .25mm, lift Z=0, speed = 10mm/s, extra length on restart=0, min travel after retraction= .05mm, wipe on retract. These are not 100% optimized. I am still tweaking. Raise those #'s by 50-100% for .2 nozzle. The challenge is looking at your result and making the correct adjustments, Dah.....
    Prime the nozzle slightly (by hand) 10-20sec. before the print starts and pick the bugger off the end. If your lucky you can leave the bugger on and it will come off when it hits the paper. If it doesn't you'll probably have to restart. If all is right it should start extruding almost immediately.
    Its all the same stuff you do for larger prints just more critical with less margin.
     
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  13. 330SC

    330SC Member

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    Matt, I think the whole thing needs to be scaled down, filament and all. At this size it seems nozzle pressure is the dominating factor over flow ( harder to control). these prints take 3-5mm of 1.75 filament. Luckily I have a Filastruder inbound and the ability to make the extruder parts so I will soon find out
     
  14. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Out of curiosity what's the driving factor on these? Seems like an absolute bear of a job to do
     
  15. 330SC

    330SC Member

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    I designed and built a piece of equipment last year that can pierce accurate holes in metal less than .001". This started out as an exercise using the capabilities of that machine. I am in the process of creating a way to filter the solids so I can utilize the .001" or smaller nozzle. Then things will get interesting.
    To set up the Robo for doing these types of parts is a little more involved at the extrusion width I am at now but well within the capabilities of the average person. At the moment I am a bit bogged down with other technologies that require tiny holes but soon these smaller nozzles (and extruders) will be available to everyone.
     
  16. 1d1

    1d1 Active Member

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    Great prints! I just received and tried some CF from Proto-Pasta. It is amazingly sharp-edged for small prints and makes a very clean print. Not a lot of flexibility, but good strength. I look forward to seeing more of your successes.
     
  17. Kingbob

    Kingbob Active Member

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    Awesome. This is of particular interest to me as a model maker, being able to print really small is one thing i really want to do for detailed parts.
     

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