Scratch Build – In Progress [Intel NUC Competition] Project FLUX by FAT

This week I have been working on the mounting plate for the NUC inside the case.
The mounting plate will be build up out of several plates on top of each other. Otherwise the 3D printer will be busy for days !
Also, maybe I will have have to adjust some component inside the case, so that I can make some changes in the plates later on .

This 3D Printer is called ‘The Builder’ . The fillament is a funky green PLA which will be painted afterwards.
Here you can see the drawing which was made in Solidworks and then imported in the builders software, ‘Cura’.
You can see it takes quite some time to build up the plate!









Also I’ve been working on the mould for the aluminium casing. The wood has been cut in circles and glued together. In the middle you can see a hole which has been centered and
Inside there you can see there is a thread 1’’ x 8





This way it will be easy to give shape to the mould on a lathe. Later this week I will shape the mould and make the first aluminium casing. Planning on making a nice video of that process !

 

It looks like you're making a really fancy pie. I keep thinking "pie" every time I look at those renders. Am I the only guy who sees this? If so, I REALLY need to get me some pie!

Looking forward to the videos! I have none of these skills, so this is all magic to me.

 

Very nice project!

I would advise to use a brim for that lift at the point near the support material. Or use kapton tape or blue painter's tape. They work for my printer very well.

Are you satisfied with "The Builder"? They have an interesting color mixing technology.

 

Subbed

 

Metal casting... Neato!
6+ hours: I no longer want a 3d printer. -OW.

 

i really like how this turns out!!!

yeah we also have some good experiences with kapton tape on our actual printer...but also a brim works well !

 

That good first layer adhesion is actually the solution to many imperfections to prints. Like this lift that we noticed. That lift happened because PLA layers contract when cooling down. If you use kapton tape and a heated bed with PLA you might not even need a brim. Having a level bed and calibrated extruder is also very important. I used to use blue painter's tape for PLA and then you shouldn't heat the build platform, but the PLA sticks too much to the tape. I can easily remove a PLA print from kapton and that is why I use it for my build

But sorry to FAT, I don't want this thread to turn into 3D printing tips discussion.
I would like to know her opinion for her printer though, when she reads the comments and has the time to respond.

I tinkered around a lot with my Felix 3.0 3D printer, but it has been a satisfying experience.
If she would be kind to share her 3D printing experience as well.

 

I do all my FDM 3D printing at stadslabrotterdam.nl (citylabRotterdam). There we have, among other machines, a Builder, 3 UP!'s, 4 Multimakers and a home-brew printer. They all print PLA except for the UP! which prints ABS.

I like the Builder a lot actually because it can print up to a 20 cm cube size (this print was 18cm diameter) and the details are quit good. Only thing I changed with the settings is putting the feed at 110% which you can easily adjust while printing with a simple button.

In short the Builder feels really solid, everything is made out of steel or aluminium. For example, the feeder clamps are cnc cut from solid aluminium extrudes and the entire frame is powder coated steel. We actually thought about mixing colors but strange enough this one came with a double feeder yet only one extruder.....

Because this is a structural part and the visible topside is orientated upwards I didn't bothered with a brim as this added another 20 minutes.... I did add support of course.

As for the tape, we use a strong brown paper packaging tape that the PLA sticks well enough to but no more so you can easily get your part off without damaging anything. This works really well! No heated bed required for PLA and the Builder.

I like the UP! with ABS and heated bed also for small simpel shaped parts without to many details. My experience is that the UP!'s are very reliable but not very good at details.

Metal casing* (just so you are not disappointed if there are no castings )
I hope to have spun the aluminium casing this weekend or at least a first prototype.

And 3D printing takes lot's of hours. If you want a machine at home I would recommend a wood or metal lathe or (cnc)mill first. I actually split the whole mounting part into 3 parts and that would have taken the builder 18 hours per part.... Then I split it into 6 parts and this was the first one.

But I am going to try and simplify the other parts otherwise it will take me a week of full time printing.

Thanks for all the reply's and interest, it really motivates to keep going!

On to the next update!!!

 

Thank you for your detailed responce! You pretty much covered everything I was wandering about.

Maybe there is an optional second extruder upgrade pack for the builder to be able to color mix.
I upgraded my Felix 3.0 from single to dual head. Speaking of Felix, I think stadslabrotterdam.nl could take a look at the Felix printers. They are just amazing.

Anyway, I hope your next update will come soon.

 

Yes, it is true... It looks like a Pie, or Pudding. Good thing they are both.. SWEET ! Wait till you see the Icing on the cake!

So this is the result of 'the builder' adventure. This is the plate straight from the machine so it looks still pretty unfinished (use a bit of imagination )! The colour is really funky, but it will change into something more "subtle".











Next in line, an other piece of the puzzle... Lasercutter

 

Ah, More like a shaping form, then. That makes more sense. -My reading skills stink.
-Yes, I'm sticking to my CNC. It's horribly slow, but I still could've ripped that part out in an hour. The odds of the power getting a blink during the process would be too high here.

 

So I've made a cover plate to go with the mounting plate inside the case.
The plate of clear blue plexiglass is cut and engraved with the laser.



















Next update will be the spinning of the metal case !

 

Spinning what now? You mean make a metal case at the lathe? Will the case spin around itself?

 

Yes, I will spin the case on a lathe ! In the video below you will see the whole proces of making the case!

Yes, they look nice together! Still I think it is nice to maybe place a aluminium plate under the blue plexiglass to cover up the green mounting plate.


So in this video below you can see the progress of the case as it is forged into shape.



I also added some pictures of the different stages of the case.











To forge the case into its form I use a steel tool to press the plate against the mould.
To keep the material smooth and nice to work with on the lathe I use some soap. It makes the steel tool glide over the aluminium.















After shaping the case I used some sandpaper to get a finer matt finish.
Also I got rid of the extra material by using a trimming tool.

 

Very nice, not seen that method done before.

 

Wow, the latest update is really cool. I approve of your choice of music as well.

 

being a sucker for good quality craft(wo)manship, the video was a really nice icing on the update
now, don't be a stranger with the next update of awesomeness!!!

 

+1 on that! Not only do you have serious skill, but great taste in music too. Great little video!

 

Thanks for al the kind comments ! Nice to hear you liked to see the technique I used!
And glad to hear you all approve of the music (it's Bonobo - Kiara (Black Sands) )

Below some more pictures of the aluminium casing (with Pixel the blue bird )







I have already showed you the cooler that I will be using, well....just a small part of it..
Here is the victim again







To make the cooling parts for the Intel NUC I'm using the laser again. I've made a design in illustrator and engraved the plexiglas plate at CityLab Rotterdam.









So now I have a lot of loose elements that will have to come together!
Time to start this puzzle !