A shameless ask for help.

My CAD/design skill are approximately zero currently, and after trying and failing to many times I need help.

I want/need an stl file of a leg attached to a machine with the bolts. (as in the picture). Preferably a Stern with standard bolts and washers being used.

It only needs to be from the top of the leg to about an inch below the bottom bolt, and include half an inch of the cabinet from the sides of the leg.

Happy to share the thinking and reasoning with whoever could take the time to help - it's a REALLY cool idea.

Thanks

leg (resized).png

In other news.

I take a lot of machines to shows, not always mine.
A common frustration is misplaced bolts, or balls. These usually all get thrown together in the coinbox or a plastic bag, which can cause the balls to be scratched.

Seeing as I now have a 3D printer (Flashforge Adventurer 3) I decided to come up with a carry case for all of the bolts and balls.

The challenge was the fact that the print bed is only 150 x 150mm. So to come up with a design which fit 6 balls, 8 leg bolts and 2 back box locking bolts in was a challenge to say the least. In the end it took @epotech's skill to come up with this.

It even has space for all of the leg bolt washers and (if not a Stern) a single long back box locking bolt. Holds together securely with magnets.

20221205_175600 (resized).jpg

Not yet, as I intend to start selling them in the UK, depending on interest.

Will see how that goes before making a decision on sharing file.

Not it's not for leg spacers - Sterns come with them already fitted now.

It's for something new, or at least I hadn't seen the thing that inspired my idea until very recently.

I've been guilty of this myself. Just because you can 3D print, doesn't mean you should - it's not always the best option.
I spent 4 days printing something which needed assembling, and wasn't happy with it. Made it out of wood in a couple of hours instead.

This may be a stupid idea, or it may be genius

The only way I can see to get a smooth finish with PLA is to sand. Not a massive problem but a bit time consuming and fiddly for more intricate prints. Has anybody tried putting their build in to a tumbler?
Obviously only for a small length of time and constantly monitoring (before it wears it down to nothing) to see if that does the job.

Nice job, these look similar to these I made over 3 years ago (well before Pinstadium produced their version which attaches to the machine externally)
https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/portable-pinstadium-alternative.44412/

You could wrap the assembled parts with a vinyl wrap, which would also provide stability and improve the cosmetic look.

Understood that you don't want to share your idea until it's ready to go out of the door in case it's reproduced or copied before it gets to market. I've had a couple of things ripped off already, and coincidentally 2 different pinball manufacturers have just released things on their latest machines which I've been working on for many months and just getting the finer details sorted.

What I would suggest is going on to a generic 3D printing forum and discuss there. That way you could PM someone who will have no interest (or contacts) whatsoever in pinball and thus not steal your idea.

(I did something similar with my carriers - found someone not into pinball who had half a dozen printers, and sent him the STLs to print for me. Zero chance that he would rip me off for 2 reasons. Firstly he didn't have the contacts to market them, secondly there wasn't enough profit to make it worthwhile for him to go searching. Got me a decent stock ready to go)

Setting a price point is what is going to the most important factor here. Too high and people will go to the effort of copying and reproducing (especially if it's purely a physical item), too low and it's not worth your time and effort. Just don't get greedy.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing what you've come up with.

Have now created 3 other varieties, 2 by request, 1 for completion.

A single ball EM version, which will hold all 4 long backbox bolts and washers.
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Another for backboxes secured by wingbolts - 4 balls max.
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Finally one where the backbox is locked with an Allen key - 6 balls
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Naomi Wu discussing the Creality 3D Printmill - infinite print length.

Has anybody experience with this?

It seems relevant to repeat this again.

I've been doing similar

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These actually look awful in close up without any cleanup!

They don't look like that in reality

It's a Flashforge Adventurer 3. It does support ironing, and I have used that on some larger prints. As these were only printed with a 0.4mm nozzle in Fast mode they took less than 12 minutes each on average (most of the time taken up with changing the filament). Seeing as I'll be giving them out to people who donate machines to a couple of comps I'm running I didn't go for perfect quality. (Although I am mightily impressed with the luminous Godzilla Key)

My friend who has a Creality printer is always amazed at the quality of the prints and is considering switching.
The major downsides of the Adventurer are the small print size 150x150x150mm and relatively slow print speed, but ease of use, quality of print and ease in changing nozzles, filament and print bed more than make up for them - especially when coupled with the price.

20230602_134740 (resized).jpg

So you're saying that you should be able to have unlimited usage FREE, they should just give it to you?
Hardly a great business model

Might have to knock off work early and get this in the house before it goes walkabouts

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At least your 2 parcels came on the same day.

I ordered the printer, some additional nozzles, and some extra PLA. They came in 3 deliveries on 3 different days.

Have to say that after a couple of test prints this thing is amazing

They've just released a new update to Bambu Labs, and from a quick glance I saw a few bits about colouring.

They also thank Prusa in a lot of the notes, so they're obviously working closely together and sharing ideas

As I said I only glanced through, I read 'embedding depth' as being able to set how deep you're painting.

And they explicitly thank PrusaSlicer (and individuals) 8 times hence the assumption of cooperation.

Screenshot 2023-12-15 135302 (resized).png

Got my filament arriving for xmas

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A pinball machine

Got one due in the next day or so, will see how good it works on a P1S

So, plate arrived yesterday and I set it printing straight away.

First print didn't go great because I forgot to turn off AMS, and was intending on printing from the spool - but I let it run anyway. There was a bit of lifting in the corner facing the fan. I hadn't set a brim.
The holographic effect was impressive, but after rubbing my greasy fingers over it it just became a highly gloss print. Although I know that if I were to clean it with a degreaser the effect should return.

Second attempt I set the brim and printed from the spool holder as I intended. Result was much much better. Perfect print and fully glossy with the holographic effect.

20231221_083741 (resized).jpg

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There is no transfer of material at all.
It's all about refraction of light.

Try searching on BBC The Secret Genius of Modern Life , Series 2 Episode 1. About 23 mins in.
She makes holographic chocolate and explains it so much better than I could here

If you're doing something simple like text, Bambu slicer has a function that can add text to your already imported file, and from there it's simple to change the colour.

For non-text items I've been playing around with Tinkercad.
AC (resized).png

This is a heart shutter box from Printables (https://www.printables.com/model/393765-shutter-box-heart). A friend wanted his company logo adding to it so that it could be given as a small gift (filled with sweets) to his clients.

I downloaded his logo as a jpeg, converted to SVG, then added to the box stl in Tinkercad.
From there I made the logo a 'hole' and blended the objects.
Then re-added the logo stl as a solid.

Export as stl, import into Bambu slicer and colour the logo and box.

Simples

Not much of a learning curve though - it's printed directly on the spool that it's just for support, just need to read the instructions rather than rushing in (and then even worse going online to bitch about it). It's a VERY common user error with new to Bambu users.

At least with your previous experience of 3D printing you're unlikely to be bitching about warping and bed adhesion after a couple of months because you've never cleaned the printbed.

DO NOT USE grid infill on Bambu.

There's definitely something broken with it, and it cause multiple issues with the nozzle catching the 'horizontal line' while printing the 'vertical line' a known issue. I typically use Archimedean for infill pattern, and haven't had an issue since.

There's definitely nothing wrong with asking non-PINBALL (I'm not banished) purely 3D printing questions here, and is encouraged.
But there is a wider field of experience and knowledge on dedicated 3D printing forums and groups.

As much as I've learnt in this thread, I've learned so much more in Bambu printer specific groups.