I picked up a Creality 3D Ender 3 a month or so ago. Currently, printing some ecto goggles for my Ghostbusters.

I realize this is a topic on it's own, but are people having success smoothing PLA using a Dip or Vapor method? If so, what are you using (ethyl acetate?)?

I think I'm going to use an epoxy coating for this print because the parts are so thin. Hopefully, it'll turn out ok.

If there is a good link for PLA smoothing, feel free to post it.

Cheers!

Impressive results.

From my small amount to reading I've done it seems that it depends on the PLA you use. But, in general you need different "stuff" to smooth PLA than you do for ABS. But, some people have dipped PLA in acetone and gotten some smoothing some say it doesn't work on PLA at all. So, I don't really know myself.

I have acetone in my garage, so I might print another part for testing and try dipping it and see what happens....

You can Not smooth PLA with Acetone only filler sprays. ABS Can be smoothed with using an acetone vapor but know that it is Dangerous to do. Trust me on that one lol.

That Groot looks good. What process did you use, assuming you did some smoothing of some sort (sanding, priming, etc..)?

Right on. That seems to be the consensus.

Any recommendation on fillers?

I've used Smooth-On's other products and nothing but good things to say about them. I know about the Smooth-ON XTC, but I'd have to order it. I read about some alternative epoxy coatings. I think I might try the Amazing Clear Cast as I can get it locally to try out. I also, like the idea of some of the UV hardened coatings for time constrains, but I'm not sure what works or doesn't work with PLA.

Is the Ender 3 a good entry level unit? I've seen a few people mention it. At $200 if I only use it a handful of times it's not the end of the world. I'm not ready to spend $500 on something that might not get used.

I got mine for 230 on Amazon(Creality), and just did my first print. I like it so far. No wireless connectivity(just using SD card for now), but that's okay.

In general, from what I've been reading and hearing, SD card is considered the most reliable method for getting print files to the printer. Word is that anything where the PC is feeding the file (USB or wireless) to it can be unreliable because the OS can basically delay/break the file getting sent and cause the print to fail.

Anyone here interested in trying to print me a Stargate pyramid? I "think" it would be pretty straight forward.

stargate pyramid (resized).jpg

That really depends on the printer and how it uses the connection. I have one with a USB connection, but it uploads the entire gcode file before starting the job. You can use the USB during the job to monitor (progress, extruder temp, bed temp, etc.).

Agreed. When using a USB or computer connection printers Upload the file to memory they do not run off your computer connection. How many files they can store to onboard memory depends on the printer.

I can draw it up for you. Pm me your email address.

Bob

Ron,
That 10.3cm comes out about 9.4 if the other dims are correct.... Did you measure from the "1"?

Look ok? 6mm wall ok? need any mounting details?

Bob

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Ok, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the Ender 3. If I got that and a spool-
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Premium-Printer-Filament-1-75mm/dp/B07H9KW5P9/ref=sr_1_15
Is that enough to get started? What else will I need?

I don't know if it is truly needed, but I's recommend the glass plate:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F16WPR5/

pm me your email address

SO basically, you guys are saying this is going to get expensive? Ha! Maybe I should reword the question. If I buy the Ender 3 along with a reel or 2 of PLA will I be able to make some simple stuff and learn the machine? I may buy the glass table, that seems like a standard upgrade. I've seen some of the other mods as well but I'm not quite ready to dive head first $500 on something I might not use that much.

I didn't do any other upgrades besides the glass bed and it seems to work just fine. Granted, this is my first and only experience with a 3D printer, so I don't know how much of an affect those other upgrade offer over stock.

Look up Maker's Muse on YouTube, he talks about the machine some. As I recall, it comes with a buildtak style surface on the bed, you might see how well that works for you before installing a glass bed on it.

A couple of reels of PLA should do you to get started with simple stuff and learning the machine. I'd recommend Hatchbox and 3D Solutech filaments. Be careful of the Inland filaments, the quality for me has been a bit uneven; between six spools, one is pretty translucent (yellow) and has a bit of an orange tint, another (green) is bluish and dark and requires a higher temperature and just feels much rougher on the spool for me.

I have one as well - The Ender3 has incredible print capability, but there is absolutely NO QC from the factory. At all. So you may end up with a perfect one out of the box - or you may end up having to endlessly tweak it and align things, re-level the bed, etc. It is frustrating as hell to have one print go flawlessly and the next just turn into a bunch of stringy mess.

I am happy to entertain 3D design and/or printing. You can see some of my work here, pinball related or otherwise:

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=Mr_tantrum&dwh=395c31a16f58293

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cyclone-comet-coaster

http://www.thezumwaltfamily.com/getawaypinball/getawayitems.htm

FYI, my primary tools are Tinkercad and may Prusa i3 MK3. I primarily work with PLA but have other filaments. Also, I have a varity if brands but prefer Prusa, 3D Solutech, and Hatchbox.

You can get an Ender 3 for around $175 from places like Banggood. It's a good starter printer. Once you know if you like it, I have nothing but good things to say about the PRUSA i3Mk3, but it's almost 4x as much money.

I've done zero upgrades on the Ender 3 I use and it's fine. I did try a glass bed, but I didn't like it, so the stock Ender 3 bed is fine.

The single biggest variable in my experience is the quality of the filament. DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON FILAMENT. I generally use Hatchbox, although the winding on some spools from them has been questionable lately. Also, order a 5 or 10 pack of extruder nozzles to have on hand. Some people are into unplugging them when they get jammed, but if I can't do it in a few tries, I just put a new one on - they're so cheap it's not worth wasting time.

Remove old nozzle, hold with pliers, heat with a small propane torch and a light wire brush and they are as good as new. I can generally do a thousand parts with a single nozzle and if your setting are correct you will rarely have a clogged nozzle. Granted I use the Swiss all metal hotend on all my machines so there is little to get clogged.

I haven't had any clogs since early days when I was experimenting with different filaments, but for me, remove old nozzle, throw away, install new nozzle is less hassle, especially when they're so cheap. that said, the nozzles are easier to change on the Ender 3 than the PRUSA i3Mk3.

I used a budget friendly Wanhau i3 for a few months, and really learned the ropes of 3D printing on it. It was a good unit that performed well. However, I had some extra money from projects that had sold, so I decided to purchase a Prusa MK3. Without writing a full review, I will tell you that the differences are significant, and that the Prusa shines in multiple areas like no other printer. I purchased the kit (took about 8 hours to build), and with shipping the unit was around $800. Was it worth it - to me, absolutely. However, if just getting into the hobby or if you just plan on the occasional 3D print for personal use then the delta in cost would most likely not be worth it to the majority of people.

One of the great things about Prusa is that his stuff is all open source. Does this mean that other Prusa-influenced printers are as good as his - most definitely not. However, the budget printers usually incorporate enough to create some very nice prints even if they don't have all of the features and conveniences of the original Prusa models.

One thing I will say is that I'm a full convert to Slic3r verses Cura, which I previously used. Again, not in the mood to get into a full review, but I was having all kinds of issues with Cura for several types of prints and filaments. Since I bit the bullet to learn something new with Slic3r, I've had nothing but success with it. It has every feature of Cura and more, but it seems like out of the box it does a much better job with slicing than what I was getting out of Cura.

Will do, thank you!

I wish I knew! I was going off of measurements from an old thread by someone else. My machine never had the pyramid, so thought I'd try to get a 3d printer and make one, but you guys seem happy to mess around so I'll save myself a few hundred bucks and let you guys play!

Here's a huge list of parts I found a while back with links:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/3d-printing-pinball-parts#post-4177297

Shipping might kill you, but found this: ebay.com link: Pinball Gottlieb STARGATE Lot of original backglass Mirror plus other Parts

Really need inside dimensions of pyramid as outside has texture and is irregular. Also, need to know how mounted and exact size and position of mounting holes.

Unfortunately, that's the wrong pyramid for me. I need the shiny metal looking one. But thanks for looking out for me!

Oh, that was confusing. Metals are not 3D printable from normal home type printers then. Are you just wanting to recreate it in plastic? Does the ball ever come into contact with it? If not, it might be doable depending upon the thicknesses that can be supported (the plastic would need to be thicker than the metal version).

From photos I've seen, looks doable to me. However, would still need exact measurements of bracket size/location along with side cutouts. Do you have all of the pieces that are used in the mech that the pyramid mounts to?

I don't think something is quite right with some of the measurements. If you do the math, the height of the pyramid face (trapezoid) should be 89.2mm based upon a 51.5mm base and a 103mm hypotenuse on the right triangles. Also, the side triangle hypotenuse is calculated to be 93.74mm (base = 85-33 = 52mm). Now that we have all the measurements, you have a 93.74mm hypotenuse on each side butting up against a 103mm edge on the front - doesn't make sense. What am I missing here?

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I was taking measures from another post . I don't have any pyramid pieces to use, just the space ship.

I was hoping for a plastic print. I can paint it to look metal. The ball never goes there, so all good.

I can't link the thread right now but I'll try later tonight.

I went to the original thread and used his dimensions, but something is off (I double checked everything). Also, really going to need details to incorporate bracket. I also posted in Stargate thread to see if anyone is willing to assist with measurements. At this point, I just feel like it is a complete crap shoot given inaccurate/incomplete measurements.

Definitely open to helping, but going to need some assistance from others who own the pin and have access to a pyramid.

Not bad, but I would print with the front face dlatbin the heatbed based in the shape. If you do it this way you can also engrave the STARGATE word innit across the bottom, and it should look pretty good.

Working on a speaker spacer for Stern 4" backbox speakers. Made such that I can still use the short screws meant for the stock speakers and to provide a little offset for the tweeter (which sticks out the front a tad). Still tinkering with the measurements.

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You can totally print with metals. Granted it's metal particles suspended in PLA but when you polish it up looks very cool.

Some approach 90% actual metal. You can bake it to really seal the seal though shrinkage oocurs which may affect your design.

I wanted to replace the facade for the Living Dead Girl on my Rob Zombie pin with something a little more dramatic.

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I also wanted to stay true to the German Expressionist flavor of the Living Dead Girl video.

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Tim Burton was also greatly influenced by the German Expressionists. He was my inspiration for this model:

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I tried to utilize the extreme canted angles and forced perspective found in these films. Below is my first draft. I assembled everything in Tinkercad, but developed some of the elements in OpenSCAD and Adobe Illustrator.

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Actually...... You can print 100% metal in Any shape to micron level for some time now. I rep with EOS systems which can print in Any metal to exact certs from titanium to general metals. Part is as if you machined it to the same specs. Granted you need close to 1 million to get started..... lol

https://www.eos.info/en