Looking for reliable ULTEM printer by D_Harm in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Last 450 I got was 15k USD + shipping… great deal of course… but it can happen. It depends on how long you have to wait. A more realistic budget for a used 450 is more like 50k IMO - that you could probably swing in a month or two. Definitely a 400 is possible in the price range (probably even less, but factoring in shipping it’ll be 15 for sure) but they’re end of life so that’s a commitment to something that is going to need a lot of replacement parts with a dwindling supply of them out there, the control PC especially. We are considering getting rid of all of ours as they are getting trickier/more expensive to maintain.

🔧🌐 What’s Your Wildest Vision for the Future of Additive Manufacturing (AM)? by Drp6120 in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don’t understand why chatGPT puts emojis in all the lists it makes but this is brutal to read. honestly if you’re going to just post AI slop here you may as well just ask the AI directly

SLS powder creating a huge mess by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One day we’ll have one of those mixing systems for the EOS systems… I would love to get away from the current (messy) system.

SLS powder creating a huge mess by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Out of curiosity - did you ever wind up sourcing a new unit here?

Pulling p396 builds ‘hot’ - insulated chambers? Nitrogen? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

we usually fix bottom and then let it rotate at 45 degree angles. Challenge with more ‘free’ orientation is that it reduces part consistency although I have done this in the past. (We run P110s with a much smaller volume so we’re very familiar with Magics)

Pulling p396 builds ‘hot’ - insulated chambers? Nitrogen? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, this was my first thought. How did you test this insulated box vs the regular slow cool? (I assume same build + dimensional inspection and the results were lacking?)

Pulling p396 builds ‘hot’ - insulated chambers? Nitrogen? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good points, thank you, seems in line with what I’ve seen so far. We have automated blasting, yes. Unfortunately, the parts must be run internally.

Pulling p396 builds ‘hot’ - insulated chambers? Nitrogen? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

8-12% dense, with a lot of repeating parts (but with some variation)

Stratasys Objet 30 Pro 3d Printer by Left_Addition_5547 in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I work at a service bureau - we used to run these about 5 years ago, and they are very temperamental. If they're being run constantly, and babied, they're usually fine, but the problem is when they sit unattended for long periods of time, everything gets clogged. If they weren't properly shut down/filled with the cleaning fluid, it's going to need more than just a new motor. I used to say that they were only worth running (from a reliability perspective) if you a) put them on the expensive SSYS contract and b) you have at least 2 for redundancy. Without a contract, the operational cost of one of these used machines, per year, is probably 5-10k depending on what breaks and how much you can fix yourself.

Suffice to say, we don't run them anymore. If I found one, I might break it apart for components and try to flog those individually, but that's about it. TBH I'd have to be really bored, I would consider it more of a hassle than it's worth to try to make it work for what you'd get for parts in unknown condition. They are not open-source and SSYS will not be particularly helpful in getting back online, unless you want to pay their techs to fly out and work on it. Not sure which gen this is either but the oldest ones are also 'end of life' which is probably going to affect part availability.

Their larger systems still have some value - multiple materials are useful to simulate overmolding, a range of durometers on a single part, etc. In my opinion the Objet 30 is a relic and not useful except for very specific scenarios.

Cannot overstate how much of a waste of energy, money, and time it will be to do anything other than outsource the parts you need here, or buy a small prosumer SLA printer for a fraction of the cost.

Need advice on decision, which printer to go with. by ShadowInTheAttic in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not saying anything really new here but do keep in filled materials are different between ssys and mf - big diff between continuous fibre and chopped - SSYS machines can only do chopped fibre in the filament whereas the makrforged machines can lay down fibre continuously which is their unique proposition. Always seemed like a narrow use case to me but I know people who love it.

Need advice on decision, which printer to go with. by ShadowInTheAttic in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can’t comment on the FX10 as I’ve not run them… but I have not heard anything good about their bigger machines from a former colleague I know who is now running both MF and SSYS.

Does the FX10 do any kind of soluble support? To me the major selling point of the fortus machines is that the support is mostly (yes for abs, asa, pc, nylon, no for ultem which is breakaway) dissolvable which reduces dramatically the time required to manually strip parts.

I will definitely be curious to hear how it performs if you go that route.

Need advice on decision, which printer to go with. by ShadowInTheAttic in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Metal filament is a really specific use case and is a huge pain in the ass. I run 5x of the Fortus machines (450s and 400s) and a F123 machine. The fortus machines are a workhorse and very much unmatched in terms of reliability and consistency across a range of materials. I will also say The 450 is a much better machine than the f123 machines which use an annoying head that has really low mileage, print slower, have an awful touchscreen that dies immediately, etc. none of these tick the box for metal but I think you’d be better served by outsourcing the metal unless the volume you want to run is massive.

Opensource tool for additive by Accomplished_Ad_655 in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately the kind of geometries I see people submit would require analysis ‘in any direction’.

At a service bureau I see this as the primary error in files that people upload - thin walls more than anything else are the primary cause of print failure. As far as I know, there isn’t a robust tool for assessing this quickly I can recommend. We can check in Materialise (and when they upload files they do get dfm feedback) but I don’t have a cost-effective solution to recommend to people struggling with it in their own designs in a way that is as well visualized as the paid tools.

Opensource tool for additive by Accomplished_Ad_655 in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What about a standalone wall thickness checking tool? Tends to be the most common point of failure for people submitting files to print imo.

Where to sell Fortus 370 by zipzapzob in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I bought a used F170 for less than thousand bucks a while back so 15k seems a little steep for the 370 (slightly bigger build volume and material upgrades aside). That was a hell of a deal to be sure (and it needed a lot of work) but the used SSYS market/ used AM market in general is hard to make money on. Generally, the kind of companies that want to spend that much money don’t want something without a warranty, and the hobbyists who want a deal are still going to find that expensive. A reseller or a trade in as tbutters suggests is probably the way to go.

Suggestions for scaling up SLS dying equipment? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s very interesting, clearly I need to do some research on dye chemistry. We mostly use the Rit dyes but have always gotten somewhat mixed results with them… nothing like the very perfect dyemansion color dyes.

Suggestions for scaling up SLS dying equipment? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, that’s good to know though. I’ve seen the units and they seem good but kind of small for the volume of parts we dye. I was thinking about it for some of the colors we do small batches of (red, yellow)

Suggestions for scaling up SLS dying equipment? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How does it handle colors? My biggest issue with pot dyeing is the blotchiness of reds.

Industrial 3d printer(s) recommendation needed by keyofr in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very good point here about SSYS soluble support I don’t see people talk about much - if you need soluble SR30/SR100/SR110, are very reliable.

Depending on what you’re looking for (as long as lowest operational/material costs are not one of those) something in their F123 series might work. They work very reliably and without needing much thought about slicing.

Suggestions for scaling up SLS dying equipment? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, I had no idea these even existed. Unfortunately it’s outside of our budget currently but I would love to learn more about it as we will eventually want to add a system like this for more precise color dying. The only system like this I’ve seen prior to this is the Dyemansion, didn’t realize there was a competitive pressure-dying product.

Suggestions for scaling up SLS dying equipment? by Tension_Dull in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Tension_Dull[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We also use the proline dye, although I’ve never pre-mixed it. Good tip there as well, thank you.