my project and my first 3d printer

[azaki]

Hello all!

I am planning to start a small business for 3d printing, mainly to be able to create small models and figurines of people who wish to have their own small statues.

in regard to purchasing, would you please answer my few concerns? many thanks in advance to any answer I get

1. How great is this idea to reproduce people's face in 3D using this printer is? are there any previous tests or work on this? will I need a special software? scanner?

2. why there seems to be two models of the printer (on pp3dusa.com), an old and new version, which version will I get if I purchase now from pp3dp.com?

3. I am very new to 3d printing, what accessories I need to purchase with the printer? any parts I need to purchase just in case something go wrong? or usual faulty parts?

4. which is the easiest 3d software, yet powerful and fully compatible with pp3d printer?

5. I will need to do a lot of testing and printing, how many of these ABS plastics I better buy?

Too many questions? I am counting on the nice people here

again, cannot wait to see the printer and start using it.

Zak

[Marcus]

Hi
1. Kinect depthmap (2.5D) or reconstructme (good hardware and cleanup required), laser scanner is critical (closed eyes...); 2D Photo-based scanning or cloud services are probably no option.
2. I'd say the newest, but go ahead and email them.
3. Usually it keeps running and running. PP3DP uses express delivery, so spares arrive quickly.
4. From sketchup to professional modelers or CAD packages - it really depends what you want to do and what you have experience with.
5. Depends on the size of objects. Most 3D programs can calculate volume (Roughly 1g ABS equals 1cm^3 material.), but the pp3dp software will be more accurate (support structure adds material, hollow structure setting saves material).

[azaki]

thank you Marcus!

[Marcus]

Keep us posted on your project's progress and if you need any more info just ask

[FallGuy]

Zak,

Sorry for the lateness of the reply, been traveling for work, but it looks like Marcus gave you some good information. He is the small and tiny prints expert! I just wanted to put out some other numbers for you to look at as other people have thought of trying to do a small side business producing customized busts or statues. If you do scan a head as Marcus says and print just that item, a head that is approximately 28 cm will be scaled down to around 13 cm tall to fit the printer. To give an idea of feature resolution this means that a nose that is around 4.3 cm in length would shrink down to about 2 cm. I think feature definition for this size is definitely possible for this printer and would be recognizable. Looking at Thingiverse, I downloaded this model:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10836

and ran a print preview of it, I did not actually print it. Looking at it in the UP software and using .2mm layers and fine resolution with loosest fill, the software says it would take 55 g of ABS to print and 6 hours 44 minutes to complete the job. It looks like the model is scaled to about 13 cm tall but I did not really check the quality of the model. You could hollow out the model to reduce the amount of ABS needed, but with a "hollow head" it would probably take the same amount of time to do because the model would now need support on the inside.

If you tried to scale a whole person down, I don't think the resolution is high enough for you to recognize them after it is printed. For a person who is 180 cm tall with a nose feature of 4.3 cm (again with the nose, not sure why, and that isn't my nose size, it just seems average!!! : ) ), it you scale that down so your statue is 13 cm tall, the nose feature shrinks to just 3.1 mm, or just over 15 printed layers at .2 mm resolution; a 28 cm tall head would only print out 2 cm tall.
I did not have a person model to see how long or how much ABS would be needed but I think you get the idea from above.

Not trying to scare you off, just to be aware how long some of the models take to print at what a realistic model will look like. I love my printer and it is amazing for the things I print, work models here at the office, prototypes for people before they have tooling made, fit check parts, etc. It has never let me down.

As to software, I use Solidworks, but this is a package that is a pricey overkill for most people. I use it at work and got a deal on it so I stick with it. I don't think there is anything I wouldn't be able to model with it, but I also know people have been creating amazing models with the freeware packages that are available. I am trying to learn how to use some of these myself to be in a position to help friends who are interested in 3D printing but won't be able to go the Solidworks route.

Sorry for the long post, hope it helps. Good luck!

[azaki]

Sorry again guys for the late reply, I travel a lot!

Thank you very much for your reply Fallguy and Marcus!! excellent information.

The size is not a big issue, I am not trying to reproduce real sizes, instead I am interested in mini, more cartoonic, statues.

Actually my printer is still on its way, trying to understand what and how I will do statues of heads to be printed out, I downloaded a free version of facegen modeller. The software seems pretty easy, all you need is three photos of the person and voila! you have a 3d of his face. The software then uses an exporter to STL, I scaled the face to 0.5 of the size, and it autofit inside the box. The facegen exporter allows you to have it as hollow, or solid ofcourse. I saved the face as UP3 file (attached with this post).

Could you please take the file attached, and do some analysis (time, ABS, etc) on it? or maybe you can print it out if not too much trouble?

My idea, if proved successful using the UP printer (or other), will also include painting the head by hand (still not sure what I should use to paint on ABS plastics), which will give the final statue a better artistic value.

I continue my research, waiting for your response, thanks again.

AZ

[Marcus]

The head is pretty much a big thing to print, filling most of the print volume.

I had to rotate it ~5° and scaled it down by 0.95 so it fits on the platform as it was a bit too high (keep in mind the printable area specifications are maximum values and it may vary a little depending on calibration, set nozzle height and raft).

On the highest resolution; 0.2mm / fine with wide raft, relativly low support settings and hollow filling (Instead of solid) this estimates to 649 Layers
~94g Material
11 hours 25 minutes duration

On the lowest resolution & fast (0.4mm/fast) with hollow fill structure (Solid enough for something like that) with minimum support:
324 Layers
~110g Material
2 hours 14 minutes duration

The real print will usualy take a little less material/time but it depends on multiple factors. You may have to calculate the warmup time to ensure it is attached well. Due to the lack of the STL I did not check for model errors wich can result in wrong printtime calculation (inverted areas, holes, negative volumes)

So depending on where you purchase your ABS plastic, how much of it, and what you pay for duties/taxes this may cost up to o $9 at that size - not including electricity, failed print and other materials such as Tape/Paint etc ...

Painting: I use nail polish (the solvent creates a nice bond between paint and ABS), acrylic works too.

Printing is no trouble, should work well.

Also check out a similar thread to the subject
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=685&p=5292

As I wrote there it would be faster to print a "mask" and use pre-made heads.

[rachard1583]

There isn't anything to be concerned about when it comes down to manufacturing products at a certain axis. Models are simply easier to get through when it comes to 3D printing.

---- SPAM ALERT --------

[daniel9]

Yeah, what Richard said. Hope it all goes well.