Darieus Wind turbine - Monster 125mm print

[bophoto]

Ever since Thingieverse user Random posted his vertical Darieus Wind turbine, I have been wanting to print it, so tonight I downloaded the STL and fired it up while watching a movie. Two hours later I could pop this off the print bed and start to remove the support structure, I used a fine point xacto knife to cut along the beams several times before trying to remove the structure.

Edit: The orignal source STL can be found here on Thingieverse http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:3614

The print is 100x100x125mm printed at 0.40mm print time about 2.5 hours.
This is the biggest single piece print I have ever done at home, and there is still 15mm left vertically in the UP printer.








Bo

[Whystler]

Congrats! It's an amazing structure - so tall and thin! What are your going to use it for? A generator? A wind speed calculator?

-Whystler

[josejuako]

Whystler he transform the world Bo creates new energy sys for to work whit his pp3dp.
But he do always big models , but I like very much this new model.

J

[bophoto]

Whystler,

No plans for this print, it was something I did see long ago and really wanted to print to play with, and it was kind of un-printable on my MakerBot with the large vertically angled blades and the impossible support arms, so it seemed like a perfect thing to toss at the printer. too bad it is not quite large enough to actually generate meaningful power.

Bo

[bwrich]

Congratulations, this is a wonderful accomplishment.
Maybe there is a way to make the turbine design modular so that it can be printed out in smaller pieces and assembled.
And while you are at it re-doing the model, perhaps add features for bearings, and a coupling interface for a generator.
In your spare time of course!

[bophoto]

the model came from ThingieVerse.com it is object 3614,

the only reason to make this print was because I wanted to run the UP! printer all the way to the edges, the mill is a one-piece print and that was what I wanted to see.

Bo

[quarksurfer]

I'm curious how many grams is it?
I'm trying to understand the operating costs.
Thanks. Impressive print.

[ssozonoff]

Very cool.

This is the second print I did with my new unit received yesterday and the result is very good! Seems though that the STL has a little issue, in my case the lower horizontal support arms for the foils detached since there us not enough material. Looking at your picture it seems yours will come loose any second.

turbine.jpg (29.89 KiB) Viewed 2449 times

Thanks,
Serge

[-soapy-]

I think that's a flaw in the model, rather than with the printer. I can't see any reason the printer would stop for those little gaps normally?

Perhaps just tweak the file so it has a slightly bigger bit on the end of the support arm where it meets the aerofoil. Failing that, use some plastic glue!

[TeamTeamUSA]

Very cool.

This is the second print I did with my new unit received yesterday and the result is very good! Seems though that the STL has a little issue, in my case the lower horizontal support arms for the foils detached since there us not enough material. Looking at your picture it seems yours will come loose any second.

turbine.jpg

Thanks,
Serge

Selecting "UnSolid Model" in the Print dialog, will compensate for intersecting yet not merged parts in an STL. Edward or Darkhouse mentioned it in a post here.

Go!

=ml=

[ssozonoff]

Hi,

Agreed its not the printer, sorry if it sounded that way.

Thanks for the tip on "Unsolid Model" I will test.

Serge

[quarksurfer]

definitely select unsolid, that will fix the joints.
What settings did you have for the support? it seems so minimal...thanks

[ssozonoff]

Hi,

I pretty much used the default settings "Loose" I believe and did not touch anything else.
All I did prior this was calibrate the machine.

Serge