Monday, April 25, 2005
With reference to Vik's glue gun idea: I have found out that you can get ABS cylindrical rods for plastic welding (e.g. here). ABS melts around 110 deg C, which means that it should go in a glue gun no problem (especially if you run the gun from a light-dimmer to allow you to adjust the temp). ABS is the plastic of choice for commercial FDM machines. Now all we have to do is to find some of the right diameter...
Comments:
<< Home
I've looked around quite a bit on the internet for ABS stuff.
these are the best deals that i could locate via google/yahoo:
http://www.delviesplastics.com/welding.htm
.125" diameter abs (1lb = 160ft.) @ $7.50/lb
gives us $0.31 / cubic inch
http://store.yahoo.com/ecomplastics/750diamblaca1.html
.75" diameter abs @ 3.04 / ft.
gives us $0.57 / cubic inch.
FYI, these calculations may not be accurate... i tried but you may want to re-calculate it.
there were more, but those are the best i could find. the bulk one looks particularly good, as it would come in a spool and .125 would probably be a good diameter to work with.
unfortunately, this makes it *somewhat* pricey for constructing stuff w/ ABS. one way that comes to mind around this is to print a honeycomb type of structure instead of just solid ABS. since its a computer doing the printing, this could be achieved algorithmically. (ie you specify honeycomb 'solid' walls in the software and then it does it automatically.
it would be cool to eventually make it so that the machine could use/recycle readily available plastics, this looks like the most practical route since there are no worries about feedstock, etc. actually, once/if this project gets going it would be neat to make a bot that goes around and 'eats' plastic bottles it finds and once it gets enough to make a copy, it replicates and continues... an anti-litter bot =)
~Hoeken
these are the best deals that i could locate via google/yahoo:
http://www.delviesplastics.com/welding.htm
.125" diameter abs (1lb = 160ft.) @ $7.50/lb
gives us $0.31 / cubic inch
http://store.yahoo.com/ecomplastics/750diamblaca1.html
.75" diameter abs @ 3.04 / ft.
gives us $0.57 / cubic inch.
FYI, these calculations may not be accurate... i tried but you may want to re-calculate it.
there were more, but those are the best i could find. the bulk one looks particularly good, as it would come in a spool and .125 would probably be a good diameter to work with.
unfortunately, this makes it *somewhat* pricey for constructing stuff w/ ABS. one way that comes to mind around this is to print a honeycomb type of structure instead of just solid ABS. since its a computer doing the printing, this could be achieved algorithmically. (ie you specify honeycomb 'solid' walls in the software and then it does it automatically.
it would be cool to eventually make it so that the machine could use/recycle readily available plastics, this looks like the most practical route since there are no worries about feedstock, etc. actually, once/if this project gets going it would be neat to make a bot that goes around and 'eats' plastic bottles it finds and once it gets enough to make a copy, it replicates and continues... an anti-litter bot =)
~Hoeken
I just found a site that has a parametric materials search. You can specify the properties you want and it lists the materials that match. For example, say you're looking for a metal with a melting point between 50C and 100C. It'll list out a bunch of alloys, plus potassium and sodium. Might be handy for locating alternate materials for the body, circuitry and filler.
That is really useful. And it has an amazing range. I haven't been able to draw a blank on it with any non-sci-fi spec...
Post a Comment
<< Home
