Comments on RepRap: Blog: Skeinforge Support

Yes I have also found that ABS bruises can be heal...

2009-11-17T15:12:23.114Z

Yes I have also found that ABS bruises can be healed with a hot air gun: hydraraptor.blogspot.com/2008/10/pot-black

I noticed that with a 150 degree C heated solderin...

2009-11-17T15:05:56.930Z

I noticed that with a 150 degree C heated soldering iron you can easily 'fix' white stains/scars on the object. With a hotter soldering iron, you don't even need to touch the object and it regains its colour again. It has to do with the pigment distribution becoming distorted by breaking off plastic.

@ The Snob, Its printed in the same slice otherwi...

2009-08-01T11:26:45.040+01:00

@ The Snob,

Its printed in the same slice otherwise the printhead would collide with the support when printing the final object. Thats the reason why eachl ayer has two temperature changes. I was thinking about that release agent too. When you would have a small brush on the printhead that would lay down a layer of release agent on the last layer of support before the object is printed on top. Something like that.

Is the support placed at the same time (slice) as ...

2009-05-02T18:38:00.000+01:00

Is the support placed at the same time (slice) as the primary material? If not, perhaps you could extrude the entire support structure and then coat (spray or brush) it with a release compound that would prevent the build material from adhering to it. Kinda messy and manual, but who knows?

Maybe a tuning parameter that has the support mate...

2009-04-24T20:06:00.000+01:00

Maybe a tuning parameter that has the support material use a larger inter gap z value until it reaches the top layer?

Skip every other layer, so that it sags between layers and is in individual strings. That way is apparent what needs to broken off.

....=
..====
.======
========
=----=---=
=----=---=

Imagine the above layers as a support dome.

Actually, moving to a closer position could help t...

2009-04-24T08:47:00.000+01:00

Actually, moving to a closer position could help timewise for the return to printing the object.

This suggests, to me, an optimization, timewise --...

2009-04-24T08:15:00.000+01:00

This suggests, to me, an optimization, timewise -- instead of moving to the rest position, compute the closest postition more then N mm from any existing extrustion, and rest it there. On the other hand, the extruder is already on it's way to the correct tempurature while it is moving to the rest postition, presumably, so that wouldn't help timewise, just lower the length of the hair.

Hey, I'm a student at UC Berkeley and they have a ...

2009-04-24T07:30:00.000+01:00

Hey, I'm a student at UC Berkeley and they have a 3D printer that prints with two materials. They have the option of making the second one soluble and I've seen items they made using the soluble material. It's pretty amazing, gears already movable in a box and no assembly required. I'll try to find out what material it is, but I definitely know it's possible and well worth the time to find out what it is.

Ian: Congratulations on having made serious progr...

2009-04-24T06:53:00.000+01:00

Ian: Congratulations on having made serious progress on support materials, the lack of which in Reprap I've been bitching about for several years.

Great work! :-)

I forgot to add that this is pretty cool. I've bee...

2009-04-23T21:35:00.000+01:00

I forgot to add that this is pretty cool. I've been following your progress and I can't wait to have a printer some day.

Is it possible to have a second material just for ...

2009-04-23T21:34:00.000+01:00

Is it possible to have a second material just for supports? In that video posted a while ago with Jay Lenno where they made a replacement part for a steam engine, they used a printer that had some kind of soluble material that was used for voids or supports. Once the print was finished, I guess they ran it through a solvent and the support material was removed. They printed a working piston and crank in one job, which is pretty impressive.

I don't know what that support material would be, but it seems like an important step. You could then make parts that nest and don't need assembly.

It does look a little 'hairy' in the bottom photo!...

2009-04-23T21:05:00.000+01:00

It does look a little 'hairy' in the bottom photo! Nice print though.