Tooling "Wish List"  

RE:

I would like to see a small dremel like rotary cutter that can trim holes and other critical sized components that are too accurate for the extruder to achieve mid print.... Of course if you go down that rabbit hole they might have a lot of angry customers who think they could use this machine as a cnc milling machine which it is clearly not capable of. 

Who is "Anonymous"....

.... and why isn't his apparent comment showing up in this thread? Also, I can't even open this thread unless I go to "Activity" under my account profile. "Anonymous" isn't even clickable in the message listing like all other posters, and his(?) posting date is shown as either Dec. 31, 69 or Jan, 1, 70.  WTF?

And another thing....

..... where do I find the meaning of the different colors assigned to the poll options? Not that it matters much since they are different each time I access the poll. Very odd...

RE:

Setlab said: I would like to see a small dremel like rotary cutter that can trim holes and other critical sized components that are too accurate for the extruder to achieve mid print.... Of course if you go down that rabbit hole they might have a lot of angry customers who think they could use this machine as a cnc milling machine which it is clearly not capable of.

I purposefully did not include that as a poll option for the reasons you state. And as I observed in a different post, this was one of the features of the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, ambitiously-conceived but poorly-executed Fabtotum machine. I agree it would be "nice to have", but I believe it's a bridge too far. If enough others agree with you, I'll see if the poll can be edited to include it.

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

A CNC head would be nice. 

RE:

Without aggressive chip and dust removal (that YOU, not Prusa, will probably have to provide), I think this could be a machine breaker. Better off getting a Shapeoko (or similar) with a bigger bed for FAR less money. And there's something to be said for not having your shiny XL, (which you bought for its superior FFF capability, right?) not tied up with this functionally. Of course, the same could be said about the other functions I mentioned, but of those, the 3mm extruder is actually an FFF enhancement, and the scanner is at least co-functional. The laser cutter is a bit of a stretch since it basically obviates the need for an automated Z axis. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe a Shapeoko/CNC-Laser lash-up makes more sense than hobbling the XL with it.

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

It defiantly would create a big mess for users to clean up and there is potential to get the tinny shavings on the x y belts causing artifacts in the print if there isn't some kind of shield or air knife blocking the debris from traveling upward. As long as Prusa markets and programs the toolhead to say only take a max depth of cut of less than 0.5 mm, not hit the print bed with the cutter, have some sort of chip deflection from the motion belts, and makes it abundantly clear that this is only to be used for 3D printed plastic parts that have not been removed from the printer it would be a great success.

RE:

Dust can chip control is easy and other companies have done it.  I have confidence Prusa can figure that out.  

Posted by: @reddawg

Without aggressive chip and dust removal (that YOU, not Prusa, will probably have to provide), I think this could be a machine breaker. Better off getting a Shapeoko (or similar) with a bigger bed for FAR less money. And there's something to be said for not having your shiny XL, (which you bought for its superior FFF capability, right?) not tied up with this functionally. Of course, the same could be said about the other functions I mentioned, but of those, the 3mm extruder is actually an FFF enhancement, and the scanner is at least co-functional. The laser cutter is a bit of a stretch since it basically obviates the need for an automated Z axis. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe a Shapeoko/CNC-Laser lash-up makes more sense than hobbling the XL with it.

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

When I have a functional part that I want to strengthen up in the vertical axis, I’ll leave some holes and then out in wood screws to help keep the layers ‘bonded’.  Not sure how you could work it, I guess trying to screw in something would probably cause it to come off the bed, but to have those internally, with out the Frankenstein screw heads showing would be cool. I guess this is just an advanced variant of a kind of a picker.

Definately an extruded, as in from a tube, material- think everything from pancake batter to caulk.  Even 2k stuff- reactive epoxy/polyamides or urethanes.  Maybe even use something like foam to have fill.

And as I mentioned in another thread, a pellet-fed print head- especially for infill.

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

From your lips to Joe's ears.

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

You can also use epoxy resin.  

Posted by: @milehigh3der

When I have a functional part that I want to strengthen up in the vertical axis, I’ll leave some holes and then out in wood screws to help keep the layers ‘bonded’.  Not sure how you could work it, I guess trying to screw in something would probably cause it to come off the bed, but to have those internally, with out the Frankenstein screw heads showing would be cool. I guess this is just an advanced variant of a kind of a picker.

 

Definately an extruded, as in from a tube, material- think everything from pancake batter to caulk.  Even 2k stuff- reactive epoxy/polyamides or urethanes.  Maybe even use something like foam to have fill.

And as I mentioned in another thread, a pellet-fed print head- especially for infill.

 

RE:

Some unconventinal ideas:
1) Head for dropping an "inlet nut" in the right moment (currently can be done by stopping at a certain layer and manual insert it, but would be cool to be able to automatically do that in the printing process somehow. Perhaps an electromagnet that can hover over the location, let loose of the nut and push it down a bit to make sure it's in?
2) A nozzle that is actually a flat surface with round edges and no hole for filament, just for ironing a surface. This is possible with the actual printing nozzle, but I assume an adapted nozzle design only for ironing could make the quality even better.
3) A head that is just there to push down objects form the bed. Could work for small object at least, as far as I can see the printer's design that should be possible
4) If there would be a filament that gets quite liquid at a high temperature, we could fill some empty infill spaces by hovering over the structure and letting the filament drop in the empty infill parts

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

Prusa is company serious enough to take new challenges, but I'd prefer Prusa to develop separate CNC router rather than expanding XL with "CNC" for third party materials for number of reasons. Only exception for me is E3D ASMBL supstractive tool that would be suitable for accurate and smooth FDM parts. 

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

 Not sure i see you rationale.  Either way, I project a CNC head will happen even if it from a third party.  I also see a contact probe for 3D mapping of an object.  

Posted by: @3dalhemija

Prusa is company serious enough to take new challenges, but I'd prefer Prusa to develop separate CNC router rather than expanding XL with "CNC" for third party materials for number of reasons. Only exception for me is E3D ASMBL supstractive tool that would be suitable for accurate and smooth FDM parts. 

 

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

Well, the "pressure sensing" nozzle already works as a probe 🙂 "theoretically you could stick a plank of wood into the printer and it would still create a perfect first layer"

So you could possibly just run a very dense MBL and read the results.

Posted by: @cwbullet

 Not sure i see you rationale.  Either way, I project a CNC head will happen even if it from a third party.  I also see a contact probe for 3D mapping of an object.  

Posted by: @3dalhemija

Prusa is company serious enough to take new challenges, but I'd prefer Prusa to develop separate CNC router rather than expanding XL with "CNC" for third party materials for number of reasons. Only exception for me is E3D ASMBL supstractive tool that would be suitable for accurate and smooth FDM parts. 

 

 

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

I'm definitely "in" for a room temperature "squeezable" material extruder. Just imagine what you can do in that volume with a birthday cake or cookies and some chocolate/strawberry/vanilla/etc. "frosting"!

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

Posted by: @reddawg

I'm definitely "in" for a room temperature "squeezable" material extruder. Just imagine what you can do in that volume with a birthday cake or cookies and some chocolate/strawberry/vanilla/etc. "frosting"!

Ceramics too….  Green body and then kiln fire to final properties.  Ceramics/glass are the long term solutions to use of plastics.  Not going to run out of silica…

Don't be too sure.....

Ceramics too….  Green body and then kiln fire to final properties.  Ceramics/glass are the long term solutions to use of plastics.  Not going to run out of silica…

Maybe, but many regions of the world are running out of the special river-bottom sand preferred for the strongest concrete.

RE: Tooling "Wish List"

Ceramics extruder and a laser would be cool for sure.  I don't think a cnc is practical.  I have an onefinity cnc that is built like a tank and it can take x,y forces that would turn most 3d printers into a twisted mess.  Perhaps for very soft materials just to dabble in, but for real milling, a dedicated machine seems the better way to me.