breaking up long printing times
Hi, I am an early childhood teacher in New Zealand and I want to be able to create educational resources for my classroom. I joined a local makerspace which has some Prusa i3 MK3s. my problem is that the things I want to print have quite long print times, but the makerspace lets us book the machines for 1 hour at a time. Is it possible to print an object in separate sessions? I assume there would be problems getting everything lined up in position again? Would it help if I purchased my own heated bed and kept the model on it for each stage?
Best Answer by Neophyl:
That’s just not practical. There’s no way you would get the precision required when refitting the plate. Also the way pei is designed it releases the part when it cools (with a lot of filaments) so you would have to keep the bed hot. Which then presents its own handling issues.
A maker space should understand that 3D printing is not a quick process, they need to let you book significantly longer slots.
RE: breaking up long printing times
That’s just not practical. There’s no way you would get the precision required when refitting the plate. Also the way pei is designed it releases the part when it cools (with a lot of filaments) so you would have to keep the bed hot. Which then presents its own handling issues.
A maker space should understand that 3D printing is not a quick process, they need to let you book significantly longer slots.
RE: breaking up long printing times
create educational resources
I just wanted to point you to this contest, as you seem to create these educational projects anyway...
With one hour slots those printers are never going to be used for anything worthwhile.
Talk to the managers, show them a few examples and the predicted print times, challenge them to find anything more complex than a washer that can be printed in an hour...
Suggest they allocate the machine times according to the predicted print times - with allowance for setting up and cleaning down, perhaps allow users progressivly longer slots accordig to experience. Some of my better prints are 40 hours plus and, now I think of it, the last replacement machine part I made *for* my local makerspace was a 9 hour print.
Cheerio,
RE: breaking up long printing times
Our local makerspace booked two hour timeslots when I joined, but complaining had the effect of extending to four-hour blocks.
For prints that will run longer, you can leave your .stl at the desk and the staff will run them as the schedule permits, overnight if needed.
What made me break down and get my own printer was that at one time all three of the 'good' printers in the lab were down and the queue was estimated to be a few weeks out once they got some of them working.
That's also why I went with Prusa rather than LulzBot as I was considering. The one Taz 5 needed one part that was only available from Lulzbot and there was no ETA for delivery.
RE: breaking up long printing times
Haven't seen it before, so this could be the solution.
Approach someone in your area who has a prusa printer and ask if they are willing to print it.
😉
RE:
Thanks @neophyl, thats what I was afraid of.
RE:
I just wanted to point you to this contest, as you seem to create these educational projects anyway...
Thank you @stefan-3, I had seen that but unfortunately it only seems available for organisations, not individual teachers. However I can certainly see the potential 3D printing has for creating classroom resources, once the teacher has overcome the learning curve!
RE: breaking up long printing times
Our local makerspace booked two hour timeslots when I joined, but complaining had the effect of extending to four-hour blocks.
For prints that will run longer, you can leave your .stl at the desk and the staff will run them as the schedule permits, overnight if needed.
What made me break down and get my own printer was that at one time all three of the 'good' printers in the lab were down and the queue was estimated to be a few weeks out once they got some of them working.
That's also why I went with Prusa rather than LulzBot as I was considering. The one Taz 5 needed one part that was only available from Lulzbot and there was no ETA for delivery.
Yes, if the resources I have in mind prove successful I can dream about getting my own printer! 😉 Letting it run overnight is an option for the lucky person who gets the last slot of the day, but they don't have the MMU2S colour-changer so that isn't going to work for me either.
RE: breaking up long printing times
Haven't seen it before, so this could be the solution.
Approach someone in your area who has a prusa printer and ask if they are willing to print it.
Yes, I had considered that as a last resort and there are a few listed in my city. Although the map places 2 of them on top of a nearby extinct volcano. I have climbed it many times and I am pretty sure there aren't any prusa printers there! 😉
RE: breaking up long printing times
Using PrusaSlicer, chop your piece up into parts that print in 50-55 minutes.
So a 3 hour print would require three 1-hour sessions.
You would then have to glue the parts together.
RE: breaking up long printing times
And there are supposedly print shops out there. Send your design off to a printer and receive a completed print in the mail.
That would cost more money, but perhaps get you a better build.