Printing the Fuel Panel

[Trevor Hale]

Just a quick Link of My Printer while for the next 5 hours it will print 1/2 of my new Fuel Panel.

Trev.

http://142.166.187.252:8081/video.mjpg

Sorry wrong link LOL

[jr2mey]

Trevor,

Watching your print.  Could you post a picture of the finished product?  Im really curious about the end result of your 3D print.

James.

[Trevor Hale]

Sure thing.

Here is what I drew,  Should be filling in the next couple layers.

All the Honeycomb in the middle is removable once its finished.  Its there to support the top layer.

[jr2mey]

Thanks!  what airframe are you making this one for?

[Trevor Hale]

My King Air 350i  Its to replace the flat panel I am currently using..

[jr2mey]

Dang that is cool.  Ever since Bob got his printer, I have been wondering what it would take to print my own 737 AFT overhead and radio panels.

[Trevor Hale]

Dang that is cool.  Ever since Bob got his printer, I have been wondering what it would take to print my own 737 AFT overhead and radio panels.

If you do it panel for panel, no issues at all, I printed my ISIS and RMP panel from design to prototype to completion (Wired and installed) in the cockpit in a weekend.

Printing text is very difficult and I haven't mastered it yet, but I will get there.  As for the panels themselves...  Cake.

The text is the tricky part, can't do as fine of a job as a CNC or Laser, but creating the panels is easy. and they look great, once you master the printer settings.

Trev

[jr2mey]

So, what do you think about printing the panel and adhearing it to the 3d printout??  do you think that would work well?

[Trevor Hale]

If you look at this post.... 

http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=6894.msg49090;topicseen#new

You can see what I am doing.  I print "Korry's" Kind of, in clear, thy fit into the square cutouts above the switches, which allow the backlighting through, then I print a text cap that goes over the top.  So far this is the best I have come up with, but as I gain experience, I am sure I will be able to do better.

Trev

[jr2mey]

Thanks trevor... Oh by the way, your camera is pointing away from your project.

[Trevor Hale]

LOL  Sorry, Moved it when I was taking the piece off.  Unfortunately I made a design booboo..  Printing the part again, then I will print the other half tomorrow..  Should be going to 3am.

The hardest part with 3D printing, is not the cost...  Its waiting for things to complete, just to find out your human and you make mistakes...

5.5 hours down the tubes, and I will print again..  Then I will likely find another issue, or maybe not.. Its like a surprise bag... LOL

[Trevor Hale]

Left Side is complete, Still needs a little sanding and finishing work, but for the most part is a work of art.

Starting the Right side, it will be another 5 hours before I can do the finishing work on it.

Trev

EDIT: Last Picture shows a test fit of a spare gauge I have Before I rip apart my existing panel. Now on to sand and paint with clear coat.

[Flying_Fox]

What do you print them with? PLA? ABS?

[Bob Reed]

What do you print them with? PLA? ABS?

We are currently printing with PLA. I have a feeling ABS is in the horizon!

[blueskydriver]

Hey James,

I know it's been awhile, but did you get any further with the idea of 3D printing the AFT Overhead and Radio Panels? If not, look at these:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:493771

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:518763

My thinking is to print the items out in white PLA or ABS, and then paint them Boeing Gray. Next, just have the text done by using either a CNC router or CNC laser cutter. Not much different from using MDF or metal and etching out the text from the paint in order to get back lighting.

John

[archen]

Trevor,

Have you tried acetone vapourizing? (Only works for ABS based materials).

I just tried it this weekend when printing some korrys. The difference is amazing.

Here's a link and tutorial made by the manufacturer of my printer.

https://support.zortrax.com/acetone-vaporizing/

Worth a try!

Skickat från min SM-G955F via Tapatalk

Edit:
Here's a short test. This is 50minutes. I need to try different timings to get best results.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Anders,

I watched a few videos on doing acetone vaporizing and it does look pretty good once finished, but it looks like an art form really...like 3D printing, you have to get a knack for it...lol...after making enough mistakes. 

John

[Trevor Hale]

Thanks Anders,
Now I am home for the winter, I am going to experiment with ABS, I am a tad nervous as the temperature variations can cause significant dissatisfaction. but am going to give it a whirl.
Actually, now that I am talking about it, there has been some bad news about thermal runaway with printers over the summer and as it happens, My printer is not protected from such a disaster and therefore can cause a fire should the thermal couple come dis attached from the extruder. 

Has anyone successfully upgraded their printers firmware without bricking it?
Thanks,
Trev

[blueskydriver]

Which 3D printer do you have Trevor?

John

[Trevor Hale]

Monoprice maker select 3d V2
I have heard I can upgrade firmware but will void my waranty, not as concerned about warranty as I am thermal runaway LOL

[blueskydriver]

Hey Trevor,

I was looking into this with the CR-10S5 yesterday and from what I've read you have to use a boot loader. Not sure if this is the same for yours, but I would start there.

Also, thanks for bringing up thermal runaway, because I didn't even know what that was until you mentioned it. Plus, I've already been printing with 3 printers all running at the same time unattended...not a good practice I know.

Based on this news, I plan to mount webcams by the printers and somehow come up with a fault prevention system along with some sort of fire supression system.

John

[archen]

Thermal runaway, is it the same phenomen that could happen with a charger? Resistance decreases when temperature increases which resultes in increased current and heat increases even more?

Wouldn't a fuse be better option? Maybe a thermal fuse even?

Skickat från min SM-G955F via Tapatalk

[Trevor Hale]

That's it exactly guys, I know it isn't good practice to leave your printers unattended, as I have found out when returning to a ball of plastic yarn all over my bench. (It happens).  But with long prints, its unavoidable.
Some guys rig up smoke detectors to relays and trip power to their printers if smoke builds up.
I like the idea of a thermal fuse etc.
the bottom line is if your thermal couple comes off the extruder, and the printer keeps heating it until it literally catches fire because it can't read the temp, or one wire burns off, your in big trouble.
Would love to design something that i could put over the printer that would detect such a thing and shut it down.
Apparently there is something written in new firmware that if the extruder heats for X amount of time and the temp doesn't change it will kill the printer and give it a fault. (preventing a fire)
webcams won't help you John if your sleeping LOL.
Trev

[blueskydriver]

Oh, I never sleep...lol! Me being funny , but I agree and you're 100% about webcams. I printed a 30 hour model for the neighbor and had no other choice, except let it run...when I slept.

If you do come up with an idea for a way to enclose the printer or at least have some sort of anti-fire system it would be awesome. I think Anders is onto something with fusing, but how could we detect a fire and extinguish it automatically without our intervention is a tough one.

John

[Trevor Hale]

We do it on underground mobile equipment, we basically have a dry chem fire extinguisher connected to tubing, that when the heat melts a lead seal a spring lets go of the pin and autofires.
there is also a manual release plunger you can activate as well.
just trying to figure out how to make that work in the garage LMFAO