Got a 3D printer now, it's fun!

[GSRman]

That's no good
So its a no go then?

nah just making excuses as to why i haven't done it yet - just need a couple of hours to work on it - in a house with two small kids its a bit hard to find.

[Skippy]

All good mate, whenever you have time.

[Benonymous]

Is a Glitar6 from Mingda 3D http://www.md-3d.com/product/3dprint...l#.VHnzWjGUf6U

Are you going to be printing a lot of these?

[GSRman]

slightly veinyer

[GSRman]

hey benny - do you guys have (or intend to?) the flashforge creator glass bed pieces? - $20 on FFusa, but i was a little put off by $80 worth of postage.

[GSRman]

ps - while trying to tune slic3r to do what i want - i used this a few times to see what the gcode was actually doing

http://www.3dgeni.us/gCodeViewer/index.html

[Stix Zadinia]

anyone got a suggestion for a printer to use to make taillight lenses (of decent quality) i tried google but stratasys is all i get and no info on which model to use

i don't want something that does production, and i'm prepared to spend time on it to save money on the printer

[GSRman]

In my limited experience, that would be difficult.

[Gin Kii]

anyone got a suggestion for a printer to use to make taillight lenses (of decent quality) i tried google but stratasys is all i get and no info on which model to use

i don't want something that does production, and i'm prepared to spend time on it to save money on the printer

I believe stratasys can do it however be prepared to be bent over.

They quoted me on a part that Bill did for me... they were 2000% more expensive than Bill.

[Billzilla]

anyone got a suggestion for a printer to use to make taillight lenses (of decent quality) i tried google but stratasys is all i get and no info on which model to use

i don't want something that does production, and i'm prepared to spend time on it to save money on the printer

It's possible to use translucent ABS (yellow & red) in the machines that a few of us are using here, but it's still have the layered type of surface. You could smooth off the surface a fair bit by rubbing it with acetone or using the hot acetone vapour technique.
It'd be cheap enough to give it a try I reckon.

[Stix Zadinia]

yeah they can do it, but i wanna buy a printer that can do it (although a prototyping printer, not a $15,000 production printer)

that way i can do other things with it (like print a centre vent for a 76-77 911 that are NLA)

EDIT: thanks bill, so if i get it drawn up is there a machine that'll do translucent ABS that i should buy?

[Gin Kii]

Don't think stratasys use 15k printers anyway.

[Billzilla]

yeah they can do it, but i wanna buy a printer that can do it (although a prototyping printer, not a $15,000 production printer)

that way i can do other things with it (like print a centre vent for a 76-77 911 that are NLA)

EDIT: thanks bill, so if i get it drawn up is there a machine that'll do translucent ABS that i should buy?

Something like Pierced69's machine from one of the posts above.

[JamesB]

anyone got a suggestion for a printer to use to make taillight lenses (of decent quality) i tried google but stratasys is all i get and no info on which model to use

i don't want something that does production, and i'm prepared to spend time on it to save money on the printer

Are you trying to duplicate an existing lens that's no longer available, or create a custom lens?

If it's an existing but now unavailable lens, and you can borrow one, then one popular choice is Dow Corning's Silastic "M" Silicone or Polytek 71-20 RTV for the mould and Polytek's Poly-Optic "Water-Clear" Resin for the actual lens. The Poly-Optic resin is tintable. Here's a link to a how-to DVD package and here's a link to a PDF on making a custom tail light lens for a '55 Chevy using the same mould and resin route.

When I got my 80s vintage camper, it was missing a number of lenses on the clearance/marker lights. These lights and their associated lenses were made by a company that closed in the 90s, and replacements aren't available through any normal retail channels. I got one NOS amber lens from The Taillight King in Texas. He had no idea what the lens fitted. I google searched for the numbers cast into the lens and ended up at his page as he'd included the the casting numbers on his page listing for the lens. I still need 2 more red lenses (identical pattern) to take care of the remaining missing lenses.

I am going to try to use my Form1 and clear resin to make replacement lenses. A few people have suggested printing the lens in clear then applying the tint with an air brush using a transparent tinted colour, like the tinted candy apple type colours. I have been told that it is possible to add a dye to the Form1 resin to produce a tinted clear result.

If it turns out to be too much of a problem to do it as a 3D printing process, then I'll make a mould using the as yet unmounted NOS amber lens as the master, and cast the replacements. Considering that there are 7 amber and 9 red lenses on the camper and 4 of the reds and 2 of the ambers are in what I consider to be extremely vulnerable positions (funny how all the missing lenses were in those locations), then spending some time doing the 3D modeling or making the mould wont be a waste.

[GSRman]

I would think that a DLP resin printer would be the easier way to do it - a extruder type won't give a great finish - as each layer will cause non-clearness.