[gentoo-user] 3D printers && Gentoo

[gentoo-user] 3D printers && Gentoo

[James]

Hello,

Not sure how many folks are using 3D printers yet
via Gentoo. If so your shared experiences are of keen
interest to me.

I did find these excellent resources [1].

[1] http://www.makerbot.com/support/guides/design/
[2] http://www.thingiverse.com/categories

Re: [gentoo-user] 3D printers && Gentoo

[Jean-Christophe Bach]

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*>  James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> [04.07.2013. @19:38:00 +0000]:

> Hello,
> 
> Not sure how many folks are using 3D printers yet
> via Gentoo. If so your shared experiences are of keen
> interest to me.
> 
> I did find these excellent resources [1].
> 
> [1] http://www.makerbot.com/support/guides/design/
> [2] http://www.thingiverse.com/categories

Hi James,

I am using 3D printers. With friends, we created a makerspace
(fablab/hackerspace)[1] where we are building and using 3D printers (and
lots of other things). The main resource to build a 3D printer we use is
[2]. Thingiverse [3] is great to find new 3D models, but you can also
create your own ones. For that, I am using OpenSCAD (in Portage,
media-gfx/openscap). It is also possible to use Blender with an ad hoc
plugin to export to .STL files. On other systems, there are proprietary
software, but I do not use them (sketchup seems to be very easy to use).

A friend (Emmanuel Gilloz aka watsdesign on Thingiverse[4]) designed the
Foldarap [5] which is a folding RepRap (it is amazing!). He crowdfunded
it a first time [6] but there was too many demands. Then he crowdfunded
a second time [7], and I think it is not yet finished.

With a colleague, we bought 2 RepRapPro Mendel [8] for the Computer
Science department where we teach. And today I tried to calibrate one.
But for the moment, students are not so interested in building and
creating things. They are fascinated, they want to use them (as
consumers), but not to create 3D models, or to design new 3D printers.

I am using Printrun [9] to control the 3D printer and to send gcode to
it. To generate gcode from 3D models (.STL files), I am using Slic3r
[10]. Of course, all these software are working without any problem on
Gentoo.

Regards,

JC

[1]  http://www.nybi.cc (in Frenchi :\ )
[2]  http://www.reprap.org
[3]  http://www.thingiverse.com
[4]  http://www.thingiverse.com/watsdesign/designs
[5]  http://reprap.org/wiki/FoldaRap
[6]  http://www.ulule.com/foldarap/ (first batch)
[7]  http://goteo.org/project/foldarap-peer-to-peer-edition (2nd batch)
[8]  http://www.reprappro.com
[9]  http://github.com/kliment/Printrun
[10] http://slic3r.org

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[gentoo-user] Re: 3D printers && Gentoo

[James]

Jean-Christophe Bach <jc.bach <at> gmail.com> writes:

> Of course, all these software are working without any problem on
> Gentoo. 
> JC

> [1]  http://www.nybi.cc (in Frenchi :\ )
> [2]  http://www.reprap.org
> [3]  http://www.thingiverse.com
> [4]  http://www.thingiverse.com/watsdesign/designs
> [5]  http://reprap.org/wiki/FoldaRap
> [6]  http://www.ulule.com/foldarap/ (first batch)
> [7]  http://goteo.org/project/foldarap-peer-to-peer-edition (2nd batch)
> [8]  http://www.reprappro.com
> [9]  http://github.com/kliment/Printrun
> [10] http://slic3r.org



Hello Jean-Christophe

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I read overviews of how
folks are (3D) printing with metals, but find few details.

I have some ideas on larger things to build, but in a 50-100
components sizes that fit together. 

 I what to build a series of modules using a 3D printer that fit together
with the lamiated beams to realize the a pickup-camper shell. I found
super-strong, light weight composites that can be laminated for
the structural beams, in lieu of metal. I'll have to design
and model thing, but I have used Autocad and ProE so no worries
on using Blender for the modelling....

So my real need is to find some resources (folks) that know about
the myriad of different feedstock material you can use in a 3D printer
and the resulting strengths. Platics, Polymers and such are
are not my area of expertise, but I do have a petrochemical degree
and some chemical process (refinery) experience. 

How do you find out about which 3D printers handle which matierals?
Is it difficult to build a modified 3D printer to handle customized
feedstock materials? 

James