3D printers



There are 3 RepRaps available for use in the Space.


 * White Printer, a TVRRUG round-2 Prusa
 * Green Printer, an early TVRRUG round-1 Prusa
 * Bowden Printer

The white printer is on Long Term Loan from Matt  Daubney. The Green Printer was kindly donated by Malcolm Napier and the TVRRUG, and the Bowden Printer was donated by Sylvain Chonavel.

Before using the printers, please ensure you have been tutored in how to operate them. Instruction can be given by Matt  Daubney and  David Price. Please contact them directly to arrange training. The instructions here are designed for the reference of trained members to properly maintain the 3D printers.

David Price has produced an excellent build guide for TVRR R3 machines that may be of interest to users.

Charges
At the moment there is a charge for using the 3D printers to cover filament use and machine maintenance;
 * filament is 35p per metre as reported by Pronterface when an object is loaded
 * usage is £1 per half hour run time

Please note an entry in the respective printer's log book and put money in the honesty box.

The charges are to be used to fund replacement parts that we can't make including electronics, heated bed, motors and hot end. The charges will be reviewed once we have seen what kind of usage the printers are put to and the level of wear and tear they experience.

Design Considerations

 * Has someone already made it? Check Thingiverse
 * Does your design has overhangs of greater than 45&deg; ? If so you will need to ensure that Slic3r is told to print support material, or design your own into the print.
 * Would other people benefit from whatever it is you've designed? If so, please consider Open Sourcing it :)

Before Use

 * Ensure the printer is operational and not shutdown for maintenance! There will be a sign on the printer if it should not be use.
 * Before using the printer, ensure that the glass is clean and clear of any contaminates. Ensure that the area around the 3D printers is tidy (you may be about to make a mess, and it makes sense to be a little bit tidy while working with the filament).
 * Ensure no-one else is currently using the printer you wish to use, the filament you wish to use, or the 3D printer PC

Preparing Your CAD Files
The 3D printer desktop has the open source OpenSCAD, Slic3r and Pronterface packages installed on it. It would be wise to have preprepared your drawing to load into the appropriate software so as to not prevent other people using the 3D printer while you would be preparing your drawings. Your end drawings should be in STL format ready to be fed to Slic3r. Open Slic3r on the printer computer. Slic3r allows you to plate up either multiples of a single design, or multiple different designs to be printed simultaneously. This can make it more convenient to print a batch of items, but does also increase the risk of the print failing as it will take longer to print.

Operation

 * Only use rlab supplied PLA. PLA generally prints well at around 185c and sticks to the glass plates at around 60-65c, set the bed temp to 70c to allow for sensor offset. The print temperature can vary between filament colour and composition so adjust to suite.
 * Keep the printers and work area clean and clear of debris, put all waste in the bins provided. Human oils reduce the sticktion of the build plate so avoid touch the glass if at all possible. Use long nose pliers to remove oozing plastic and a craft knife to remove built objects.
 * If the printer fails or is obviously broken switch off at the mains immediately, please do not attempt to repair it yourself, put a note on the machine that it is broken then describe the problem in the logbook and a bugzilla request (http://bugs.rlab.org.uk/)
 * Do not leave the hot end idle at working temperature for longer that 2-3 minutes. If you are not actively printing something reduce the bed to 50c (PLA objects will come off reasonably easily at this temperature) and reduce the Extruder to 100c.
 * Do not stick anything to the glass plates unless you have asked one of the maintainers first. We will never say yes to Sellotape so don't ask. Hairspray improves sticktion and is easily cleaned off with solvent. Other materials can be used (eg Kapton) and some plates with these coverings will be made available in due course where people are sensitive to hairspray and solvents.