3D-print at low costs again - Mallory, how to realize it

Well, I made a 1 meter statue of one of my online characters already.

http://www.entropiaplanets.com/thre...roduce-mena-oris-high-elf-blade-artist.19063/

The main goal in this project is to make a figure wich looks like the photo I used (see initial post). Ofc I will paint the figure. Printed Mallory shall look like the woman at the picture.

 

Next job: Left lower leg

I'm not sure if it will work well because the tip of the boots is clearly printing in the air. But with suspension the estimated time would be 4 hours more:

In this case it's clearly too much suspension. More suspension than the part:

So I try it without suspension first.
If it becomes to shitty I will add my own small suspensions to the original model in Rhino just where they are needed.





Hight is 169,4 mm. That's nearly at the limit of 180 mm. Hopefully it'll work!

 

Meanwhile:


Holy crap! That's really cheap. The point to think about buying a second printer. Would be helpfull with bigger projects as I run. One site told me the level thickness is adjustable from 0,1 to 0,4 mm. Really? 0,1 mm?????? For 357 Euro? Wanhao site says:


Probably "Print precision" means level thickness? I can't believe that! Well, printing time would increase by factor two. But quality factor two as well! That would be impressive.

 

I upgraded my current printer already with a better heater. That was essential for not smashing it through the window ;-)
The extruder could be designed in a better way. And changing filament is too cumbersome. Everything else is fine.

Oh, and I replaced the shitty SD-card by a better one.

With the new device (0,1 mm) better quality by factor two.

 

Hmmm ...

Not really good. Let's see if it'll be acceptable after a bit of finishing. Two points to think about:
What do I need for the photo?
What do I need for the global quality of the model?
It's the left boot - really in front of the picture. So what about the details?


All the quality aspects must be viewed for the whole figure. Not for single details. Same with the opposit side:

Looks shitty, doesn't it? The printer had to print in the air. But seriously: I will remove this because I want to fill the parts with gypsum. It doesn't matter how it looks. Such thoughts are very important. At wich details can I tolerate bad printing results, can I refine them if necessary and are they important for the main goal?

 

I prefer repeatable production processes. Means: correct it until the print process works good instead of put work into finish each print. Even if I realize only one figure of Mallory. It's kinda mental determination.

But in this case (left boot) I think it can be improved dramatically by sanding. Probably that's enough.

 

The job tonight is the upper left leg:




If it works I will print the missing connectors tomorrow and buy gypsum and a small buzz saw blade for my Proxxon device. Probably a small milling cutter as well. Both to finish the three parts of left leg and try to assembly them. First test of my new manufactoring method.

My working horse of a printer is at 19 d, 2 h meanwhile. Wich lowers the costs per hour to 0,97 Euro. I will update this regulary. So the costs of the already printed parts will decrease as well. No clue if this is accounting correct. But I don't care much for that. This bitch of a printer does really a great job so far.

Well, looks better than expected:

 

Now it becomes exciting: start of assembly.
First part was a terrible job. Cut the top surfaces and remove the infill:





I used a small side milling cutter and finally a small gripper.
Second part was glueing the connectors into the holes:

Than the final part three: fill the parts step by step with fluid gypsum.
Lower left leg half filled:

Upper left leg glued to the first part and 2/3 filled.




All glue and gypsum shall dry until tomorrow. Probably I'll start tonight with printing the right leg. So far it was all fine and easy and I can tell you: This leg alone is really heavy! Makes a good feeling of solidity. Especially for projects with bronze and copper materials I will use this method.

 

LOL! Unbelievable! Yes, something like that.
Okay it's a material from the past. It was used to close holes in walls and build cheap figures and models. Regarding your basement you would call it "filler". But it's cheap (~3 Euro/5 kg) and easy to handle. And I'm from the past as well. So I use it. It connects the parts of my model wich cannot be glued and gives stability to the hollow model. And it's damn heavy:

652 g! The leg only. I love it!

 

Okay, right leg:

I learned from the left leg that it's important to care for the upper and lower side of the boot. So I will split the leg into three parts this time


Next thing I learned: At smaller cross sections a tolerance of ±02 and regarding this a crack of 0,4 mm is to big. So I reduced it to 0,3 mm this time.





With several holes but acceptable:

 

Night shift for the printer the right upper leg:


More and more I tend to the "fat-arse-setting": 1,2 mm wall thickness (3 rounds á 0,4 mm per layer for the contour), 0,8 mm thickness for lower and upper surfaces (4 layers) and 3 to 8 % infill. At least for the main parts. The connectors are another issue. It is really time consuming but worth it I think meanwhile.

 

Looks good.



Now the last part of the body.



After this one I have all parts wich will be black. I will print the arms and the head with another color.

 

Interesting analysis: Costs per hour. I simply devided the price of the printer (445 Euro) by operation hours.

It tells me that I passed a magical limit of 1,00 Euro/h lately with 19 days (456 hours). No significant reduction will follow. Even if the printer becomes a very old man and reaches 50 days (1200 hours) of operating time, costs will be at 0,37 Euro.

 

This is a value you can't measure in generally. The printer works with several different movement speeds but nearly constant speed of extruding material. The inner curves of a contur with medium speed, the outer last curve with slow speed. The infill and suspension structures are printed very fast and the very first layer very slow. Meaning the printer consumes different amounts per time regarding what it is printing. Probably you can calculate this "combined" costs per printed part. But it'll be slightly different for all other parts. Doesn't make sense in my eyes. Not to speak about other material as you mentioned.
So my calculation is "price of the printer"/"operating time so far"+"material costs". This is important because I use several different materials. Most expansive costs are more than twice of the cheapest.

I could add costs per hour for electric energy. But this would add some few Cents only. All other costs are significantly higher. Wanhao says 240 W for the power unit. I pay 0,24 Euro/kWh=0,00024 Euro/Wh. Multiplied by 240 W = 0,06 Euro/h. Hmmm ... thought it was less than that. I should add it to my costs.

O wait! I forgot the VAT! Finance office refunded it for the printer! Holy crap, that'll change everything. So I paid 360 Euro for the printer only.

The new table:

 

Well, the print looks very good this time:

A closer view shows another problem, I didn't respect so far. The tip of the print left the platform because of heat entry:

Wich results in this:

Too sad. All other details are so good!
It can be repaired. I will describe it later. But it's annoying.

Finally the two missing connectors:
Let's see if the reduction to 0,3 mm of the crack will work.