Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Romanian Tacam R-2: prequel and sequel

 While hunting for pictures for my new year "resolution" post I ran into some pics of the original print. It's kinda fun to see what is going on with this project. 

 The printer lays down layers sequentially to build up the objects, and due to the analog nature of FDM printers (i.e. it has pulleys and squirts out bits of goop from a print head) there will always be some print artifact. The 'layer lines' are usually the worst culprint. FDM also totally sucks at 'overhangs' as the plastic needs plastic or something firm underneath to prevent it from drooping as it cools (this is all sounding increasingly phallic). 

I decided with the front as the 'top'. I also needed to through a bunch of cylindrical supports to prevent the inside from looking like gravy and to help stabilize the whole thing (prints can be rocked off by the movement of the print head. 

I was actually very pleased with the quality of this print. I've had much worse to be honest. The supports all came off very cleanly and easily as well and the model didn't need much clean up.




















6 comments:

  1. Fairly industrial operation you have there Dave. How long does it take you to crank out one of those tanks?

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    1. I kinda forgot. I'd imagine it's in the 10ish hour range. I've also changed my settings since doing this which has resulted in cleaner prints that take longer. In some ways it doesn't really matter if it jumps 4-6 hours if I'll just be printing overnight anyway....

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  2. Very good finished print! The print lines are my biggest gripe when it comes to printed models and it seems they are becoming less and less of an eyesore.

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    1. Fortunately there are so many resources out there to help you improve your prints. Unfortunately there are so many resources out there to improve your prints. It is a hideously trial and error system. It also feels like sometimes you change nothing and it stops working.

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  3. That is a huge looking contraption. Outstanding result, Dave!

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    1. I assume you mean the 3d printer. I agree, it's got a sizeable footprint. Hilarious I almost never use much of the 'Z' axis (vertical distance). Probably with the tanks it's one of the exceptions as I print them standing on their rear ends so use maybe 1/2 the available space.

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