HOT Mag's

[BallAquatics]

https://youtu.be/dnIVrLqrEI8

Dennis

[Mugwump]

...nice....but all that equipment and cost for a $60 HOT Mag... .....

[BallAquatics]

...nice....but all that equipment and cost for a $60 HOT Mag... .....

... or ANYTHING else your heart desired  LOL

Dennis

[Mugwump]

...nice....but all that equipment and cost for a $60 HOT Mag... .....

... or ANYTHING else your heart desired  LOL

Dennis

True....if you wanted to tinker around... ....what would you make??

[BallAquatics]

True....if you wanted to tinker around... ....what would you make??

Oh, I wouldn't know where to start.....

• Custom housings for DIY LED tank lights
• Fittings, bulkheads, etc
• Specimen containers for holding fish before bagging
• Tigh sealing fish food containers of just the right size

Dennis

[Mugwump]

....one piece hinged insulated box inserts for shipping...
...a custom 'Lazy Susan' for our dining table..
...a 'green house' for Jan..
...a multi tank stand each for 20's and 30's and 10's....
...tank top covers.....

[Ron Sower]

Our granddaughter is taking pre-engineering courses in high school right now and she's made some very nice things this way. This reminds me of CNC machines I used to see in machine shops when I was selling to them.

[BillT]

I have a 3D printer and have made a few pipe fittings (non-threaded).

There are some caveats when dealing with stuff in contact with fish water:

1) some of the plastics (PLA) are made to be biogradable. Not good for in contact with fish water long term. 

2) Some 3D printed plastics have recently been shown to be toxic to baby (larval) zebrafish.
The abstract is here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.5b00249

However that is two out of more than 100 kinds of 3D plastic available for printing. Since I do not yet have access to the full article, I can't tell what king of plastic they were testing. Since I occasionally sell things to the Zebrafish Stock Center and we were thinking about some 3D printed parts, I gave them some samples to do their own tests on (put baby fish in a small volume of water with the plastic parts for several days). My first choice for a plastic is ABS which is not the easiest to print but is in other ways a very good plastic. It is the same plastic as used in black drainage pipe in the US (it is used for supply piping in the UK). It is supposed to have fewer problems releasing unreacted chemicals left over from it manufacturing than PVC.

There are also some new plastics for 3D printing that made to be food grade plastics suitable for use with human food.

Just for fun, I have used NASA's new transporter system.
I intercepted a wrench be teleported to the space station (downloaded the 3D print file from a NASA site; http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/wrench-mis) and printed it out.
It made a ~4 inch long ratcheting socket wrench handle with 3 interlocking parts all printed together.

[Mugwump]

...how do you make the wrench work exactly....??....

[BillT]

Put a socket on it.

There should be a file for that but I have not yet found it.

[Mugwump]

Put a socket on it.

There should be a file for that but I have not yet found it.

LOL....I was just wondering how the 3D printer made it?  this explains it.....

[BillT]

His experience was a lot like mine. Had to unstick it. This can probably be fixed in the details of programming that goes between the 3D file and making the program that drives the printer.

I just like the idea that it is a lot like a transporter or a Replicator in Star Trek. Get a file. Make a copy.

[Mugwump]

I just like the idea that it is a lot like a transporter or a Replicator in Star Trek. Get a file. Make a copy.

..it is isn't it...    the printers themselves are pricey......but how about access, and the cost, of adequate materials?

[BillT]

printers themselves are pricey......but how about access, and the cost, of adequate materials?

The printer prices vary quite a bit (hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars). That's the most complex part of it. There are many different ways to 3D print, but the kind that work like a well controlled hot glue gun are the cheapest and the ones most often used by hobbyists. I have one of those. There are some cheap ones that use liquids that are made solid but lasers or another source of light, but they would have a bunch of excess liquid which I would think you would have to get rid of (possibly toxic waste disposal issue). I have also sent a few things off (via web) to a commercial printing place and got parts back in a few days. They can print in a greater variety of plastics as well as metals and other materials.

You can order them online so you can get a lot of different kinds that way. I got mine through a local electronics supply shop. The owner is really into 3D printers and i got one through him which was the same price as online plus I could easily bug him about any problems that might arise (none did).

The plastic for printing can also be ordered on line. there is now a huge number of different plastic and manufacturers are now making plastics specifically for 3D printers which is a great improvement. There are a variety of flexible plastics available now.

Not all printers can get hot enough to melt all the different plastic materials, but with the new materials they are now making it is becoming less of an issue because many of the newer plastics are made to melt at the lower temperatures.

To get something to print you either make your own model with some 3D modeling software or download a model form one of many different sites (some free, some not).

This website (http://www.fabbaloo.com/) has buyer guides for printers, materials, 3D models to download and programs for 3D modeling (some are free). The buyer guides are not complete, but they are pretty good.

I also got a bunch of things to go with the printer:
? Small tools for taking it apart and putting it back together are handy (for clearing jams).
? Solvents for clearing clogged nozzles
? Materials for getting the print to stick well to the build plate (certain tapes or hair spray, but some now come with special materials for their build plate which stick to the plastic well).
? Its probably a good idea to have a well ventilated room to do the printing in.
? An InfraRed thermometer can be handy.

[Mugwump]

Thanks....good info there....I'll go exploring