Sick of Paying Tractor Part Prices.... Make Your Own....(3D Printed)

[k0ua]

Here is a photo of the "paddles" or Iambic keyer

So as you can see complex items can be printed as parts and assembled. Sure there is some wiring inside, and some brass contacts and the paddle arms ride on small ball bearings, but the box, the base and the paddle arms themselves are 3D printed. Just like almost everything else it is an assembly of parts, but the majority of the product is made out of plastic that was 3D printed.

 

[whitehair]

View attachment 696443
A part that is available but not up to the task

Suggestion; please trim the photos down a bit because it fills my whole page Many thanks for the great idea

 

[strantor]

Ok. So why are 3D printers a national security risk?

MoKelly

The presumption would be... Because according to some fear mongering nitwits, they can be used to print "ghost guns." Which, while "true" if you want to put a definition to "ghost guns," any CNC machine is an even bigger "threat" because it can produce real guns made of real metal. So by the logic of "buy a 3D printer and end up on a watch list" conspiracy theory, any 3D printer owner should be at the bottom of the "watch list" beneath the owner of any other kind of CNC machine.

 

[grsthegreat]

Suggestion; please trim the photos down a bit because it fills my whole page Many thanks for the great idea

When you paste photo to new site, there’s an option to make photo smaller. No reason to paste 5 meg pics. The message is right below the picture...choose image size.

 

[Skeans1]

When you paste photo to new site, there’s an option to make photo smaller. No reason to paste 5 meg pics. The message is right below the picture...choose image size.

Sorry for that guys I’m doing this from Tapatalk and every site is different from an upload size.

 

[k0ua]

Ok. So why are 3D printers a national security risk?

MoKelly

Yeah, so lathes and milling machines and welders are national security risks too. And you really can make a viable firearm with those tools now can't you?

So a 3D printer can be run by a monkey with the right software driving it though right? Well CNC milling machines can be run by monkeys too.

Point is, technology marches on, and once a thing has been invented it is pretty hard to "un-invent it" When Sam Colt invented the revolver cylinder, which he said he drew inspiration from looking at a ships steering wheel, it was pretty hard to put that genie back in the bottle now wasn't it?

And when Rollin White invented the bored thru cylinder made to accept metallic cartridges as an improvement to the old percussion cylinder, you can bet everyone and his dog scarfed up on that idea pretty quickly.

Time marches on, and so does technology.

"It's a communications system. It needs repair but I'm willing to bet that you've brought one of those famed Starfleet engineers who can turn rocks into replicators."*

*Keevan

 

[MoKelly]

The presumption would be... Because according to some fear mongering nitwits, they can be used to print "ghost guns." Which, while "true" if you want to put a definition to "ghost guns," any CNC machine is an even bigger "threat" because it can produce real guns made of real metal. So by the logic of "buy a 3D printer and end up on a watch list" conspiracy theory, any 3D printer owner should be at the bottom of the "watch list" beneath the owner of any other kind of CNC machine.

Thanks for the reply.

Well - I’ll take my chances. If anyone checks I may be deemed to already have more guns than most.

MoKelly

 

[Alan W.]

My son has a Ender 5 pro if Im saying that right. He has modified it to the point that all that remains of the original printer is the frame and motors.
Every time he ran into limitations he changed something. But he can print most if not all types of plastics.
He has printed numerous items for me and others. In my opinion they are like most specialty tools. You may not need it everyday but when you do it sure is nice.
Printed an adapter to mount a fan to ducting last night.

 

[ageinplace]

Two main sources for me are Thingiverse and stl finder. Search the interwebs or I can post links if that is allowed.

Thanks. Will check them out!

 

[dsaw]

To everyone afraid of learning the software, Youtube is your friend. I use Fusion 360 personally and had no previous CAD experience. I think I paid for my printer in one project when I printed new bases for the two part knobs on my cooktop that were all split. You could only buy the entire part from the manufacturer for something like $40-50 each. I originally bought it to make some very hard to come by gun magazines, but discovered they don't do thin walls that well. I'm no expert, but for parts requiring precise fitting, I've found accounting for shrinkage the hardest part of the design process.