Hi I am thinking of investing in a 3D printer or using one at our local makespace. Here in the UK a magazine is offering a weekly build-by-component series to make a 3d printer that will run on a pc or mac and uses DOT stl files for the design. A lsow build but an interesting idea nonetheless. I have seen at ESTEC 3d printed model plastic cubesats and am aware of the experiment on the ISS but do not know the software used or data file format. I was wondering if anyone on the -bb has experience of using a 3D printer for outreach or (like SATNOGS) for building rotator gears, and if so whether the file extension DOTstl is an industry standard for this work? I wonder if the estec and nasa files would be reachable by, say, the freedom of information legislation, or would be handed over. many thanks 73 de andy g0sfj
Hi Andy
STL files are an industry standard. 3D printers are being used by SATNOGS to make rotator parts. the main upside is when they wear out you can print more.
Regarding the magazine it probably works out at £800 or more all in. You can get a complete 3D printer assembled for less. There will be no reviews on that model until people have built it, probably better to just buy a kit or finished model.
In general there are issues with 3D printing and it cannot do everything like any tool. You can research more online but basic issues are:
1) You cannot print anything unless you have a 3D model, which is most of the work. 2) Generally most printers only print in plastic like lego plastic 3) They are very slow and take time to setup and often hours to print. 4) They cannot print certain things, The material "falls down" so you cannot print an overhang. There is work around such as parts you break off, but it does limit the type of things you can build 5) There is a limited max size you can make, normally quite small but there is also work a rounds.
In my local hackerspace I have access to two 3D printers, laser cutter and a lathe. I have yet to use them for any of my actual projects. With the 3D printer getting a model of what I wanted in a printable format was a stumbling block.
It's probably better to buy one as a club or group due to the cost and the fact it may not get much use. Most of what is printed are trinkets, or people messing about. If you get a really good one, and are good with 3D packages you can stretch the boundaries, and even send off your STL files to get the same item printed in metal on a professional model. I bodge stuff with plastic and metal all the time without needing a 3d printer.
I found it better just to pay a professional to make items such as aluminium brackets or welded shapes for one off projects. £800 would go a long way towards making parts needed. The SATNOGS guys are in the greek hackerspace so, as such, they have access to the printer for free.
Andy,
I don't know if you have seen the paper written by David Kumpar, et al from Montana State University, but it has a lot of detail about their PrintSat. See the PDF, 3D PRINTED PARTS FOR CUBESATS; EXPERIENCES FROM KYSAT-2 AND PRINTSAT USING WINDFORM XT 2.0, here
http://www.dycoss.com/program/final/IAA-AAS-DyCoSS2-14-09-10.pdf
Other press release type references include http://amsat-uk.org/tag/david-klumpar/
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20120609-msu-uses-windform-to-build-amateur-ra...
73
EMike E. Michael McCardel, KC8YLD V.P. for Educational Relations, AMSAT-NA
Have you donated to get your Fox-1 Challenge Coin Yet? http://www.amsat.org/?p=3275
On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 8:23 AM, andy thomas [email protected] wrote:
Hi I am thinking of investing in a 3D printer or using one at our local makespace. Here in the UK a magazine is offering a weekly build-by-component series to make a 3d printer that will run on a pc or mac and uses DOT stl files for the design. A lsow build but an interesting idea nonetheless. I have seen at ESTEC 3d printed model plastic cubesats and am aware of the experiment on the ISS but do not know the software used or data file format. I was wondering if anyone on the -bb has experience of using a 3D printer for outreach or (like SATNOGS) for building rotator gears, and if so whether the file extension DOTstl is an industry standard for this work? I wonder if the estec and nasa files would be reachable by, say, the freedom of information legislation, or would be handed over. many thanks 73 de andy g0sfj _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Andy
If you have a look at the current edition of Oscar News from AMSAT-UK, you'll see that our team working on the payload for the ESEO satellite have used 3D printing to produce a model of the payload enclosure. I believe the original computer modelling used STEP files to generate all of the drawings and that these were then adapted for use with the 3D printer. The final enclosure for the L band to VHF FM transponder has to be milled from a solid block. As we didn't want to do that job twice (250 x 100 x 50mm and expensive) it made perfect sense to produce one with 3D printing to ensure that all the mountings and cut-outs were in the correct position.
Thanks
David G0MRF
-----Original Message----- From: andy thomas [email protected] To: amsat [email protected] Sent: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:41 Subject: [amsat-bb] Hamsat uses for a 3d printer?
Hi I am thinking of investing in a 3D printer or using one at our local makespace. Here in the UK a magazine is offering a weekly build-by-component series to make a 3d printer that will run on a pc or mac and uses DOT stl files for the design. A lsow build but an interesting idea nonetheless. I have seen at ESTEC 3d printed model plastic cubesats and am aware of the experiment on the ISS but do not know the software used or data file format. I was wondering if anyone on the -bb has experience of using a 3D printer for outreach or (like SATNOGS) for building rotator gears, and if so whether the file extension DOTstl is an industry standard for this work? I wonder if the estec and nasa files would be reachable by, say, the freedom of information legislation, or would be handed over. many thanks 73 de andy g0sfj _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Thanks to all who have replied, for your comments full of insight.
It's clear to me that competence in 3D printing is significant if not essential to the future Hamsat-er, so at my local hackspace I am going to learn how to manage a 3D printer, and maybe even build one myself! 73 de andy g0sfj
From: David G0MRF [email protected] To: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 29 January 2015, 15:39 Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Hamsat uses for a 3d printer?
Hi Andy If you have a look at the current edition of Oscar News from AMSAT-UK, you'll see thatour team working on the payload for the ESEO satellite have used 3D printing to produce a model of the payload enclosure.I believe the original computer modelling used STEP files to generate all of the drawings and that these were thenadapted for use with the 3D printer.The final enclosure for the L band to VHF FM transponder has to be milled from a solid block. As we didn'twant to do that job twice (250 x 100 x 50mm and expensive) it made perfect sense to produce one with 3D printingto ensure that all the mountings and cut-outs were in the correct position. Thanks David G0MRF -----Original Message----- From: andy thomas [email protected] To: amsat [email protected] Sent: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:41 Subject: [amsat-bb] Hamsat uses for a 3d printer?
Hi I am thinking of investing in a 3D printer or using one at our local makespace. Here in the UK a magazine is offering a weekly build-by-component series to make a 3d printer that will run on a pc or mac and uses DOT stl files for the design. A lsow build but an interesting idea nonetheless. I have seen at ESTEC 3d printed model plastic cubesats and am aware of the experiment on the ISS but do not know the software used or data file format. I was wondering if anyone on the -bb has experience of using a 3D printer for outreach or (like SATNOGS) for building rotator gears, and if so whether the file extension DOTstl is an industry standard for this work? I wonder if the estec and nasa files would be reachable by, say, the freedom of information legislation, or would be handed over. many thanks 73 de andy g0sfj _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
participants (4)
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andy thomas -
Daniel Cussen -
David G0MRF -
E.Mike McCardel