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A:M 3D printing


DrPhibes

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It's been awhile since I have posted in the forums, but robcat2075 informed me that some of you might find these current projects of interest.

 

Last year I bought myself a Thing-O-Matic from Makerbot.com, and have designed most of the things I have printed on it with A:M.

This is a photo of a Lightcycle model I originally modeled in A:M about 12 years ago,

Finished_Lightcycle_Model_Red_preview_large.jpg

then updated into a model kit you can download and print from Thingivers.com.

Lightcycle at Thingivers.com

Today I have finished one of my steam engine models, fully designed in A:M and them printed on my Makerbot in ABS.

The only non-printed parts are one spring and a few machine screws.

I have not been using A:M much for full rendered animation or images for awhile, but I use it almost everyday for projects like these. Both at home and at work.

 

Charles Babbage

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Extremly cool Charles!

Keep us updated about that other steamengine in the back!

 

I'll buy a 3d-printer myself in the near future and I am always amazed on what is possible to be done with these!

 

See you

*Fuchur*

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  • Hash Fellow

Hey, Charles... can you talk about what extra you had to do to get that to work? The 3D-printed models I've actually touched seemed very gritty. You must have done some sanding or smoothing after it came out of the printer?

 

And what version of A:M are you using?

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Hey, Charles... can you talk about what extra you had to do to get that to work? The 3D-printed models I've actually touched seemed very gritty. You must have done some sanding or smoothing after it came out of the printer?

 

And what version of A:M are you using?

I have a current subscription and did all this on v16. I just installed 17 but have had no time to start it up.

 

Because A:M is not really designed for mechanical modeling, there are the typical challenges with precision.

I'm printing with extruded ABS plastic, so it is pretty smooth when printed, and durable. I did not sand any of the surfaces of the objects shown here. These are straight out of the printer with just a little clean up some flashing.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, Charles - forgive the late response, this is my first time back on the forum for almost a year...

 

Did you need to convert your model to STL format (or similar) before printing, and if so - how?

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Charles,

 

Wow! That's amazing work.

 

I especially like the instructions you created to go with the STL models. Another excellent use of A:M!

http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws...nstructions.pdf

 

Nice touch!

 

Did you need to convert your model to STL format (or similar) before printing, and if so - how?

 

Not answering for Charles here but want to make sure everyone knows... A:M now exports to STL format. (See image below)

 

 

P.S. Welcome back Gorf! :)

STL_export.jpg

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  • 2 months later...
Did you need to convert your model to STL format (or similar) before printing, and if so - how?

 

Not answering for Charles here but want to make sure everyone knows... A:M now exports to STL format. (See image below)

 

Yes, an STL is exactly what I exported as. The STL exporter works very well from A:M and I have had no trouble printing directly from them. The main issue is scaling. A:M does not allow you to set your working units to millimeters. As such, when I import the STL into anything else, the scaling is always off by a factor of 10. Not hard to work around, but it would be nice if A:M would just include MM as a units option.

 

Charles

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The main issue is scaling. A:M does not allow you to set your working units to millimeters. As such, when I import the STL into anything else, the scaling is always off by a factor of 10. Not hard to work around, but it would be nice if A:M would just include MM as a units option.

 

 

I notice that the OBJ plugin includes a "scale" factor. You might make a feature suggestion at AMReports to have that added to the STL plugin and that would probably happen.

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