On occasion we invite students from the University to use some of the larger units here. One mentioned that he did not think most users knew that these printers easily “scale” and that we should post some examples of larger pc’s. So, these are a few pc’s that remained at our lab as either failed or initial test prints. These are printed on one of the large units with a 1.2mm nozzle at a 1mm layer in t-glase clear. Print speed on these units is 20-28mm/s The samples here take about 3-5 hr’s to print. The 739mm flying wing was done for a Co in the AU that was designing a new crop drone. To increase operational time, solar cells are used. The clarity of t-glase allows them to be inserted inside of the wing, as it’s hollow, and still meet power requirements without effecting drag. The 2 large tube shapes are for a Hydraulics mfg as a prop for a marketing show. They are 680mm and 635mm. The third is a 2 pc prop for a local group making a video. The term…Multi-barrel-gattling-shotgun-with rocket-launcher…was what we were told! The major issue we ran into was the wing as it was held in place only by the right side tip of the wing as shown. This required a gradual slowing of the machine as the part was printed such that at the uppermost, we were down to a speed of about 5mm/s. Otherwise, the wing would sway from x/y movement of the bed. It should be noted that we have access to 20, 30 and 50lb spools that allow this type of part capability.
Great looking stuff. Big for FFF. I am trying to “scale up” as we speak. 1000 mm 3DR with a 3DS hot end. Hope to clear 300 mm z at minimum. But those prints look great at 1.2 mm nozzle. Thanks for sharing!
What size filament do you use for 1.2 mm nozzle, just 3mm?
@Jasper_Janssen The large units have 3 different loading systems. One for 1.75mm, one for 3mm and one for 3 - 6.35mm. They are all bowdens style with 1,200mm (48") tubes. At that length, retraction is not used on the 1.75mm. The extruders are our design. Direct drive. These were printed using 3mm (2.85mm) line from a 20 lb spool.