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Too soon for a full review honestly, but the overall potential is in a different league altogether. I'm starting with Formlabs' basic resin, and haven't noticed any odor at all. Maybe the fancier 'engineering' resins have more fumes, I dunno. At least with the standard resin, I can't smell a thing. I keep my printers in my garage/lab/workshop, to avoid any fumes, noise, etc. This printer is also very quiet -- just a little hum as the LPU moves under the resin. The Formlabs printers use resin cartridges, so you don't need to pour it into a pan like on some of the more affordable resin printers out there. Even so, when you take the print out, and when you switch resin trays, etc., you still have wet resin to deal with, so gloves are a must and it seems best not to touch them until you've washed off all the uncured resin and let it dry/cure completely. Otherwise the wet resin will harden on the print and smudge it. At a .05mm layer height, I'd say it prints slightly slower than a lulzbot printing ABS at .15mm. The Form 3 goes down to .025 or up to .1mm.
You can leave the resin in the printer between prints, so clean up is no big deal (just wipe off any resin on the build plate). But, I have not changed resin types yes, so that figures to be more of a hassle with resins.
Everything about this printer is more expensive than the Lulzot -- standard resin is $150 a cartridge, trays and build plates are consumable$, would be nice to get a dedicated curing station, etc.,, Part of that is the formlabs premium I assume, but suspect the same hold directionally true even with the cheaper resin printers. So far, though, I'd say Formlabs is living up to its reputations -- great support, and the machine just works without a lot of fuss...
I'm making new gauge rings/bezel with the Form 3 for the gauges I have under the radio. This particular bezel screws on to the gauge with very fine threads, so I was never able to get usable threads with the FDM printers. I'm super impressed with the detail this printer is capable of creating. These threads spin right onto the gauge like they were machined, and the front looks like it came out of a mold. I'll post pictures of the finished project once I'm done, but thought I'd show off these threads here first.
I'm making new gauge rings/bezel with the Form 3 for the gauges I have under the radio. This particular bezel screws on to the gauge with very fine threads, so I was never able to get usable threads with the FDM printers. I'm super impressed with the detail this printer is capable of creating. These threads spin right onto the gauge like they were machined, and the front looks like it came out of a mold. I'll post pictures of the finished project once I'm done, but thought I'd show off these threads here first.
WOW - that is really impressive.
The Form3 would be ideal to print the HVAC clear frames.
I did a mock up of that panel just to see if it would fit in the form 3. You have to stand it up on an angle from one corner to the other, and even then it took forever to find a printable orientation. Shaving a few unnecessary mm off the ends helps, but it's still super tight, and I never tried printing to see how it came out when oriented like that. I do have clear resin, which I'll try when I run out of the grey. They also make a Form 3L (large) that would print that panel with plenty of room to spare, but it retails for $10,999, so there's that... There are surprisingly cheap resin printers on the market from other companies now, including bigger ones that could do that panel, though I have no idea how they compare to the Form 3. At the risk of jinxing myself, I've printed a few dozen things now (lots of bezel iterations) and every print has come out great.
When I had my seats redone, the upholstery guy lost the plastic latch handle on the side. I found this model on thingaverse, so printed it on the Form 3 and painted with a low-gloss black. Looks like a factory part to me. Heat deflection at 66psi is about 165F, so fingers crossed this material will hold up in hot sun (not that I leave my car out that much). They have a high temp resin good to 460F if needed...
I'm making new gauge rings/bezel with the Form 3 for the gauges I have under the radio. This particular bezel screws on to the gauge with very fine threads, so I was never able to get usable threads with the FDM printers. I'm super impressed with the detail this printer is capable of creating. These threads spin right onto the gauge like they were machined, and the front looks like it came out of a mold. I'll post pictures of the finished project once I'm done, but thought I'd show off these threads here first.
Forgive me if I've missed it, but was there ever a .stl file for the shifter coupling on the transaxle? I'd love to try printing it in PA6GF30.
As a suggestion, as this thread continues on and people continue to share files there should be a place where all .stl files are saved so people wont have to keep asking.
Still fixing up the new garage and wanted to do something to dress up the ugly circuit breaker panel. Not technically a 944 part, but I suppose it could be retro fit to work. The guts are all 3D printed on the Form 3, right down to the spark plug wire/boots...
HVAC Slider stl
Finally, I have something to contribute back to this site! My car has certainly benefitted from all that I have been able to learn here.
Part is modeled on an original part, but have left a hollow in the center for light to come through on the controls. If someone was so inclined they could fill with epoxy or something to give it a proper window.
(left to right)
Original -- my 3D printed -- Uro reproduction
01-01-2021, 07:27 PM
