Subject:
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Re: 3D printers
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:48:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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21588 times
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In lugnet.cad, Jeffrey Findley wrote:
> I was curious if anyone here has had experience using 3D printers to print Lego
> compatible pieces. Through an email list, I stumbled across this product:
>
> http://www.up3dusa.com/about-the-up#!__about-the-up
>
> I thought others here might be interested since it uses ABS as the printing
> material and because it should be relatively easy to take just about any Lego
> CAD model and export it in STL format to send to this machine for printing.
I don't think there's any 3D printing technology available that hits the
tolerances needed for functional Lego compatible pieces (I think Lego pieces are
manufactured to ±.0006")
The resolution on filament fed printers (fused deposition modeling or FDM), like
the UP, MakerBot, RepRAP, or 3D Systems Dimension, is much too coarse for fine
details. FDM is better suited for hand-sized objects or bigger. At LEGO
scales, the filament size gets close to the wall thickness of the parts, so
details and structural integrity suffer.
ultraHD SLA would be a better bet, but the parts would still be quite a bit more
brittle than Lego, and the fit would still be tough to get right.
--Bram
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: 3D printers
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| (...) What we really need is someone able to machine some aluminum 2x4 bricks! If only... (12 years ago, 27-Feb-12, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: 3D printers
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| (...) Agreed. I've seen people print 2x2 bricks, but just for fun. One thing I've considered is to use a reprap to print foundations for hills in a layout, so I only need to use bricks and plates for the visible top layer of the hills. For that (...) (12 years ago, 28-Feb-12, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | 3D printers
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| I was curious if anyone here has had experience using 3D printers to print Lego compatible pieces. Through an email list, I stumbled across this product: (URL) thought others here might be interested since it uses ABS as the printing material and (...) (12 years ago, 24-Feb-12, to lugnet.cad)
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