3D Printing for Boat Parts

[ocgrant]

I am starting this thread as this subject is interesting to me. @jmauld is printing me a new mount for my Starlink and come to find out he has done some more pretty cool stuff. Back in the day I was a lathe and mill guy making my own parts for racing cars when I was into racing them. Now this new technology is incredible what can be done. Seriously considering getting one of these but I am not sure I have the time or knowledge to do the programming to print what I can dream up. Anyone else here have one and what have you made? Looking forward to hearing more about this and what I should do if I decide to get one.

 

[jmauld]

My favorite part that I made so far was a mold for an intake tube for my Suzuki ltz400. Wrapped the part with carbon fiber, pulled out the mold and the result was pretty dang nice.

now I will spend the next hour looking for a photo of that. Grrrrr

 

[ttmott]

I had an engine built by Roush in Livonia Michigan. When I was there going over the build they gave me a tour of the Roush Industries and Manufacturing operations. One was a facility dedicated to 3D Printing. The most impressive was the 3D metal printing machines they had. The technology is doubling yearly. Several of the rocket engine manufacturers are printing major components in the engines.

 

[jmauld]

Found it. This was one of my first 3d printed projects and about the third carbon fiber project that I attempted. It’s not bad for a hack who learned everything from YouTube. This was super simple to make though. The hardest part was getting that tube smooth enough so that it could be removed from the carbon Fiber after layup.

 

[Blueone]

I had an engine built by Roush in Livonia Michigan. When I was there going over the build they gave me a tour of the Roush Industries and Manufacturing operations. One was a facility dedicated to 3D Printing. The most impressive was the 3D metal printing machines they had. The technology is doubling yearly. Several of the rocket engine manufacturers are printing major components in the engines.

MORI does a great job metal printing

I am looking at this machine right now to make missile engines for defense…. Another technology I don’t know much about….. very interesting though.
https://americanflowform.com/whatisflowforming

 

[Flyer5]

MORI does a great job metal printing

I am looking at this machine right now to make missile engines for defense…. Another technology I don’t know much about….. very interesting though.
https://americanflowform.com/whatisflowforming

I have made my own guns. But making your own missiles, now that is rad.

 

[Blueone]

I have made my own guns. But making your own missiles, now that is rad.

I made two prototype engines the other day…. They were huge 10” in diameter 30” long…. Just the engine was 150lbs…. I kept saying I need a pic of it but never did ….it was a crazy part.

 

[km1125]

I printed out some "winguts" to add to some bolts to make an impeller puller tool for the ones that have threads.

Then I made a similar tool for the ones that don't have the threads....

 

[Blueone]

I printed out some "winguts" to add to some bolts to make an impeller puller tool for the ones that have threads.
View attachment 138858
Very cool
View attachment 138859


Then I made a similar tool for the ones that don't have the threads....

View attachment 138860

 

[ttmott]

MORI does a great job metal printing

I am looking at this machine right now to make missile engines for defense…. Another technology I don’t know much about….. very interesting though.
https://americanflowform.com/whatisflowforming

The rooms the printers were located were pretty special with metal rated fire suppression and specialty exhaust systems/ventilation. According to the operator metal dust and dust explosions are a big concern. That stuff was like talcum powder. It's been three years since I was there but the big printer seemed to have a 30X30 pallet. It was a big machine.

 

[JHornsby3]

I had an engine built by Roush in Livonia Michigan. When I was there going over the build they gave me a tour of the Roush Industries and Manufacturing operations. One was a facility dedicated to 3D Printing. The most impressive was the 3D metal printing machines they had. The technology is doubling yearly. Several of the rocket engine manufacturers are printing major components in the engines.

And here I can't get a 24mm nosecone for a model rocket that is 3d printed. They keep unraveling on me.

 

[bfernald0]

This thread is great idea. I bought an Anycubic Vyper for my son for Christmas with an ulterior motive to 3d print boat parts. I've been using tinkercad, which is pretty rudimentary but for a non-engineer easy to use. I've been building a mount for a wind instrument that screws onto the standard Westmarine pedestal mount. I've been through multiple revisions, experimented with different filaments, etc. Fun stuff. Curious to see how long it holds up to the elements.

 

[Nater Potater]

And here I can't get a 24mm nosecone for a model rocket that is 3d printed. They keep unraveling on me.

Are you trying to print it in "vase" mode? That can take a bit of optimization to get a single layer to stick together. Try dropping your layer height 5-10% to apply a bit more "squeeze".

As for learning how to use printers, Youtube is definitely your friend. There's all kinds of websites out there where people submit their designs, and most of them are already optimized for the more popular printers so all you have to do is download the file and hit "Play". The real fun starts once you have a need for a part that's not out there and you now have to learn to use the drafting software. We use a couple of Prusas and a Raised at work. The Raised is definitely more of a commercial grade printer, but the Prusas still do an admirable job and are well within the realm of most people. Plus, they have a huge community of people creating and tweeking parts for them. If you're not looking to print anything too awfully large, the Prusa Mini is a great printer and can be had for around $430 https://www.prusa3d.com/product/original-prusa-mini-kit-2/

 

[JHornsby3]

Are you trying to print it in "vase" mode? That can take a bit of optimization to get a single layer to stick together. Try dropping your layer height 5-10% to apply a bit more "squeeze".

This is a manufacturer issue. Not a me doing it issue.

 

[Ramblin' Guy]

Printed a bracket to flush mount my Raymarine MFD. Sure beats machining.

 

[bfernald0]

Printed a bracket to flush mount my Raymarine MFD. Sure beats machining.

Impressive

 

[Skuza]

This technology struck me as sci-fi ever since I seen it. You can literally build something out of thin air (kinda)!!! The ability to produce extinct/ one-off parts with just a file is awesome.

 

[km1125]

Here's another boat-related 3D project.

I printed out the parts to make a "super sized" gear lube pump. Zeus pods take about a gallons of gear lube, and it would take forever to pump that in with the normal lower unit pump. I printed out the piston, bottom valve and the top parts (with shaft seal) and then used a kitchen sink drainpipe as the body.

I've made a couple parts with graphite-fiber material and it's amazing how light they are even just compared to the regular PLA plastic. I really want to try some of the clear and tinted plastics. I've seen some project other folks have done with the clear and tinted and they're pretty cool.

 

[jmauld]

Tell me more about this graphite material that you used. Do you have a link? Do you need a special nozzle, enclosure etc?

 

[km1125]

Tell me more about this graphite material that you used. Do you have a link? Do you need a special nozzle, enclosure etc?

Just some cheap filament I got from Microcenter on a whim. But it worked pretty good, and I haven't even played with the settings much.

Here's one of the things I made with it. A little "shoe" to hold the end of the wand on a pressure washer so the end doesn't get caught up on the wheels spokes.