The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast

Low Filament Alarm Invention and other 3D topics – Michael Graham – Ep47

Low Filament Alarm Invention and other 3D topics – Michael Graham – Ep47 This week my guest is Michael Graham. He is an engineer with HP, working on the multijet fusion printer. In his spare time, he works on his own inventions using Cubify Software and a Prusa i3 printer at home. I found him when I was looking for a solution to knowing when my filament was about to run out mid print. He invented a low filament alarm. Here is a link to it: https://engineerdog.com/store/low-filament-alarm/ We discuss that invention and then move into many other topics about 3D design and 3D printing. I hope you enjoy it.   To contact Michael: EngineerDog.com   The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Open Source SLA 3D Printing – Dean Piper – Ep46

Open Source SLA 3D Printing – Dean Piper – Ep46 This week my guest is Dean Piper. He is the founder of mUVe 3D, which is the manufacturer of open source SLA printers. The website is muve3d.net. I have quite a bit of experience running the Form2 resin printer for over 6 months now, so this conversation was very interesting to me. We talk in detail about DLP versus laser printers. We discuss why SLA printing seems to be more reliable than FDM printing (this is my experience). There is a lot of technical talk in this conversation, which I think many of you will enjoy. We also cover Dean’s background and how he started the business. I’m very tempted to purchase one of his machines and I may do that in the future. I’ll be sure to make a podcast out of my experience if I do. To contact Dean: ww.muve3d.net muve3d@gmail.com   The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Medical Applications for 3D Printing – Jan Witowski – Ep45

Medical Applications for 3D Printing – Jan Witowski – Ep45 This week my guest is Jan Witowski. He is a medical student in Poland and has taken the lead for developing medical applications for 3D printing in his university. The main application so far has been for surgeons working with liver surgery. We talk about how he creates the 3D files using CT scans. This was very interesting, as I had no idea a CT scan could create a 3D image. Jan then uses Blender to assemble various parts so the models can be printed in separate pieces and put together. We discuss the importance of working with open source software (like Blender) and using lower cost 3D printers (Ultimaker 2 for example). While there are others out there making 3D printed parts for medical applications like him, they are using much more expensive software and printers. We also touch on Bio-printing, which is printing living tissues. You can get in touch with Jan on Twitter: @JanWitowski Or his website: http://jwitowski.com/   The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Improving the Education System with 3D Printing – Brian Federal – Ep44

Improving the Education System with 3D Printing – Brian Federal – Ep44 This week my guest is Brian Federal. Brian is a Futurist, Keynote speaker, Filmmaker, and Designer.  He has two companies: Prana Communications and Innovative GlasDesign Brian spent a lot of time in the past few years interviewing leaders in the 3D Printing industry and has nearly completed a documentary film about 3D printing. We discuss his journey on how he started that project and what he learned along the way. Then we move into a discussion of how 3D printing, robotics, and AI can improve the education systems, as well as how these 3 areas will change the business environment. To contact Brian, please go to his Linkedin Page The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

3D Printing for Investment Casting - Jerry Lepore – Ep43

3D Printing for Investment Casting - Jerry Lepore – Ep43 This week we have Jerry Lepore. He is the CEO of Spectra3D, which is a 3D focused development company located in Asheville North Carolina (my home state). Spectra3D specializes in 3D printed investment casting patterns and tooling, as well as Cosplay props & more. They use Stacker and Fusion3 Design 3D printers. Some topics discussed include: How 3D printing for Investment Casting works. 3D printing is using a new technology to improve the process of an ancient technology like investment casting His largest ever print job (1800 pieces and it took a month to complete, running nonstop) 3D printed 5 foot cos play axe   His top tips for the Engineering Entrepreneurs? 1.       Get a 3d printer and try things 2.       Take your hobby and turn into a business   To contact Jerry 1.       Follow on twitter: @spectra3Dtech 2.       Spectra3D.com     The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

3D Professional Networking - Chris Kaminsky – Ep42

3D Professional Networking - Chris Kaminsky – Ep42   Chris Kaminsky runs  MI3D.co, which is a professional networking association focusing on all things 3D. The group is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Chris is a Mechanical Engineer by degree, currently working for GM. He started the MI3D so he could get together with other 3D printing enthusiasts. They meet once a month and have had guests such as reps from Ultimaker, Autodesk, and more. We talk about how he came up with starting the group and his future plans for the group. Then we move into some 3D printing projects he has done (like making molds for chocolate). His number one tip for the engineering entrepreneurs: Get to know people. Even if the meeting isn’t what you wanted.   To contact Chris: YouTube videos about the group (including meetings):  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-HdXIZVFTNEGFyzPLrOog Website (including blogs about events): www.mi3d.co Email: michigan3d@gmail.com Personal site: www.criscodesigns.co     The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Fusion3 F400 3D Printer Review – Ep 41

Fusion3 F400 3D Printer Review – Ep 41 This week I will do a review of one of my 3D printers. The printer is the F400 from Fusion3. Fusion3 is a relatively new and small company based out of NC. The F400 was my 2nd 3D printer I purchased. My first printer was a Cube3 from 3D systems. That machine was so bad that 3D Systems does not even sell it anymore, but it did teach me the basic of FDM printing. I consider the F400 my first “real” 3D printer. Before I get into what I like and don’t like about it, I will first explain a little about this machine and why I decided to purchase. I purchased this machine is August 2016, price was approximately $5000, I think just a little under. The machine is a FDM type printer and has a build volume of 14” by 14” by 12.6” tall. At the time of purchase, I really needed a machine that could make big parts and this seemed to be the best one I could find under $10,000. So, what do a like? Here is my list 1. It is a big machine, and that’s crucial for my business. I get inventors who come to me all the time with product ideas in the 8-12” range and most FDM printers are not quite big enough. 2. It is FAST. I run this machine all the time at 6000mm/min, and never really have issues. Of course, that is material dependent (tip: don’t try running flexible filament that fast) 3. It can run any material up to 300C glass transition temperature (i.e. melting temp). This means I can run basically any common or exotic material. 4. It has an enclosed build chamber. This is extremely important if you use ABS filament. One of my other FDM machines is an Ulitmaker2+ extended (let’s call it the UM2). While I like that machine and use it often, I have found that I can only run very small parts in ABS on it. Why is that? Well ABS plastic tends to warp a lot. The reason is because it shrinks a lot as it cools. Therefore, you need an very hot (100C) environment the entire time it is printing, or some areas of the part will cool before other areas. If that happens, the parts will often crack. So I can get away with small parts on the UM2 because it is near the bed, but a tall part will not be near the bed, which is kept hot at a constant 100C. On the F400, since it is fully enclosed, the heat is maintained throughout the entire part. 5. Lastly, the customer service is awesome. I heard it was good before I ever bought from the, and I knew I needed that because if you buy a 3D printer, you have a lot to learn to get it right. What don’t I like?  Not much but I had one MAJOR issue at the start that I can’t leave out. This story goes way back to August 2016. The first 3 months I had the machine, I didn’t have a lot of issues. But then things changed. A lot of the issues had to do with clogged nozzles and jams. One thing that is important with 3D printing is that the bed is very level and the gap between the nozzle and the bed (called the Z gap) is just right. I just kept having problems, no matter how many times I went through both the level and Z gap process. It was really confusing and both me and the support guys couldn’t really figure it out. I even went as far as renting a van, packing the machine into it, and driving 2 hours north to Greensboro for them to troubleshoot it right there. That took basically an entire day and cost me a few hundred dollars to rent the van. Not a week after I got back home, it started acting up again. A month later, they agreed to completely swap out the machine for me. I just paid the shipping on the new one. I want to say this was around December 2016. For the new few months, I would still have intermittent issues with the new machine. I was extremely frustrated and I estimate I spent 200+ hours of my time in total troubleshooting it. I did ultimately get everything to work, and the machine has been nearly flawless the last 5 months. What I think did it was the light sensor. The light sensor is on the moving hot end and it basically live calibrates the level of the bed as it prints. I think this part was the culprit the entire time I was having problems, possibly with both machines. It is ironic that I basically tried everything else that support and I could think of before finally replacing this part. Ever since I replaced the light sensor, I really haven’t had any issues. That wraps up my review of the Fusion F400. In summary, I think it is a great machine, albeit a little pricey compared to other FDM printers. I think also a lesson learned here, is that 3D printing is tricky and sometimes you will just get unlucky and have an issue like this and try all the wrong things before you finally try the right thing.   The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

3D Printed Miniature Roller Coaster – Coaster-track.com – Ep40

3D Printed Miniature Roller Coaster – Coaster-track.com – Ep40 Lee Williams and Steve Guilmetter are the founders of coaster-track.com. Their invention is a miniature roller coaster that consists of mostly common hardware parts but also some 3D printed parts. The coaster is a fully functional mini replica. Both Lee and Steve are mechanical engineers that have a passion for roller coasters. Their business plan for this is to make 80% of it open source. Meaning, they will give away 80% of the information needed to build a track. The only thing you will need to purchase are the rail ties and the car. Right now, they are 3D printing these 2 components. Their next step is to launch a Kickstarter campaign. Their goal is to raise $50,000 to pay for injection molding tooling for the rail ties and maybe the car. The campaign will launch September 5. I will send out a link once I have it. We discuss their background, the inspiration for the coaster, and how they went about designing and building it. To contact Steve and Lee, check out their email, website and social pages listed below: marketing@coaster-track.com http://coaster-track.com/ https://www.facebook.com/coastertrack https://www.instagram.com/coastertrack/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1wLoUyisLIJcjESbwpXcZw https://twitter.com/coastertrack     The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

3D Printing Video Game Cases – Justin Shook – Ep39

3D Printing Video Game Cases – Justin Shook – Ep39   Justin Shook was featured on episode 3 of the podcast and he is back, just about 1 year later. Last time we talked, he was running his business Shookideas.com. Me and him were both basically doing the same thing, running a product design and 3D printing service company. He has shifted his focus to a new business. He is now running a very successful 3D printing manufacturing operation making products for fans of old school video games. His business specializes in the making cases specifically for the Raspberry Pi computer. A lot of the cases look like old video game systems like the SNES, Nintendo 64, etc. His business website is https://collectorcraft.com/.  I think Justin is at the forefront of a shift in manufacturing. It used to be that 3D printing was used only for prototypes. Now it is used to manufacture products in serious quantity and Justin has taken this farther than anyone I have ever talked to. If you would like to reach out to Justin, you can go to his website.   The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Inventing his own 3D Printer – Julian Merghart – Ep38

Inventing his own 3D Printer – Julian Merghart – Ep38   Julian Merghart is the founder of Blackened Industries (inspired by the Metallica song). His company sells CNC cut aluminum phone cases. I’ve never see that before. He also started and is still working on his own 3D printer. He desired to make his own printer after being disappointed with the size of the desktop Makerbot Clone he had. He looked at larger 3D printers but the price point was too high. He has put his design (in STEP format) available for download on his site. He is still working on finishing the design and 1st prototype. You can contact Julian at: 1.      julian@blackenedindustries.com 2.      Facebook Page 3.      Twitter Page