3D Printers, Makers, DIY hacks, solutions and post printing tools

Well, to your disappointment is none of the above.

just PLA, PTEG, Carbon fiber, ABS and the like, or if you have money and a hotend that can take 400 Celsisu alright, than PEEK, PEKK or ULTEM for those less rich.

But... we are makers, we make things happen.

And a maker is a chemist, physicist, engineer, mathematician, coder, mechatronic, welder, electronist, electrician, can also make coffee and operate the broomstick or the vacuum cleaner too (in a controlled environment, AKA as under wife's supervision).

Practical example, we all know the PTEG plus Carbon Fiber in annealing shrink something. And there are ways to account for that. Given taken.

My wife lost a nut protection cover on her rim of her car, a Daihatsu Terios. We all know they come in four per bundle, so buying them would make me the happy owner of 3 spares anyway I look at it.

Since they are important, to keep dirt out of the nut, otherwise the dirt gets wet and hold water on the nut and this is a no, no.

so I CAD made one in Free Cad, clipping diameter of the clipping tongues was originally 66 mm, and I got it at 67 mm to account for shrinkage in annealing.

Printed with PTEG plus Carbon Fiber insert, came out just fine, annealed in my impromptu oven (heat printing bed plus cover) at controlled temperature for the set amount of time as recommended by the filament producer. Before annealing it I tried fitting it to the rim hole, no go. Once annealed I tried again, went it smooth, and fell off right away.

It shrank too much? no problem, back into hot boiling water for a minute or ... 5, got it soft enough, placed it on a flat wood surface, and placed a long knife blade across it to hold it from wrapping (yes boiling plastics in water tend to do this effect too) while with the two fingers of one hand I was pushing two of the clipping legs apart, and with two fingers of the other hand was pushing the other two clipping legs apart.

I was expecting to have to re do this operation a few times maybe for having them not opened enough or maybe too much, before it would fit just perfect, but nope, I was lucky enough to get it to snap click in position at the very next try, tight and perfect.

Drove the car for 30 minutes, didn't fell of, not yet, but I still have the .STL file, and 940 grams of filament left, so... let it fell.