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3-D Printing, Can it be integrated with Woodturning?

Brian Horais

Brian Horais

In Memoriam
Joined
Dec 20, 2014
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Location
Knoxville, TN
Website
www.horais.com
Integrating 3-D Manufacturing with Turning
3-D (Additive) manufacturing is transforming the materials manufacturing world. Recent advancements in materials and additive manufacturing equipment costs are making 3-D manufacturing capabilities available to a much broader audience. Wood-based materials and 3-D machines in the $200 range (Creality Ender 3) make it possible to develop new elements of wood turning that can dramatically enhance the creative possibilities for existing and new woodturners. The Maker community is embracing new technologies such as 3-D manufacturing and is creating a ground swell of creative development and fabrication skills among the younger generation. Should this technology (3-D manufacturing) be evaluated and integrated into woodturning to provide additional creative opportunities for existing woodturners and to attract future generations of woodturners?

You may have seen a few of my early attempts at integrating 3-D manufacturing with woodturning (Venus box, Vase with 3-D printed ring). I purchased one of the Creality Ender 3 additive manufacturing machines a few months ago and have found it to be a fascinating but challenging new capability. The software to generate and print new designs is all available for free online, so the entry cost is just the cost of materials (about $30 for a 1kg roll of filament that lasts quite a while). 3-D printing can be finicky and slow, but it could have a very important role in stimulating new approaches in the woodturing community. I have found it also provides a quick means to create measuring and marking tools for some of my turning processes.

Let me know what you think.

P.S. Here's a youtube link to my 'Venus Box in Wood', a turned walnut box with an articulated eyeball-like opening and closing 3-D printed interior.

View: https://youtu.be/D6AnM1ubNdM


Brian Horais
 
Not much grain in 3d....just observation not a +/-.....as far as segmented seems to fit better than the/us chunk turners.....segmented colors interesting
 
Mark, the PLA fibers (an extrudable plastic) are made in versions that contain 30 to 40 percent wood fiber. These can be stained and sanded. The material I used for the Venus box center is wood-based PLA.
 
Brian, I think it is inevitable that 3D printers will find a place with woodturning, it's only a matter of time and imagination. I can envision box lids, threaded adapters for lids, custom bases, collars for hollow forms, custom designs to insert in voids, medallions with artists "signatures", custom segment designs, specialized tools as you mentioned, and probably things none of us would have thought about until we see someone else do it!

The technology is in its infancy, and yet there are those printing houses and others now printing with metal. It's an exciting technology and in the future, we may very well wonder how we got along without it.
 
Well said Tim! You have pointed out some excellent applications of 3-D printing. Here's an example of a tool I made to help with my 3-axis multi-axis turnings. I use this tool to mark offsets at 120 degree angles on the ends of my twisted (multi-axis) turnings.offset marker.jpg
 
It may be inevitable for some uses, but not in my shop. I'd like to see what the plastic looks like in 10 years after ultraviolet exposure. I wouldn't consider it for heirloom work. Some of that stuff is so brittle right now. I was a modelmaker at Caterpillar before I retired 5 years ago. I hated trying to sand the plastic parts we brought in. Warpage in flat parts was no treat either. All that hype about 3d printers on the space station, in Detroit to make car parts, etc.... It has to make some real leaps and bounds to be strong enough for anything but toys. I have read about sintered metal 3d printed parts that are latter fused with a fill metal, but it still for lightweight stuff.
 
Richard, you are right that it remains to be seen what the 3-D printed plastics will be like with time and exposure to UV. The wood-based plastic will probably have different long-term properties than the pure plastic. One thing to be watched is how the emerging 'creative community' uses this technology for traditional crafts like woodturning. There are many new and creative artisans in the Maker community and it would probably be good to introduce them to woodturning so that they can benefit from the joy of it, and so that they can bring new techniques and materials to our community. As we older woodturners 'fade away', it would be great to find ways to encourage younger creative types to adopt the craft.
 
If we are counting on the millennials for combining woodturning and 3D printing, 10 year life of the plastic will be plenty. From what I see, they prefer cheap throw away furniture and that will tie into cheap throw away art. Perfect match. Not good news for the high end turners that rely on patrons to collect their work!
 
Just read some articles in a gun mag and some guns now have printed metal triggers and some other part but CRS has kicked in . By the way this is one of the big manufacturers. Now for the question can a printed wooden part be dyed and otherwise finished like wood or will it look different with finish?
 
Richard Coers said:
If we are counting on the millennials for combining woodturning and 3D printing, 10 year life of the plastic will be plenty. From what I see, they prefer cheap throw away furniture and that will tie into cheap throw away art. Perfect match. Not good news for the high end turners that rely on patrons to collect their work!
Click to expand...

They've about died off anyway Dick. LOL

John
 
CNC vs 3D vs guy in garage mixing concrete to make his lathe....all are welcome just do not expect universal following.....this crowd type A
 
Gerald Lawrence said:
Just read some articles in a gun mag and some guns now have printed metal triggers and some other part but CRS has kicked in . By the way this is one of the big manufacturers. Now for the question can a printed wooden part be dyed and otherwise finished like wood or will it look different with finish?
Click to expand...

Gerald, Yes - the wood based PLA filaments can be stained and finished. If you look at the inside of my 'Venus Box' video images, those surfaces were stained darker than the original material
Brian
 
Brian,

I generally explain that using wood filament is a sort of ultra-micro-segmented woodturning.
In conventional segmenting, it's an additive process where you take a small piece of wood, glue it to another, and that to another, to form a ring.
Then you do the same for the next ring, and glue it atop the first ring.

Wood filament is roughly 40% wood and 60% resin.
So it's a similar additive process, taking a very tiny piece of sawdust and gluing it to the next tiny piece of sawdust, forming a ring... etc. etc. etc.
 
I made this little video three years ago. The prints were done on the first of my (now three) delta style printers.
The bowl and the spiral vase show show the filament is extruded.

 
Very nice video Alan and great printer. It makes my Creality Ender 3 look like a toy (but a capable one at that). Have you ever interacted with the Maker community to let them know how 3-D printing and woodworking can be combined?

Brian
 
Brian,

Thanks... as mentioned, that video was from 3 years ago on my first delta printer. My main printer now is a SeeMeCNC Artemis delta. Dual filament, WI-FI, 520mm build height... all metal... quite the machine,

From time to time I bring the printer to local makerspaces and even recently brought it to a STEM event at a middle school. People are fascinated by the process, especially when running two colors.
 
John Jordan said:
They've about died off anyway Dick. LOL

John
Click to expand...
That's the truth! I really only had 2 serious patrons here, 1 died, the other gave me the we're downsizing speech with no more commissions at the end of it. Reminds me of the joke, "1/2 of all marriages end in divorce, the other 1/2 end in death!"
 
We have a gentleman in our club who makes circular templates to help layout multi side turnings. Also just saw a device made with Morsetaper to put in tail stock that has thread type finial rest Included. Have been wondering if you could make soft jaws and other holding devices for regular and vacuum chucks
 
Tom, the answer is yes, you can. There are a number of device designs available for download (for free) on the Thingiverse.com site. Here are a couple of images (soft jaws for pen blanks and measuring tools) along with a link to the Thingiverse website.

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=woodturning&dwh=555d1b45766e7ca

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