Thread about 3d printing I guess.

First of all, 3D printing can look amazing. You just need to use a commercial printer. But most importantly, Charles currently has no panel. Something has to be better than nothing, right?

Also, I hear about several people trying to reproduce things and not sharing their work or working together. That means that difficult projects typically die on the vine.
 
First of all, 3D printing can look amazing. You just need to use a commercial printer. But most importantly, Charles currently has no panel. Something has to be better than nothing, right?

Also, I hear about several people trying to reproduce things and not sharing their work or working together. That means that difficult projects typically die on the vine.

I'd rather have nothing than 3d printed garbage.
 
I'd rather have nothing than 3d printed garbage.
i get it i feel the same way to some degree. think of it this way if wanted you could 3d print a control panel out of ABS the same type plastic as original and make it 2x thicker (stronger). my biggest issue is ugly print lines and vapor smoothing is risky. the only consistently successful way to get rid of print lines involves bondo or glazing putty and a finish coat of paint therefore it will never look like the original. my last 3d print1747954183006.png
 
speaking of not looking original years ago i made 15? or so irobot control panels out of fiberglass and i used this panel to make the mold.
i still have this panel but it is in rough shape
1747955103308.png1747955134639.png
 
If you want to share the design feel free to make a PR in my GitHub repo 😉
 
It's all good. I don't expect everyone to donate their work. I'm just trying to make sure people know there is an option to share. I think we all benefit from the sharing that took place in the early days and I'm trying to keep that spirit alive. I appreciate it's not always feasible.
 
1748067505966.png
my body work here is a bit lazy but i figure one of the coats will be hammer metal and that will be somewhat forgiving. 1st coat will be automotive paint then hammered metal then i will see if i have satin somewhere
 
turns out the hammered metal doesn't look to bad as is . here are 2 different irobot panels for comparison. notice that one of these original panels has a different texture than the other. i suspect that is due to different vacuform temps
 
noooo i screwed up!!
i used the free file instead of my own file
here are pics of mine compared to the other 1748187190010.png1748187269568.png
 
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