3d printing camping/bushcraft kit

[Pattree]

I wouldn’t

and it’s fun - a design exercise.

Take a look at thangs.com

 

[Pattree]

I’ve seen printed concrete…

Yep, there is a Dutch company printing schools in Kenya.

 

[ESpy]

@Tony - there's CF filled filaments, yes - but the one I was talking about extrudes long fibres into the plastic, rather than the much-easier-to-handle ones. So 2 reels, one of e.g. Nylon, the other is CF/Kevlar/glass fibre. Markforged Mk2 was one of them- about £20k.

 

[Tony]

Yeah, I was looking at vid of one that lays in reenforcing into the prints, a smaller and less sophisticated beast to the Markforge mk2. It's impressive stuff

 

[MikeeMiracle]

I can't help but feel there's enough plastic tat in the world without adding more flimsy, brittle, plastic rubbish to the spoil heap.
Not for me.

You don't have to use plastic. Rough Timba who produces various widgets like a tripod top for the Lavvu uses corn starch instead. He says he can get 6 stone's worth of weight onto the below widget without breaking. It's just as hard as hard plastic.

The Original Tri-pi® for Lavvu by Rough Timba - Etsy UK

This Camping item by RoughTimba has 1951 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from United Kingdom. Listed on 25 Sep, 2023

www.etsy.com

 

[Paul_B]

I’ve seen printed concrete….

I guy at work mentioned that. Amazing really.

 

[TLM]

Rough Timba who produces various widgets like a tripod top for the Lavvu uses corn starch instead.

That is largely a matter of semantics. "Man made" against "natural" polymers, natural ones tend to be much more easily biodegradable. There actually are bacteria that brake down polyesters and polyamides, these are not "forever" materials at all.

But I get the sentiment, my guess is that fairly soon we get more modified natural polymers for various things.

 

[Jared]

Saw video a while back of a guy 3D printing sword hilts, and using them similar to lost wax casting.

On an industrial scale, companies like voxeljet 3D print with sand for making molds for metal casting. Printer covers the print bed with a layer of sand, and the print head applies a binder where it wants the sand to stick together, loose sand acts as support for the print.

 

[ESpy]

I tend to use a resin printer for the lost wax stuff (not that it's actually wax, but has a lot of wax in it...). It burns rather than melts though. The filament printers don't tend to have the level of detail - thought there are some sintering filaments available for domestic machines that look like fun. Not tried them yet.

There's also the ProJet printers which are glorified inkjets - they print in actual wax, one that's soluble for supports and the other for subsequent burnout. Problem is, the definition isn't fantastic (and they can be a bit twitchy about being turned off & on, they seem to prefer to run continuously).

PLA is often described as being made from corn starch; it's still a plastic.
That said, so's horn (or steel if you heat it).

 

[Paul_B]

I used to have a link to an eu parliament funded research project into biodegradable plastics like corn starch derived ones. Seems back then they didn't biodegrade in a year even enough to stop the bag carrying a typical shopping load! The bags tested were strong enough to still be useable after over 12 months in either soil, air, freshwater or seawater.

Imho reducing the need to use petroleum sources for plastics is one thing but it doesn't get over the fact you're creating a long lasting plastic or that you're using growing capacity that might be much better spent growing food. Better to reduce plastic if you can.

 

[Woody110]

Thanks for the comments, especially ones that contributed to my original question.

There's a number of people, particularly in the US using using 3d printed stuff like carabiners for lifting bear bags, lowering gear etc.

Here's a little vid of a tensioner, I think the advantage is that you can resize for different rope diameters etc.

I know there's other material, more traditional ones that work well but I find it interesting to think that it's starting to be possible for people to design and make stuff for themselves, even if that's just for experimenting etc.

As Pete said, (@ESpy) there's lots of different materials ot print from, those with carbon fiber etc have very good strength to weight ratios and there's a lot of hobby printers that can handle it, even if it does wear out the nozzles faster.

I don't want a debate on the rights and wrongs of 3d printing, just a conversation about what works, what doesn't and the experiences of people that have used it or like stuff made from it.

@gra_farmer this might interest you.

a few little bits in this video

I printed this rope thing the other day, and I’m rather impressed, easy and strong.

I know quite a few have knocked the printed items as there too much plastic in the world, well PLA isn’t plastic as such, it’s made from corn starch and is biodegradable. Yes it’s not upto climbing standards, but perfect for kit hanging. I’ll make up some items are create a piece for the page.