The Chaos that is a Buffers Brewery brew day

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TurboCAD! that's a blast from the past! i know nothing of these 'slicers', just been reading up on them. Sounds like an intermediate step which may or may not be necessary depending on your design output file and printer?

Also, can I ask, it seems to me a point that people don't talk about much regarding 3D printing: what about the actual raw material? Is it expensive? Is there more than one type?
 
The 3D printer stuff is fascinating. What software did you use? I used to do 3D modelling for a living, but I've never had (or used) a 3D printer.
For occasional design work for 3D printing it's quite convenient to use TinkerCAD because it runs in the browser. I export to Gerber files and there are loads of places that will do the actual printing for you very cheap :cool:

https://www.tinkercad.com
 
Sounds like an intermediate step which may or may not be necessary depending on your design output file and printer?
I guess it depends on the CAD package. There’s a lot of detail that needs to specified e.g. layer thickness, how many layers for outer skin, pattern of infill, % of infill, retraction length for extruder, start positions, traverse speeds while printing and not…there are more that I can’t remember but I guess it’s just software and could form part of a CAD package :confused.:
 
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For occasional design work for 3D printing it's quite convenient to use TnkerCAD because it runs in the browser. I export to Gerber files and there are loads of places that will do the actual printing for you very cheap :cool:

https://www.tinkercad.com
Yes, most 3-D print houses will take just a .STL file (and others) to produce the part.
 
Yes, most 3-D print houses will take just a .STL file (and others) to produce the part.
One of the school dads has a business doing custom parts for F1 cars: he prints in wax, then sends it off to a foundry who make a cast in titanium. Total turnaround less than 24hrs ashock1
 
Way beyond my budget. Don’t think that’ll be “cheap” asad.

If he's making F1 car parts I doubt they're worrying about the cost!

Any recommendations on where to get stuff printed affordably? I've love to give mucking around with CAD and 3D printing a go...
 
Oops, got a bit confused posting on others threads! This post goes here..

The Brewloonometer has done it’s job and five brewloons are done ready for cold crash and keg flushing in a couple of weeks..
FD90CA23-876A-41AA-A00C-947D2BBD84AF.jpeg

..bubbler re-connected to complete fermentation.

B86600E0-96F2-40F7-A738-CE6C8E9E2F2B.jpeg

BTW if any supporting members have “Brewloonometer envy” asad. I’d be happy to supply the parts at cost. For non-supporting members it’ll be cost plus a contribution to the forum.
 
If he's making F1 car parts I doubt they're worrying about the cost!

Any recommendations on where to get stuff printed affordably? I've love to give mucking around with CAD and 3D printing a go...
Depends on what you mean by “affordable”. Most of the sites I looked at had a minimum charge of £30 upwards (@The-Engineer-That-Brews may know of cheaper options). The parts I was designing were getting bigger and the first dry hopper I got made (in nylon) cost over £100 for the 2 parts.
06659D75-7873-41F1-8EE8-8EF3BFB53482.jpeg

It was at that point I decided to buy my own printer as, at £160 and part prices a couple of quid or less, I could make a couple of parts and break even pretty quickly.
 
Any recommendations on where to get stuff printed affordably? I've love to give mucking around with CAD and 3D printing a go...
It’s worth having a play with TinkerCAD… it’s a bit frustrating compared to a commercial package but you can do most things in it “eventually” ;-)
As for printing; to be very honest, to date I just ask my mate to do it, and repay him in beer!!
 
Just catching up with your Brewloonometer exploits 🤯 .... W.Heath Robinson would have been so proud of you 😂.
….and there’s me thinking I was making a serious contribution by devising a piece of sophisticated equipment to facilitate a greener approach to the brewing experience! :coat:


wink...
 
Apols if it's a silly question but could you just connect several balloons at once via a manifold?
Second thoughts, yes, a manifold would work. Just need some more corny posts to connect the brewloons. Still need the brewloonometer to signal when (hopefully) all brewloons are fully inflated.
 
Second thoughts, yes, a manifold would work. Just need some more corny posts to connect the brewloons. Still need the brewloonometer to signal when (hopefully) all brewloons are fully inflated.
Perhaps just route the final connection from the manifold to a bubbler, so that the overflow gas just vents to atmosphere.
Or you want more back-pressure then instead of a bubbler, a hose running down into the bottom of a bucketful of water…?
image.jpg
 
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