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3DMON'S Phlatformer Build log

Discussion in 'Phlatformer BUILD LOGS' started by 3DMON, Apr 21, 2010.

  1. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Woo hoo!
    Look what came in the mail today.

    Worst part about it is I still haven't cleaned up my shop. :roll:
    I hope to get started on the build by the weekend.

    I got the #5 Phlatformer so I think it's fitting to call it Johnny. :lol: (Short circuit anyone?)

    I've been thinking about heat sources. Originally I had it in my head to get something like toaster nichrome heating wire and string it inside a heatproof box of sorts, but now I'm thinking keep it simple.
    I saw these on the Walmart site and am curious if either would work well.
    Sanyo 850-Watt Large Indoor Barbeque Grill $35
    [​IMG]
    or
    Rival 11" Electric Skillet $22
    [​IMG]

    I'm leaning towards the Rival Skillet do to it's size and price but I'm not sure if the whole pan gets hot evenly.
    I still need to go to Walmart (Ooh I dread it) and see if they have it in stock.

    ....More to come. Attached files [​IMG]
     
  2. frankrcfc

    frankrcfc New Member

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    How about the guts out of a toaster oven? Goodwill maybe? Older open hotplate? or an old quartz heater. Just some thoughts there Shaun ;)
     
  3. cncmachineguy

    cncmachineguy Member

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    Johnny 5 is ALIVE! Ok soon anyway. He will be bu-ti-ful, just nat capable of spontanous laughter.

    Short circuit ranks up there with my all time favorites :D
     
  4. servant74

    servant74 New Member

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    Which heater device did you get?
     
  5. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    I haven't yet.
    I am about to go to the store in a few minutes to check out what they have though.
    I'll post my results.
     
  6. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Well I bought the Rival electric Skillet I posted above.
    I didn't see the Sanyo grill but I did see a griddle I considered. After looking at both I still came to the conclusion the Rival would be the better choice.
    A little while ago I plugged it in and think I made a great choice. I wont know exactly how well it will do until I actually test it with the Phlatformer but I took my IR temp probe to it and the heat seems even throughout the whole skillet. It only took a minute or so to heat up too.

    Looks like Johnny 5's Rival is gonna be heating things up. :mrgreen:
     
  7. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Sounds good Shaun, I need to pick on of these up as well. Its a real paint to try and get even heat with a 6" round burner :D
    Mark
     
  8. flyn_brian

    flyn_brian New Member

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    Wow three toes came in the mail. Just kidding. Hopefully the rival doesn't have a short circuit. Looks to me to be an excellent idea for the source of heat. I believe the possibilities are endless with a Phlatprinter and a Phlatformer. Even a Johnny 5 is possible
     
  9. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Johnny 5 is alive! The build is done. Woohoo!

    I gotta say Mark really out did himself on this one. The ingenuity that went into this design is awesome! I love the way it gets bolted together. The t-bone fillets are a very nice feature that helps most of the square pegs go into round slots. There are still certain slots though that you will find with round corners that a square peg fits into. I found to make fitting the parts easier was to sand the corners of the square pegs to better fit the round slots. This really helped make it so the parts fall into place.

    I took pics of the build but when I went to get them from my camera they weren't there. :( My camera has been on the fritz for a while now. Time for a new one.

    The Rival electric skillet is a perfect fit as you can see from the finished pics. I think it's true destiny was to be next to the Phlatformer instead of for cooking. I should be able to get a pull from it tomorrow. I just need to figure out what I'm gonna form. :roll:



    Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  10. Gefahren

    Gefahren Member

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    Looks good,

    Did you have any problems with the upper part of the lid?
    Thats the only part I have left to do on mine.

    That skillet does look like it fits perfectly, I wonder if there were some holes in it if it would work any better since then you'd get some convection to help bring the heat to the plastic quicker. I'll have to go to Wal-Mart and get one of those.

    That little organizer you have next to the gluestick dispenser looks like something I need to make in the near future, if you look at the picture of my shop in my build log you can see that I've recently brought in alot of "Junk" err.... Usefull stuff.

    Now I wonder who will be the first to take the plunge and paint there PF.
     
  11. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Awesome Shaun! Your right that skillet looks like it was made for the Phlatformer! :D
    Nice job looking forward to seeing some cool pulls!
    Thank you for sharing these great pics.
    Mark and Trish
     
  12. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    No problems at all. Unlike you my mail man delivered the new part #10 yesterday.
    I really don't think any holes are needed in the skillet, it gets plenty hot very quick and the raised sides helps to make sure the heat stays going into the plastic.
    I was going to paint mine but I think it will wait for a bit.

    The organizer can be found here: http://www.phlatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=213&t=346

    I should be able to get some pulls later today.
     
  13. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    I just made a couple of pulls with the Phlatformer. :p
    I'm very happy with the skillet. I had it turned up high but not all the way. I might try that next time. Everything got droopy fairly quick except about a 1/2" to 1" of the very corners which I think is just fine.
    The first pull I put a spinner, servo, and the Parkzone Sukhoi top canopy piece in. Word of advice don't put a Parkzone Sukhoi in there LOL. I wasn't worried about destroying it because I've been designing a plane for the electronics that flies way better anyhow (more on that later). The Sukhoi plug first got deformed on one side and then would not come out...I think it fused itself to the hot plastic. The main thing I learned is it will be possible to make an airplane of that size or bigger with sections with the pf.
    I think I should have had the plastic hotter for the first pull because it didn't pull all the way down on the servo and the nose cone had a raised crease.

    The 2nd pull went better. I turned the heat up a little more and let the plastic get really droopy. I used my prototype fanfold foam canopy from my F-22 and put a little sanding block under it where the curve is to prevent it from bowing in. It worked much better.

    I know one thing. If you want really nice looking pulls you need to make sure the plug is perfect. Every little detail show up.

    This was my first time attempting vacuum forming and Mark and Trish made it an easy adventure for me. Many thanks guys!!!! Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  14. tvcasualty

    tvcasualty New Member

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    Nice job 3d! Try some petro-jelly on the foam if it's sticking.
     
  15. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    WOW :shock: That was quick 3DMON! Nice job man! :D Its awesome to see your having fun wih the Phlatformer!! :mrgreen:
    A couple things I have found that make the pull nicer. One would be to coat your parts with the styrospray, like Erik does it makes a nice smooth hard finish that if you put a release on will work great . You can get it here http://www.speedliner.com/styrospray-1000 . Or an alternative is to make the cast from plaster. The other thing is that if you want to ensure that you will not have any radius at the bottom of a part, place it on a block to keep it higher or put that in the design. If instance your cool looking foam canopy mold may need a couple more pieces of fanfold under it to make sure that the radius stops before it gets to the part you want to use. You can even make one a little larger to give you a nice spot for cutting it out :)
    Nice work Shaun.. I can't wait to see what you are planning to make :)
    Thank you for your support and kind comments
    Mark and Trish
     
  16. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Vaseline! That's what I couldn't think of at the time. I was thinking what do I have that I can put on it and forgot all about that lol. Thanks!

    I decided to try some 3mm depron. The first pull I got too hot and started to melt the foam but gave it a go anyway. You can see from the first pic where I'm pointing at the super thin spot, but really the whole piece got paper thin.
    The 2nd try I didn't get it quite as hot and it did better but it took 3 tries with the same piece of foam to get it the way it looks. I kept finding it wouldn't pull it down enough so I put it back over the heat, it drooped back to its flat self (this was cool) and I pulled again, and then again. The final result is good.
    If you look close at the pic you can see I put bamboo skewers in the holes to hold the foam plug in place. This works really good.

    I'm pretty sure the depron and the plastics when heated are releasing bad fumes so I will probably start putting my window fan in to exhaust them out. Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  17. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    That's exactly what I did for the depron pulls. Getting the actual part off the surface is a must.
     
  18. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Nice Shaun! That is a good result with the depron, I tried it and its tough to get the right amount of heat.
    Looks like you are working on a fully formed plane? :)
    Mark
     
  19. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    I wonder how 2mm foam would do. I thought I had a piece around here but I can't find it.
     
  20. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Not sure.
    I was using 6mm black and that seems to work ok if you get the heat/timing right
    Mark
     
  21. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    Very cool Shaun. All it takes is a few pulls to get used to a particular material and soon you will not be able to find enough things to pull. We dug through drawers and found things we haven't seen in years and used them as plugs :lol: It's a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. Really looking good. Can't wait to see some of your final products :D

    Mark and Trish
    p.s. thank you for the compliment
     
  22. TigerPilot

    TigerPilot Well-Known Member

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    Shaun, did you make the canopy with Phlaty and if yes, what program did you use to generate the g-code?
     
  23. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    It was the canopy off my F-22 I designed. http://www.phlatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1178
    It was just slice formed, glued together, then sanded to shape.
     
  24. ewo

    ewo Moderator Staff Member

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    I LOVE the Depron pull :D

    Much more of this and i will be getting one for myself ! :p
     

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