The Chaos that is a Buffers Brewery brew day

[moto748]

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?

 

[Buffers brewery]

Yes, there are several types of filament depending on what you want to make. I use PETG as it’s safe for use in food applications and very tough. It costs around £22 for 1 kg reel.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TKGQ55T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The parts for my Brewloonometer cost around £3.50 and take 28 hours to print a complete kit in one go.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

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

https://www.tinkercad.com

 

[Buffers brewery]

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

 

[Buffers brewery]

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

https://www.tinkercad.com

Yes, most 3-D print houses will take just a .STL file (and others) to produce the part.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

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

 

[Buffers brewery]

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

Way beyond my budget. Don’t think that’ll be “cheap”

 

[roboto]

Way beyond my budget. Don’t think that’ll be “cheap”

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...

 

[Buffers brewery]

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..

..bubbler re-connected to complete fermentation.

BTW if any supporting members have “Brewloonometer envy” I’d be happy to supply the parts at cost. For non-supporting members it’ll be cost plus a contribution to the forum.

 

[Buffers brewery]

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.

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.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

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!!

 

[Buffers brewery]

As for printing; to be very honest, to date I just ask my mate to do it, and repay him in beer!!

That is cheap!

 

[private4587]

Fusion 360 is a great package and is free for education purposes ( just sign up as student) plenty of Youtube videos online for learning. It is capable of exporting as a .stl files straight to your slicing software of which there are good free ones Cura one of them

 

[DocAnna]

Just catching up with your Brewloonometer exploits .... W.Heath Robinson would have been so proud of you .

 

[Buffers brewery]

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!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

50 minutes later.....
View attachment 55974
...door bells are ringing! First brewloon full and disconnected. Second one connected. Now waiting for "the bells, the bells!"

Apols if it's a silly question but could you just connect several balloons at once via a manifold?

 

[Buffers brewery]

Apols if it's a silly question but could you just connect several balloons at once via a manifold?

But, based on Sod's law, you don't know which brewloon would inflate first so that would mean putting a brewloonometer on each brewloon.....now that's a thought.. .

 

[Buffers brewery]

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.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

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…?

 

[Buffers brewery]

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…?
View attachment 56045