>>108 What parts do you think would need to be injection molded anon?

>>4274 I'm not the OP, but IIRC I believe the discussion tended towards the larger shell pieces would be one good candidate. I'll try to restore this thread's archive in the next few weeks and we'll see how it went here.

Interesting molding thread posts on /toy/'s bunker. https://anon.cafe/toy/res/4.html#4

>>108 >Injection molding being a major method to discuss. It could certainly be done to make stronger components, but it is kind of expensive to do for larger parts. Resin casting might be a cheaper alternative. Resin casting could also be used to make softer parts as well.

I've been thinking acrylic or plexiglass might be a good alternative to the carbon fiber and aluminum that are used in larger robots and RC machines. All the entry level robot kits and the earliest 3D printers used pre-drilled acrylic sheets for their baseboards to screw all their printed circuit boards on. (using standoffs and 3mm screws). Due to the pandemic and everything needing to be separated from sneezes, I think this material will be more available and affordable than ever before.

>>8053 >Due to the pandemic and everything needing to be separated from sneezes, I think this material will be more available and affordable than ever before. Interesting point Anon, hadn't really thought of that before. You may be right there.

Searching for the best materials can be misleading, it seems. Don't try to be too smart about stuff that is dirtcheap and works. Designing the parts and make them fit together is what takes time. >>8008 Injection molding is for standardized and mass produced parts. As long as one doesn't mass produces anything it's most likely not relevant. >>8053 If you get it cheap, including shipping costs, then maybe it can be useful (for prototyping), but it's not going to be as strong as cf or aluminium. It's not being used as much as 3d printing recently for good reasons. If you can't get it very locally, why would you even leave your house and go somewhere and spend a lot of time to get it? I don't blame or mock people for being broke, but PLA costs maybe 12$ a roll and it can be printed in sheets. You can print it in the right size and form, no cutting needed. Some fumes, vs dust which might require a workplace outside of the regular living space. Also, most plastic parts might be molds or the bones, which are shaped in all kinds of irregular ways. Some spare plexiglass or acrylic won't be very useful there. Aluminium tubes and parts are cheep as well and could be used instead plastics. If PLA is not strong enough then build a enclosure for your printer and use some special Nylon or even better: PC.

Makers Muse tested the FORMART 2 - A vacuum former for wealthy hobbyists and small shops. For just ~1800$ (Kickstarter, risk included) to ~3000$ (final price). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AAgM6n0tRw FORMART 2 Kickstarter campaign - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formart/formart-2-the-worlds-most-advanced-desktop-vacuum-former He also compared it to cheaper methods, like another former for around 1k, but also including just using a heatgun and some simple tools. DIY Vacuum Former Build Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx66mS7U2vY I'm not sure if I'm going to look into that myself, but it might be useful. Especially if one wants to create parts by sculpting with clay or something alike and then use it to make an other shell or a mold for silicone rubber. For the last reason, at least the simple method could be interesting: Printing or sculpting a face, then use a plastic sheet to form a mold and put silicone inside it. For more general parts it might have the downside that it can't be shared so easily. Compared to CAD or other 3D designs. Then again, maybe one wants to make a business model out of it, shipping plastic casted pattern in a physical form to people which want to run a local production somewhere. They could use the model to make their own parts locally. I doubt that this is such a great idea, but I could be wrong. Picture number 2 (shot0003) is not the FORMART 2 but one of the alternatives. Pic 3 (shot0002) is the data from the FORMART 2, not the one from the other picture.

there's a guy on youtube who anneals his 3D printed plastics by covering them in very finely ground salt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyAKtS1b3SQ&t=993s

>>9308 Having that extra volume might be handy. But I'm curious what the cycle-time is for each unit? Don't see that reflected. >I doubt that this is such a great idea, but I could be wrong. No, I think that would be a legitimate business Anon. Especially for an artist that was good at making nice designs, but maybe wasn't interested in the full robowaifu production process? I'm sure there will be a wide variety of approaches tested and your idea seems a legit one to me. I toyed around with creating a DIY vaccum former. We used a shop-vac and heat lamps. I think this would probably be a good way to make large body shell pieces inexpensively. >>9309 Huh, that's interesting.

>>9309 Wut? Why didn't I post this already in >>94. I knew about this for a while, I'm surprised I didn't I post it here already.