Medium frame for wax roller

[BeeMaster2]

Here is a picture of my second attempt to print a wax foundation roller. The first one did not have enough support and it fell over while it was still pretty small. When this one started printing I didn?t know what it was doing and didn?t know if it was really a wax roller.
This picture was taken about 6 hours after it started.


This one is after 13 hours and 52 minutes and it is only 41% done.

By my calculations it still has another 17 hours to go.
This is probably not going to bee the final version. It does not have a center hole to put it on a shaft so I will have to see if I can modify it and then make 2 of them. I will probably also need to put gears on the top and bottom to make the pattern stay in the proper off set position. I?m still studying Fusion 360 to learn how to do that. Any Fusion experts out there?
Jim Altmiller

[Acebird]

Why not print onto an aluminum cylinder that would have a cooling effect on the plastic.  Printing the way you are printing is not stable and immensely costly.  Another method is to print it as a flat sheet and wrap it around a cylinder.  Or leave it as a flat sheet and run it through rollers as a sandwich.

[BeeMaster2]

Ace,
I don?t have a metal printer to bee able to do that. If I print onto a flat sheet of PLA it is to stiff to wrap around a cylinder.
Making 2 flat sheets might work but would bee much more time consuming than just rolling the wax sheet between these rollers. Thanks for the ideas. I may have to do the flat sheets.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

Impressive. Well done Jim. Did you write the program for this task? It will be interesting to see if there is sufficient strength in the plastic to handle the forces required to impregnate the wax. Will be following this with interest. Keep us all posted on your progress.

Cheers

Les

[The15thMember]

Wow!  That's so cool, Jim!

[Acebird]

Ace,
I don?t have a metal printer to bee able to do that.

I would assume the cylinder would be machined by normal means.  If you could succeed in printing the geometry like you are doing I don't think you will be successful in rolling the wax with it because of the pressure it takes.  The dies would flex in between the supporting web structure creating thicker and thinner wax.
Getting the sheet to flex around a cylinder is a matter of chemistry of the raw material.  I don't know what materials are available to you for that printer.
The two sheet method might be your only option.  The hard part with two sheets is keeping them aligned.  The top sheet has to fit into the bottom.  One is a negative of the other.
You still need a rolling machine with significant size rollers so that they don't bow in the middle.

[BeeMaster2]

Here is the roller almost finished:


Here is the finished roller:


This design does not have a way to mount it in a roller press.
One way I could use this one is to make a flat plate to match the pattern.
Then place a thin sheet on top of the flat sheet and use this one to press in the pattern.

I did not design this one. I found it on Thingiverse.com.

[BeeMaster2]

Here are the support structures that keep it from falling over during printing. The first time I tried to print it with out it, it fell over within the first hour.


Jim Altmiller