creality ender 3

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I settled on a laser engraver as my first tool, because at the time 3D printing was in infancy. 

Even by today's standards, 3D printing at a hobbyist level won't get you a panel surface as straight and finished as a laser engraver. There are plenty of other places that a 3D printer will help you in cockpit building though.

I began my pit using cheap eBay knobs for all my potentiometers and rotaries, before I started buying a few real ones. The prices of those are ridiculous- possibly $100 each for a real mil-spec knob from the US to Australia with shipping. 

I painted a few cheap knobs up to look more realistic, but as my cockpit evolved into a replica I wanted more accuracy.

I found a store on Shapeways, again by another guy from the forums, Deadman. I bought some of the knobs on Shapeways and these were the first 3D printed parts I had ever seen. I was impressed by the quality, thought that's to be expected with the seriously expensive, quality commercial printers that they use! 

The costs are pretty reasonable to use that service, but the shipping to Australia blows it out (like everything), so it wasn't exactly cheap. 

I originally bought a few plain white knobs, then realised that I could order them in material that was printed in clear to allow back-lighting, so I spent more money again. 

To read more about 3D printing knobs, click here.

I priced out how much it would cost me to get the entire pit done using the Shapeways store, and with shipping to Australia, it was much more than a cheap 3D printer.

So... I started reading up on 3D printers, and the Creality Ender 3 stood out. It had plenty of mostly positive reviews, and although it had a small print bed it was more than enough for what I needed. 

The largest panel in an A-10C will fit on a Creality Ender 3 bed. 

So I pulled the trigger and bought one. 

I paid $275 AUD ($210 USD) for a Creality Ender 3 with a glass bed on eBay.

And as the title suggests, I really should have done that ages ago. 

There was a little bit of trial and error, but compared to my K40 laser it was a walk in the park. Out of the box everything worked. Within a day I had printed my first A-10C Knob that I had designed in FreeCad.

As with everything I buy, I always feel the need to make it better.

The upgrades on my printer are all mostly cheap, with some actually being 3D printed by the machine itself.

1. I purchased an eBay aluminum extruder, only because I read about the standard plastic ones breaking easily and I didnt want the downtime of waiting for one to ship from china if my one finally broke mid print.
2. I 3D printed and added a 'Hero Me' cooling duct, with two cheap 5015 fans to improve cooling. The main reason I did this was because of noise. With some prints lasting over 24 hours, I wanted it to be silent so i could essentially sleep next to the running printer. Addng this cooling solution means you can have two larger fans at slower speeds, rather than one small one at full speed. It is almost silent now. I also found that stringing was much less of an issue.
3. I added a better quality PTFE Bowden tube from Capricorn, only because I accidentally cut the standard one too short when I was adding the new extruder. 
4. I bought the Creality Silent Board. This is a replacement mainboard that has silent motor drivers, again to make it silent. This thing can print, and somebody standing next to it wont hear a thing. Im pretty sure all Ender 3's now come with this thing stamdard anyway, but check the listing when purchasing!
5. I added a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, hidden under the conrol panel in a case that I 3D printed, so i could run OctoPrint. OctoPrint is freeware, that when running on a Raspberry PI that is attached to the Printer via USB, makes it WiFi capable and adds a ton of features. This allows me to send files  direct t the printer from my PC over USB rather than loading up usb drives and transferring them. It also lets me monitor what the printer is doing from my PC inside the house (a quick alt-tab out of DCS when flying). I can start or pause it, and see what it is doing via a webcam. It is a great bit of kit.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

UNDER CONSTRUCTION