As all my large format camera gear is stored and I have some 35mm and medium format cameras at home. I thought I’d have a go at 3D printing some bits and bobs such as film reminder windows and camera strap lugs.
Last week I had printed off another set of movable type moulds, jets, punch and matrices for a researcher at work. Link to files here. This is the second print run and this time I printed it the other way up to see if I could get a smoother print surface on the top. Yes I could, but the supports were more difficult to remove and left behind far more surface material, that will need sanding and smoothing before finished.
Looks ok from a distance but up close you can see the filament that makes up the design. But it does the job for educational purposes.
Today though there was an issue with print adhesion to the bed, it took a while to get a stable print. It got kind of messy and I had to stop each print from running at the base/brim printing stage.
I wonder if environmental conditions can effect the print process. I didn’t have the heating on at home so it was quite cold. I raised the nozzle and bed temperatures and this seemed to help to get a more stable print.
I printed a few of these medium format film tab holders. And they seem to work just fine on the back of a couple of my cameras. I’m not a prolific film shooter and often forget what film (if any) is loaded in a camera. So these are handy. And yes I know I could just tape the tab to the camera back but come on this is pretty cool.
I did download a 35mm tab .stl file that printed in two parts (front and back) but it wasn’t very good. I couldn’t find a 35mm in the same design as this medium format one but there must be one out there somewhere.
And also a reminder you can still sign up for the free, yes FREE, 3D printing training course at 3D360LTD in Leigh, Wigan.
Choose from 2 to 5 day courses where you get to build and keep an Ender 3 printer with full instruction in its use and maintenance.