Thrive Off Grid

PLA for now. Im having issues with getting the PETG CF to stick to the build plate. I might try just regular PETG without carbon fiber.

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Have you tried hair spray or glue stick? That usually works for me.

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Nah that stuff is too whimpy for CF I use 3M contact cement and even that cant hold down big parts. If tried all that stuff and finaly said the heck with it and sprayed those build plates down with contact cement.

Im finding any carbon fibere based filaments dont like to adhere the to beds. Otherwise I dont have an issue at all.

Iā€™ve never used any filament with carbon fiber but I used a heated glass bed with a spray of sugar water. If I remember right, this stuck really good until it was finished and the bed cooled off.

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So far Ive tried CF PETG and CF ABS both warp extremely bad. The PETG is better than the ABS but on large stuff the corners like to peel up. Its really bad on the plus size printer with big parts that take up the full build plate. I think with the CF I may need to turn up the nozzle temp a bit more. But for now I dont have time to tinker so using what works PLA it is :slight_smile: I dont have any issues with PLA ever peeling up.

I built a MPCNC (mostly printed CNC) using PLA and it has held up pretty good. Iā€™m not sure if you need the strength of CF (or maybe itā€™s more heat or U.V resistant?) for your box but so far I think cheap PLA has done everything I needed.

https://docs.v1e.com/mpcnc/intro/

I assume you (Matt) have a way better machine but this might be an option for hobbyists that want to try out computer controlled machining. Iā€™ve mostly just used mine for a wood router but others have turned it into a CNC plasma cutter.

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exactly the PLA should be fine for these parts. I was trying the CF for a few other projects one is I printed a full size guitar and needed the strength to prevent neck creep. Then I wanted to experement with the engine adapters as there is some heat there to deal with.

I will soon be revisiting the Guitar and printing a thin body accoustic of my design. This guitar Im linking is what inspired this project as they dont make this in left hand. Ive played a right hand and I want one but oh no. they cant make it left hand. Yeah I am actually right handed but broke a finger and had to re learn to play left handed. Im actually far better left handed go figure :slight_smile:
https://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Beginner-Acustica-Guitarra-Packaging/dp/B09JNWF2ZT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1L8K26EMROLZZ&keywords=thin%2Bacoustic%2Bguitar&qid=1695756782&sprefix=thin%2Bacoustic%2Bguitar%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0&th=1

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Another useful thing a CNC can be used for including a 3D printer is to put a pen or marker on it to draw out patterns either just on paper or cardboard or directly on your material assuming it fits on the bed. You could always divide the drawing to fit the bed to make bigger patterns. Obviously the same thing could be done with a normal computer printer and software like Inkscape but drawing directly onto the material saves gluing or tracing the pattern on the material.

I havenā€™t done it but I would imagine this could be useful to lay out parts that could be cut out by hand with a torch or plasma cutter or to mark out a hole pattern for drilling.

Thereā€™s a learning curve to programming the CNC or drawing it out on the computer but there are lots of tutorials online.

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Yeah we have a CNC plasma cutter :fire:

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I just watched a video of Uncle Fester detailing this Guitar. Very interesting. Perfect for a young beginner. Sounds way better than I had imagined. I couldnā€™t fret with my right hand if my life depended on me playing one chord.

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They actually sound pretty amazing and they are pretty good set up right out of the box. They are a lot louder than you would expect too. Its like an accoustic but they play like an electric guitar. Great little practice guitar without needing to set up and plug in. Main reason I want one just to have around next to the couch. Just grab it, play it and set it back down without having to plug everything in and all that jazz.

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Itā€™s going to be interesting to see you making a CF acoustic. The solid body you made is impressive but I have seen them made out of concrete. Les Paulā€™s first one was a 4X4 timber. No need for any resonance. Acoustic is a whole different animal. .

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So working on the new 3D printed VersiFire controller. This is such a better way to build these controllers. This has labels directly printed into the electrical panel. Helps both us wire the panel more efficiently and then the end user to troubleshoot if there are issues.

Yeah and I had this next version of the 3D guitar kicking around in my head so had to get it out. Started printing it lastnight.

Edit made some updates to it.




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This is only the middle one. The 18 incher is coming next!!



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The DXF-10 looks so tiny now!! lol

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Everything is looking really nice, I canā€™t get enough of your progress updates.

Will the DXF-18-VersiFire still include the swappable collection barrel for those who prefer high charcoal production?

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The VF-18 will not have revisons for charcoal fuel. There is no way to clean clinkers out of it. Unless you can have someoone hang you by your ankles and lower you down deep inside the unit to grab the formed clinkers it wont be practical.

VF-18 is specific for the VersiFire system only. I will not offer this unit as an engine gasifier. It will only be sold with a the VersiFire. I will never sell a system to fuel engines beyond a V twin engine ever again.

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Yep. Yep. Ben Petersonā€™s also hard learned lesson you are re-stateing.

ā€œKnow your shit.ā€
ā€œKnow your market.ā€

Mine is One-Size-Fits-All solutions, fits most; poorly.
The Internet regurgetatorā€™s lie. And repeat each others lies.
Wood-for-power woodgas and charcoal gas is the wrong choice for most.
You have to really really want it; to acknowledge; and do the steps for it to power your life.

Like hanging upsides down fishing out clinkers. Side port scraping out ash-soots-and chars bypassed. Then separating.
Big conversion plants either go big expensive enclosed systems for the upstream and down stream ends feeding and maintneces.
Ha! Still . . . . even they clog, bind-up needing human hands-on cleaning-ups, and restoring. Big plants that then done with cheapest sourced human subcontractors.

DIY-personal systems just from the get-go jump into the sawdusts, noises, and sharp dangerous machinery from the get go. Then later soots, ashes, goo-drools will just be a messier baby diaper; the occasional post holiday meal making kitchen cleaning up to do.

The only easy, clean way to do wood-for-power is to arm-chair jabber about it. Quoting books and publications. Streaming better ideas. Mind designing perfections. Sod that.
Steve Unruh

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Understood.

Iā€™m asking if the charcoal/ash collection barrel on the prototype is retained in the latest design revisions?

I am interested in the potential to produce lots of charcoal from wood chips for use elsewhere.

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Yup, there is a number of reasons for this. Yep this is my market this is where Ive settled. Large engines belong to Wayne and APL. But also Im looking at the ease to fix mistakes. Single cylinder heads pop off quick are easy to fix. Everything else is the contrary. And yep a gasifeir is not a replacement for solar panels and you will still need the same infrastructure even without panels to be at all practical. You still need an inverter and battery storage system. You want to run that gasifier as little as you possibly can otherwise it will get old and stale.

Im not sure at this point where we are going to go with that. We are still testing the possibility of running the larger 400 to 500 cc engines direct off the VersiFire gas storage system. If we can do that then there is no point in needing a charcoal gasifier for engine running and we can then eliminate this complexity and added cost. There is really no point if you can run direct off the VersiFire system itself.

There is the next generation Cross Draft Charcoal unit on the drafting board. This is the C-EX. Charcoal - Elivated Crossdraft gasifier. There will only be one verison and offereed in RTR format. To make charcoal I direct people here as this is the best place on earth to learn how to make charcaol by people actually doing it.

The DXF unit offerings are changed slightly as Im finalizing design work and manufacturing. The DXF-10 is simply the entry level version that will be a better fit for most that want to stick with charcoal fuels. I am going to eliminate the insulation liners on the DXF10 and reserve that for the 14 inch unit, however it will still have the restriction plate for the wood fuel option. The DXF-14 is basicaly a premium version of the 10. It will have the liners in two hearth sizes; an 8 inch hearth and the 10 inch hearth. The 8 inch is for single cyl engines and will have 4 inches of insulation and then the 10 inch is for V twins. It will be the better option for those that want to run wood fuels. However niether units will be shipped with the wood fuel systems pre installed. Learn on charcoal first!! . The 14 also has twice the fuel capacity and should flow much better when running wood fuels with it more open reactor and hopper. It also has a fairly larger gas cooler twice the cooling capacity as the 10.

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