After assembling my Sintratec Kit, I found that I used a lot of my own tools to make the job a lot faster.  While Sintratec provides a set of Allen wrenches and a few other tools, this ain’t no IKEA stool.  Even the good people at 3D Chimera provided a few time-saving tools, that aided in the assembly of the unit.  But the Sintratec kit is a precision, intricate, and complex device, that requires a lot of attention and tools to make this hum.

Granted, if you have enough time, you could theoretically build this kit with the few Sintratec tools provided.  It would take over a week for sure and your fingers would be thrashed from threading all those extrusion holes by hand.  That’s why 3D Chimera provide a handful of outstanding tools that made the job a truly 4-day operation.  (Sintratec states in their documentation that it take 4-days to build, but without 3D Chimera’s notes and tools, that is basically no way.)

3D Chimera provides a bunch of neat tools like a 4mm hex bit, metal file, small screwdriver, and so on.  If you don’t have a single tool in your house and you buy a Sintratec Kit, you can build this SLS 3D Printer with Chimera’s packed items.  No doubt about that.

Now, as I stated in my previous video unboxing the Sintratec parts, it took me 3 days to build.  How did I get this beast built so fast?  It was a combination of 3D Chimeras tools and a BUNCH of my own tools.  Basically, if you have these items in your shop or home, and you are getting ready to rock a SLS build, then keep these items handy.  Check it out in this video:

 

For those of you unfortunate enough not to have high speed internet, here’s the itemized list of tools that I brought to the build:

  • Power Drill (with 4mm Allen Bit)
  • Needle Nose Pliers
  • Vise-grips
  • Standard socket set
  • 10mm open ended wrench
  • Metal metric ruler (15 cm or 6 in long)
  • Various screwdrivers
  • Wire cutters/strippers
  • Latex Gloves
  • Needle File Set
  • Pencil, Pen, Markers, Permanent Markers
  • Various tapes
  • Assorted metric bolts and nuts
  • Heat Gun
  • Mirror
  • Adjustable Flashlight or Headlamp
  • Cell Phone.

The Cell Phone was a neat trick, as explained the video.  I used the camera light as a point-source of light to reverse calibrate the Galvos to the laser.  It’s hard to explain with the video, but basically, you put the camera light pointed up at the exact center of your calibration grid.  Then you let that light shine up through the laser access hole and up to the galvo mirrors.  Then you look for the reflected light on the galvos and adjust them so the camera light beams shine directly into the laser source.  That will get you really darn close to the exact laser and galvo alignment, without having to meticulously adjust the galvos with the laser blasting.

I’m going to keep adding more video about my Sintratec Build.  This was a fun project.  Also, I’ll have some content regarding my recent 3D prints from the machine.