We’ll go out on a limb here and say that a large portion of Hackaday readers are also boat-builders. That’s a bold statement, but as the term applies to anyone who has built a boat, we’d argue that it encompasses anyone who’s run off a Benchy, the popular 3D printer test model. Among all you newfound mariners, certainly a significant number must have looked at their Benchy and wondered what a full-sized one would be like. Those daydreams of being captain of your ship may not have been realized, but [Dr. D-Flo] has made them a reality for himself with what he claims is the world’s largest Benchy. It floats, and carries him down the waterways of Tennessee in style!
The video below is long but has all the details. The three sections of the boat were printed in PETG on a printer with a one cubic meter build volume, and a few liberties had to be taken with the design to ensure it can be used as a real boat. The infill gaps are filled with expanding foam to provide extra buoyancy, and an aluminium plate is attached to the bottom for strength. The keel meanwhile is a 3D printed sectional mold filled with concrete. The cabin is printed in PETG again, and with the addition of controls and a solar powered trolling motor, the vessel is ready to go. Let’s face it, we all want a try!
Funny. Seven years, two printers and many thousands of prints here. Not one has been a Benchy. I guess I’m a minority.
Me neither. I don’t have nearly as many hours or prints as you though.
I’m way behind both of ypu. I’ve never even seen a 3D printer in the flesh let alone a Benchy!
I am in between, I have seen 3d printers (in person) but have never used one
I’ve collected enough parts to build at least three printers but have not completed any.
I bought a broken 3d printer at a yard sale, fixed it and printed an owl..nothing since.
How appropriate is it that for a story about Benchy, that the first sentence so fully and deliciously channels the hyperbole of former Hackaday writer, Brian BENCHoff? I solute you, Jenny … I can only assume this genius was intentional. 😆
That’s not enough solar cells to do much, even on a sunny day. And Tennessee doesn’t usually have all that many of those; this summer being an extremely rare, dry exception. Call it like it is: battery powered, with the length of charge slightly supplemented by solar.
While the boat itself looks fun and was probably even more fun to make, I’ll stick with my jon boat. Aluminum brazing has gotten so easy in the past decade or two that it makes repairs a piece of cake compared to patching PETG.
It has enough solar cells to charge the batteries for free when it is sitting at the dock for 90+% of the time, like most boats do.
You’re going overboard with the negativity. You should be onboard with the silliness and commitment to build and complete this unexpected project.
Right? The whole point of this build is obviously for fun. Don’t see why people are being overly critical.
Not sure what part of Tennessee you live in, but as someone who has lived in East TN for the last 30 years, Tennessee has plenty of sunny days. There are exceptions, and our weather can be varied and unpredictable, but for the most part there is more sun than not.
I am honestly surprised this hasn’t happened already. Put a beefy outboard on it and go water skiing
It’s has https://youtu.be/ilIubT7ands?si=ZWN6wCWXTZAdHFe-
Thank you
Now I wonder why he didn’t print a bunch of scaled down benchies to make sure it can float upright.
That’s also why I stopped the video @06:12 when he attempted to explain why he had to get it right the first time.
https://youtu.be/ilIubT7ands?si=FQH_IDCnuttXPQZE was the first to do so
This is not the Benchy. No cabin. Barely the hull, not very nice.
I guess you didn’t watch the video. Try skipping to the second half. There is clearly a cabin on that boat.
Hehe, I skipped the first half, that’s the problem. The video is so poorly made, with only few looks to finished boat, with lot of nothing to say selfies.
Emily The Engineer on YouTube did this (sort of). Hers was much smaller and barely floated but I think still counts for something because she did technically float around in it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIubT7ands
Music for Benchies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUFWkuMY6xM
That printer and project sure make a good case for closed loop control! At least stall detection was implemented at some point. I saw some rumblings of this in another post.. the idea of using cheap DC motors with linear encoders instead of steppers with loads of torque and weight and prayer. I know motion control like this has been done on proper CNC equipment for a long time now, but as far as I know, it was always implemented in an FPGA. But even those are becoming more accessable. It’s a big change from Mario and GRBL though, under the hood anyway, and all the tuning of PID loops on each axis. Maybe worth it? Are people doing this already?
Closed loop steppers have become cheap and they are easy upgrade for any system. Less heat, automatic recovery from small position errors and detection if things get really stuck.
My latest CNC build was Linux CNC -> Mesa FPGA card -> PWM -> DC motor -> Encoder -> FPGA card -> LinuxCNC and it works great. For Z axis I went with BLDC to get more torque, but it was harder to find a BLDC controller with low enough latency. But I think off-the-shelf closed loop stepper would have been an easier build.
A word of warning: not just any DC motor is suitable. Many have too much rotational inertia, which limits acceleration. In BLDC and steppers the rotor is smaller and lighter than in DC motors.
This is amazing! Bravo
3D printing a boat, from 1996: https://vimeo.com/402395793