3d Printer Discussion

[Cmar]

I am a retired engineer and I’ve been working on mechanical designs in CAD for years. I really like a 50% fill versus 100% for the strength it gives. I have not done a lot of ASA, I prefer ABS for my external parts.
The other key thing to do is perimeters. Most perimeters are 2 by default. I find that 4 to 5 makes the parts stronger, especially the holes.
It’s hard to see why this one view but a few corner radius also make a strong

Exactly, most of the strength comes from the surface, a part with say a minimum of 3-4 shells and 30-50% infill will in all likelihood weight for weight be stronger and more resilient than a plain 100% infill. I personally like gyroid infill.
Think of a bone like a femur, incredibly strong for it's weight yet under its cortical shell, it's mostly open space filled with bone marrow and that space bears a remarkable structural resemblance to infill.

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[P-38Ranger]

At least 8 years ago work had a nice Stratsys, and I had to convience myself that this simple, stong, incredibily light "spacer block" was strong enough. We were using it one a military ISO shelter being shipped to Okinawa .
Printed 4. There were no user settings. Crushed one in a vice, beat the other with a mallet while it was flat on concrete, then beat it on the side on the same concrete. Then I had a stronger engineer do the same on the others.
We shipped it and to my knowledge it is still operating!
No idea what the material was.
I've had my Prusa singe 2021, and use it weekly, except when I am on a cruise!

 

[P-38Ranger]

today’s project is designing a 5mm spacer to see what I need to stop the rubbing with the new tires. I’ll use these to test fit, then have them made at SendCutSend. I will also get extended studs and longer lugs so that I’ll have full thread engagement.

I’ve made these lug and hub centric.

Amazing what you learn by reading others plans. I have two small simple parts that I have printed, and have been attempting to learn CNC and mill on a school I supports Tormak.
Now, becuase of your comment on SendCutSend, I am exploring that option!

Half my CAD skills I have learned from other High School students who I Mentor with FIRST Robitics. Unfortuntally, none of them know CNC. . . at this level.

 

[Fordup]

I'm using 3 walls on just about everything now. Learning to make hollow parts that you can get the supports out of. A couple recent prints I designed using Alibre.

 

[Cmar]

I'm using 3 walls on just about everything now. Learning to make hollow parts that you can get the supports out of. A couple recent prints I designed using Alibre.

Yep supports can sometimes be a real PITA to get out. I've stopped being gentle, I use a pair of needle nose pliers, get a good grip, twist and pray!

 

[Cmar]

For those interested in exploration, this is an open source slicer / modeler created by some French university engineering staff. It looks extremely basic and simple but this appearance hides some quite powerful features not found in programs like Orca, Prusa slicer, or Cura. There are both MS windows and Linux versions available and it uses Open GL and your graphics card to accelerate slicing.

https://icesl.loria.fr/#header

 

[Fordup]

Wife wanted a way to get the big box of filters out of our little coffee area. We'll too cold to do anything else so came up with this.

A little VHB tape and out of the way storage for a month worth of filters, coffee grinder scoop, and sugar spoon. Had to print an adapter for the sugar spoon.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

license plate bracket that I've been working. Installed pictures later tonight.

 

[Cmar]

ABS or ASA? Despite the belief that it's no good in the weather I've had surprisingly good results from PLA+ outdoors in the open. If it can live outdoors here then I think it would work anywhere. However inside a car in summer - not so much.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

ABS or ASA? Despite the belief that it's no good in the weather I've had surprisingly good results from PLA+ outdoors in the open. If it can live outdoors here then I think it would work anywhere. However inside a car in summer - not so much.

I had a PLA+ mount melt inside my cabin. This one is PETG.

Here are the print settings I used for strength. I printed it at 45 degrees too so that the layer lines wouldn't be in the same direction as the force of the license plate.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

Installed.

 

[sirripo]

I bought an Ender 3 years ago, and spent a decent chunk of money modding it - bed springs, ptfe tubing, etc. I could never really ever get it to work right - warping/bed adhesion, weird artifacting, etc. Spent a bunch of time and money chasing those issues, finally gave up on it a year or two ago.

I finally got the bug again, and decided to just go for it and picked up a Bambu P2S. I'm mostly wanting functional prints, so I decided to skip the AMS since I'll probably mostly be printing single color. I also picked up a filament dryer, I think I neglected that for far too long. Tossed in a year old roll of black Overture PLA leftover from my last attempt at getting the Ender working and let that sit overnight.

It's downright amazing how different this is from an Ender, and how much the tech has matured in the last couple of years. Ran a benchy off, I've got some stringing happening but I'm chalking that up to the filament, I've already got some new stuff on the way. Printed a couple print in place figurines, those are fun to play with, and I've currently got a flexible starfish printing off as something to maybe occupy the kiddo tomorrow while he's home sick.

It was amazing having a Benchy done in like 20 minutes, but my current table isn't stable enough at those crazy speeds for me to feel comfortable with it long term.

Now I just need to figure out modeling so I can try to make my own wireless charging plate for the truck and maybe a few other things.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

The p2s seems to be a great machine. Congrats on that. I want the AMS but I can’t justify it right now. I’d use it to keep from having to swap filament constantly when I print prototypes vs final product.

 

[sirripo]

The p2s seems to be a great machine. Congrats on that. I want the AMS but I can’t justify it right now. I’d use it to keep from having to swap filament constantly when I print prototypes vs final product.

Considering I'm basically a newbie at this point and I'm not looking to print at any sort of scale, I didn't think it was necessary. Maybe if I start messing around with different filaments or printing toys for the kid or whatever (once he isn't sticking things in his mouth constantly, at least) I'll consider it more strongly.

Absolutely blown away by this thing. I doubt I'd have been able to ever get these kinds of results from my Ender3. Still some minor issues but that could still be related to the filament, we'll see how things turn out once my new stuff arrives later this week.

 

[Cmar]

I had a PLA+ mount melt inside my cabin. This one is PETG.

Here are the print settings I used for strength. I printed it at 45 degrees too so that the layer lines wouldn't be in the same direction as the force of the license plate.

PETG - good choice, also canting it over like that, I always try to consider the forces that use will place on an object, when orienting it on the build plate, it can literally make or break your print and project. How much support did it need?

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