help-with-3dprinting

[coarse ruin]

you would think slicers would know this... but not that i have found a setting for.

[winged helm]

If I want to make a rain resistant cover for something, should I use a full infill?

[arctic dragon]

I would say infill will only help so much as far as water seeping through layer lines. Smoothing and external finishes will go much further in preventing water ingress IMO

[iron remnant]

The Prusa article on waterproofing: https://blog.prusa3d.com/watertight-3d-printing-pt1-vases-cups-and-other-open-models_48949/

[winged helm]

It's more drip protection tbh. And also dust and debris protection

[half dew]

I over-committed to this project... 2 days to print a lot of parts but it means I have to be near the printer the entire time to remove finished prints and start new ones 1-2 times an hour

[winged helm]

Has anyone ever used 3d printing to make a drilling jig? Did it work without bushings?

[half dew]

I've used it for temporary jigs - they all lasted though so some are still in use.

[winged helm]

I need a jig to last like 3 to five drillings

[half dew]

Not sure how well it would work for something like a pockethole jig though - mine have all been vertical/perpendicular so it was fairly stable

[winged helm]

Mine would be perpendicular

[half dew]

Yeah - I think that would be fine

[winged helm]

Ok yeah this would save me hundreds in drill bushings

Thank you

[sleek crag]

I've used 3D printed jigs for drilling several times. No bushings, no issues.

[winged helm]

Sweet thank you too

[sleek crag]

I do tend to do them with 3 perimeters, just to be sure, though.

[winged helm]

3 perimeters?

[sleek crag]

Makes the walls thicker, so that when you scrape some plastic off with the first drilled hole, there's still enough wall to maintain the integrity of the hole.

When I do other prints, I tend to only have 2 perimeters.

Some slicers call them shells, I guess.

[winged helm]

oh i see

thank you

[topaz viper]

where is this model it looks handy

[half dew]

.4mm?

[topaz viper]

for anyone looking for that model of the shells, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:927684

[winged helm]

nice

How translucent is translucent filament?

Like if I put neopixels inside like a sphere of translucent filament, would it obvious there were neopixels in there or would it be kind of foggy and so just the color would show?

[topaz viper]

there is a tutorial on printables on how to do translucent https://www.printables.com/model/15310-how-to-print-glass

you will need this https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07SB761QR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[winged helm]

hmm, what I'm after is actually specifically not fully transparent. So if I increase the print speed, will it be foggy?

and thicker walls?

[topaz viper]

That I am unsure since I have not tried it yet, so I will print something now with it. I have the material just have not tried the tutorial. By the way that model in the picture is the Prusa caps on top of the Z Axis rods.

[winged helm]

cool thanks so much!

[arctic dragon]

I can only speak for the transparent pla I got from Geetech a long time ago. (Never buying their products again, but for unrelated reasons.) They are pretty good if you expect translucency over transparency, but it might take a couple of iterations to get it to diffuse light exactly the way you want it to.

[topaz viper]

ok had to change a bunch of settings in the slicer, printing something now, this item will take about 35 minutes

lol very hard to see on the bed

[arctic dragon]

Oh I’m sure. Single layers are pretty transparent, even with the less clear pla filaments.

[topaz viper]

this filament is petg

[arctic dragon]

Unfortunately layer lines make it near impossible for transparent pla to get as clear as transparent PETG. I tried…

[topaz viper]

hmm this is harder than it looks, try number 2

It seems more brittle than it should be

[elder oxide]

Resin is a great way for clear but cleanup is an issue

[topaz viper]

Alas that is a type of printer I don't have

[winged helm]

Yeah I have an FDM. Resin is possible but less ideal

[elder oxide]

I’m going to try JLCPCBs resin services one of these days

[winged helm]

Competitively priced?

[elder oxide]

I’ve seen good things

It’s like $1 or $2 per print

[winged helm]

Wow

So if you're already doing a board then it makes a lot of sense

[elder oxide]

https://jlcpcb.com/3d-printing

As low as $1

[winged helm]

What would recommend? I want to do an orb with neopixels in it that's diffuse enough that you can't see them

The orb just lights up

Dome not orb

[topaz viper]

first single layer test, Z is too low need to adjust.

[winged helm]

Hmm ok

Not quite what I'm looking for. Thank you for doing that

[topaz viper]

not done, every filiment is different

need to tune it in

[elder oxide]

I’ve used single layer white for diffusion

[topaz viper]

one color does not behave as another color and between brands can be quite different I have learned

[elder oxide]

That’s actually two layer

But it was pretty good

[topaz viper]

yep looks clean

[winged helm]

Hmm I'm hoping slightly smokier

[elder oxide]

Go for a light gray

[winged helm]

Is white possible?

[elder oxide]

HATCHBOX Matte PLA 3D Printer Filament, Dimensional Accuracy +/- 0.03 mm, 1 kg Spool, 1.75 mm, Gray https://a.co/d/c43JHsp

[elder oxide]

White is the color I used, so if you want smokier definitely a light grey/gray

[winged helm]

hm ok, what about more opaque?

white

[elder oxide]

There is like black transparent

[winged helm]

hmm

will have to iterate

[elder oxide]

Here’s transparent black as a diffusion material

It ends up being more gray

Also ends up looking like the opaque covers for fluorescent lights

[winged helm]

Hmm

[elder oxide]

Try the gray, I bet if you did 1mm thickness it would diffuse pretty close to what you are looking for

If not, gray is a great color to print with anyway

[topaz viper]

So this finally arrived, took a bit to get.
Recommended for 3D printing

[elder oxide]

For adhesion to the build plate?

[topaz viper]

yes I find textured plate is a bit finnicky

Also it helps for easy removable of the printed item

when everything is cool, I found really helps on my Ender 3 S1 Pro, Prusa seems to handle it better

[elder oxide]

Funny enough, I print smooth side of my tempered glass bed all the time. The textured side has issues sticking for whatever reason

After it cools, it just pops right off

Wonderful glossy quality too

[topaz viper]

I get that from the prusa smooth sheet bed

Changed to a smooth bed from a textured bed, test 7 now

Well with a smooth bed

single layer

[elder oxide]

Not terrible

[topaz viper]

lol doing test 8 now fine tuning Z

doing test 10 now with .1mm height

[winged helm]

I was thinking something like 1-1.5mm would be right

[topaz viper]

I was unsuccessful with .1mm but .2mm works, here is the piggy test.

[winged helm]

Do you think it would be possible to completely obscure the shape of the LEDs?

[topaz viper]

not sure, I am printing a 1mm thick test square since the piggy is rather thick, 8.1mm thick.

[winged helm]

Thanks very much

[topaz viper]

No prob this is fun lets me learn how to do a interesting filament

[topaz viper]

Ok 1 mm thick, with the layers cross laid, 5 layers.

[winged helm]

What does it look like if the plastic is 2 or 2 inches from the leds?

[topaz viper]

one sec

ok this is with the plate, 2cm away from the screen, I used a test cube as a spacer. It's 2cm square.

[winged helm]

Ok so I think 2mm would work for me

[topaz viper]

this is 4 cm space

[winged helm]

Awesome thanks!

Really appreciate it

What panel is that?

[topaz viper]

I am printing another square where the layers go all the same direction, not cross layered

here is a close up of the first square

the panel is a neopixel arduino hat

sitting on a metro 4 express

[topaz viper]

ok almost done next square

Ok here it is
close UP, 0 cm, 2cm, 4cm

[winged helm]

Is there anything to be done about the photosensitivity of resin?

Like a coating?

[elder oxide]

Like UV sensitivity?

[winged helm]

Yeah

[elder oxide]

Probably hard because it’s cured with UV lighting

You might be able to put a UV protective clear coat in it

[winged helm]

That's what I was thinking

[elder oxide]

Be weary of spray paint

It has acetone and whatnot in it that can weaken the print

You can brush on an acrylic base layer

Unless you need it clear, that might be hard.. maybe a clear UV deck varnish

[winged helm]

What would be a good way to make foggy clear plastic stuff that can be outside but has smooth sides?

Besides paying 10s of 1000s for an injection mold production run

[strange ledge]

Casting..?

[winged helm]

Is that hard to do.

?

[strange ledge]

Eeeehhh... can be.

It's better if you have a vacuum chamber.

There's loads of videos on the YouTubes about resin casting.

[winged helm]

Yeah it can't be resin

I need something UV tough

[outer narwhal]

sandwich some kind of diffusion film between two clear plastic panels?

[elder oxide]

ASB or PETG

Or cnc mill and polish acrylic

You can also print nylon

[winged helm]

Is nylon clear ever?

[elder oxide]

Maybe not

[winged helm]

Yeah it's a tough problem

I need a low run (<20 units)

[elder oxide]

Might look at PCTG https://essentium.com/product/essentium-pctg/

[outer narwhal]

nylon isn't very UV-stable; most nylon stuff that's meant to have any UV exposure is black to slow down the effects of UV

[balmy pulsar]

cnc'd acrylic will crack from stress risers

will also of course turn yellow

[winged helm]

I'm going to see how absurd very short run injection molding is

[balmy pulsar]

also look at vac moulding

(rubber mold)

spin casting is another low volume method but not very commong

[elder oxide]

You could do thermomolding of acrylic and then coat with UV clear coat

[balmy pulsar]

cast glass?

😛

ok no

[winged helm]

Thermo moulding doesn't seem to do what I want

I want to create a bit of a bottom to the part

[elder oxide]

You could print PETG or PCTG and coat with UV clear coat

[winged helm]

Yeah I think that's where I'll end up

[balmy pulsar]

silicone? i guess it cant be flexible

[winged helm]

I've been advised to look at ASA

[random urchin]

How about: PLA positive print -> silicone negative mold -> cast polyester resin?

[winged helm]

Would polyester resin be UV resistant?

[balmy pulsar]

better than most

thats what the uv clears are

[winged helm]

Can you do a frosted look?

[elder oxide]

You could get that with a little sanding

[balmy pulsar]

sandblast the inside?

yeah

[elder oxide]

Use a rough grit

[balmy pulsar]

or a satin clear coat

[elder oxide]

Like 120-150 or yeah satin finish

[winged helm]

I know someone who does resin casting. Could probably save money by sending them a mold or a file

[balmy pulsar]

the silicone mold and resin is super expensive though.

[winged helm]

Oh yeah?

[balmy pulsar]

from memory the smooth on tiny kits are $30-$40 each

i guess its all relative

[winged helm]

How many parts do you get per?

[elder oxide]

Depends on the size

[winged helm]

Hm

[balmy pulsar]

the silicone kit will get youy one mold. the resin yeah, you need to know volume.

i think the kits are 1L

roughly

[elder oxide]

You can get mold silicon in a tub for ~$12 for the hardware store

[winged helm]

I'm thinking this part would be axisymmetric, as wide as the shortest dimension on a prusa bed and 120% as tall maybe 150%

[elder oxide]

I saw someone use it for making tiny cement brick molds

[balmy pulsar]

https://sculpturesupply.com/collections/rubber-silicones/products/mold-star-30

[winged helm]

It might make sense to just hire a professional

[balmy pulsar]

not sure what that is in USD. 35-40?

maybe

this is what they use for vacuum casting. they pull the resin in under vaccuum to avoid bubbles and gaps

theres several online services

[winged helm]

Since I know a guy with an outfit who can probably get a product out much faster

[balmy pulsar]

https://sculpturesupply.com/collections/liquid-plastics/products/crystal-clear-202

ouch, $90

uv stable clear non yellowing

[winged helm]

Yeah I'd not be paying fortunately

[balmy pulsar]

ah ok

[winged helm]

This stuff is not a good idea according to my resin guy

[random urchin]

I've used craft casting resin similar to this before. Been a few years, but I recall it being relatively easy to work with. https://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Technology-16-Ounce-Catalyst-Polyester/dp/B00172RK62

[faint sky]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CVQJ4YD here's the stuff i use. not sure how much quantity you want.

make sure to get a mold release spray too

or just use a thin coating of vaseline

to get a diffused clear look add some transparent white or 1 single drop of opaque white when mixing your resin to cloudy it

transparent dyes are diluted vs opaque dyes which are very concentrated

the silicone i use takes about 6-12 hours to cure works great when mixed right, looks like orange jello

i've used purple pre-mixed before but pre-mixed has a very short shelf life. i now prefer parts a & b you mix yourself, much longer shelf life

Here's one I did 11 years ago for a car part. Ugh time flies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-88gnRVJ9k

I didn't know back then was there's a difference between transparent dyes and opaque dye concentration.

[shy kelp]

aren't there any sls or mjf consumer grade printers or any sorts of service where I can play around without having the risk of designs getting ripped off?

[balmy pulsar]

noone should rip your design off with services like shapeways etc.

[weary lichen]

If memory serves, you can upload to Shapeways and not have the object be public.

You can also get 3d printing done at PCBWay, where it's not made public either unless you explicitly choose. I don't know every version of printer they have, but they have quite a few.

I've used both of them in the past with no issues. Haven't had anything 3D printed from PCBway, but I've used their pcb services and CNC services with no issue

[honest path]

I'm working on a 3d printed case for a mechanical keyboard. I'll be using either PETG or carbon fiber+PETG (I want it to be very rigid). Since I'll be using brass threaded inserts to secure the keyboard's pcb to the case, I need the actual size of the 3D printed case to be as close to the design as possible. I know that printing plastic materials can result in the part being slightly smaller than the original design. Is there any way to account for that when slicing/printing the part?

I'm using a Prusa Mk3 3d printer

[dire sierra]

Print a calibration cube.

check how much your part deviates and plan accordingly

my printer gave me a 9.95 x 9.7 x 10mm cube

So I plan my prints with that in mind.

[elder oxide]

I usually have about 0.2mm tolerance on my prints when using PLA

[weary lichen]

The heat set brass inserts end up eating away any tolerance tightness you get from a printer anyway. I've never had to really worry about tolerance with them and the screws that align to them

[elder oxide]

On my watch here, I reduced the bezel outer dimensions by 0.2mm and it is almost a flush finish

[sleek crag]

On most printers, you can adjust the steps to compensate once you've done that to get exactly 10mm in each direction.

[honest path]

How do you plan your prints with that in mind?. Do you tweak the Slicer settings (..for x,y and z axis) or just do the math when entering the dimensions during design?

[dire sierra]

I do the ugly way I'm afraid. If I need a 100mm width, I design for 110mm and let the shrinkage do its thing.

No doubt there's a clever way of slicer settings or printer offsets... But I'm a 3D Printing CaveMan.

[honest path]

LOL. Got it, no judgement here, I might do it that way too.

[dire sierra]

3D Printer goes BRRRRR

😂

[balmy pulsar]

things dont shrink uniformly so actually designing compensation probably works better

[faint sky]

@elder oxide looking good!

[elder oxide]

Thanks! It’s really coming along

[sleek crag]

So calibrating X and Y doesn't help?

The bit where you specify steps per millimeter?

[sullen zinc]

huh the Odette model .step file doesn't slice properly in prusaslicer 2.5.0. the .stl file does just fine.

[elder oxide]

I’m fairly sure I know what’s happening, but my printer today started throwing a heater_e1 error when trying to heat up the hot end. I’m guessing the thermistor/heating element is going bad. I have an Ender 3 Pro, I’ve had it for going on 3 years. It’s the first time I’ve encountered this but it’s kind of expected.

Does that seem like it would be the issue?

[tender sparrow]

Either that or it/a wire came dislodged so it stops the heater so you don’t have thermal runaway

[faint sky]

I always use the stl file in cura. Haven't tried a .step file yet. What would be a reason to use the step file instead if you have both to chose from? Is one format preferred over another in slicers? The slicer will output the gCode either way.

Nice catch on that one jepler. That's gotta suck to not inspect the slices then spend days printing something just to have it fail at the top like that. 😦

I haven't run into that issue yet thankfully. Will be more diligent about inspecting slices prior to exporting gCode. learn from mistakes, both of yours and others. 👍

[elder oxide]

I use 3MF files

That way I can delete objects in multi object files

[weary lichen]

Taking a look at the error, it means that the temperature reading is outside of the acceptable range before heating even starts. So it's the thermistor.

Normal temperature depends on the printer - I'm seeing -15c to 260c, but I seem to remember some printers have their set higher. If the printer is in a particularly cold environment (Like an unheated garage), it might just be too cold

[elder oxide]

The temperature of the nozzle at these points was already in excess of 100°C so I’m not really sure

It usually failed midway through heating which from what I’ve read indicates it’s not heating as fast as it should be

[weary lichen]

Well that rules out the cold room theory

[elder oxide]

Which could be either the thermistor or the element

I might just but a multipack of elements and thermistors and replace both. The printer is almost 3 years old

[weary lichen]

I lean more towards thermistor. You might be able to see if it's the thermistor by telling it to heat up to, say, 100 degrees (Something you know it's capable of) and then fiddling with the wire to see if the temperature it's reading changes

[elder oxide]

Yeah, true

[faint sky]

Enclosure design for the v1.2 TR-Cowbell coming along. Has a top and bottom. Still a ton of work to do. Have some neat plans for snap in modules on the top for peripheral expansion.

hoping to do snap fit along the top and bottom bezel. the top will hopefully have a nice sleek look. just doing the cutouts for internal parts placements now. printed a test piece to ensure everything lines up and thus far getting high precision alignment 🙂

[faint sky]

Module bays for things like little displays, thumbstick (modwheel), other stuff. Each bay will have a hood angled at about a 30 degree angle for easy viewing or reach. Basically tiny project boxes you slide in like dewalt batteries and clip in then run the wiring inside the case to the Pico. Modularity makes adding on peripherals fun.

Still might make 1 giant one instead with an angled faceplate. Still iterating through ideas.

[faint sky]

learned how to make exploded views. 3D modeling is fun but also frustrating. Fusion 360 isn't the most intuitive program in the world to use.

[faint sky]

This is kind of what I had in mind for modular bays. They're empty shells you mount whatever Adafruit modules you want like a little display, sensors, peripherals, etc..

I was trying to make them look like cowbells at first but that was just impractical.

[shy kelp]

what is this thing?
some sort of keyboard?

if you don't like fusion, then you should try other programs, try everything untill you don't get what you like most
I like rhino as a cad

a really free cad there isn't outside of freecad/openscad
f360 isn't either, knowing autodesk they will place limitations once they get enough marketshare

[faint sky]

a midi sequencer/macropad

[arctic dragon]

Fusion already has limitations and a significant market share. However, as autodesk makes money off mostly off of professional markets, it’s basically free in the context of personal use.

[winged helm]

They've already done that. There are major restrictions on the free version.

[faint sky]

Yes I have run into restrictions. They only allow a maximum of 10 items in your main project folder at any one time... even if it's separate models for components. Also, I was trying to copy/paste a mesh model of an SSD1306 display into an existing component (top enclosure). It didn't allow that with a free account. Though I already have a mesh model in there (the pcb) so maybe it's only 1 mesh allowed per project, dunno.

I might pay the subscription if I knew I'd be using it every day in a professional setting where 3D modeling was part of a job requirement. I usually only use it a couple times a month so I can't justify the cost. They want $70 a month, not $7... $70. Way out of my price range for how often I use it.

[arctic dragon]

The 10item max can be worked around by changing some items to be read only. Fusion has limits on the number of editable items, but if you lock the items you’re not actively working on, you can add more items without trouble.

[faint sky]

ah thank you. didn't know that. i've been deleting them to make room. :/

[faint sky]

Animation of module bays.

[coarse ruin]

have you looked at a PVB coat? it's very clear, desolves in alcohols, water resistant, blocks UV.

[lapis pulsar]

Less 3d printing and more design but I was wondering if anyone knew. On this design: https://www.printables.com/model/117246-qt-py-snap-fit-case/ is there a way to copy just the snap mounts used to secure the qt py? I'm creating a very basic enclosure for a different project that's fully enclosed but I want to use that design to secure the qt py. I can't seem to figure out how to copy that. I'm able to select them in fusion 360 but copy any paste does nothing (I know I'm probably incredibly stupid.

[winged helm]

I hadn't. Thank you for the idea

[slate knot]

Fusion 360 isn't very copy/paste friendly. I can see two solutions to get just the snaps. Edit the timeline on the .f3d file to just model the snap corners or create a box with the difference modifier to delete everything you don't need. Then you can save and import that file as a component in whatever you're designing. I've done the first as a remix if you want a quick solution: https://www.printables.com/model/359924

[lapis pulsar]

Wow that's exactly what I need. Thank you so much!

[brave shoal]

I needed the same thing a while back. Came up with this. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5508504. The one by @slate knot is very useful too. May use it if I get back to qtpy development.

[honest kindle]

Hey guys, whats the best 3D printer for 20x20x10 headset? 🙂

[balmy pulsar]

O-o

[honest kindle]

@balmy pulsar seriously? 😄

[balmy pulsar]

whats a 20x20x10 headset?

[honest kindle]

20 wide 20 long 10 high

weight-lenght-height

[balmy pulsar]

ya lost me. you mean you just want to know what is a good printer that is that big?

[honest kindle]

yes. I need it for my device but in Slovakia, they ask for too much money for printed things so I will just buy my own

I might print out a fish

[balmy pulsar]

id say almost any oft he printers should be fine. anycubic and creality and if you have more money prusa seem the most popular

[honest kindle]

oh, okay, thank you a lot! LETS GO FOR IT! 🙂

[winged helm]

How do people do really large diameter threads? Aluminum inserts? Is that a thing?

Like 4 to 6 inches

[balmy pulsar]

print them?

ive printed lots of big threads

they need to be at least 1mm pitch to function well

[winged helm]

I've heard that printed threads don't last

[outer narwhal]

something that large, i would imagine would typically need to be cut on a lathe?

[winged helm]

I'm thinking an insert?

There are other ways to do what I want but a big thread is nice

[short moth]

So I've moved away from marlin, towards Klipper and the glory that is Python.
I've got a LIS3DH sitting around and it is not supported yet by klipper. I've got a good idea on starting the code conversion, but had a couple questions.

How sensitive/accurate is the Tap function of the lis3dh?
How generally accurate is the 2g mode vs the adxl345 (which is the standard)?
Anyone know why so little support of i2c in favor of SPI in Klipper?

Thanks in advance. I swear I'll show off a qtpy/accel video if this proves worth while.

[short moth]

The Tap is a bit tertiary to input shaping, but if accurate would be a neat all in one "endstopless" solution

[tardy juniper]

Hey guys, running into a bit of an issue with thin wall vase-mode printing with cura

This model is designed to be able to be printed in vase mode with one continuous layer, but for some reason it is printing the outside and then the inside

This is causing the outside wall to have a really bad finish

[half dew]

Do you have a link to the model page? It seems tricky to print a model like that in vase mode without artifacts unless your printer was extremely well tuned

[balmy pulsar]

O_o vase mode should not have an outside or inside. it should be continuous no lifts

part might not be designed properly for vase mode

is this an rc plane wing?

[tender sparrow]

Any idea how to optimize this 3d print? I’m printing at %350 scale and with %5 infill and 60mm/s it will take ~9 hours.

[balmy pulsar]

try 250% scale

😛

[half dew]

unfortunately, print time scales cubicwith size. If you only care about time then you could try reducing the number of outer walls as well but the quality will suffer

[balmy pulsar]

printing is slow, theres not a whole lot you can do

larger nozzles will be much faster at the expense of detail

[half dew]

The only other option is to spend either the time/and or money to get a 300mm/s + printer

[inner cedar]

No infill and a thicker shell would probably be fine -- 1.2mm shell, 0% infill. I usually don't print the babies with any infill

[tender sparrow]

Thx

I can probably boot the speed to 75mm/s

[inner cedar]

Nyoom

Oh, and like... maximum layer height

0.1mm isn't really necessary at that size

[half dew]

Make sure to check the speed on various parts of the print - aka outer walls, infill, inner walls, etc have differentt max speeds set. Your printer also has a "Max acceleration" setting that may effect how fast you can actually reach in practice

[tender sparrow]

I’m not trying to push the limit in my 3d printer just make a big print print faster

[arctic dragon]

Those two things are very closely related.

Realistically, these suggestions aren’t even scratching the surface of actually “pushing the limits” of anything.

Pushing the limits would be installing klipper to use input shaping to increase the max acceleration haha

[half dew]

Yeah, not trying to get you to push it - chances are your printer is set at least a little conservatively but I wanted to point it out since theres its possible that setting the speed to 75mms and changing nothing else would have 0 effect

[tender sparrow]

I’ll have to look at the marlin config to see the max settings

I didn’t finish what i was saying

The last part was “thanks for the pointers on what to change”

[faint sky]

16 hour print, came out great. Whew.

little case feet came with some really long wood screws. swapped them out with M3 motherboard screws, they fit inside perfect. Used M3 heat inserts on the bottom, feet screwed right in. 🙂

M2 heat inserts (a lot of them) on the top face. Motherboard M2 screws right into place. Using the PCB itself to join the 2 sections together. Currently printing the other half of the lower enclosure, won't be done until tomorrow sometime if it succeeds 🤞

[half dew]

I've been trying really really hard not to order those switches and you aren't helping 😉

[iron remnant]

I guess we're really pushing your buttons today.

[topaz viper]

Finally finished making the modular control panel, took about two month 's to get the parts and print it.

[faint sky]

You made your own touchscreen control panel? Can we get a closer picture? That's pretty neat.

[topaz viper]

It's octodash running on a pimoroni HyperPixel 4.0 - Hi-Res Display for Raspberry Pi

[faint sky]

need to figure out a way to join the sides better like an overlapping joint or dovetail.

all the holes on the right side were off by 1mm for some reason. it works though.

no flexing in the middle, everything feels rock solid like 1 piece.

[faint sky]

maybe due to the inaccuracies of layer width? the 3D model looks fine but it printed a little differently. the left side enclosure holes were perfectly aligned. 🤷‍♂️

[torpid grove]

Some sort of interlocking joint like a dove tail would definitely help you here. If you're going to try one I'd recommend printing a small section of the two parts where they'll meet that'll help you dial in tolerances without hours of printing larger parts

[faint sky]

That makes perfect sense. I honestly didn't think about doing that 🤦‍♂️

Added kind of a square interlock on the top halves. Started printing before I saw your comment. Oh well. We'll see how the top halves turn out in like 2 days. :/

[half dew]

Sometimes when I need to make parts like that I'll print a case/cover style shell that snaps over the gaps.

I really can't wait for some of these new fast printers to come out with 300-400mm bed versions so that I can print full sized cases.

[arctic dragon]

If your case is just extra long in one dimension like that one, belt printer could be the answer? Maybe not in the speed department, due to adhesion issues, but I thought about getting one in the distant future to prototype custom keyboard and arcade cabinet parts.

[torpid grove]

Testing on a minimum viable part is always helpful with 3d printing. Saves material and perhaps more importantly time. It's not something I started doing until I had to throw away a few large parts myself

[faint sky]

I'm still new to 3D printing. I've seen the belt feed printers but thought those were for churning out parts. Didn't know it could extend the length of a single print. Will look into that thank you.

Section 3 done. Alignment holes for all the buttons and stuff came out perfect! The underside has some issues. It doesn't fit right. I suspect because I never measured the PCB height and it's sitting higher than expected due to the underneath solder joints. It's a flat top on the lower enclosure, forgot to account for the solder stuff sticking out of the bottom. 🤦‍♂️ Otherwise very happy with the top alignment holes. The rectangles around the step switches fit like a glove. 🙂

This is how I tried to do the interlocking of the top enclosure halves from a side profile view.

In hindsight I should have done the screw holes differently so they mount from the bottom instead of the top so they're not visible. 🤦‍♂️

I'd already printed the bottom enclosure lip flat though. Only thing I could think of for the top half. An attempt was made.

[balmy pulsar]

i would just do a simple lap joint

which you can screw together

making them interlock its too tricky as the print size and finish is inconsistent

[faint sky]

yeah figuring out what i see in fusion 360 doesn't translate perfectly. there's some expansion or contraction, still haven't figured out which.

[balmy pulsar]

hmm. i need a resin print that can live at 100c without degrading.

it shrinks as it cools, but it doesnt do so globally or uniformly

[faint sky]

PETG prints at 250c so it's pretty resilient to high temps.

[balmy pulsar]

so you need to print, measure, compensate

petg isnt resin, and it will warp and soften at 80c

[faint sky]

that makes sense because i'm seeing some places that aren't quite right while other spots came out perfect.

[balmy pulsar]

sls nylong actually might work. and be cheap

but no diy

[faint sky]

80c, eek. resin prints do usually look better from what i've seen of resin vs fdm

[balmy pulsar]

bottom left corner part. its the carrier for the pcb that holds.. everything.

[faint sky]

i don't really need the high temp for the enclosure, it's what i had the on the reel so just kept going with it. it's very duarable though, feels like a giant heavy weight lego in your hand.

[balmy pulsar]

yes. petg is nice for standard uses

resins usually are not meant for long term use

at any temp

[faint sky]

didn't know that, was kinda jealous of the quality resin prints do but had no idea about the degredation

the translucent part in your pic looks gorgeous btw

[balmy pulsar]

well they cure with uv, which means they continue to be affected by it

[faint sky]

ahhh

[balmy pulsar]

if you paint it, it solvs a lot of the problem

[faint sky]

so you basically have to keep any resin prints in a dark dark room

[balmy pulsar]

this part needs to last years / decades inside a hot enclosure

dont know about a dark room, but not in bright sun

but also, they are a bit unknows for long service. in the old days the SLA prints used to shrink over time

[faint sky]

do you have a printer that can do PETG? would a PETG part be more ideal for the part you need?

throw me a file I'll print it in PETG for you np.

[balmy pulsar]

as i said, petg softens and deforms at80c

not suitable

[faint sky]

oh i thought you said resin did that

[balmy pulsar]

no

i dont know what resin does. trying to find otu 🙂

ha

i know petg does cause ive heat molded prints

[faint sky]

there are even higher temp materials available but i haven't tried them

and i'm sure they'd be a PITA to dial in

[balmy pulsar]

in an ideal world id injection mould it from GF30PP but for now i just need a couple

peek. but that costs a fortune

[faint sky]

yeah that's the stuff

[balmy pulsar]

actually i have gf30pp filament. ha. but i dont think it will print cleanly

[faint sky]

ABS is supposed to be high temp but i don't know if it's much different from PETG plus there's the toxic fumes

[balmy pulsar]

it also cost a fortune. $100/500g roll

abs will not print clean and flat enough for this

shrinks wildly

SLS (shapeways) might wind up being the best choice

[faint sky]

have you thought about aluminum or brass casting? maybe getting someone to mill/cnc something?

[balmy pulsar]

too intricate to machine cost effectively

its a $2 spacer.

[strange ledge]

That looks like it would be quite well suited to CNC..

[faint sky]

could try lost wax casting and melting your own aluminum, i've always been interested in that stuff too. looks fun.

i mean you already have the part, can easily make a mold for it

[balmy pulsar]

again, it is a $2 spacer. not a $500 main component 😛

[strange ledge]

Probably expensive to make though. ^^

[balmy pulsar]

moled plastic for volume, and a print for prototype

the rest of it is a nightmare. (for cost). the parts i can cnc myself are fine, but the parts that need precision grinding... oof

[faint sky]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeTprFG__1M

[balmy pulsar]

yeah thats not viable at all. both for cost, and usable part

[faint sky]

just saying it's an idea, more than one way to skin a cat.

[balmy pulsar]

you think your print shrinking and changing shape is bad. try casting 😛

hehe

[faint sky]

this is very true, didn't think of that

[balmy pulsar]

generally on a casting you are leaving several mm to machine away. my part is only 1mm thick

hehe

i can get it done for free on a form 2 printer. hmmmm. /me googles resins for that

$400 FOR A BOTTLE OF RESIN!!!

[faint sky]

oh because it's a resin part, for a resin printer, it's continually blasted with UV which degrades it faster?

[balmy pulsar]

O-o

not sure what you mean

[faint sky]

is the part you want to create part of a resin printer spacer?

[balmy pulsar]

? no its part of the thing in the picture

[faint sky]

yeah i've seen you post that many times in general but i still have no clue what the entire thing is for

[balmy pulsar]

yes

youre not supposed to know ha.

well

[faint sky]

ohh

[balmy pulsar]

its not quite that secret

[faint sky]

ok secret project, that's fine. no no, that's fine.

[strange ledge]

I found 2-part resin pretty cheap on eBay.

[balmy pulsar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNWyPqPVF80

[balmy pulsar]

for a form labs printer?

[strange ledge]

But then... I'm not in the US, so.. YMMV

Oooooooohhhhh
... Printer resin.

I thought we were still on casting. 😅

[balmy pulsar]

hehe specifically form labs high temp. that was the $400

[faint sky]

really cool animation! very professional looking.

[strange ledge]

Casting resin is cheap AF, from what I've seen.

[balmy pulsar]

i guess i can donate it to the maker space and print a few of my parts

[balmy pulsar]

well that is my job 😛

[faint sky]

yeah casting resin is cheap, printer resin not so much.

[strange ledge]

Makes sense

Do you think we could 3D print with wax?
That would sure help with a casting process..

[faint sky]

that's an interesting idea but wax filament...

[balmy pulsar]

petg (painted)

[faint sky]

unless you mean with a resin printer.. even then i doubt it.

daredevil?

[balmy pulsar]

red hood

[faint sky]

unfamiliar

[balmy pulsar]

batman

[faint sky]

i like the scratch marks and character in it

[strange ledge]

And there's a very sensitive line between soft enough to print and just dribbling... Lol

[balmy pulsar]

wax prints are done with ink jet style printers

[faint sky]

wax printers are a thing? TIL.

[strange ledge]

Well, dang.... Lol

[balmy pulsar]

with SLA (and resin if you can figure out the software) they make special hollow structures that drain out and then colapse and burn out of the plaster for casting

wax printers have been used for jewelery sing the 80s. they are one of the first types

too expensive though still.

both for the wax and the printer

[faint sky]

oh i would transfer it to a plaster mold with seams. plaster can hold up to aluminum and brass casting so it's really the best for molds not matter what you intend to fill it with.

[strange ledge]

I'm now thinking if I should start looking at parts to build a printer, using the Sanguinololu boards I have.

[balmy pulsar]

if you go on shapeways and pick brass or gold etc, they are wax prints that are then cast

you need a wax print for every single casting

you cant reuse the plaster mold, it disolves after casting

[faint sky]

for one offs yeah it'll work, for more than that a stainless milled mold is best, can be used for injection molding too. that's far from 3D printing a few pieces.

[balmy pulsar]

molds for plastic are usually aluminium. P20 if they are for long runs or abrasive plastics. for die casting metals, that is a whole different mess.

i have the die model for the S500 engine block somewhere.

crazy stuff haha

[faint sky]

pla counts as lost wax style molds though with metal casting. didn't know that so that opens up some more doors.

i've never done metal casting but i find it super interesting, would love to do some small pieces someday.

[balmy pulsar]

PLA doesnt burn clean. but ive seen people use it

i had a client that is/was the biggest die casting die maker in the world (as in they make the biggst stuff)

nutters

haha

one die for an engine is like $2-$4m

[faint sky]

sheesh, i've seen some of the videos for engine casting factories for small blocks, massive molds, and the machining required afterward.

3D printing is kinda like a small entry into that space, gets people interested in making, casting, fabrication, etc..

[balmy pulsar]

3d printing is started to be used for engines. 3d printed sand.

i think ferrari does it now

[faint sky]

ohhh

[strange ledge]

I really want to get into 3D printing, but cost.

[faint sky]

yeah i've seen them make full scale models out of 3d printed material instead of clay now

[balmy pulsar]

nothing beats die casting if you want to pump out a million ford focuses though

[faint sky]

the 3D printers automotive designers have at their disposal requires a gantry crane, they're awesome.

[balmy pulsar]

ha

[faint sky]

someday i want to use one of those 3D scanning apps on my car and make a 3D printed model for my desk.

[balmy pulsar]

scanning a car suuuuucks

ha

[faint sky]

saw Phil T do it for that AT&T hacker van, should be possible.

[balmy pulsar]

the main issue we have is anything shiny doesnt show up in the scan... which is most of the car

[faint sky]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JokGUXH3u9I

as long as it can make a halfway decent mesh can fix it in fusion 360, hopefully.

[balmy pulsar]

err

waits for posting bot to calm down

[faint sky]

i think dynobot should also announce how long until you can post links again

[balmy pulsar]

nope

yeah

[faint sky]

no idea what the timeout is, 5 mins, 10 mins, no idea

[balmy pulsar]

youtube 4x2NzusLAqk

use that

ha

thesea few of the more recent cars we scanned in there.

ther baracuda was ok, cause its all patina'd

the lambo was bad. real bad.

(and so was the yellow wrap)

[faint sky]

that leads to a peacock pokerface trailer

[balmy pulsar]

yes

theres a race car that crashes half way in there. we scanned that to do the crash

huh, lambo isnt in that trailer. booo.

haha

[faint sky]

looks real, has wheel trails in the dirt, front end scrunches up. looks real to me 👍

[balmy pulsar]

🙂

and it was totally finished on time with no issues. yup. totally.

[faint sky]

oh i see what you mean, the glass and interior would be a problem. that's for video production though. i don't intend on going quite that far for a model on my desk.

[balmy pulsar]

this one was fun

[faint sky]

beautiful

[balmy pulsar]

they made a 3d print... it didnt fit the actors hand and it looked bad close up. so i took the print model into fusion and remade it into that

and it was totally on time and ... actually, that one was pretty good. haha.

[faint sky]

looks great!

[balmy pulsar]

where mah emmy!

:x

haha

i scanned a lot of things for that show. swords and weapons (and heads missing bodies)

they always make everything shiny.

grrr!

haha

anyhow

it can be a fun job sometimes. props are cool. real or cg.

[faint sky]

i need one of those for uninvited solicitors knocking on my door during the middle of the day

though i'm still going to actually try to make a mail slot d*** puncher someday.

[balmy pulsar]

hmm. maybe shouldnt post that one

haha

[winged helm]

Trying to come up with ideas for this problem. I have this piece I designed (steel), that mounts to something. I want a plastic cover to go over the front and "snap" over. It doesn't need to be removed ever, so 3D printing is a decent choice. Does anyone have tips for creating a snapping cover? It will have recesses on the inside for the screws.

clips here

I'm thinking a cantilever snap, but I might have to have only 2 snaps as there is no good way to print all 4

[faint sky]

From the bottom use countersink screw heads to keep flush, on the top use nuts on the plastic cover. Won't be pretty but will work.

[winged helm]

I am gonna go with heat set inserts in the plastic and forgo snaps actually

[faint sky]

that'll work too

but it's kind of the same idea, you'll want flush mounted countersunk screws on the bottom.

[winged helm]

I'm using these https://www.sailrite.com/Snap-Fastener-Machine-Screw-3-8-8-32-Nickel-Plated-Key-H?quantity=1&custcol_qty_in_pack=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA2fmdBhBpEiwA4CcHzX02gipGhOpMTUN5DWJ1oVJHy9ROEOnG__lMLH-kQbRBfL6Bp5_ZRRoCYRoQAvD_BwE

[faint sky]

for a snap fit you'd have to modify the side plate of the metal which would be darn near impossible without a precision mill/cnc

bottom metal doesn't have to be flush? then yeah use any screws you want as long as they fit the insert threads.

[winged helm]

yeah

[winged helm]

Does anyone have preferred guidance on shape and relative hole size for heat set inserts?

[half dew]

I think I've generally just used their reported diameter since the teeth are slightly wider - but I always print a small test plate to be sure

[faint sky]

I found this article to be very helpful. https://www.cnckitchen.com/blog/tipps-amp-tricks-fr-gewindeeinstze-im-3d-druck-3awey

Create a test piece because all printers and settings are different. The only way to know for sure is to do calibration tests like you would for anything else.

Yes you'll waste a handful or so of inserts but the knowledge you'll get from a heat insert test jig is invaluable.

Different inserts will react differently too. There are straight walled castellated inserts and there are angled knurled inserts, each type might need fine tuning for the correct hole size to make with them. There's no silver bullet answer because there are variables within the heat insert, your printer, and material.

I've found that chamfering the top of the hole does help a lot. As it melts material will go up the side of the insert. Without a chamfered edge on the top hole you'll end up with a raised bump around the edges. With a chamfered hole the extra material actually fills the chamfer to become flat, it's really kinda neat.

Also it's very important to make the hole longer than the insert by .5 to 1.0 mm otherwise if you bottom out the insert it will definitely start backfilling material into the lower threads.

You can prevent some backfilling by installing the screw in the insert, and heating the screw on the top with a soldering iron and pressing them in that way. However, doing it that way increases the chances of seizing the screw to the thread, it will only accept but so much backfill before it's unusable. Heating with the screw installed is not the conventional way to do it. If you have major backfilling issues on the lower threads I've found it helps prevent at least some backfilling.

Setup test holes that have different diameters, different chamfered edges, chamfered bores, etc.. and see what works best for you.

[inner cedar]

I don’t do threaded inserts often, but when I do, I myself like the “screw in and push in with hot iron” method. Just gotta be careful to push straight so you don’t tilt it

[faint sky]

Here's my baseplate. Forgot to add channels for the solder joints. Could have also put the insert holes on risers but it's easier to extrude channels for solder joints. With a PCB that uses through hole components it's impossible for the board to ever sit truly flush with the baseplate. It could work with single sided SMD only. So this was a mistake and why the outer lips of top and bottom enclosure don't fit right. This is an image of what not to do. Live and learn.

I tried using a dremel to cut a channel for PCB through hole pins but there's like 538 of them. Started to hit infill which would weaken the integrity if I did that for the entire board length with multiple channels (about 5 pin hole channels needed). Not even close to worth the effort vs running another print with channels for through hole pins. Also making the entire baseplate about 10mm thicker from the bottom so channels and heat inserts will have more room to work with. It was a good first attempt but design mistakes were made.

Those are all M2 inserts. Only the case feet use M3. The through hole pins need about 5mm-7mm of space, plus any bodge wire. :/

It's better just to make the bottom thicker & extrude channels for pin holes. That will keep the structural integrity. Plus it adds more overhead for the bottom mounted heat inserts for case feet from interfering with inserts from the top. I'm using 4mm depth inserts so a minimum of 5mm required. Board should be at least 10mm thick to prevent any interference of top inserts or extruded channels with bottom inserts.

[faint sky]

Just about finished modifying the lower enclosure. This should allow the pcb to sit flat against the heat inserts when screwed down.

[tender sparrow]

Looks nice

[coarse coral]

you can do 3 insert aligners and 1 snap at the front

[faint sky]

reprinted with channels for through hole pins. now fits snug as a bug. 🙂

going with 2 heat inserts on the front to connect sections together. not comfortable with snap fit stuff just yet, still getting a feel for the accuracy of the printer. you can really only do snap fit when you're absolutely sure about your accuracy.

[inner cedar]

Personally I like screws over snap fit…

Especially anything you may dismantle with any frequency, snap fit can get loose

[faint sky]

That's true, a mechanical fit will wear over time. The lower enclosure isn't something that ever needs to be taken apart once the 2 sections are put together.

[inner cedar]

Good use for snap fit then. Screws are aesthetic XD

Some designers literally just put screws with no purpose for looks, lol

[faint sky]

You can kinda see the holes ghosting through the side. There are long through holes that get screwed in from the bottom. The top of the enclosure will have the heat inserts. Flip it over on the bottom and screw it in from the bottom plate. Needs a long thin screwdriver.

[inner cedar]

Ahh, yeah, I see what you mean

[faint sky]

This way, no visible screws on the top enclosure, nice and clean, hopefully.

[inner cedar]

Clean is good!

[half dew]

You can remove and reuse heat-set inserts 🙂

[faint sky]

If you don't get backfill into the threads sure. Once the threads are filled with PETG you'd have to burn it out with a blowtorch and tap them again.

[inner cedar]

Yeah... Not fun getting stuff out of the threads

[coarse coral]

i hate screws and plastic but snap fit is made to snap 😐

i attempted to solder onto 3d printed backplates before, let's say my soldering skills aren't good

let's say that

i haven't had much luck with vertical circles yet, always get sagging even with supports

[faint sky]

i think it was makers muse who said for vertical circles to do a teardrop shape as the top of the circle won't be printed anyway, depending on your detail.

[inner cedar]

I’ve found chemical welding to work better than trying to melt parts together

[coarse coral]

thanks will search it out

have a plate for this combined system (pi4, screen, and pisugar) so the io is available. there will be sag, and the edges wont be nice. i was considering lining with electrical tape

that only works if the tape colour matches the plastic tho

for aesthetics

[half dew]

Heh, I guess I've been lucky but I've never run in to that at all - i just put a screw in, head up the insert, and pull it out. Worst case I've had to boil the insert to get some of the plastic off the outside

[faint sky]

ah that's a good idea, never heard of that yet. might try to recover some of the inserts from my previous prototype then. great tip.

hmm also looking into a 3d pen to fill in some missing gaps. my last print didn't turn out that well but it was a 24 print so i'm not going to give up on it. need to find a way to fill gaps. could use a soldering iron but that sounds messy.

[half dew]

It might be that I bought a cheap 3d pen - but I've found its pretty hard to use and get clean results. It does a pretty good job welding prints together though

[coarse coral]

Solder irons are messy unless it's a hole you need to make

Anything that has human error associated usually happens when u heat the plastic. Plus the plastic around the area ends up warping. Inserts are one thing

[arctic dragon]

3D pens are very much tools that demand a steady hand and a particular sense. If you have sculpting experience or money to spare, you could try it, but most people who obsess with clean aesthetic use filler and paint to cover any imperfections.

Alternatively, you could screw a laser-cut plate of some material to the bottom?

[coarse coral]

i wonder if it's possible to lay both parts on hot plate gently for a moment - provided it's a flat weld and then move one on top of the other

would definitely use something to protect your hot plate in the process

it would probably cool down too fast

if it keeps a temperature you could finish with a smeer

and don't forget to put a cherry on top

that's instead of the epoxy or w.e. a bit redundant if you have those available

metal rods could work

use pliers to insert and reheat when ready to connect

i'm making a handheld case and going to go for snap fit some how

[faint sky]

i actually did think of that. seems very risky. might be worth testing on some small dovetail type of joints first.

also thought about using a butane torch to drop melt filament kinda like dripping candle wax style. 3D pen or trashing a soldering iron tip makes the most sense.

any excess could use a dremel wheel for straight cuts

3rd print finally got the dimensions just right to have the lip sit flush, clear the encoder box, and have enough clearance for the multiplexers.

iterations and evolution of design. you've only truly failed if you didn't learn something.

Kept the angle of the step switch housing continued to the end of the lip. So if you want to 3D print longer 808 style switches they'll work. If I made the lip flat that wouldn't be possible. Just in case someday I figure out how to make a good 808 replica cap with the current switch housing.

The design has the lip sitting flush with the edge of the switch housing, I'm losing about 1-2mm due to thermal shrinkage?

Trying to get dimensional accuracy out of my printer is like trying to wrestle an alligator.

[torpid grove]

1-2mm of thermal shrinkage seems rather high. Have you done any test cubes to try dialing in dimensional accuracy? I'd check your x and y axes make sure they're not losing steps also this could be from the nozel dragging on the prior layer.

[faint sky]

I have 0 tolerance setting enabled because it was coming out 2mm too big in every direction. Calibrated for material with temp towers and retraction towers. Didn’t realize dimensional accuracy would be this tough.

Printed a calibration cube on day 1 but I’ve changed so many things since then.

I need a dimensional accuracy calibration test. I have the calibration plugin for Cura. Will see if there’s anything in there. If you know of one I’m all ears.

[torpid grove]

It might be time for another if you've done any printer mods. I would go for a calibration cube to start. After that try a medium hollow tube that'll show you if you're missing steps when interpolating curves.

[faint sky]

I never did the step calibration. Saw videos about that. Yeah I need to do that.

The 0 tolerance setting is in expert settings, saw a YouTube video where it helped.

Since I’ve printed 3 of 4 sections already with it would rather try section 4, then recalibrate. Otherwise I risk throwing everything off in my current settings.

Currently accurate enough, but not nearly as accurate as I’ve seen from other people.

Thank you for the ideas. Will definitely do a complete recalibration soon.

[balmy pulsar]

shrinkage like that is normal. this is why an enclosure helps. the bed it keeping the bottom layers hot, and the middle ones are cooling and shrinking. With PLA this doesnt show so much, with petg and especially ABS is can be bad. When you use a heated chamber though, all the layers stay more unifomly warm and shrink more equally.

hm, maybe thats not too clear, ha. i am talking about the layers seeming to shrink unequally, wider at the bottom etc. this makes it more difficult to try and calibrate because it is not consistent

[faint sky]

that makes sense.

Everything looks fine with the model but the print has a mind of its own sometimes.

[half dew]

Enclosures can help with the shrinkage since it keeps the ambient temp higher - you can probably get away with a temp one

[balmy pulsar]

just some home depot insulation foam

with the mirror foil

[torpid grove]

Do you know what material you're printing with? As @balmy pulsar said an enclosure will help a lot with ABS or PETG. If these parts are pla then my guess is still mechanical printer issues not thermal shrinkage

[faint sky]

It’s all PETG

[torpid grove]

Ah not meaning to put you off of PTEG but is their a reason you're using it over other materials?

[faint sky]

Warped in the same exact spot in 2 different sections. 🥹

Heard it was more durable and wanted to give it a shot. Definitely been more of a headache than PLA.

[torpid grove]

Yeah what you're seeing was very similar to mine and a lot of others first experience with PETG

I recommend this for most prints have you tried using a strong hair spray for adhesion? It may reduce the warpage you're seeing

[faint sky]

Haven’t tried that. The warping is pretty extreme.

[torpid grove]

Yeah no one thing is going to prevent this.

[faint sky]

It’s only ever in that one spot so maybe that’s where the heating element is, or isn’t, I dunno.

[torpid grove]

If you're deadset on PETG I'd try cranking your bed temp up if you can

[faint sky]

I can rotate the part to avoid it but that kinda defeats the point of being able to use the entire bed.

It’s at 80c, can try 90 or higher. I think heating elements can up to about 120c max? I forget the maximum.

[torpid grove]

Hmmm 80c is already quite high

[faint sky]

I’m only dead set on PETG because I have 2 spools of it.

[torpid grove]

Have you check the level on your print bed in that area?

[faint sky]

I have cr touch auto leveling but yes I’ve checked with paper prior to letting it go with auto.

Maybe auto level and bed mesh are messing something up?

I have 1 spool of PLA. Can try printing with that since it’s lower temp stuff and see if that wants to warp too.

[balmy pulsar]

warping - you need the encllosure. even just a cardboard box.

large prints in open air will always warp

[arctic dragon]

Oh, try turning your cooling fan off for the first few layers of it isn’t already. When it does come on, keep it at a lower speed…?

[faint sky]

Switched to PLA. Retrammed the bed, double checked esteps, printed temp tower & dimensional accuracy cone tower. PLA stuck so hard to the bed I had to wait until it cooled below 30c to get it off which is a great sign. Accuracy is hard to tell because my digital calipers suck. Everything at least within .5 accuracy the best I can tell. My printer loves PLA. PETG is a different story.

I’ve never printed the bed texture that cleanly before. Retramming must have helped.

[torpid grove]

Wow the pla test came out great 😅

Guess that means it is just PETG doing what it does. I'd still give hair spray a try, it'll stick things to your bed with incredible strength. Aquanet is very good for printing (but not for your hair)

[balmy pulsar]

pla is like magic compare to most other materials

hair spray wont do anything. needs and enclosure. even if it actually stuck to the bed the part would split and warp in the midde

[arctic dragon]

What printer, if I may ask?

[faint sky]

Ender 3 S1 Pro with CR touch sensor and magnetic PEI bed

The S1 Pro is a little different, has higher heat ranges. Bed up to 110C and nozzle up to 300C. So doing PETG at 80C bed and nozzle at 250C still well within limits.

Has a full metal hotend, not a bowden setup.

Biggest difference in setup is the retraction distance is much lower for a full hotend. 1mm-3mm vs 6mm with a bowden.

Also with the CR touch has bed mesh capability which I feel like is mainly what I've been fighting against the most with PETG. It takes a new bed mesh before every print which could account for some variations.

After printing darn near perfectly with PLA might just end up switching to PLA for large parts and ditch PETG except for small parts.

PLA also prints twice as fast. Print times for each section with PETG were all about 24 hours, could cut that in half with PLA.

[faint sky]

Test print of intermediary plate in pla

This allows to iterate designs of the top bay without ever having to reprint the top enclosure again.

[vernal heron]

Hi y'all! I'm printing a model that I want to put electronics in... I printed it hollow, but still need to make an access hole (I know, I should have done that in SketchUp). I was playing around with one of the bits on my soldering iron and ground it down to as thin as it can be, but still a bit too thick for me. It seems like all I need is to find something really thin but stiff to cut the door.

Does anyone have any suggestions or is there already a product out there for this? Thanks!

[arctic dragon]

Dremel?

[vernal heron]

My smallest Dremel bit is bigger than the soldering knife I made.

I'm thinking for it to be heated, since it gives such a nice clean line... Just want to keep as much plastic as possible so I can make a door.

[faint sky]

You can heat up a knife with a butane torch and cut a hole that way. If the blade is too thin like an xacto then it'll just refuse the material behind it. Blade has to be thick enough so material doesn't fuse back together after you cut.

Then use some snips to trim off the excess and a small file to sand it down smooth.

A dremel with a metal grinding bit will work well too except it's going to have rounded corners. I've used a dremel to shave off some PETG no problem, material gets everywhere though.

I was worried the material would clog the teeth but nope, cuts through PLA and PETG like butter as long as you go slow.

I use those kind of bits to grind aluminum and steel car parts. They'll last decades as long as you don't abuse them and try to grind on tungsten or stainless steel too much. The bit I primarily use is the 4th from the left, its lasted me 15 years! Ported and polished an intake manifold and engine block with it like a decade ago and now I'm using it to clean up PETG... same bit.

[arctic dragon]

Do you have any of those rotary bits? They cut pretty well once you’re past all the plastic dust

[vernal heron]

I have most of those Dremel bits... But heating up an exacto blade... 🤦‍♂️

Don't know why I didn't think of it... But thank you!

That's what I'm looking for.

[faint sky]

Depends on how thick your walls are.

[vernal heron]

I have them 6 layers with zero infill

[faint sky]

If they're thin 2-3 walls then an xacto will work fine.

[vernal heron]

I can just go a couple layers at a time...

[faint sky]

6 walls might refuse together with an xacto. It's doable but it'll take you more time. Will have to reheat the blade a couple times probably during the process.

[vernal heron]

That's fine... In no rush. Just want it done nice. Thanks!!

[faint sky]

and it might stick to the blade making a gooey mess. snips afterward should work to clean it up.

[coarse coral]

i used a off brand dremel to cut pcb with a very light cutting bit, it can go through pla but the pla heats up so fast

dremel is great for burs

[faint sky]

Couldn't get accurate enough with PETG to do snap fit but with PLA I can. Mimic'd the snap fit from Noe & Pedro's QT Py snap fit case. Snap fit sweeps are seriously hard to deal with. I feel like a 2mm snap fit is seriously undersized for a project of this size. Can barely even see the lip it's gotta snap in into.

This picture shows how far off the PETG is. Waaay off. The PLA is dimensionally accurate. How the 4 sections of PETG even fit together I have no idea.

[pale vector]

Well, if anyone here is running OctoPrint on a desktop and not on a rasperry pi, Have I got news for you. You can now have GPIO capabilities on your PC that is usable through octoprint plugins. Utilizing the Adafruit FT232H USB breakout board, myself and a couple others have developed the first plugin for octoprint that is based around using digitalio for GPIO on standard desktop or laptop.

Not sure how many would be interested in having this at all, but it's now an option. With the price of raspberry pi's and how hard they can be to get, having more options is never a bad thing.

Have a great evening.

[faint sky]

@pale vector Have a Github link?

[pale vector]

https://github.com/oldmanbluntz/OctoLightFT232h

its a fork of OctoLight by gigabu5

alot of help from jneilliii to get it working

[faint sky]

That's pretty cool.

[pale vector]

it turns on and off a single gpio pin at a time right now. I'm going to work on GpioControl next, to see if i can get it ported over.

there is also a working subplugin for PSUControl that we got working with the FT232H

that was the test to see if it would interface with the octoprint plugins

[faint sky]

What kind of GPIO would you use with RS232? I've never used Octoprint yet but have a Pi coming. If I can offload that to my desktop instead and use the Pi for something else that would be nice.

I thought Octoprint only ran on the Pi :/

[pale vector]

FT232H. Any GPIO you would use on a Pi. Turn on relays to activate enclosure lights/fans/heaters.

the FT232H will also do SPI/I2C, so you would be able to add a PWM controller to it to do fan speeds or servos

or an accelerometer for Input Shaping tuning in Klipper

octoprint will run on windows even. It is just a pain to update it, because you have to do it manually.

[faint sky]

I keep hearing about Klipper, haven't checked that out yet.

I think the main draw for running it on a Pi is it can all be self contained to the printer.

[pale vector]

I have an older all in one that i have in the room with the printer. I was using an old 2 in 1 laptop before that that had a touch screen

[faint sky]

but if you have a PC sitting in the same room as the printer then you can hook up Cura directly to it.

[pale vector]

all because my pi died, and its not as easy or as cheap to get one unless you look long and hard

i use octoprint from a desktop next to my couch. well, access it through the browser.

[faint sky]

I'm trying to think of a use case for needing the RS232 gpio.. if you have a PC nearby then you can just run octoprint and a webcam from the PC?

ah that's right one of the benefits of octoprint is the remote viewing capability.

[pale vector]

GPIO adds the ability to control something like an enclosure, which you should have if you print in asa/abs or any of those other ones that release toxic fumes.

[faint sky]

ah i see

[pale vector]

the pi has GPIO on it natively. desktop pc's do not, unless its older and has a serial or parallel port.

And its FT232. RS232 is a misnomer for it

[faint sky]

printer software doesn't have support for enclosures and exhaust stuff yet?

[pale vector]

it does, but you can't run it without having GPIO

[faint sky]

aha and we've come full circle

thank you for explaining it

[pale vector]

GPIO, General Purpose Input Output. so digital input and output. add a physical button for emergency stop

add a relay that you can turn on to turn on the printer itself, or lights when you print, and fans for extra cooling

extra bed cooling, or exhaust fans and a heater to keep a steady enclosure temp. All of that needs GPIO functionality

[faint sky]

Ah, never thought of controlling it that way. i guess that would be really important for people who have print farms or multiple printers.

[pale vector]

even just one printer. Having an enclosure is a must, unles syou just print in PLA. and even that releases microplastics you breath in, albeit they are biodegradable if its PLA

[faint sky]

i just have the 1 and still fairly new to it. there's a whole world within a world when it comes to 3d printing. i guess you can make it as customized for your needs as you want.. but that's the point of the whole maker world. 🙂

[pale vector]

i just have one. its been about 2 years now. I was where you are once, as we all were.

[faint sky]

yeah i found that out the hard way with PETG. 😦

[pale vector]

PLA smells like popcorn. everything else, you don't really want to breath in, lol. a good carbon filter, maybe a water filter if you want to get real fancy.

[faint sky]

i noticed little PETG shavings and dust particles everywhere

orange dust, everywhere.

[pale vector]

everywhere.

[faint sky]

i cannot confirm if PLA smells like popcorn, i cannot smell anything anymore after printing 80 hours of PETG 😛

Submit your project to the Adafruit Blog? For advanced 3D printer people your project sounds right up their alley. Definitely news worthy.

[shy kelp]

they aren't, they consider it being biodegradable, under their specific conditions

[pale vector]

which is still bad. i didn't really point that out specifically in my comment. Thank you for the correction.

i shoulda put it "biodegradable", lol

[faint sky]

Found a setting in Fusion 360 that should import to Cura without having to rotate 90 degrees every time. Fusion 360 uses Y-up instead of Z-up. Change to Z-up and make your life easier.

[pale vector]

I've been doing this to cut plastics for many many years. Even before i had the printer. Get it close, clean up with the Dremel bits for metal work, like you suggested as well, hahaha.

i find if you save to mesh, and send it to cura from fusion360, it will orientate the object the same as its orientated in fusion. I just loaded fusion360 and checked the settings on mine, and that setting default is Z-up. Not sure why yours would have been on Y-up by default.

[faint sky]

Is saving to a mesh file better? I've been exporting to STL.

[inner cedar]

“Control” an enclosure? What do you mean? All the printers I’ve had with enclosures are effectively just boxes

[pale vector]

Adding things like extra fans for part cooling, or heater elements coupled with a fan and thermal sensors (which would be read off PWM through I2C) to make temp curves, or hold temps in an enclosure.

or be able to run klipper through a pc instead of a pi

or control a camera with servos through PWM added through the FT232H.

[pale vector]

My pi died. I use a computer now to run octoprint. I had alot of add-ons in my custom enclosure. I haven't been able to use alot of it, well, control it like i used to, since the pi died.

[inner cedar]

Ohhhh… heating elements would definitely help get up to temp quicker, that’s nice

Maybe I should get a few of those little heating pads from Adafruit and line my enclosures…

[pale vector]

yes, save to mesh.

You can right click the body under bodies and choose save to mesh, or right click on the top part where it says unsaved or the project and save to mesh. then send it to 3d print utility

[pale vector]

its a whole lot faster to send it to cura. just choose send to 3d, select custom, and then click the folder and go to where cura is installed, and choose ultimakercura.exe

anytime you update cura, you'll have to re-choose the exe file for the new cura install.

[inner cedar]

What software is this?

[pale vector]

fusion360

[inner cedar]

Ahh

[pale vector]

its what i mainly use

and what @faint sky uses.

its a love hate relationship i have had with fusion. Some of its workpaths are convoluted and backwards when it comes to how my mental logic order works...

but after 2 years of using it, i've gotten pretty good with it. its limitations on the free version don't affect me much. i just have to switch alot of saved projects to read only or editable, as you can only have 10 saved editable projects at a atime. You can of course have as many as you want saved, just have to keep most of it as read-only.

[inner cedar]

Weird

[vocal pilot]

here's a little question about 3d models - if a model is small how to rescale it to life size for raspberry pi?

[inner cedar]

Regardless of the original model scale, you should be able to set the size you need in your slicer. So if it's only 1mm tall when you import, and you need it 150mm tall, you can change the size to 150mm. If you aren't sure what size you need, you'll have to take some measurements and do some maths

[vocal pilot]

I see, I had something in mind to upscale that Mini Mac SE for the pi into a life sized scaled model with a fake PCB styled shape to mount the pi onto

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/macintosh-classic-housing-life-size This is the only life sized Mac Case there is - Mac Se has a different design

[inner cedar]

Ahh... You might want to scale the model in your 3D rendering software, add your fake PCB and Pi mounts, then export and print

[vocal pilot]

I'll get that Mac Classic made - I know an etsy shop that can do it hopefully their printer can do life sized models - I had planned to created the ultimate MAC OS 9 classic stylized themed pi inside that Mac Classic though it ran a black and white and had a older mac OS on it

[faint sky]

My printer is in another room stand-alone. I drag & drop files to an SD card and load them up manually currently. Waiting on a Pi 4 to install Octoprint so I'll have a way to do it wirelessly.

[visual hazel]

Anyone know what converter I can use for free to convert one of these https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CAD_Parts/tree/main/3632 Joy FeatherWing to STL? already tried 2 different online ones that just gave me bad files back.

[coarse coral]

i just learned how to integrate bridges and overhangs into my project

[coarse coral]

https://giphy.com/gifs/timanderic-tim-and-eric-wareheim-lXu72d4iKwqek

nothing will be the same again

i need flux, a suction pump, a hot iron and some cakes. stat

[faint sky]

@visual hazel Fusion 360 has a free version. The .f3d is a fusion 3D project file. That one should definitely allow you to export to STL. 😉 https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal

[faint sky]

It's basically an advanced version of Google Sketchup. Since Sketchup is actually what I used to use I find it to be very familiar and useable. It's the only software from Autodesk that I like and can recommend. The free version of Fusion 360 gives you plenty of project space to get started but it is a limited piece of software compared to their paid version that has oodles of neat plugins. The free version has no plugin capability and limits you to 10 open projects at a time, as long as you save your projects that's really of little consequence.

Finished the snap fit bay. PLA is so much easier to work with than PETG. Thinking about reprinting the entire enclosure in PLA now.

[sleek crag]

Main difference between SketchUp and Fusion360 is that Fusion360 is parameterized, while SketchUp is not. If you need to adjust a dimension by half a millimeter it's often, but not always, relatively easy in Fusion360, because you can just change the measurement, and it recalculates. Sketchup, on the other hand, you'll likey find yourself manually re-editing significant portions of geometry at length.

[visual hazel]

Thank you.

[pale vector]

PLA prints like a dream.

but it has its flaws in certain use cases. like anywhere that its gets warm. PLA can get like a cooked noodle under hot hater even.

[inner cedar]

I know about Fusion 360, I just didn’t recognize the UI, lol

I print in PLA 99.99999% of the time

Usually ABS if I need high heat resistance

[pale vector]

Same here, but i went the ASA route instead of ABS.

with the materials used printing. I don't like PETG... so stringy, no matter what settings i try.

[inner cedar]

I haven’t used ASA. I’ve had trouble with PETG strings too

[pale vector]

ASA and ABS are very similar to print, and their properties. ASA just has a slightly higher point where it will deform in heat, and it has a huge advantage against UV breakdown. ASA is the more commonly used plastics in automobiles now, due to its higher point of deformation with heat. ABS just couldn't cut it in the ever growing heat of the world.

[pale vector]

I'm sure you already know that though.

I make alot of custom parts for radio control cars, and having that higher heat deformation resistance has been handy a few times.

[forest pulsar]

hi good day, is there a digital model of a 30mm arcade button available in GIT or some other repository?

[winged helm]

Setting up my kit prusa mk3i+ (I think I got the model right). Running the setup wizard and am getting the axis length error for X axis. I checked everything in the troubleshooter but no dice. What can I try next?

[random urchin]

Are you on the prusa3d discord? Tons of people there willing to offer help / opinions (whether you need it or not 😄).

[winged helm]

No! Is it public?

Let me look

[random urchin]

How about: https://discord.com/channels/497001479320633354/497148677219942420

[winged helm]

Ah doesn't work I'm afraid, you have to post an invite, which isn't allowed here. I'll find it, I'm fixing some cable management rn.

[random urchin]

DM'd you an invite. Just pop into one of the help channels, and someone will guide you through it.

[coarse coral]

does fusion360 run on linux at all with performance, anywhere?

ive been printing with tpu for smaller prints and it's nice with a 2mm nozzle. i struggle with lines over 5cm with it tho right now

[balmy pulsar]

it runs on windows and mac only

[coarse coral]

that's a shame

[balmy pulsar]

linux is so 80s

get with the times. use uh... lynx?

haha

[faint sky]

I have no idea what most people on Linux would run. :/

[arctic dragon]

FreeCAD probably

[faint sky]

I haven't tried TPU yet but I hear it can be harder to work with than PETG due to its material composition. I'm definitely interested in trying some TPU wood filament someday. Higher temperatures for TPU capability is one of the major selling points of the Ender 3 S1 Pro vs a normal Ender 3 S1 or Ender 3 Pro.

[inner cedar]

I printed TPU like PLA with lower speeds and it went well

[coarse coral]

linux is the only fish you need

i use sketchup in browser

[coarse coral]

yes i've been printing at about 220 for the tpu small pieces but it is hard to work with

i quite like the eryone matte and eryone tpu is what i have at this point.

[coarse coral]

what sort of lower speed? less than 50mms?

[coarse coral]

blender probably but the level to entry seems scary

[inner cedar]

Typically I print between 70-125mm/s for PLA, TPU/TPE like 45-65

[coarse coral]

patience is a virtue

[inner cedar]

Mhmm. The smaller it is, the lower my print speeds

[coarse coral]

on my cr6 slower speeds do lend themselves to better results

i've had good success at 100mms but should add a fan when printing like that

im using a 6mm nozzle today with pla matte

[inner cedar]

6mm?!?!

You mean 0.6mm???

[coarse coral]

oh yeh woops

^^

need a boring drill for that sort of nozzle size 🤣

[inner cedar]

Lmao, and super thick filament

[coarse coral]

hahaha

and a team to load it

[inner cedar]

That would be cool, but like… room scale prints for 6mm

[coarse coral]

ive seen some large 3d printers online, they're kinda crazy

[inner cedar]

I want to build a 1m^3 printer

[coarse coral]

i don't think it would take a thicker filament tho?

just need faster speeds

[inner cedar]

Using 1.75mm and a 1mm nozzle for a 1m cube probably would take a month. You’d want much much thicker and much taller layer heights

I dunno if they make thicker than 3mm filament tho

[coarse coral]

you can get fdm printers which run at 1000mms

i guess if your build volume is 10x that of a cr6 (230 x 230) then that speed turns out to similar print times just huge scale

[inner cedar]

I think that’s about 10x to get to a meter cube, yeah. No matter what, print times will be long, because even a CR6 it might take over 2 days for huge things

[shy kelp]

ah yeah odrive based printers

[coarse coral]

.4mm nozzle and 100% infill takes a long time with cr6.

[inner cedar]

Multi-head for giant scale is probs the way to go… I’m working on a design with a 4-sector head arrangement, all 45° angled pointing towards the center of the bed; so the print expands up and out on the X, Y, and Z axis at the same time

[coarse coral]

maybe your prints will come to life like this 🙂

[inner cedar]

Heh

[gaunt lily]

My friends keep sending me STL files to print and expect me to have it done the next day. I would feel rude saying no, but I feel like I should set some sort of guidelines and maybe a price as well. Has anyone else with a printer had this issue?

[solemn parrot]

Are your friends familiar with how 3D printing workflows are done? (Slicing, printing, post-processing)? If not, your guidelines could start there and explain that it takes x amount of time for each of those steps, regardless of printing time.

Before that though, if your friends aren’t paying you to print things for them then I don’t think it’s reasonable to demand things the next day. In that situation I’d hope they recognize you print for them when your schedule allows. I don’t know all the details about your situation of course.

[balmy pulsar]

i have a blanket rule that i dont do anything for anyone ever.

[solemn parrot]

From what you've explained it sounds like creating guidelines is a good start. If your friends aren't familiar with 3D printing, it's possible that they think it's as effortless for you as 2d printing

[coarse coral]

or ask them to pay a monthly subscription to cover your print costs

if they all buy you some plastic for their specific needs, and give you a take out voucher for every print then that's nice

[balmy pulsar]

nah, just make them understand it will take a week for small objects, if your arent already busy.

[coarse coral]

it depends on the quality they are printing at, plsu they're sending stl files

but yeh the hardware costs plus pizza from each at least one pizza a month is minimum

we all know once you have an stl as long as its a good stl file then u just slice it and print

for me, if my neighbour (not friend) just asked can you print 4 items a month for me, here's the .stl files. i'd be like sure, but buy me a pizza on a friday in week 2 and i want wings and a drink

if another neighbour asked the same, i'd ask for a voucher to some place, and if more neighbours ok now i am ready to accept payments

[gaunt lily]

Haha thanks for the advice everyone. I think I can figure something out.

[whole ingot]

Ive relevelled my 3d printer and finally fixed the not sticking to board problem. After 5 test prints.

The first 2 layers did come off of this print but I just decided "Eh why not" and just let it keep going after removing the fallen off layer.

It seems to be doing fine

[whole ingot]

This time I made it like a hour in before it decided to destroy my hopes and dreams

it unstuck its self

and went across the platform

and then proceeded to get gued onto another thing printing by the filament extruder thing

I cut it off

and im gonna keep the print going

because why not

I can see this going bad in many ways

but I dont want to restart the print again

just for it to fall off again

Its gotten worse

Im stopping the print for the night

ill try again tommarow

its just one of the models causing problems

[faint sky]

If you have problems with bed adhesion only after a certain height could do with heat creep from the heated bed no longer reaching the area you're printing. Filament cools faster after you exit the bed heating zone vertically. Also if your gantry isn't exactly perpendicular all the way up you'll start knocking prints from the bed.

Gantry being perpendicular and the bed being level are not the same thing but both matter very much for printing tall pieces.

Basically you need to ensure everything is square from the gantry frame, z axis nozzle, down to the bed.

I recently learned the hard way that if it knocks off a support piece that's too big to air gap by itself the print will ultimately fail anyway. It's heartbreaking but it really is best to cut your losses and not waste the additional filament even if it's 90% done. A failed print is a failed print. 😦

[whole ingot]

ok, thanks for the information

I went to the manufacturer's website of the pla I bought

and turns out I wasnt running it hot enough

the pla I use needs 230 degrees to stick properly

[iron remnant]

Yeah, finding the right temperature for your filament can be a real sticking point.

[carmine venture]

maybe you could try it with a voltage multiplier, I have never DIYed one but it shouldn't be too hard

[inner cedar]

Due to safety concerns, I highly recommend against trying to make a taser

I’m also not sure if we’re allowed to discuss such anyway

[arctic dragon]

Please do not discuss projects that pose a significant risk to others.

[inner cedar]

The answer presents itself

[deft abyss]

im not making one, im just researching how voltage works. not trying to make one. I am just researching. I'm learning circuitry and logicc

[faint sky]

Polymaker Silk PLA, my first time ever printing silk stuff. It’s so pretty.

[inner cedar]

It looks like candy :D

A bit pricey compared to what I usually get, but not bad for specialty stuff...

[iron remnant]

FORBIDDEN GUMMY CANDY

[balmy pulsar]

mmm gummy candy

[faint sky]

Finished candy

[inner cedar]

I definitely need to get that filament

[shy kelp]

not really related has anyone tried to make a shoe insert for bigger shoes? reshipping back for the right size not an option because I do not want two wait other 2 months

[inner cedar]

Like a spacer to have a shoe that’s too big fit you? Or to stretch the shoe because it’s too small?

[shy kelp]

yes like a spacer between the end of the shoe and your foot

[inner cedar]

Ah. I haven’t tried anything like that, but you might be better off trying to make something like that from softer materials

[shy kelp]

it's like 1 cm off, I wrongly though it to be smaller due to the chinese size

[inner cedar]

Slightly off is the worst DX I’d try making a pad with an old sock

[shy kelp]

bleah I just realized that I might as well throw them away, the gum/plastic of the sole for some reason is sticky

[inner cedar]

Eww…

[faint sky]

well i don't think 3d printing would be an answer unless it's that squishy tpu

probably better off going with some silicone mold, pour a bunch in the end of a sock, stick your foot in, put the shoe on, sit there for a couple hours waiting for it to cure.

basically casting a mold of the end of your foot

If you're brave you could try using hot glue instead 😛

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWcRiIXU1cE

If you can cast an entire foot you can cast a custom extension 😉

[elder oxide]

I’d totally take a mold of my foot and cast in a rubbery resin just for a party gag.

[inner cedar]

Custom foot

[elder oxide]

I couldn’t lend them a hand, so I put my best foot forward

[arctic dragon]

But what if you put it under the sole…?

[faint sky]

🤷‍♂️

[iron remnant]

Making the mold will be a real feet.

So here's some interesting projects I've seen:

• https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:794288
• https://www.printables.com/model/103950-flexible-flip-flop-shoe
• https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5235672
• https://www.printables.com/model/85904-gravedigger-tpu-3d-printed-shoes

So, as a person with weird-shaped feet, I feel like there ought to be something there with 3D printed shoe stuff, either by printing the last (that being the form that you build the shoe around) or the shoe directly or just adjustable parts of the shoe.

There's probably the side-problem of bad 3D printed shoes downloaded on thingiverse that cause you to fall and/or hurt your foot muscles or bones in various bad ways.

[half dew]

I've been working on 3d printing insoles and its hard... I have a printer that does well printing TPU but it takes a ton of work to get the shape and pressure right

[faint sky]

Well you've spent most of your life wearing shoes from multi-million dollar companies who have decades or centuries of shoemaking. The bar you're comparing your efforts against is pretty high.

[winged helm]

I'm using the prusa slicer to try to scale an STL. It imported OK, but I can't actually seem to do the things the prusa site says are possible. Namely, clicking the model and using the S key to open a scaling dialog. What am I missing?

there we go, had to be in 3d mode

[half dew]

Well, the reason I'm doing it is existing insoles don't work for my feet so they aren't doing that good of a job. The ones that work amazing are hundreds of dollars and require molds of my feet so I'm trying to recreate it

[faint sky]

Top left section came out just as nice.

[shy kelp]

Nah, they just pretend while in reality they just use some slave-sweatshop like outsea facility while at the same time they pretend to care about equality in the us and some other countries

[winged helm]

Printing on a Prusa Mk3s+. PETG. Generic PETG settings in slicer. This is supposed to be a square. 230 Hot end 85 Bed. Stock nozzle. 1.75mm filament. What setting adjustments should I try?

[inner cedar]

Try 75 bed temp?

[elder oxide]

Try printing with something else? That’s what I would do

My bad jokes aside, probably a hotter bed, you might try masking tape as well

Slower extrusion, slightly higher temps in the nozzle

[random urchin]

Trying to tell what happened. Did the part come loose mid-print?

[faint sky]

Initial adhesion looks good. What layer did it fail at?

layer 2 perhaps? see if you have different settings for initial layer fan speed different from regular fan speed.

PETG doesn't like cooling. I print with 10% fan and it still warps. Most PETG filaments say right on the spool no fan.

[elder oxide]

It also can help if you have an enclosure

Keep any drafts from reaching the print

[faint sky]

Yes, PETG is extremely sensitive to cooling. An enclosure I've heard helps but I'm not at that point either where I have one.

[elder oxide]

My friend prints in a closet with no vents and usually keeps the door closed

[faint sky]

Because your print shows a lot of individual lines it shows that layer adhesion is poor between lines after a certain point, probably because the fan is kicking on or too low of a nozzle temp. I print PETG at 250c.

also speed is a factor, PETG likes to be printed much slower than PLA. Whatever speed you normally print PLA cut that in half for PETG.

With a 250C slow moving nozzle it'll help remelt any layers or random strings too.

I've read most people print PETG around 240C.

Do a temp tower test and retraction test? That helped me dial in PETG the most. I'm still far from having it behave nicely but I can complete prints thanks to the calibration tests.

[winged helm]

Thanks folks. How can I move my printer nozzle around?

[random urchin]

From the LCD menu? Settings->Move axis

[winged helm]

Ah

Thanks

[random urchin]

I've got the same printer. 🙂

[winged helm]

It's a good one.

I found this little turkey for my coworker. He and his team call each other Guajalote.

[faint sky]

good print

[coarse coral]

If anyone has problems with cr6 se suddenly layer shifting try two things. Slice on windows version of cura and update the cr6 firmware. I did official firmware upgrade, it's a bit out of date but still newer than stock. One of those two things solved my issue

Super weird. I'm also running a broken fan on the firmware upgrade. It fixed everything.

Also if it's any use to anyone printing at over 210 is risky on cr6 hot end, can lead to a bad block in the throat around the Bowden tube and in the throat of the hot end. I think there's a mod out there to stop this type of leak. I've been printing at 205 for best results

With pla anyway

Also qc on cr6se is not so great I'd level your gantry and tighten all bolts at start and every 3 months

My worst issue is a rounded Allan nut on the extruder casing from factory so now I need to be very careful before even getting to look at it

Also a scratch on the v roller rails for the hot end. I lightly cleared this bur with a very light pick and sand as it would damage the wheels

And I'm not sure what this part is called. It's the other mainboard. Not the screen mainboard but the one that sits under the hot plate. This has a 120mm fan which became defective to the point it needed removed due to the noise and gridning. I inspected it but couldn't see why it was faulty. Strangely I've reconnected it and it's silent although I haven't checked if it's actually spinning after I disassembled it

And that's my review of cr6se

Then the usual stuff like replacing belts and Bowden tubes from time to time. The build plate sits on the hot plate but there are some freestanding posts the bolts go through. This can be tricky to reassemble. I'd like them all up on re assembly and drop the bolts in one at a time after carefully placing the build plate on top. You could be trying that for a while

Failing that use a light adhesive. I have no idea why they didn't thread those posts

[faint sky]

Id never even heard of the CR6. Looked it up and now I see why. You're definitely going to be busy fixing issues and upgrading parts for a while. :/

Printers all have their own quirks and there are hundreds of settings to the point where even if 2 people own an identical printer they might get different results.

[coarse coral]

Yes I think so at this level however in the defence of the cr6 I'd say it's way better than an ender 3

[vocal flax]

What does cr6 has that ender 3 doesn't other than dual z drive?

[arctic dragon]

Auto bed leveling iirc

[vocal flax]

I thought new ender 3 come with a probe

[coarse coral]

Filament run out detection

It's a load auto leveller

Better assembly, backplate for screen and fan covers

Meanwell power supply

[faint sky]

logitech c510 webcam housing in Ender black PLA

i switched to using concentric layers, which is basically a spiralized pattern. for the top/bottom surface layers it really helps with adhesion to have it printed in 1 continuous line. cuts out a lot of travel moves.

it doesn't actually make it faster but at least for my printer it's much happier printing that pattern.