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A Year of 3D Printing

brookehatton.com

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Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#111

Post by bdcravens »

VladVladikoff wrote: post #14

I still have mixed emotions about 3D printing. I do love the idea of being able to print a part when I need it for something. But I do hate myself at the same time for creating more plastic junk. PLA is not really getting recycled, when it fails someone throws it in the trash and it goes to a landfill. Maybe some really diehard enthusiasts are ensuring all their failed prints and broken parts get properly chemically…

I've kept almost every bit of scrap PLA I've had from printing. You can melt it into silicon molds, grind it up and feed it into a pellet extruder, pass it on to those who recycle it into filament (like https://erikaprintsshop.wordpress.com/), or for the hard-core DIYers, create your own filament recycling operation. (Though more approachable commercial options are starting to come to market (https://crowdfunding.creality.com/)

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#112

Post by arbitrandomuser »

malfist wrote: post #25
bborud wrote: post #21

I would encourage people who have never designed physical objects before to try to only print things they have designed themselves as an exercise. For perhaps a year or so. If you have never designed physical objects before it is really challenging at first. The learning curve is pretty steep and, at least in my case, I discovered that I didn't have a mental language for thinking about functional 3D and mechanical de…

I echo this sentiment. So many random annoyances around the house that I've fixed with self designed prints. Its a steep learning curve but you can start simple. First thing I designed was a spacer to go behind silverware organizers to keep them from sliding around. Still in use almost 8 years later. Horrible print quality and all. Last year I printed a peg leg for a nonstandard luggage wheel that broke off my suitca…

do you print in pla or abs ? how long do pla parts last ? where i live the moisture gets to pla eventually and i cant use it for anything that cant be failproof especially something bearing with a load on it.

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#113

Post by dgroshev »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #110
dgroshev wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's largely a myth. This review [1] cites the absolute highest amount of emitted styrene in the studies they are reviewing to be 113 μg/min. Using [2] for simplicity with styrene's molar mass (104.15 g/mol), we get to a printer creating at most 0.024 ppm of styrene per minute per m3 of unchanged air. For comparison, the "work exposure limit (WEL) for styrene is currently 100 parts per million (ppm) averaged over a…

There are active studies on chopped CF inhalation/contact hazards, and the SEM images in the above post prove how it occurs. A lot of plastics contain wide assortments of additives to obtain mechanical properties. Outdoor ventilation is absolutely preferable to filtration or smell reduction filters that does practically nothing about carcinogens. PLA is comparatively low emission, but a slow cooking PTFE tube in many…

There are different kinds of carbon fibres. It'd be great if it wasn't just Prusa disclosing which type they are using or offering studies on their impact, but in the meantime we can just use CF Prusament to be sure: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/s/nQ5zUwnrWZ

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#114

Post by dgroshev »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #109
404mm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ASA and ABS really need a good filtration. Like actual filtration, not what the enclosure has. I personally just run a duct to my window and vent outside.

Most filters have limited effective life for VOC, and "safe" use is measured in a few hours at most. Venting outdoors into a fern/decorative-plant filled yard is the preferred option for both FDM and Resin printers. Most activated charcoal filters just reduce the smell, and do nothing about the the harmful parts even with HEPA14 filters etc. Chopped CF filled FDM filaments are mostly a scam, but there are few PETG an…

CF filled filaments aren't a scam, they just have different tradeoffs: more rigid, nice surface finish, and less warping (all useful qualities!), but also lower layer adhesion, lower tensile strength, and less toughness. It's not just anecdotal, Igor Gaspar collected a lot of hard data on that.

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#115

Post by herewulf »

Igor_Wiwi wrote: post #67

By: motherfucker - Cults3D - I really like the 3D printing community

It really is poor taste. Parents like me might want to spend time 3D printing with children without having to tip toe around an explanation for this username.

I never really heard this word until I was 18 (in the military) and it's occasionally part of my vocabulary if I, say, drop a sturdy wrench on my foot.

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#116

Post by malfist »

arbitrandomuser wrote: post #112
malfist wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I echo this sentiment. So many random annoyances around the house that I've fixed with self designed prints. Its a steep learning curve but you can start simple. First thing I designed was a spacer to go behind silverware organizers to keep them from sliding around. Still in use almost 8 years later. Horrible print quality and all. Last year I printed a peg leg for a nonstandard luggage wheel that broke off my suitca…

do you print in pla or abs ? how long do pla parts last ? where i live the moisture gets to pla eventually and i cant use it for anything that cant be failproof especially something bearing with a load on it.

I print in a lot of different materials, asa and PLA being primary. Both have proven good enough for me

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#117

Post by ssharp »

malfist wrote: post #25
bborud wrote: post #21

I would encourage people who have never designed physical objects before to try to only print things they have designed themselves as an exercise. For perhaps a year or so. If you have never designed physical objects before it is really challenging at first. The learning curve is pretty steep and, at least in my case, I discovered that I didn't have a mental language for thinking about functional 3D and mechanical de…

I echo this sentiment. So many random annoyances around the house that I've fixed with self designed prints. Its a steep learning curve but you can start simple. First thing I designed was a spacer to go behind silverware organizers to keep them from sliding around. Still in use almost 8 years later. Horrible print quality and all. Last year I printed a peg leg for a nonstandard luggage wheel that broke off my suitca…

Granted, my modeling skills begin and end with Tinkercad but I've actually created some really useful things for around the house and for hobbies -- a plug for my septic drain field distribution box pipes (one pipe was cut too short and there was no good way to plug it -- I tried lots of options before making one myself), jigs for drilling, pieces for a claw machine I'm refurbishing, cases for Arduino projects, etc.

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#118

Post by storystarling »

micw wrote: post #75
bborud wrote: post #21

I would encourage people who have never designed physical objects before to try to only print things they have designed themselves as an exercise. For perhaps a year or so. If you have never designed physical objects before it is really challenging at first. The learning curve is pretty steep and, at least in my case, I discovered that I didn't have a mental language for thinking about functional 3D and mechanical de…

Since I'm a developer with no experience in 3D design, I just automated my process with freecad and vibe-code my models with GitHub copilot. That gives me instant visual feedback plus 3d model code I can check in into git: https://github.com/micw/freecad-automation

Is this robust enough to run headless? I'm thinking of sticking it in a Celery worker to generate parametric variants, but I'm not sure if the LLM output is reliable enough to run without that visual feedback loop.

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#119

Post by hagbard_c »

gambiting wrote: post #58
hagbard_c wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which problems did you have with the Ender apart from the mentioned classic 3D printing problems ? As I mentioned in an earlier comment I'm using one of these machines without too much trouble after fixing the mistakes made by a previous owner. I did put more capable firmware on the thing which improved printing speed - especially in the preparation phase - and to a lesser extent quality but even with the stock firmw…

>>Which problems did you have with the Ender apart from the mentioned classic 3D printing problems? The kind of problems that could only be solved with a rather embarrasing amount of tuning every time I switched filament types or speeds or the temperature in my garage changed etc etc etc. Things that basically meant that every time I wanted to introduce any change I needed to print a new flow tower, new bridging towe…

Sounds mostly valid, if I ever get something more 'advanced' I may look back on my time with this machine the same way I look at my early history with (2D) printers - dot matrix, then HP500 inkjet with a sheet feeder and other such luxuries to the current HP and Canon lasers.

Having said that I must say that the firmware update did make quite a bit of difference. I have yet to print out any of those flow/bridging/temperature towers, I did get a few bad starts related to bed adhesion but those are 'common 3D printer problems' not related to the machine. Using some of my daughters' hair spray solved that for the most.

Re: A Year of 3D Printing

#120

Post by bborud »

malfist wrote: post #116
arbitrandomuser wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do you print in pla or abs ? how long do pla parts last ? where i live the moisture gets to pla eventually and i cant use it for anything that cant be failproof especially something bearing with a load on it.

I print in a lot of different materials, asa and PLA being primary. Both have proven good enough for me

ASA was surprisingly good, but it does produce a lot of fumes.
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