3d printing
Tips
- I recommend PLA filament for most things because its so easy to print. Matte or carbon filled PLA has a really nice appearance where the layer lines almost disappear. PLA tough/pro/+ are a little tougher and more heat resistant. Ive also had good luck with PETG for even more heat resistance. For even more heat resistance and UV stability ASA is great but will require a more expensive printer like the P2S.
- Don’t touch the build plate with your bare hands because the oils will cause Prints not to stick
- If parts aren’t sticking, clean the build plate with dish soap and hot water and then don’t touch it
- Try to design your prints to not need supports.
- Strategically orient the parts so loads don’t pull the later lines apart.
- Add a brim to tall narrow parts to keep parts stuck to the build plate or parts that are warping
- Print in cold temperature can also cause warping
- Ive had the best luck with the PEI textured build plates
- A heated bed is an important feature to have
- Don’t cheap out on the hot end components and buy clone parts from AliExpress
- Bed level and nozzle height is essential so auto bed leveling is a must
- Highly recommend investing in a heated filament dryer box to dry out the filaments othry they will absorb moisture from the air over time and stop printing reliably.
- An enclosure or heated chamber would be very nice to have and opens up the ability to print ASA which is a more UV resistant material
- carbon or glass filled filaments can help for materials like ASA, ABS or Nylon that like to warp. I would personally only get the carbon / glass filled variants of these filaments if I wanted to print these materials. But make sure you use a hardened steel nozzle for them.
- Hardened steel nozzle or diamond tip nozzle from diamond back is a good upgrade for printing abrasive filaments like fiber filled or glow in the dark.
- The super easy to change nozzles on the bamboo lab A1 or A1 mini are fantastic
- 250 x 250 x 250 is a good sized build volume. Prints any larger than this take so long that you’re usually better off gluing smaller prints together
- FDM printers seem to work fine even when sailing in rough weather I’m not sure a resin printer would work though
- For stronger printed parts, turn the perimeter lines up. 6 seems to make pretty strong parts.
- For light weight parts, foaming lightweight pla its a cool material to play around with.
- I mostly use a .4mm nozzle and occasionally a .8mm nozzle.
I recommend the A1 printer for a budget or lightweight and compact printer.
https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1
If you have the room and budget the P2S adds the ability to print more filaments like ASA and Nylon
https://bambulab.com/en-us/p2s
3d modeling software.
Fusion 360: Cad style parametric modeling with a free version. Not a fan of the Autodesk, but I do like this software. Have had trouble sometimes running offline. Id probably default to this or plasticity for simple 3d printing stuff.
Plasticity: A newer software with affordable non subscription licensing. Very powerful and getting better every year. No need for internet connection or forced updates. I think this is better than fusion when the shapes get more complicated.
On-shape: Similar to Fusion 360. Cloud based
Modo: My favorite software for polygonal / sub-d modeling. Has been discontinued and is now free but might stop working eventually with computer updates. Might not make sense for 3d printing but I use it sometimes because I’m very familiar with it and it has a great interface. OK for working with 3d scans. Good for artistic stuff. Was better before Foundry bought it.
GOM inspect: free and great for working with 3d scans. Can open massive scans easily. For inspecting and model manipulation / repair not modeling.
Blender. A open source free 3d modeling software. Polygonal modeling like modo so also maybe not the best choice for mechanical stuff but still a powerful software. Getting really good lately. The sculpting features are good too if you want to go that route.
Model sites
Before I model something I like to check if someone already modeled it. These are some good sites to check