10 Tips for 3D Printing

To get the 10 tips that should be paid attention to when making 3D models for printing, which is believed to be helpful to some fans who have just come into contact with 3D printing services.

10 Tips for 3D Printing

1. 45-degree rule

Remember the 45-degree rule. Any protrusion over 45 degrees requires additional support materials or excellent modeling skills to complete the model printing, design your own support or connection objects (cones or other support materials), and design them into your model.

2. Try to avoid using support materials in the design

Although the support calculus has been improving over time, the support material will still leave ugly marks on the model after removal, and the removal process will be very time-consuming. Try to design your model without the help of supporting materials so that it can be printed directly in 3D.

3. Try to design your own printer base

Make good use of "mouse ear". Mouse ears are disc-shaped or cone-shaped bases. Design them into your model instead of using the built-in base model. Tony Buser's "mouse eared rocket fincan" and Casey's "Windsor chairs" are outstanding examples of making good use of this design ingenuity. Do not use the built-in print base (RAFT), it will drag down your printing speed, in addition, according to different software or printer settings, the built-in print base may be difficult to remove and damage the bottom of the model.

4. Know the limits of your printer

Know the details of your model. Are there any tiny protrusions or parts that are too small to print with a desktop 3D printer? In your printer, there is a very important but often overlooked variable, which is the thread width. Line width is determined by the diameter of the printer nozzle. Most printers have nozzles with a diameter of 0.4mm or 0.5mm. In fact, the size of a circle drawn by a 3D printer is twice the line width. For example, the minimum diameter of a circle drawn by a 0.4mm nozzle is 0.8mm, while the minimum diameter drawn by a 0.5mm nozzle is 1mm. As Casey said in the film, the basic principle: "the smallest object you can create is not less than twice the line width."

5. Select the appropriate tolerance for the parts to be joined

Design tolerances that you think are appropriate for models with multiple joints. It may be difficult to find the correct tolerance. Casey's technique for calculating the correct tolerance is to reserve a width of 0.2 mm in the place where the tight joint is needed (pressing or connecting objects); reserve a width of 0.4 mm in the place where the looser joint is needed (hinge or box cover). You have to test your model yourself to determine the appropriate tolerance for what you want to create.

6. Moderate use of housing

Don't use too many shells on the models with required accuracy. For example, for some models with tiny words, the extra shells will blur these fine parts.

7. Make good use of line width

Make good use of line width as your advantage. If you want to make some models that can be bent or thinner, design the thickness of your model as a line width thickness. You can see Casey's "flexible inspiration" portfolio, which provides a lot of examples of the use of this technology.

8. Adjust printing direction for best accuracy

Always print your model with the best resolution possible. If necessary, the model can be cut into several blocks to print, and then reassembled. According to the understanding of the plasticine net, for the printer using the fused deposition fabric (FFF) technology, you can only control the accuracy of the z-axis, because the accuracy of the XY axis has been determined by the line width. If your model has some fine design, confirm whether the printing direction of the model has the ability to print those fine features.

9. Adjust the printing direction according to the pressure source

When a force is applied to the model, we need to keep the model intact. Make sure you print in the direction to reduce the stress concentration in some areas. We can adjust the printing direction so that the printing line is perpendicular to the stress application area. The same principle can also be applied to ABS resin, which is commonly used to print large models. During printing, these large models may crack along the z-axis due to the cooling on the printing table.

10. Ultimate goal: print and place your model design correctly

Using location design to print a variety of integrated objects is the "ultimate goal" of fused deposition printers. Here, Casey has many skills to teach you how to "print your design in the right place": put the design objects on the printing platform, connect these adjacent objects, and print them carefully at intervals.