Everything I know about 3D Printing — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00I spent the last 16 years of my life and
2. 0:02thousands of hours both 3D printing and
3. 0:04designing stuff to be 3D printed. And I
4. 0:07packed all of that knowledge into the 63
5. 0:09tips that you'll see in this video. From
6. 0:11the absolute basics to how a 3D printed
7. 0:13works to designing your own parts to be
8. 0:153D printed. Some of these I've never
9. 0:17shared before and a couple towards the
10. 0:19end genuinely changed how I approach
11. 0:22designing stuff to be 3D printed now.
12. 0:24And this video includes now for
13. 0:25Squarespace. There's a lot of different
14. 0:26types of 3D printers out there. Some use
15. 0:28heat to melt plastic. Some use light to
16. 0:30harden resin. Some use lasers to melt
17. 0:33metal. And some extrude huge chunks of
18. 0:36concrete. But here's tip number one.
19. 0:38Your first 3D printer should be the one
20. 0:40that melts plastic. Those are called
21. 0:42FDM. And they pretty much all work just
22. 0:44like a glue gun. There's a hot tip that
23. 0:47melts the plastic and plastic that comes
24. 0:50in from the back just like the glue does
25. 0:52in the glue gun. Only difference is that
26. 0:54instead of the glue, there's this thing
27. 0:55which is called filament, which is a
28. 0:56thin string of plastic. I recommend it
29. 0:59because it's the cheapest, safest, and
30. 1:01least messy out of all of them. All you
31. 1:03need to get started is the printer, the
32. 1:05plastic, which is called filament, and
33. 1:07some way to tell the printer what to
34. 1:09make out of this stuff. The most common
35. 1:10way you do that is with a computer and a
36. 1:13program called a slicer, where you can
37. 1:15take 3D files and send them to the
38. 1:17printer. But some manufacturers also
39. 1:19have apps that can send files directly
40. 1:21to the printer from your phone. Now,
41. 1:23when it comes to 3D models, which you
42. 1:25need to 3D print, there's two main ways
43. 1:28to get those. You can either download
44. 1:30them or you can create them yourself.
45. 1:32I'll share a bunch of tips when it comes
46. 1:34to designing parts to be 3D printed
47. 1:36later in this video, but here's tip
48. 1:38number two. You don't actually need to
49. 1:41be able to 3D model to 3D print lots of
50. 1:44cool things. There's so many talented
51. 1:46designers out there that have created
52. 1:48and uploaded their models online that
53. 1:50for a lot of the things that you'd like
54. 1:52to print, there's already models online
55. 1:55available for you to download and print
56. 1:57for [music] yourself without any 3D
57. 1:59modeling experience required. Whether
58. 2:01that's from personal websites like my
59. 2:03own alcot shop where I sell a bunch of
60. 2:05the stuff that you'll see in this video
61. 2:06or from free websites like printables or
62. 2:10maker world where you can find models
63. 2:12that you can download and print for
64. 2:14yourself often even directly from your
65. 2:17phone. So don't worry if you want to get
66. 2:19into 3D printing but you don't yet know
67. 2:20how to 3D model. There's still tons of
68. 2:23really cool and useful stuff that you
69. 2:24can be able to print. So let's talk
70. 2:26about the 3D printer and the basics that
71. 2:28you need to know about the machine
72. 2:29itself. Because whether you have a big
73. 2:31one or a small one, they all work in the
74. 2:34exact same way. The hot nozzle melts
75. 2:36plastic and puts it down on this thing,
76. 2:39which is called the build plate. And one
77. 2:40of the most important tips I can give
78. 2:42you is that this thing needs to be
79. 2:44clean. If it's dirty, the print won't
80. 2:46stick and you will not have a good time.
81. 2:48You can clean it with just regular dish
82. 2:50soap and water and wipe it down. That's
83. 2:52it. Nothing fancy. And once it's clean,
84. 2:54don't touch it with your grubby fingers
85. 2:56because the oil straying fingers are
86. 2:57going to make the prints not want to
87. 2:59stick to it. To make your life a lot
88. 3:01easier, you can use some regular glue
89. 3:02stick and apply a coat before every
90. 3:05print. This stuff will both make sure
91. 3:06that the print sticks really well, but
92. 3:08also that it comes off of the build
93. 3:10plate when you want it to at the end.
94. 3:11You can also buy the liquid version,
95. 3:13which does essentially the same thing,
96. 3:14but is a bit less sticky and costs a lot
97. 3:16more. And if you have any issues during
98. 3:18printing where the parts didn't turn out
99. 3:20like you wanted them to, first check
100. 3:22that the parts stuck properly down on
101. 3:24the bill plate. So many issues arise
102. 3:26from the part, a section of the part, or
103. 3:28a corner lifting up or coming loose
104. 3:31during printing. Check this before
105. 3:32wasting time on troubleshooting other
106. 3:34things. And this plastic right here is
107. 3:36called PLA. It's the cheapest to use,
108. 3:38easy to work with, and it's plenty
109. 3:41strong enough for your project.
110. 3:44is what I've used to print this entire
111. 3:45assortment case. What I use to print the
112. 3:48entire camera arm that I'm using to film
113. 3:49this on. And every single box in this
114. 3:52entire assortment wall is printed out of
115. 3:54PLA. If you need your parts to be
116. 3:56outside and withstand a bit more
117. 3:57temperature, PET G should be your first
118. 3:59option. It doesn't break down under UV
119. 4:01and can withstand about 70° C. It's also
120. 4:04by far the easiest material to print
121. 4:07after PLA. It's a bit less stiff, a bit
122. 4:10more brittle, and should be dried before
123. 4:12printing. Anything other than PLA needs
124. 4:14to be properly dried and stored in a dry
125. 4:17place. There's a bunch of different
126. 4:18options to dry your filament. You can
127. 4:20buy dedicated dryers like this one. A
128. 4:22lot of the modern 3D printers will have
129. 4:24AMSs that can dry the filament for you
130. 4:26or even a high temperature version of
131. 4:28that. Or the most basic way with PETG
132. 4:30and ABS, you could actually get away
133. 4:32with cranking up the heat on your build
134. 4:33plate, placing the material in there,
135. 4:36and covering it. That will do the job as
136. 4:38well. The general rule of thumb is that
137. 4:40the more fancy the material gets, the
138. 4:42more hassle it is to work with. Carbon
139. 4:44or glass filled materials are abrasive
140. 4:46and will wear out the nozzles, so you
141. 4:48need more fancy nozzles, which cost more
142. 4:50money. These materials also need higher
143. 4:52temperatures, enclosed printers, heated
144. 4:55printers, and those get really expensive
145. 4:57as well. And if PLA can be strong enough
146. 4:58to build an entire camera arm out of,
147. 5:00you better have a good reason to order
148. 5:02that $100 a spool filament. I briefly
149. 5:05mentioned slicers. Those are the
150. 5:07programs that live on your computer and
151. 5:08take a 3D files, slice it up into layers
152. 5:11and send it to the 3D printer in a
153. 5:13format that it can actually do something
154. 5:15with. There's a ton of different slicers
155. 5:17and if you don't know which one to use,
156. 5:18just download the one that your printer
157. 5:20manufacturers recommend. And in many
158. 5:22cases, you won't have to do anything in
159. 5:23the slicer itself except one thing, and
160. 5:25that is select the right profile for the
161. 5:28material that you're using. That goes
162. 5:30for if you either have a generic spool
163. 5:32of PET G or a name brand PLA basic
164. 5:36spool. Selecting the right profile will
165. 5:37tell the printer which temperatures to
166. 5:39use and how fast it can move, which will
167. 5:41then lead to much better results when 3D
168. 5:44printing. And if you have a printer from
169. 5:45one of the big companies, Prussa,
170. 5:47Creality, Bamboo Lab, it can be a good
171. 5:49idea to also get the name brand filament
172. 5:52from that same company because they will
173. 5:54have properly tuned profiles for the
174. 5:57material that they sell so that you can
175. 5:58get better print results, but also get
176. 6:00those print results much faster. Now, in
177. 6:02many cases, you'll either want or need
178. 6:04to slice your own models. So, let's have
179. 6:06a look at some settings that can make a
180. 6:07huge difference. The first one, which is
181. 6:09going to have the biggest impact on how
182. 6:10quickly you'll get the thing that you're
183. 6:12trying to print, is layer height. A
184. 6:14higher layer height will get you to
185. 6:15model faster but be a bit rougher. And a
186. 6:17lower layer height will get you to model
187. 6:19slower but be a bit nicer. But make sure
188. 6:21to pick the right one for your needs
189. 6:23because these two boxes were printed
190. 6:25with the roughest and the finest layer
191. 6:27heights. This one took 40 minutes. This
192. 6:29one took 3 and 1/2 hours. And the reason
193. 6:30why there's so little difference is that
194. 6:32these sides are pretty much straight. So
195. 6:34there's not going to be much of a
196. 6:35difference from one layer to the next.
197. 6:37But with something like this Pikachu,
198. 6:40which also is printed in the coarsest
199. 6:42and finest settings, you'll be able to
200. 6:43see much more of a difference between
201. 6:45the two. There's a setting in most light
202. 6:47series called adaptive layers, and it's
203. 6:48sort of the best of both worlds between
204. 6:50quick print times and a nice finish. It
205. 6:52works by creating thinner layers only
206. 6:55where you need them. Let's say on the
207. 6:56top of the head of Pikachu here. But on
208. 6:58the rest of the body, where there's not
209. 6:59as much difference between a coarse and
210. 7:01a fine layer height, just like on these
211. 7:04boxes, the layer height is increased.
212. 7:06That means that a Pikachu that takes 52
213. 7:08minutes on the coarsest settings that
214. 7:10looks a bit rough and a Pikachu that
215. 7:12takes three and a half hours on the
216. 7:14finest setting, which looks perfect, can
217. 7:16be printed in an hour and 8 minutes and
218. 7:18look pretty much indistinguishable from
219. 7:20the really nice one, but only took a few
220. 7:22more minutes than the coarsest one. For
221. 7:24decorative parts, 5% infill is usually
222. 7:27more than enough. But if you want your
223. 7:28parts to be stronger, it's better to
224. 7:31increase the perimeters rather than the
225. 7:33infill. 15 to 20% infill is usually more
226. 7:36than enough. Now, the next tip is a bit
227. 7:38more relevant. If you have an older
228. 7:40printer or one that can't move as fast
229. 7:42as some of these newer ones can, you can
230. 7:44switch out the standard 0.4 mm nozzle
231. 7:47for one that's 6 or8 mm. Get pretty much
232. 7:50the same quality prints, but a lot
233. 7:52faster. It's not as relevant for newer
234. 7:54printers because they're a lot better at
235. 7:56moving fast and pushing out a lot of
236. 7:58plastic through a thinner nozzle. Turn
237. 8:00on advanced mode even if you're never
238. 8:02going to use any of the advanced
239. 8:04features because sometimes creators like
240. 8:06myself will include print files with
241. 8:08print settings for some of the projects
242. 8:11that they offer like these design boards
243. 8:13that I have on my website. I spent a lot
244. 8:15of time to make sure that this text
245. 8:16prints nice, but a lot of those settings
246. 8:18are under advanced mode which won't
247. 8:20apply unless you turn it on. Don't
248. 8:22worry, you don't have to do anything.
249. 8:24Just flip the switch. Sometimes when you
250. 8:26download files, they'll come as multiple
251. 8:28objects all stuck together in a single
252. 8:30file. But you can split those out into
253. 8:32multiple objects in the slicer itself.
254. 8:34In BM Studio, there's a button in the
255. 8:36top menu bar called split to objects.
256. 8:38And if you have parser too big for your
257. 8:40small printer, you can manually chop
258. 8:42these up into smaller pieces in the
259. 8:44slicer itself. That way, you can put
260. 8:46objects in multiple pieces and glue them
261. 8:48back together. Most slicers will also
262. 8:50allow you to add connectors to the cut
263. 8:53surfaces to align the parts much easier
264. 8:56when you go to glue them together. And
265. 8:58you can also use modifiers in the slicer
266. 9:00to increase the amount of infill in
267. 9:02certain areas to add strength only where
268. 9:04it's [music] needed. Just like I did
269. 9:06with these pieces, which are for a
270. 9:08camera arm, where I increase the infill
271. 9:10just in areas that would have bolts
272. 9:12running through them. Sometimes your
273. 9:13model is just too complex and you need
274. 9:15to add some supports. There's two main
275. 9:17types, tree and normal. The only time I
276. 9:19suggest using normal supports is if the
277. 9:21supported area is completely flat and
278. 9:24you can build support straight from the
279. 9:26build plate right up to that surface.
280. 9:28For pretty much any other scenario, I
281. 9:30would go with tree supports. For tree
282. 9:31support, stick with the default. For the
283. 9:33normal one, set it to snug. Printers can
284. 9:36sometimes bridge pretty large gaps
285. 9:38without needing support. So, if you
286. 9:40don't need the best surface finish, you
287. 9:41might be okay without them. You can
288. 9:43print some test models to see how far
289. 9:45your printer can bridge with an
290. 9:48acceptable surface finish. You'd be
291. 9:49surprised how far that is. Quick bonus
292. 9:51tip, PLA is the best for this. And
293. 9:53sometimes you have model where you only
294. 9:55really want support in a few key areas.
295. 9:58You can actually manually set the areas
296. 10:00you want supported in the slicer itself.
297. 10:03You can add text to models directly in
298. 10:05the slicer, and you can set that text to
299. 10:07be both inset and extruded. You can even
300. 10:09make that text a different color, but
301. 10:12where you place that color text makes a
302. 10:14huge difference in print time. Adding a
303. 10:16different color text to the top of this
304. 10:18box at an additional 12 minutes compared
305. 10:20to the whole thing in one color, mostly
306. 10:22because it also had to print this purge
307. 10:24tower. Adding it to the side at an
308. 10:26additional 68 minutes, this small box.
309. 10:28That is because at the top, the printer
310. 10:30only has to switch colors once, whereas
311. 10:32the side, it has to switch every single
312. 10:34layer that has one of these two colors
313. 10:35in it. That also means a lot more waste
314. 10:39if you had a printer with only one
315. 10:41nozzle. Oh, and by the way, this is one
316. 10:42of the boxes from my Motorbox
317. 10:44organizational system. And this
318. 10:45particular one is half as tall as the
319. 10:48regular size. Previously, the shorter
320. 10:49ones have only been available in
321. 10:51stackable versions, but now I've added
322. 10:53all six different heights in the regular
323. 10:55motor boxes as well. They're available
324. 10:56on the website. And if you previously
325. 10:58purchased any of the motorbox files that
326. 11:00had the stackable ones included, you'll
327. 11:02now also get all the regular motor boxes
328. 11:04free of charge by downloading them again
329. 11:06using the original download link or
330. 11:08creating an account on alc.shop where
331. 11:11you can buy all of these. Create an
332. 11:13account with the email that you use to
333. 11:14make the original purchase and all your
334. 11:16private purchases will be linked to that
335. 11:17account so you can download them
336. 11:19whenever you want and whenever I make a
337. 11:21new update. Now, that's the perfect time
338. 11:23for a quick ad from today's sponsor,
339. 11:25Squarespace. Now, Squarespace is
340. 11:27actually a huge part of the reason why
341. 11:28I'm able to do what I do. Because alca
342. 11:32shop, the website where I sell build
343. 11:34plans, 3D files, and all the stuff
344. 11:35you'll see in this video, that website
345. 11:37was built using Squarespace long before
346. 11:39they started sponsoring my videos. And I
347. 11:41actually made a couple of changes to my
348. 11:43website recently where I added a bunch
349. 11:45of their new files, like different size
350. 11:47boxes in a variation of different
351. 11:48heights. And I might have even added a
352. 11:51really cool label generator, which I'll
353. 11:53mention later in the video. And I was
354. 11:54able to make all these changes to my
355. 11:56website super easily. I was able to drag
356. 11:58and drop elements and resize everything
357. 12:00because of their new design system,
358. 12:02Squarespace Blueprint. And so can you
359. 12:04choose from professionally curated
360. 12:06layouts and styling options to build
361. 12:08your unique online presence from the
362. 12:10ground up tailored to your brand and
363. 12:12optimized for every device. On my
364. 12:14website, I sell build plans and 3D
365. 12:16files. But whether you want to sell
366. 12:17physical or digital products,
367. 12:19Squarespace has the merchandising
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371. 12:25when you're ready to launch, head to
372. 12:26squarespace.com/alcch
373. 12:29for 10% off your first purchase of a
374. 12:31website or domain. Oh, and if you like
375. 12:32the tip about adding text to your
376. 12:34models, stick around. I have some great
377. 12:36tips for getting the absolute cleanest
378. 12:39text towards the end of the video. If
379. 12:41you want to print something that has
380. 12:42multiple colors in a single print, but
381. 12:45you don't have one of these fancy
382. 12:46printers that can switch colors for you
383. 12:48automatically, you can actually add a
384. 12:51manual pause inside the slicer itself at
385. 12:54a certain layer height. Manually switch
386. 12:56out the color of the filament and have
387. 12:58it print the rest of the print with a
388. 13:00different color. That's how you can
389. 13:01achieve multiple colors in a single
390. 13:03print just like this one. Talking about
391. 13:05switching filaments, you can actually
392. 13:06use incompatible filaments as support
393. 13:09for the other one. So, you can use PEP G
394. 13:11as a support for PLA or PLA as a support
395. 13:14for PET G. But this is super important.
396. 13:17You cannot do it with one of these
397. 13:18printers that only has a single nozzle.
398. 13:20You'll need to have one of these
399. 13:22printers that has multiple nozzles. So,
400. 13:23you can use one filament in each one.
401. 13:26The reason for this is that with the
402. 13:28single nozzle ones, you'll never get rid
403. 13:29of all the previous material completely.
404. 13:32So, in the transition between the two
405. 13:34filaments, you'll get really weak layer
406. 13:36lines causing the bridge to fail right
407. 13:38where they shifted materials. Here's one
408. 13:39of my favorite ones for really
409. 13:40optimizing the printing of certain
410. 13:43models. In the slicer, you can actually
411. 13:44manually set the line width the printer
412. 13:46will print regardless of the nozzle
413. 13:49size. And you can do this both up and
414. 13:51down. And that is actually one of the
415. 13:52biggest secrets to how I was able to
416. 13:55create my super fast and super precise
417. 13:57print profiles for these motor boxes
418. 13:59that you get if you download these
419. 14:01files. Most of these boxes are uniformly
420. 14:031.5 mm thick. So, in the slicer, I've
421. 14:06set my line width to 0.75 mm, even if
422. 14:09I'm using a point4 millimeter nozzle.
423. 14:11That means the printer can print the
424. 14:12walls in just two revolutions instead of
425. 14:14three. And even though the printer has
426. 14:16to move a lot slower to compensate for a
427. 14:18thicker line, it still speeds up the
428. 14:20printing process by quite a bit.
429. 14:22Remember the 40-minute box from earlier
430. 14:23with the fastest default print time?
431. 14:25Well, this one is 32 minutes. Now, if
432. 14:28you like the tips and tricks that I've
433. 14:29shown you so far in the video, and I'll
434. 14:30show you a lot more cool stuff when it
435. 14:32comes to designing stuff to be 3D
436. 14:34printed. But even with all this
437. 14:35knowledge, you're bound to experience
438. 14:37some 3D printing related issues. So, I
439. 14:39figured let's first talk about some of
440. 14:40the common issues that you might
441. 14:41encounter, how to diagnose them and fix
442. 14:43them. If your parts don't want to stick
443. 14:45to the build plate and you made sure
444. 14:46that it's clean and you use glue, the
445. 14:48next step is to use something called a
446. 14:50brim. Especially for parts with a small
447. 14:52surface area, that usually helps a lot.
448. 14:54But brims can be annoying to remove. So,
449. 14:56if you have larger flat models where
450. 14:58just the corners are lifting up, you can
451. 15:00apply something called dog ears to just
452. 15:02the corners. They do the exact same
453. 15:03thing, but are a lot easier to clean up.
454. 15:05Talking about cleaning up rims, here's a
455. 15:07little bonus tip for you. The easiest
456. 15:08way is to use one of these deburring
457. 15:10tools. Fellow YouTuber Stefan from CNC
458. 15:13Kitchen sells these. I'll leave a link
459. 15:15down below. If you've done all those
460. 15:17things and the prints are still lifting
461. 15:18up and not sticking properly, check the
462. 15:21temperature of the room that the printer
463. 15:22is in. Ideally, it should be somewhere
464. 15:24around 20 to 25° C, this many degrees
465. 15:27Fahrenheit. And if you experience any
466. 15:29sort of other print issues where the
467. 15:31print isn't looking like you expected it
468. 15:33to, the first step should be to print
469. 15:35one of these benches. If this thing has
470. 15:37the same issues as the previous print,
471. 15:39there's something wrong with the
472. 15:40printer. If this thing turned out fine,
473. 15:42there's something wrong with your
474. 15:43settings. Oh, and these usually come
475. 15:45preloaded inside the 3D printer already.
476. 15:47If you have a look at your printer in
477. 15:49the morning and all it's made is either
478. 15:50a lot or some spaghetti, chances are
479. 15:53either the part didn't stick well enough
480. 15:54to the build plate or a portion of the
481. 15:56part didn't stick well enough to the
482. 15:57build plate. You might have forgotten to
483. 15:58add supports to an area of your model
484. 16:00that would have needed it so the printer
485. 16:01printed in midair or some sort of
486. 16:03warping happened that caused the printer
487. 16:05to knock the part over and end up
488. 16:07printing in midair. To fix it, check
489. 16:10where in the model the part failed. If
490. 16:12it failed right at the beginning, it was
491. 16:14a problem with it not sticking to the
492. 16:15build print properly. If it fail at a
493. 16:17certain height, check if that
494. 16:18corresponds to somewhere where you might
495. 16:19have forgotten to add support in the
496. 16:22slicer. Or if it just randomly seems to
497. 16:23happen somewhere, usually it's either
498. 16:25the part got so big that there was
499. 16:27enough mass to shake itself loose, also
500. 16:30a sticking to the bed issue, or the part
501. 16:32lifted up in a corner, caused the
502. 16:34printer to crash into it, and knock
503. 16:36itself off the build plate. Sort of also
504. 16:38a sticking to the bed issue. Check those
505. 16:41things first before you start
506. 16:42troubleshooting with anything else. If
507. 16:44your parts end up looking like this or
508. 16:46the parts didn't fill in properly,
509. 16:48you've either got a clog nozzle or you
510. 16:50tried printing way too fast. And if
511. 16:52there's nothing obviously wrong with
512. 16:53your print speeds, you've probably got a
513. 16:54clog nozzle. You have two options. You
514. 16:56can either clean it or replace it. The
515. 16:58easiest option is to replace it. All
516. 17:00three printers have some form of
517. 17:01replaceable nozzles. Some are really
518. 17:03easy, some require a bit more work. The
519. 17:05best option to try and clean it is
520. 17:07something called a cold pull. I'll leave
521. 17:08a link to how to do that down below. And
522. 17:10if you're still not happy with the print
523. 17:11quality you're getting, you can actually
524. 17:13go super deep into a rabbit hole of
525. 17:15calibrating the printer and print
526. 17:17profiles and filament profiles and all
527. 17:19that, that is way above my pay grade. So
528. 17:21I'll link to a great video from
529. 17:22Factorian Designs down in the
530. 17:24description below. Now, what program
531. 17:25should you use to create your own 3D
532. 17:27models? That question comes down to the
533. 17:29type of models that you want to create.
534. 17:31And I can only really talk about the
535. 17:32industrial design engineering type
536. 17:35modeling that I do. For those, you're
537. 17:37going to want a parametric type 3D
538. 17:39[music] modeling software. There's a
539. 17:40bunch of different ones out there. They
540. 17:42all basically do the same thing. I would
541. 17:44recommend Fusion. It used to be called
542. 17:45Fusion 360 just because it's free to use
543. 17:47and there's a ton of tutorials for it
544. 17:49online. Another great one is On Shape.
545. 17:52[music] I'm using Solar Works mostly
546. 17:54because I started learning this program
547. 17:55when I started design school 16 years
548. 17:57ago and I've been using it since. I'm
549. 17:59really familiar with it. But on the
550. 18:01other hand, if you want to create more
551. 18:02free form organic type 3D models, well,
552. 18:04you're sort of in the wrong place. I
553. 18:06don't know how to make this. But I do
554. 18:07know that there's a free program that's
555. 18:08kind of difficult to learn called
556. 18:10Blender, which can do all of this stuff,
557. 18:12but I don't know anything about it. All
558. 18:14right, [laughter] let's talk about the
559. 18:15fun stuff, actually designing things to
560. 18:17be 3D printed. And the first tip is
561. 18:19think outside of your 3D printer. Now,
562. 18:21what do I mean by that? This thing right
563. 18:23here is made out of a material called
564. 18:25Jessite. It's solid and has nothing to
565. 18:28do with 3D printing, but it was made
566. 18:30using 3D printing. I 3D printed the mold
567. 18:33that cast this thing. The handles on
568. 18:36this workt nothing to do with 3D
569. 18:38printing, but they're made using 3D
570. 18:40printing with 3D printed router
571. 18:42templates that routered out these
572. 18:43shapes. So, even though 3D printing can
573. 18:46be the final product itself, it can also
574. 18:48be considered the tool to achieve
575. 18:49something else. Now, the first 3D
576. 18:51bundling tip, regardless of which soft
577. 18:53you're using, is to always use chamfers
578. 18:55on the bottom of models and never fill
579. 18:57it. If you try to use a fillet on the
580. 19:00bottom of your model, you're going to
581. 19:01run into the problem that the start of
582. 19:03the fillet, it looks really bad. That is
583. 19:06because the bottom of a radius has a lot
584. 19:08of overhang. Printers don't like
585. 19:10overhangs above a certain point. So, the
586. 19:12start of the filler is going to look
587. 19:14pretty bad. If you use a chamfer, the
588. 19:16overhang is consistent at 45° and prints
589. 19:20much, much nicer, regardless of the size
590. 19:22of the model that you're printing. Now,
591. 19:23the second level to this is to combine a
592. 19:26chamfer and a fillet. By first applying
593. 19:28the chamfer and then the fillet, you can
594. 19:29sort of create a shape that is very
595. 19:31similar to the fillet, but doesn't have
596. 19:33any of the overhang issues because it
597. 19:35starts at 45°. And the next step after
598. 19:38that is to make your parts look even
599. 19:39nicer once you're done 3D modeling them,
600. 19:42is to add a small fillet to all the
601. 19:44edges and small chamfers to all the tops
602. 19:47and bottoms. It's not going to be super
603. 19:49noticeable, but the parts will look and
604. 19:51feel a lot more finished. And a bonus
605. 19:53tip is to add the fillets first and then
606. 19:55the chamfers to get the nicest
607. 19:57transitions. You can actually see that
608. 19:58tip at play on all the assortment boxes
609. 20:01and the cases where I've added the
610. 20:03fillets first and then the chamfers to
611. 20:05create these really nice swooping
612. 20:07chamfers around the fillets. Now, this
613. 20:09next one is pretty similar to something
614. 20:11that you can do in the slicer itself,
615. 20:13but I want to mention it here. You can
616. 20:143D model holes into which you can add
617. 20:18these wooden dowels so that you can
618. 20:20really nice and easily align big parts
619. 20:23together. The wooden dowels are perfect
620. 20:24for this. They push into the holes
621. 20:26really nicely and grab on. They're
622. 20:28literally made for this. This is how
623. 20:30IKEA furniture is held together. They're
624. 20:32also super cheap. And by the way, that's
625. 20:34how I made that huge model of a P1P 3D
626. 20:38printer for an exhibition a couple years
627. 20:39ago in Germany. If you're designing
628. 20:41stuff, at some point you're going to
629. 20:43want to print it out to see if it
630. 20:45actually works in real life. But if the
631. 20:47thing that you're designing is pretty
632. 20:48large, rather than printing out the
633. 20:50whole thing every time, just print out
634. 20:52the section of the part that you made
635. 20:54changes to or that you want to evaluate.
636. 20:56It's a lot faster and saves a ton of
637. 20:58material. It's a great idea to combine
638. 21:013D printing with off-the-shelf hardware
639. 21:03to add a ton of functionality.
640. 21:06Assembling parts together like this with
641. 21:08nuts and bolts is much easier than
642. 21:10trying to design complex mechanisms to
643. 21:12do [music] this with just 3D printing.
644. 21:14And if you don't have access to the area
645. 21:16where you would insert a nut from the
646. 21:18backside so that you can put the bolt
647. 21:19through, there's another little trick.
648. 21:21You can use a square knot. Create
649. 21:23rectangular hole in the side of your
650. 21:25part where that square knot can slide
651. 21:27into and you can have metal threads
652. 21:29inside your part without having access
653. 21:31from the back. And to save yourself a
654. 21:33little bit of time when you're designing
655. 21:34stuff with off-the-shelf hardware, the
656. 21:37next tip is to use these things. These
657. 21:39are my custommade design boards. You can
658. 21:42download these on alch.shop.
659. 21:44They're totally free. And what they do
660. 21:46is that they give you the actual
661. 21:47dimensions that you need to enter into
662. 21:49your 3D program to create holes for
663. 21:52standard off-the-shelf hardware. Like
664. 21:54for instance, this one is an M6
665. 21:56counterbore bolt. Fits perfectly in the
666. 21:58hole here. Designed with these
667. 22:00dimensions. ALC shop. They're free to
668. 22:03download. Now, inserting a regular knot
669. 22:05on the backside of a 3D printed part is
670. 22:07by far my favorite way of adding threads
671. 22:10to models. But in case you don't like
672. 22:12the look of an exposed knot or you don't
673. 22:13have access to that part of the model,
674. 22:15you can add something called a heat
675. 22:17insert. It's basically a weird looking
676. 22:19nut that you heat up and press into 3D
677. 22:22printed holes. They're not my favorite
678. 22:24to use, but I know a lot of people like
679. 22:25using them and do so with great success.
680. 22:28And here's a quick little bonus tip for
681. 22:30you. If you're going to use a bunch of
682. 22:31nuts and bolts, why not keep those
683. 22:32organized with MotoBox, the 3D printed
684. 22:35organizational system? All these boxes,
685. 22:37bunch of different sizes, everything
686. 22:38available on alca.shop. But I've got
687. 22:40something new and even cooler to share.
688. 22:42Up until now, the [music] labels on the
689. 22:44boxes have been made with one of these
690. 22:46oldfashioned label makers that prints a
691. 22:48sticky piece of tape that you stick on
692. 22:50there. But then I figured, why not 3D
693. 22:53print those? So, I did. And even cooler,
694. 22:55I made a generator for these labels
695. 22:57where you can create whatever label
696. 22:59[music] that you need. There's a bunch
697. 23:01of different icons, screw types,
698. 23:04symbols, the ability to add text, and
699. 23:06all of that cool stuff. You'll find the
700. 23:08label generator at alc.shop/label.
701. 23:12It's free to use, works with all the
702. 23:14different sizes of motorbox, both the
703. 23:15regular ones and the stackable ones. You
704. 23:17can download both an SDL or 3MF file
705. 23:20that has the colors baked in. There's
706. 23:21also a version with race text like this
707. 23:23one. and an inverted option in case you
708. 23:26prefer that one. Give it a go also/
709. 23:28label. And both when you're designing
710. 23:30and 3D printing the parts, keep the
711. 23:33print orientation in mind because the
712. 23:35printer prints all the parts layer upon
713. 23:38layer. There's one weak direction and a
714. 23:41strong direction. Let's take the handle
715. 23:42on these cases for instance. These are
716. 23:44designed to be printed laying flat on
717. 23:46the bed like this. So the layers go
718. 23:49along the handle itself. So, the
719. 23:50direction where the 3D print is the
720. 23:52weakest is also the one where it has the
721. 23:54most surface area. If you flip the thing
722. 23:57on its side, like I did with this one,
723. 23:59and print it standing up like this, the
724. 24:01weak direction ends up with a really
725. 24:03small surface area. So, you go from a
726. 24:05part that is really strong to a part
727. 24:09that snaps apart really easily.
728. 24:11Sometimes you get really large, oddly
729. 24:13shaped parts like these thin sections
730. 24:16that make up the go-kart seat that I
731. 24:18made. they can have a hard time sticking
732. 24:19down on the build plate because there's
733. 24:21so much material sort of weighing them
734. 24:23down. You can actually 3D model your own
735. 24:26breakaway supports to support the areas
736. 24:29that are needed during printing. Snap
737. 24:31them off after and get way more
738. 24:33consistent results because of it. 3D
739. 24:35printer products shouldn't necessarily
740. 24:36have to look like those made by other
741. 24:39conventional manufacturing methods. Like
742. 24:40this part for instance, a [music] square
743. 24:41with rounder corners and a hole in the
744. 24:43middle. If you're trying to design this
745. 24:44to be, let's say, injection molded, you
746. 24:46probably go and add a bunch of features
747. 24:48to try and save material and cost to
748. 24:50make this. But then you go ahead and
749. 24:52print it only to discover that it didn't
750. 24:54turn out as rigid as you'd hope for. But
751. 24:56printing one without any of the weights
752. 24:58saving features is actually considerably
753. 25:01stronger. And here's the kicker. They
754. 25:02both took the exact same amount of
755. 25:04material, but this one was faster to
756. 25:06print with the exact same settings for
757. 25:08both of them. That is because the 3D
758. 25:11printer just naturally adds a lot of
759. 25:13stiffening and support structure on the
760. 25:16inside of every part with the infill it
761. 25:18generates. And adding features like this
762. 25:21just mean that you get less of that
763. 25:23rigid infill on the inside and you have
764. 25:25to print more of the slower printing
765. 25:27perimeters because of all the features.
766. 25:29So 3D printer parts usually don't save
767. 25:31any time and end up stronger when
768. 25:33they're blocky. Keep that in mind next
769. 25:34time you're designing stuff to be 3D
770. 25:36printed. Try to design parts to need as
771. 25:38little supports as possible. Plan your
772. 25:40side is going to be facing towards the
773. 25:42build plate and plan all the overhanging
774. 25:44features to be 45 to 60° maximum.
775. 25:48Supports on modern printers are pretty
776. 25:50good, but needing no supports both save
777. 25:52on time and always give a better print
778. 25:55surface. An additional tip is that
779. 25:57sometimes you can angle the whole part
780. 26:00in a different direction to not need any
781. 26:02supports at all. Like for instance, the
782. 26:05joining pieces in this stool that I made
783. 26:07are 3D printed and printing them like
784. 26:10this would have required support on this
785. 26:12overhanging feature right here. But
786. 26:14flipping the whole thing on the side
787. 26:16means that the whole thing can be
788. 26:17printed with only 45° overhangs and no
789. 26:20needs for supports. To figure out what
790. 26:22sort of geometry that you can design
791. 26:24that your 3D printer then can print, it
792. 26:26can be really helpful to print some test
793. 26:28models. Like for instance, sticking to
794. 26:30conservative numbers on overhangs like
795. 26:3245 degrees for instance is going to be
796. 26:34safe for most printers and material
797. 26:36combinations. But if you want to push
798. 26:38that, it's really helpful to print a
799. 26:39test print like this that can determine
800. 26:41how much of an overhang your printer can
801. 26:43print before the surface starts to look
802. 26:45unacceptable. And the same thing goes
803. 26:47for bridges, tolerances, hole
804. 26:49clearances, you name it. If you're
805. 26:51thinking to yourself, hm, I wonder if my
806. 26:53printer can print this, chances are
807. 26:54there's a calibration or a test model to
808. 26:57figure that out. So, print those in the
809. 26:58material planning to use and save
810. 27:00yourself some time. Printing holes in
811. 27:02the side of objects can have its
812. 27:03challenges because a circle inevitably
813. 27:06is going to end up with some layers that
814. 27:08have really big overhangs that are going
815. 27:10to lead to imprecise holes. [music] Now,
816. 27:12for pretty small holes, that's okay. But
817. 27:14if you want big precise holes without
818. 27:16the need for overhangs, you can remove
819. 27:18the areas of the hole that would have
820. 27:19the overhangs that would be too much for
821. 27:21the 3D printer. Replace those with two
822. 27:2360° overhangs instead, [music]
823. 27:25leaving you with this T-Rock shape. That
824. 27:27way you get really precise holes in any
825. 27:29size without the need for supports,
826. 27:31which is especially useful if the holes
827. 27:33are in an area of a part where you won't
828. 27:35be able to easily remove the supports.
829. 27:37If you want to embed a nut into the
830. 27:39bottom surface of a part, that usually
831. 27:41also means that there's going to be a
832. 27:43hole all the way through to accept the
833. 27:44bolt. Now, that hole is going to be
834. 27:46unsupported. So, the surface on the
835. 27:48inside there usually turns out pretty
836. 27:50[music] terrible. Now, there's a really
837. 27:52smart fix to this. You can add two
838. 27:53additional surfaces, one in each
839. 27:55direction of just 0.2 mm thick that will
840. 27:58[music] support the unsupported hole
841. 28:01that is to be printed. That way, instead
842. 28:02of trying to print that circular hole
843. 28:04just in midair, the printer can first
844. 28:06bridge in both directions, giving a
845. 28:08foundation to print a hole on top of.
846. 28:10I've used this trick for all the corner
847. 28:11pieces in my new version two wooden
848. 28:14cases with 3D printed parts. Here's a
849. 28:17quick bonus tip for you. If you ever
850. 28:18want to insert a nut into the side of
851. 28:20the part, make sure that two of the
852. 28:21parallel surfaces are vertical. That
853. 28:24way, the rest of the surfaces don't need
854. 28:26[music] any supports when they're
855. 28:27printed. You can 3D model geometry that
856. 28:30when 3D printed can create flexible
857. 28:32mechanisms with no moving parts. Like
858. 28:35[music] for instance, these clamps for
859. 28:37the glue jig that I made all these
860. 28:39drawers with. Or like the flexible bits
861. 28:41inside this lock that allow for the nice
862. 28:44and clicky locking mechanism in both
863. 28:46directions to lock the lid in place or
864. 28:49the snapping mechanism in the bottom of
865. 28:52these drawers that allow to assemble the
866. 28:54entire drawer without the need for glue.
867. 28:57Keep tolerances in mind when you're
868. 28:58designing parts that are meant to
869. 29:00interact against each other. Whether you
870. 29:02want a freely moving but pretty snug fit
871. 29:05or a fully loose fit changes how much
872. 29:08gap you should leave in the 3D model
873. 29:10between your actual 3D printed parts.
874. 29:12Now, this might actually change between
875. 29:14different printers and filaments and
876. 29:16print settings depending on how well
877. 29:18tuned your machine is, but a good place
878. 29:20to start for a pretty snug fit that is
879. 29:23still able to move freely is about
880. 29:25[music] 2 mm of a gap. But this might
881. 29:27also change based on print orientation.
882. 29:29And in general, the sides of parts need
883. 29:32a bit more of a gap than the top and
884. 29:34bottom surfaces. Especially small screw
885. 29:37holes in the sides of parts have a
886. 29:39tendency to get a little bit smaller
887. 29:41because of the overhangs when [music]
888. 29:42they're printed. And if you need to
889. 29:43print some holes in your parts, and
890. 29:44those holes need to be really precise,
891. 29:46you can download some of these free hole
892. 29:48calibration boards from alca.shop. These
893. 29:50are essentially just a grid full of
894. 29:52different sized holes in three different
895. 29:53orientations to help you figure out
896. 29:55which size holes that you need to design
897. 29:57in your part so that it prints the right
898. 29:59size in the real world. And your parts
899. 30:01need to have really precise holes. You
900. 30:02can pick up a set of these inexpensive
901. 30:04reamers, print the holes in your parts
902. 30:06about half a millimeter too small, and
903. 30:09then remount the holes afterwards. That
904. 30:11way you also get a lot nicer surface
905. 30:13finish. Because of the nature of 3D
906. 30:15printer, which prints one layer on top
907. 30:17of the other, you can design parts with
908. 30:19geometries that print in one go, but
909. 30:22have multiple parts that are interlocked
910. 30:24together after they're printed. And no,
911. 30:26this isn't only useful for toys or flexi
912. 30:29or whatever. The ball bearings for this
913. 30:31drawer are printed all in one go with
914. 30:34the bearing cage. That way, you can add
915. 30:36functionality or in this case, multiple
916. 30:38parts can be held together without the
917. 30:40need for assembly. [music] And now for
918. 30:42my absolute best tip to get the cleanest
919. 30:44text on 3D printed parts, and that is to
920. 30:47not print the text, but everything
921. 30:49around it. Let me explain. This ruler is
922. 30:52printing facing down on the bill plate
923. 30:53like this. And the first layer wasn't
924. 30:55the text. It was all the red that is
925. 30:58around the text. And then the second
926. 30:59layer is the white contrasting part.
927. 31:01Printing it this way usually means
928. 31:03getting a bit crisper and cleaner text,
929. 31:05especially for the smaller details than
930. 31:07the other way around, which is just
931. 31:08printing the text itself. Now, the
932. 31:10reason why this works so well is that
933. 31:11the printer has a pretty set line width,
934. 31:13and that's pretty much the thinnest line
935. 31:15that you can make. But printing two
936. 31:17lines next to each other means that you
937. 31:19can print them pretty close and have the
938. 31:21gap in between be the text line. So, in
939. 31:24the right applications, you can get
940. 31:26really nice and clean text this way.
941. 31:27Now, there's a time and place for both
942. 31:29different options. This text is a lot
943. 31:31more durable because there's a lot more
944. 31:33printed surface, but it takes a little
945. 31:34bit longer than printing just the text
946. 31:36itself, especially if you have larger
947. 31:38models. as it looks the best when you
948. 31:39print it facing down on the bill plate
949. 31:41because then you get the texture. It
950. 31:43does work the other way around as well.
951. 31:45Like for instance here on the inverted
952. 31:47option on the new labels from the new
953. 31:49label generator elc.shop/label.
954. 31:51Also, if you're going to do this to save
955. 31:53yourself some time when you assign
956. 31:54colors in the slicer, split the model
957. 31:56first. That way all of these small parts
958. 31:59can stay one color and you can just
959. 32:00assign the contrasting color to the one
960. 32:02remaining back part. And that's it. Six
961. 32:05tips. I hope some of those are useful.
962. 32:07That's pretty much everything I could
963. 32:08think of. If you have some other tips
964. 32:10that I didn't share, please let me know
965. 32:12down in the comments below. As for now,
966. 32:14thank you so much for watching and I see
967. 32:16you guys in the next one.