Testing 3D Printer Workflow

[hotponyshoes]

Would any of the 3D printing members be up for printing a test object I've made up? It's a very simple 30mm cuboid bowl with a 3mm wall, looks like this:

File is attached as a .zip on this post.

Ok, it's done. What do you want to know?

X.Y.Z. 30.02, 30.04, 30.06, thickness 1.56.

Some discrepancy with the wall thickness there?

 

[Screwdriver]

The model is 1.5mm, base thickness more like 4.5mm.

 

[eSCHEn]

Sand it, paint it.

Oooh. Don't forget this stuff does not like getting hot. PLA doesn't even like being warm.

With PETG, I think you're ok up to around 80C, after that, things may start to warp and or soften. ABS is allegedly better but I've not tried any yet.

I'm thinking of using a printer who can do polycarbonate as it's super tough with a bit of flexibility which would be perfect. To be honest though just something basic would probably work, it's only in a vehicle cab after all.

PS. Happy to bung this in the post to you. There's nothing quite like holding a design in your hand. Plus you can test it to destruction.

That's a good plan if you're up for it. Only if I can pay you your P&P though X

Some discrepancy with the wall thickness there?

The model is 1.5mm, base thickness more like 4.5mm.

This would be my fault I modelled the inner subtractive cube as a ratio of the outer's length. So 0.9:1 on a 30mm length which makes 27mm. If you centre this in the outer cube and align to the top you end up with 1.5mm walls and a 3mm base

 

[PhillipM]

Your main issues are printing around the nozzle sizes to get yourself the right walls - if you're doing thin walled areas they *need* to be divisible into your print width for most things, something that's no issue with subtractive manufacturing.

 

[Screwdriver]

This would be my fault I modelled the inner subtractive cube as a ratio of the outer's length. So 0.9:1 on a 30mm length which makes 27mm. If you centre this in the outer cube and align to the top you end up with 1.5mm walls and a 3mm base

That's why so many 3d programs offer parametric modelling, a fancy way of saying they take account of the thicknesses etc. when you scale stuff.

 

[eSCHEn]

That's why so many 3d programs offer parametric modelling, a fancy way of saying they take account of the thicknesses etc. when you scale stuff.

I don't get on with the parametric modellers I've used, don't 'gel' with me for whatever reason. I've been using FreeCAD for a couple of years now and have actually moved away from it to a constraints based modeller, solvespace.

I'm happy to have some kind of modeller as I was getting no good results with FreeCAD. I was actually going to just write the geometric data manually and post-process it into a useable format with a bit of code

 

[Screwdriver]

Yeah I hear you. I am still using Sketchup for the same reason - most of my stuff is super simple and doesn't need the extreme power of some of these programs.