solidworks

Try tree supports in Cura, saves tons of time. Lightning infill also.

Anyone make these? I love the LEDs behind speakers!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4685734

If you use Cura, there is an option for 'tree support'. Essentially removes vertical support in favor of 'tree branches' that are along the body with very light attach points. Much much better, lower amount of plastic, easier to remove

I really like the tree support option, works great and is easy to remove. That lightning infill I need to check out.

I'm looking voor Scrolls for a Cirques Voltaire.
Is there a file to print it in 3D?

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Sometimes I have adhesion issues with tree supports, just as a heads up. (Glass build plate, typically petg)

Has anybody printed the Bally pop bumper body CLIP STYLE C-970-5 that now seems to be unobtanium?

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Havent printed intricate stuff on the FDM in a while (mostly all mechanical/structure with little need for supports), forgot tree options were added at some point in Cura. Finally got my ender meticulously calibrated and properly extruding, so might try printing something random with those kinds of supports to stress test the printer.

These pop back in stock on a regular basis. It just when they do people buy large amounts of them. Last time i saw them I bought 12 for no reason.

i'll keep trying.
thx

Yes, I posted them on thingiverse. I'm glad you like them.

I've been meaning to learn how to model and have been procrastinating for a while now. Started with Tinkercad which is good but I just didn't love the simplicity and limits of it. I recently tried Fusion 360 and I love it! Here is my first model ever, a light shield for Bride of Pinbot. It took me a few hours since I was learning how to do basic things as I went along. I took a flatbed scan of the part so I could basically trace out the window shapes, and the rest of the model I just measured directly. Once I had the model complete I had to split it into 2 to fit onto my printer, and the way I wanted to split it with an angle at the center screw holes was a little tricky for me but I figured it out using Microsoft 3D Builder.

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Any good recommendations for Fusion 360 tutorials? I can do a lot of damage with Tinkercad, but it does feel a bit limiting -- albeit easy to pick up.

None that I can personally recommend as I haven't watched any tutorials but I'm sure there are plenty. I just dove in as I'm loosely familiar with 3d modeling concepts, 2D sketching, dimensioning and constraints from college. When I got stuck on how to do a certain thing, I just googled it and I found my answer within the top few search results. I say just download it and start playing with it, and ask for help if you get stuck

This guy has a lot of good content - got me up and running

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo29kn3d9ziFUZGZ50VKvWA

Yeah good suggestion. I watched a lot of his videos when I was getting started.

Neat! For the split, create an offset plane (or any other construction plane that makes sense) and put it at what ever angle you need. Then use the split body function with the new offset plan as the splitting tool.

Thanks!

The issue I was having was the split plane also intersected some of the windows on one half of the model. I wasn't sure how to prevent that from happening or how to re-join those parts in Fusion 360 after splitting.

also drawing a line in a sketch creates the cutting plane for the splitting tool. I'm still learning on how to set pivot or anchor points (not sure what its called in 360), but since from scratch I work in exact values, I keep things within Move increments where i can realign them and use the combine tool to make into a single body.

Keep the extruded windows as separate bodies until after the split. In the splitting tool, just select the base as the body to split and it will ignore everything else. Also, there is a combine function where you can bring it all back together, but there isn't a real need to do that. When you choose to create your STL file, you can select the bodies you want to use. Or, you can hide the bodies you don't want in the STL and select the entire component. Another trick is that if you export a model with a lot of separate bodies and use Prusaslicer, you can have it separate out the individual bits with either the split to parts or split to objects (I forget which).

I got into the "Learn Fusion 360 or die trying" series on YouTube.
The instructor repeats a lot but he emphasizes what is important. Like constraints.
I knew enough to be dangerous after an hour and dove in and started designing stuff.
I still consider myself a beginner, but I've made some fairly complex stuff fairly easily with my limited knowledge of the tools within Fusion.
Most simple things are extremely easy for me to model up very quickly.
It's very satisfying going from an idea, to design, to functional part in no time.

I'll give that series a try. I gave a crack at F360 for a couple of weeks but always found myself jumping back into Tinkercad since I can do 90% of what I need to there without even hardly thinking about it. I would like to do some more advanced modelling, so I know I need to step beyond Tinkdercad at some point.

Microsoft 3D Builder does have a couple of neat features to use that are super easy and fast. The Split is one, the Simplify is good for reducing triangles. Repairing STL files is good too.

I do exactly the same thing.

"I'm going to make this thing in F360." An hour later I'm back in TinkerCad

One thing I do is set the Tree support thickness to "1" , makes it super easy to cut an remove. And "Attach to buildplate only" w/a raft (if needed) - helps for tiny support adhesion to the bed.

I'd slice it like this. The front would remain clean since all the support is from the back.
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Here's a look at the support thickness:

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not sure if the martian is this one, available through a asian supplier of pinball parts
http://www.lijunilluminations.com/product.asp?id=2097

Any luck on the Martian?

Yes I try but it’s so small that I’m missing a lot of detail. I’m trying something new on Monday

Got my set up in a grow tent that is vented outside to mitigate the smell. Doing test prints and figuring out light exposure times for my different resins. Then on to some fun stuff!

Brian

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Nice! Almost went that route with the tent. First I'm trying out a printed exhaust system to run a hose from the back of the printers to a window adapter. Not sure how much the outside temps will travel inside though.

I have mine ran to a dryer vent, which I figure is no worse than an actual dryer as far as cold air getting inside.

If you haven't noticed a difference in print quality, that's good to hear.

A dryer wouldn't care if it gets somewhat cold while it's off as it's function just heats up and blows the air out. Since resin viscosity is affected by temperatures, was concerned that if the fan wasn't running, some cold air would creep in and cool the inside of the printer.

Guess there's only one way to find out

Awesome. Can’t wait

Mine is FDM, so I can't comment on any resin specific issues. FWIW, the printer enclosure doesn't feel any cooler than the rest of the basement when it has been sitting idle.

If you need a Light Divider for Gottlieb EM pinball machines C-16484, I uploaded my custom model to Thingiverse. I suggest printing in PETG for heat resistance. This is the same stl as the item sold on my Pinside store.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5213719
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Thinking about dipping my toe into the world of 3d printing and found the ender 3d pro is now on sale for 239 on Amazon. I see it mentioned in the thread just wondering if this would be a good starting point as I have zero knowledge in this area. Thanks for any help!

Love my Ender 3, had it a few years now. $239 is a tad high. If you have a Micro Center near you, they have a standard for $100 currently. You can get the Pro often for $150 or less.

Great starting printer. If you do get one, I'd recommend upgrading the extruder to an aluminum housing instead of the plastic one it comes with along with better bed springs. Theres a lot more you can upgrade, but those two I found to be the biggest ones that really honed in printing quality. The original extruder housing got a super minor hairline crack in the first couple of months and it affected the grip of the filament (ended up under extruding to the point of multiple print failures).

What products would you recommend?

For the Ender 3 V2, these are the ones I got:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F23ZNTG

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY47BX7

Of course...you could also just upgrade the whole hot-end to have direct feed, but I was going with as cheap as possible on the upgrade options.

The 3v 2 is $50 more than the pro. Is that a better option? I cannot fine any real comparison charts to help me.

All minor differences. Here's a good doc explaining them

https://m.all3dp.com/1/creality-ender-3-pro-vs-ender-3-v2-the-differences/

The extrusion upgrade should apply to any of them.

The pro was just on sale last week for $99 at microcenter after coupon. The v2 has lots of good features. Glass bed, silent stepper drivers, Color screen, Meanwell power supply, belt tensioners, ect.

I mentioned this more than once in the thread, but I'll repeat since you might have not seen it.

The newer Enders (with upgraded motherboard) have the thermal runaway feature enabled by default. Thermal runaway can happen when the thermal sensor fails, so the heater goes full blast thinking its not heating up enough. End result could result in a fire. Ender's weren't the only one, others did the same.

I think the older Enders had the thermal option, but required jumping thru some PIA hoops to turn it on. The newer boards eliminated that problem, plus it was an all-around nice upgrade. I don't know the exact specifics, so you might want to look into that before buying, and make sure you get the newer model. It's been awhile since the upgrade, so I would imagine most the old stock has been flushed out of the system.

Finished up my Elvira crypt mod last night, quite the upgrade!

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I haven't yet started really designing my own prints beyond basic shapes and such, but I would definitely recommend the Ender 3 Pro that goes on sale at Microcenter for $99 for the folks here asking about getting started. Manual bed leveling is tedious, but other than that it's fairly plug and play.

I'm brand new to 3D printing and have already printed loads of useful stuff with mine. I like switching colors, so I've already spent more in filament than I paid for the stupid printer - that's how they getcha! Just like printers and ink - what they lose on the hardware they will make back tenfold on the printing materials.

Has anyone used both the bltouch and the firmware/software version of bed level calibration for the ender 3's? I might dive into the firmware version this weekend but curious if someone thats had experience using both could have input on what they prefer.