So I have a sidewinder X1 that I love. But I don’t design much.

Would love suggestions on pinball related things to print.

I’ve done many a cup holder. But is there anything else that is just plain cool that is in the public?

It's incredibly rare for me to print anything someone else has designed. It's really useful when I need say a case for a Raspberry Pi and there are a bunch of slick ones already out there to grab, but the real beauty of the printer for me is having custom parts on demand.

I need to spend time on my CAD skills, just one more thing I should be doing instead of reading dumb posts about the Bond 60th game.

Do you go into the slicer and paint where you wanted the supports? Me personally, I prefer to pick where my supports go when I have large prints and I want to hide them.

That print looks great!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1437-performance-pinball/07842-playfield-jacks-

The YouTube algorithm directed this to me, nice little product!
Looks like the black insert is TPU to help protect the art.

Wow those look super useful. I wish there was a good way for people to sell the STL without risking it being shared it around since the price after shipping for these is going to be a lot more than I'm willing to pay. I could use these though.

Honestly, you could make something equivalent out of wood in far less time than it takes to print those. I know we're always looking for excuses to use our 3D printers, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense.

It might take less time but it would make more mess and wouldn't work as well. I suck with wood haha.

Maybe this is my chance to start a new business... some way for people to sell users a file and have it securely print on their local printer without having to give them access to the STL. Kind of like a DRM that allows the person a certain number of prints of an object before having to buy more.

Wanna do a Patreon Partnership, we could learn together lol

In this case, I just let the software do it. Here is how the final single print came out (took about 10 minutes of breaking away supports).
IMG_8630 (resized).JPG
IMG_8632 (resized).JPG

Much better than original multi-piece print.
IMG_8631 (resized).JPG

I'm no carpenter either, but I think I could bang out those pretty quick.
Like Xdetroit said, the design is pretty simple, so it wouldn't take long to model something like that. And I wouldn't print the insert... just use felt or rubber.

Of course I could make it fairly easily but if it's made already I want it without that effort.

Something always annoys me more than it shuold about the scenario where the STL for something I would never buy but would happily print and use exists but I can't get it. I have no problem taking a private STL and not sharing it, I've done it before but most creators refuse to believe you won't share it around. And hey I don't blame them, people should be paid for their work if that's what they want, it's just due to the price and shipping cost to Canada there is no way I would buy it so it's not like they're losing a sale.

I think very few people with the capacity to print these themselves are going to buy them, so making the file public won't really hurt sales.

A practical way to sort this situation out would bring us one step closer to the Star Trek world of replicators. Companies are going to have to figure it out eventually because once the average home has a 3d printer and can print out a lot of every day items around the house companies are going to have to find a way to convince people to buy their designs over using freely available ones.

ive seen people sell files on etsy. ive also seen where someone that models a lot will simply create a patreon where you can subscribe for $10/month and download everything they've released. i think people are apt to share stl files if they got them for free, but if they paid for it they may decide "hey, i paid for it, why should i share it for free?" which helps protect it.

I agree, same with 3d printed mods. I've sent messages to a few people asking if I could buy the STL and promise not to send it to anyone and nobody is interested in that. cults3d.com has some paid models and it seems to work pretty well. Asking reasonable prices for a file is a good method to get people to pay for it. For the modding community could be great as someone who wouldn't pay $X for a mod but is a DIY'er and would happily make it could be additional easy revenue without any additional labor.

Just throwing an old idea out to the 3D print world for comment.... About 6 years ago, a guy mocked-up a volume control bracket that could be used with the existing coin door reject buttons to raise and lower the volume. The electrical part is easy, and there is already an option available that installs a rocker into the Tourney button fuller below the Start button, but a coin-door bracket would be perhaps even more elegant. I'm not very good drawing up a 3D part, but wanted to throw the idea out and see if it caught anyone's attention. (Or maybe it's just me.... 8-)

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/volume-control-using-coin-reject-buttons

That's cool. I noticed in the latest STTNG rom update (LX-8), that the author had implemented a feature to allow the volume to be adjusted with the coin door closed - bypassing interlock.

Thanks for the kind words. I designed, make and sell them here in my Pinside store "Performance Pinball" and via my website http://www.performancepinball.com/playfield-jacks.html

Just for reference I designed these to enable the playfield to sit perfectly level when raised, keep it from moving side to side and protect the cabinet and art. A lot of thought design time and revisions have gone into these.

Sharing files is hard. I never share my digital files for my art unless it's something designed to be free, because once something is out there you can never really take that back. So I get it.

I try and balance sharing things freely with designing exclusive stuff that I sell.

Smart, You create it, you own it, especially in the art world. All artists deserve to be paid for their talents.

Well, I've encountered my first nozzle clog on my Bambu Carbon X1. There is nothing I can to get it to clear (I've tried everything). At this point, I need to let everything cool down and then take apart the nozzle. Simple enough, but still a pain and I hope I can solve the issue. I had this issue a handful of times on my Prusa, and at different times it required different measures. Just one of the major pains of 3D printing.

It's been a long day, so I think I tackle this project in the AM. I need to get it fixed soon, however, as I have about 80 hours worth of orders in queue and I'm missing prime print time while I sleep

I've been burned a couple of times when sharing art files (other people taking my exact designs, producing themselves, and then selling on sites like ebay), so I made the decision a couple of years ago to never share my source files for any item I am marketing or plan on marketing in the future. Doesn't mean that someone won't still copy your work, but why make it easy for them? On the other side, I do openly share a variety of items I've designed when it is something that I don't care to sell and think that others might benefit from.

seeing how the hotend can heat to 300°C, I would start there before tearing it apart.

It was a full hot end tear apart job. Two issues: filament stuck/lodged in very top of hot end even after heating to 300 and trying to clear from nozzle upward. For this, I had to heat a small wire I had and insert it down through the top of the hot end (fully removed from system). Letting the wire cool for a few seconds, I then pulled it out with about a 1 inch piece of filament. Other issue was a few mm deformed filament in the extruder assembly (actually in the small clear piece). I had to cut the end of this piece which allowed the filament to then be pulled out from the top end and the deformed piece removed from the bottom side.

Spent over an hour on it this morning trying to diagnose the problem and learning how to disassemble everything and techniques to clear. Now that I know how to do it, next time it will be a 15 minute job at the most.

There are a couple nice add-ons on Printables to help with filament clogs, one for abrasive filaments and one for eliminating the harsh bend coming into the Hot end that Bambu will fix.

https://www.printables.com/model/338073-bambu-x1-ptfe-extruder-bracket-ams-error-fix

Ken

Ken

It's a tough one since many are willing to pay for it and in this digital world it seems like there should be a way to get that file without involving the postal service and physically shipping things

Even if there was some sort of DRM on the STL it has to get sliced and people could just steal the gcode and recreate it or copy it from that.

If we wanted a system that actually let the artists sell prints of their works it would have to be controlled upstream somehow. You'd have to slice it on a web app and then stream the gcode to the printer without ever saving it on the buyer's system. Sounds like a tough problem to solve but not impossible, it would just get cumbersome and I doubt there is enough demand for this to make it worthwhile.

Maybe a slicer can incorporate something into their platform so the user can slice and print a file without ever having control over it.

one time i was working on a project for someone. rather than him paying shipping yet again (back and forth on the design) i sent him the updated files, but not before adding my initials in every part so he can't resell it unless he goes through the tedious task of filling it in with something like meshmixer.

I agree with you here, ya have to make it tougher to remove your footprint.

I'm a very utility driver person. Things that are basic and universal fitting I usually think should be free domain. Lots of the brackets and such only take a couple of minutes to draft out into a 3d model ready to print. For me its more of the specific, unique offerings of a design I can see people having issues sharing a file openly. Most of my brackets/mounts that I draw out only fit my mods that I make in resin, so people cant even make use for any of it anyway. But the couple of times I've made something that works for anyone (QR door and kicker speaker mounts) I've shared the files without hesitation.

Hardest thing usually is the minor adjustments to be made after every print if you're off by smidge here and there. And I get that that kind of thing can be time consuming. That being said, I'm always willing to make a ready to print file for anyone that needs help. Especially if CAD doesnt come easily for them. As long as I get a set of notes of dimensions and purpose and they can print themselves to test for any adjustments needed that I can make later, I'm glad to help get them started.

Yeah this hits on my issue. I can whip up a file pretty quickly but I almost always end up having to adjust it and re-print it 3 or 4 times before the dimensions are right. Maybe just my fault for not measuring carefully enough or something, but that's usually what prevents me from just making it myself. A 5 minute design is rarely a 5 minute design for me.

For years I’ve been using a notched 26 inch piece of 2x4 wrapped in foam .Cost about $1 to make and works great for installing side blades . Nice work on those though

Thanks, I'll add this to the build.

I saw some other versions, but this looked simple. I may print a tool from steel at work to use while the hotend is warm-ish. My mind is working now.

Printing my first time with the new guide right now (Prusament Galaxy Black PETG).

IMG_8643 (resized).JPG

How does your model look where the tree supports were? I haven’t had any luck with it not looking sloppy underneath. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, do I need to change the stock support settings? Thanks

I have that version already installed, may try another version if I ever have another clog. Nice choice for the color. I also just installed SoftFever modded software and man do I love it. Just having a seperate Calibration feature is a must.

Ken

20230223_042353 (resized).jpg

What's the proper orientation to print that PTFE tube guide? When I drop it into the slicer it stands up on end. Not sure the swivel groove will print well with that internal overhang, at least not with the way the X1 bridges.

Screenshot 2023-02-22 at 5.05.47 PM (resized).jpg

Seems like it really wants to print this way, although the outside of the swivel end will be messy without supports?

Screenshot 2023-02-22 at 5.06.31 PM (resized).jpg

Support didn't do much as I had another nozzle clog with it, and I'm thinking the issue has been with my Prusament "galaxy" filaments since they are a little more abbrasive. I actually ended up breaking the support off (I was trying to remove it to clear the jam and it snapped). However, once everything was clearned, I did print an 8 hour job overnight with no issues using standard black PLA.

BTW, you print the part oriented as downloaded without supports but do a 15mm brim.

I thought it looked pretty good. The larger areas were very clean and the smaller areas required a little more work. Since the model was black, it was kind of hard to see imperfections. I've already sent the model off to the painter, so I can't take any additional photos for you.

I'm curious, what is this?

What 3D modeling software are you guys using? I tried using the windows stock software but I can't figure out how to change the CG on an object and rotation is a pain due to this when making these pingolf trophies. I'm looking for something better.

PXL_20230221_031256831.jpg

The obvious choice is probably Fusion 360, but steep learning curve for many. I could easily design that piece in Tinkercad, however.

Personally, I would print that in two pieces and glue together (could even use a peg-hole for joining the two) to get a better looking finished item (i.e. the ball would not be deformed). The flipper and ball would be a one print with bottom side down on the print plate, and the base would be another printed as it sits.

Fusion 360 here for sure. Great tutorials online and you can get a hobbyist license for free. Very powerful.

Agree, a two-piece would make for a much cleaner print. Print-in-place is a beautiful, marvelous thing - but not always the best answer when multi-part is so easy.

I'm going to try and print it in two pieces. Thats.a great idea. That one deformed because I didn't use any supports. Here's a test print where I used some supports under the ball.

PXL_20230223_191350530.jpg

If that bracket does not help, try this one:

https://www.printables.com/model/309088-bambu-lab-x1-ptfe-minimum-radius-guide

SoftFever is a great modded version of BambuLabs Studio.

https://github.com/SoftFever/BambuStudio-SoftFever

You can tweak so many more settings if you are familiar with other slicers right within BambuStudio. They have nice tutorials.

I would use Tree support, see my pic.

AMS Tube (resized).PNG

I'm now 14 hours into an 18 hour print that uses two of the Prusament "galaxy" filaments, and thus far no issues (was eating my lunch yesterday). I really don't think the support was my problem, so not adding it back for now. Maybe a partial clog or something in the nozzle that my regular PLA overnight print flushed out of the nozzle. Who knows, but Prusament Galaxy Black is one of my favorite filaments and I refuse to give it up. I just ordered some different silver, as I'm not in love with Galaxy silver, so that issue will solve itself. I do occasionally print in Galaxy Purple (a great color), but typically nothing large/lengthy.

Installed and running. I certainly like some of their defaults better. Looking forward to playing with it.

I’d pay good money for a last action hero topper if somebody could print something like that!

Same!