I thought 3D printing is for useless figurines...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ต.ค. 2024
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I used to think 3D printing is only for useless figurines. One event made me have a very sudden shift of mind. I'm converted ever since. Today I'm focussing on practical designs made in Fusion 360 and want to teach the rest of the world the beauty of CAD.
Get great results every time by following my free Design and Print Checklist: smallbatchfactory.com/design-and-print-checklist/
I do a reasonable amount of electronic repairs. That's mostly consumer electronics, like amplifiers, monitors/television and so on. A lot of times I get apparatus that have broken internal parts. Most times those parts are not longer available and/or very expensive. So I use a CAD program (FreeCAD) to reconstruct/design those broken parts, export these as a STL file that I can use in a slicer program (I use Prusa Slicer), and finally print them on my 3D printer. For me a 3D printer is a very valuable tool to create stuff that is not longer available and/or very expensive. The printer already earned it's purchase price several times by now, and I could not do a lot of these repairs without it. Of course those mechanical parts in electronics are not the only things I print with it, and I have found several use cases. For me the 3D printer is now a valuable part of my tool set...
I get the comments about figurines not beeing useless, but I also totally relate to the point he is making. When I got my first 3D printer I was excited beyond the moon, but after some benchys and demo models I didn't really know what to do with it otherwise. I felt like I bought this big expensive toy that could technically print almost anything, but I didn't know what that "anything" was or how to discover it, and designing it myself was out of the question. After trying to keep the idea of "hmm, can I print this?" in mind over the years, there have been lots of things that popped up that I could use the printer for, which I would never have thought of initially, small things to repair stuff, big things to organize, functional parts, simple hooks, an "Iron Giant" figurine, enclosures for DIY electronics projects... pretty much all of which I was able to print thanks to the community uploading their models. The versatility of 3D printing is its greatest aspect, but it can also be difficult to wrap your head around it, especially if modelling yourself is not an option, which it still mostly isn't even for me after all these years.
Thank you! That's totally the point. Not like I never printed a figurine and there's nothing wrong with that. It's about "3D printing can do so much more", which many don't realize at first, including me.
If you're really determined to get into 3D modeling I've created a in depth video course on Fusion 360. The first chapter is free to watch: smallbatchfactory.com/fusion-360-fundamentals/
Owning a 3D printer combined with the ability to use CAD software is almost like having a superpower. When I got my printer, I started looking at stuff around the house in a very different way. A lot of little problems for which I could not find a commercial solution, and which would take a lot of effort to make out of wood and metal. From lighting fixtures, parts for broken stuff around the house, motor mounts for the awnings outside, enclosures for electronics projects, down to tiny special pins to hold down EL wire on carpet. The only "useless" things I printed were a fidget tool and a couple of Benchies to test things and dial in the settings for the printer.
Anyone owning a 3D printer will do themselves a colossal favour by learning CAD as well.
Definitely. I once bought a toilet flush and one part was already broken. Printed it in 10 minutes, going back to the store would've been more expensive. So many things you can do.
I don't really feel anything I have ever made was "useless", such as figures as you put it. This is literally my entire business aside from educating people on how to actually use a resin printer. Practical stuff is fine, but I really enjoy the breadth of things you can create, from figures, to shelf brackets, and all sorts of tools. However there is a lot of intrinsic value in collectables and we make a lot of folks happy with our unique creations, so please don't call them useless. It's art, art is never useless, it is meant to inspire.
I'd lie if I said I've never printed some figurines myself. I have two really cool DOOM guy figurines for example. The title is just my initial perception of 3D printing before I learned more about it. For me it's mostly about practical stuff but a few decorations can also be nice
I get it, I just think figures have a place in the market. Still got my sub, we are in the same space technically so I like to follow other 3d printers.@@SmallBatchFactory
I see nothing wrong with printing figurines and models. I got in to 3d printing to build combat robots. I had never touched CAD, never built a robot, and never 3d printed. The random toys/junk i've printed over the years helped me to understand how the printer works, and what its capable of. And kept me engaged between projects. Seeing what parts on toys/etc were weak or hard to print helped influence my design choices for practical things heavily, and helped guide me in my upgrade paths. I also started (and still have) with a CR-10s, and it very accurately, and reliably prints ABS and Nylon parts for me. I don't think I ever could have got where I did without running through a bin full of flexi octopuses and halloween decorations.
That's also totally fine by me. I printed some figurenes as well. One of my first attempts was a DOOM guy model which turned out great.
The point I'm making is more that you can do so much practical stuff and prints are stronger than one would assume.
If someone loves tabletop for example it even has a practical purpose. If you can design your own figurenes then you can basically have anything you want.
One of my first 3D print was a bracket for a push switch.
It was to convert from pneumatic window washer to electric in an old Vw Beetle.
It was designed in Windows 3D program which was not very good if you needed to make some changes 😄
I never dared to try Paint 3D myself. But I'm happy Windows can preview STLs
When I got an Ender 3 for Christmas, I didn't know what I'd print. But that changed quickly - I've been printing practically every day. Mostly practical prints too, a lot of Gridfinity and modular drawers. Now I eventually bought a Prusa Mk4, which I really like. With Christmas coming around again - I'm actually printing more toys as presents. So a bit less of the practical stuff, but will be enjoyed by the kids.
I would be lying if I said I didn't print some "useless" fun stuff as well. In fact one of my first prints on the CR-10 was a DOOM guy figurine.
Recently I printed a boomerang and went playing with my nephew. He has one he got bought at a fair which couldn't even fly straight. The printed one worked perfectly and hew loved it.
As far as CAD goes - I can't really use Fusion 360 because I'm on Linux. So it's been Blender with CAD plugins, FreeCAD, and OpenSCAD for me, along with a couple lesser known programs I've experimented with. Recently mostly OpenSCAD and FreeCAD, trying to make things more parametric. I will say that one of the biggest needs right now is more user friendly CAD software that doesn't lose too much power - and doesn't tie to you the cloud. We need a "Microsoft Word" for CAD. Whoever can figure that out will really revolutionize 3D printing.
Back when I tried FreeCAD it was crashing constantly. OpenSCAD is extremely powerful and can do things Fusion can't. The white holders in my workshop are parametric and only get as many holding nubs as they are set in width. Couldn't make that work in Fusion.
Basically a the Solid-Workspace of Fusion 360 without the cloud would be a printers dream. Having 2D sketches with constraints is extremely powerful. I don't know if Blender can do such a thing
@@SmallBatchFactory When did you try FreeCAD last? I've been using it for a couple of months now (versions 0.20 and 0.21 on Windows) and I haven't had it crash once. It's pretty solid, its main shortcoming is the issue with topological naming.
Long time ago, in 2018 when I got the printer. Need to give it another chance. Since Fusion 360 is free and works fine I haven't tried anything else since then.
@@SmallBatchFactory FreeCAD is pretty stable for me, and doesn't crash. Biggest problem right now is the topological naming problem, which can be painful to deal with. There is a fix in the works, but progress is very slow.
Unfortunately for me, I don't have the choice of Fusion 360 because I use Linux.
Hopefully they'll fix it eventually.
Doesn't Fusion run with WINE or whatever is currently used? There's a MacOS version so it's at least not impossible to run with a Unix style kernel (I know MacOS runs in BSD)
I'm just like you. I'm totally out of figurines 😉 as a woodworking hobbyist and CAD user I have found 1000 ways to use that device for real, I don't understand the amusement of printing models someone else's did, for me the cream is printing models made by yourself.
Exactly, there are so many use cases that are extremely helpful and often also pretty easy to design. I do enjoy the occasional print of ready made models since I don't always need a fully customized model.
I also have quite a few woodworking jigs. In combination with a router table there are many many possibilities.
I had the same presuppositions about 3d printers. I have a background in 3d modeling and enjoy it, but I figured it wouldn't be practical enough and would quickly sit gaining dust. Or I'd go mad constantly trying to get the thing to work.
Fast forward years later, a friend of mine recently made me borrow his Prusa(seriously good friend, I owe him more beers). After a month of struggling to learn materials, bed adhesion, bed leveling, what a good first layer looks like, slicer settings, etc. I finally got it working and quickly started learning fusion 360(I was used to solidworks). The amount of practical things I've designed and printed in a few short months has been eye opening for me. Now I need to make sure I have a printer here before I give my friend his Prusa back.
Very cool story! Having a design background certainly makes learning easier.
The Prusa is a very solid workhorse and definitely worth recommending. If you're up for a challenge you could built a Voron from a kit, but it takes quite a bit of tinkering to make it work as reliable as the Prusa.
@@SmallBatchFactory interesting you bring up voron, I was just looking into them. I think that may end up being the goal.
It's a very cool machine and I'm printing almost everything on it now since it's really fast. Let me know if you need to know anything and I might even make a video about it if people are interested.
I have not found a CAD software program that I have been happy with yet. I am a retired Programmer, business and games. I have Polygon figures that I want to transport to STL but the usual manifold problem crops up. I have never liked blender but the new version seems better but you would have to spend three months to learn it and in the meantime the programming in your 'game' halts. I am trying to interact with 3d models using a game on the PC. like SkyLander.
According to Gesa from Phialo youtube.com/@PhialoDesign?si=8hFU-VOlXkNQpPRS Blender is not that hard to learn. She has an affordable course teaching how to sculpt.
Fusion 360 also has a sculpting mode but I never tried it. Since it's free you could give it a shot.
I was a little concerned watching your video, you said you are printing with ABS on an open bedslinger with no air filtration, in a room next to your bedroom, you would be better off using PETG as it sticks much better and without the fumes, PETG is far less likely to lift in the corners as ABS can.
Thanks for your thoughts, you don't need to worry. That was back in 2018 when I just started out. The room was adjacent but it had not direct door connection and a huge window.
Since then I've come a long way and print my ABS on my Voron 0.2 in the background. The Studio is empty when I'm not filming. The Prusa also has a wooden enclosure now, but I only rarely print something else on it than PLA and PETG
Good man, just thought it was worth mentioning for anyone else just starting out and not being aware that certain fillaments do have dangerous fumes to avoid folk getting such issues as ASA poisoning.@@SmallBatchFactory
You're absolutely right! Anyone reading this: Only print ABS, ASA, Nylon, Polycarbonate and Resin in well vented environments. That's stuff is toxic and can definitely harm you. Basic rule is if it smells you shouldn't breath it.
I Started making frames for my AI art recently.... printed the coolest little jigs that allow the miters to be clamped up with loads of force. Could have made them by hand, but I doubt with the same accuracy, and it sure is a lot easier just clicking with the mouse a few times. I had woodwork at school which included technical drawings, so just drawing up things in CAD is no big deal.
Yes, definitely. Built two closets, one before and one after I got the printer. The hardware on the second one turned out looking nicer while also being less work since they were printed. I do just as much CAD for furniture but I still have to build it myself.
great video!!
It is.
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Interesting video!
There are a ton of 3D printing channels on TH-cam that teach various aspects of printing, design, etc. So I suggest you find a niche that isn't well covered by those other channels.
Thanks! I'm trying to fill the gaps. Just need to figure out what people really need :-)
@@SmallBatchFactory One suggestion would be to create some tutorial sessions on the CAD program you most like to use.
I have been using OpenSCAD, but I have tried both the web-based OnShape and FreeCAD. I didn't really like either of those two, but it's probably because I'm more of a programmer than a mechanical engineer. I think I don't have the right mindset, somehow, for these mouse-movement based CAD programs. In OpenSCAD, the mouse is mostly used for just examining what you've created, not for doing the creation.
I'm actually planing on doing tutorials for Fusion 360. It's also rather programmer friendly, I'm one myself, you sketch things in 2D, apply constraints and type in dimensions. No mouse movement talent needed. You can watch the workflow in my video here: th-cam.com/video/Qs7dvdsP5eY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=nBlbhTKW21H859hB
Maybe it's something for you. Since it's free it's definitely worth a shot.
@@SmallBatchFactory I just happened to download Fusion 360 the other day to try it out. I have heard that the free version is limited by how many active projects you can have open, so you have to manage which ones you have open at the moment. I can't imagine working on even ten projects at once, so hopefully it won't be a big problem. I'll check out your video, thanks!
Good choice! The active designs limitation is only a minor inconvenience. You can quickly make them read only and go back any time. Since you can also create multiple components in one design you can technically work on more parts anyway.
Thks & just focus on pragmatic/practical DIY with 3D printer that's works for regular people & their family/friends.
Will do! Way to many people just print stuff. I love Aurora Tech Channel but she's just printing random stuff it seems. Making your own designs is so powerful.
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I agree. Everyone i know uses a 3d printer for useless figurines. I've made a few parts using tinkercad and Fusion 360. The learning curve is steep considering its very long between needing to design something so i forget all the tricks. Subscribing
Thanks! That's exactly my point. You only unlock the full magic of 3D printing if you can design your own parts. With a bit of experience most simple designs only take a few minutes but already help out a lot.
My way was similar to yours 🙂 Gruß aus Landstuhl
Interesting!
Grüße zurück, grad mal ein Katzensprung von hier aus.