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I remember the first time I printed with a 0.8mm nozzle at 0.4mm layer height. Even with normal settings (0.8mm walls and 30% infill), the parts were SUPER strong when compared to a normal 0.4mm nozzle.
Nice summary Angus! It would also have been interesting to mention the use of different materials for each application. PLA - strong, stiff but brittle and is not good at coping with higher temperatures. ABS is weaker and less stiff but much more ductile and can be used at higher temperatures... Keep on creating such content!
True that, but it's no longer so clear cut with modified PLA's such as polymax (rediculously tough for a PLA). Many machines don't really support ABS properly without mods so I recommend printing in the modified PLA's or PETG for ease of printing. That is unless you've got a passive/active heated chamber - in which case bring on the PC-MAX :D
I did a university research project on this. Tested 30 each samples of PLA, ABS, and TPU. I have to say, you nailed it. That's exactly what we found after 6months of research.
Found that slowing down printing speed also makes a difference. It allows more heat to soak into the previous layer, remelting it better and creating a stronger bond. Hot and slow makes a huge difference to parts that need to be strong.
Great video, however I would suggest another step before all what you've said: Optimize the design in a way that minimizes the stresses and maximizes the strength. For example if you separate the two hooks of the drill holder, make them flat, print them flat and then use a separate piece to hold them apart at the desired distance (which is a non-critical feature), you'll get a much stronger part.
This is the perfect type of sponsored video! No shameless shilling, no breaks to do a commercial, no excessive branding. You taught me something valuable, while showcasing the product being used. I don't mind when content creators use sponsorships, they have to earn money too, but this was great. Thanks, Angus!
Thanks David! Exactly, I would NEVER team up with a supplier or company that I didn't think brought value to my Audience, it needs to be a two way street. I'm working on a video on mechanisms from the industrial revolution sponsored by The Great Courses Plus - and really hoping that one will be well received as well.
I typically print my layer heights at half of the nozzle diameter. I find this very optimal for most use cases. Occasional when I want something to look good, I go to 0.25 * nozzle diameter (typical nozzle diameter is 0.4mm). It's great you mentioned that layer height does depend on nozzle diameter.
This video matches some of my experiences perfectly. I always thought that a higher infill % would make the part feel more solid and tough, but I found that shell thickness has a much bigger effect on the stiffness and feel of the part.
I'm pretty sure Simplify3D would make more money if they reduced their cost to something like £20. I would buy it then and I'm sure a load of other people would. I've already spend a load of money of a 3D printer, I don't want to spend another £100 on something that just slices a bit better than something like Cura and Slic3r.
This is excellent. 3D printing isn’t much of a hobby for me, I treat it more like a tool in my shop. But this video exposes a gap in my ability. Thank you!!!
Ha!!! I saw your ig post Thomas on the honey comb 3d print and have been researching how to make my 3d prints stronger since then.... Now I know your secrets!!!! I have been playing with Simplify3d and learning how to be a 3d ninja. 😜
Would acetone smoothed ABS be stronger than standard printed from the surface layers welding together? Or does it become brittle from the chemical reaction?
Great video, thank you! Any way you can make a video about Extrusion Width and Extrusion Multiplier in regards to what they do and how they affect your print?
I have a question about raising the layer height, although it does give it less layers, which then means less areas that can come apart, I would think it would make the layers not fused together as well? Cause in my mind I imagine with a layer height of 0.15 it would be sort of "pressing" the layers down on top of each other while with a layer height of 0.25 it would be sort of just "laying down" the next layer on top? I realize that is quite exaggerated and that if that is true then it would be so tiny it wouldn't be noticeable, anyways am I totally off and wrong for thinking that?
The smaller the grain in wood (walnut) the harder and stronger the wood (v. Pine). Also I'm surprised you didn't touch on filament types for stronger prints: PLA v ABS v PETG v Carbon Fiber v Nylon, etc.
lastdarkjedi I feel the same, I think it matters more thickness of one layer then the height, so the thickest the layer the higher the surface of layer bonding . I was expecting more scientific of a test like make a part and then put some weights or something .
This makes sense. Decreasing the number of delamination sites wouldn't make positive difference as delamination isn't a by-chance phenomenon - It occurs at the point of highest strain. Spread this strain over a larger number of layers, and the part can stretch more before delamination.
I was curious about the claim he made in this video so I tested it and found the opposite to be true. I got stronger parts with decreased layer heights.
For a long time, I thought decreasing layer heights made a stronger part as well. I tested it out because I wanted to prove the others wrong. Turns out, as long as you print at the correct temperature, larger layer heights are much stronger.
Frans Johansson studied this at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden 2016 and found that decreasing layer heights made a stronger part. drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxo6VdyjA6VPdTBtajJWR2lHcFU/view
It appears that you're exporting at 50 frames per second. RU-vid has provided a 50 FPS option for your videos and only for HD Accidentally change your settings? i.imgur.com/v2h0VYL.png Here's what the options look like for me. Hope this helps.
EnergyStrike Hence why he also mentioned annealing. PLA prints and casts which have been post-processed in an oven (conventional, toaster, rotisserie; I've heard recommendations for everything but microwave) at a specific temperature range for a known curing time have shown to have significantly improved qualities over untreated PLA, adulterated PLA (both treated and untreated), and in some cases even ABS. Mind you, I only know that because I saw a video about it and looked up more information. I still don't have my own printer.
I heat treated some PET-G spanners for adjusting shock absorbers yesterday and the firm spent all today trying to break them. Even putting them across a kerbstone and driving the 7.5t truck over them just bent 'em a little...
Another tip might be to adjust the angle and/or orientation that you print the part. When you are designing or printing the part you should take into consideration the forces that will be applied and in which direction would be the greatest. If you are unable to print the layers opposite of the force direction, this would be when you want to print at a slight angle (~15 - 30 degrees - This is just my suggestion). This also, as @MakersMuse pointed out in his recent review of the Moai SLA Kit video, that printing at a slight angle does increase the detail of the print by almost making the layer lines disappear.
Please help me understand something. So default width is 0.48 and extrusion multiplier is 0.9 ?! That seems complicated, one setting is over extruding the other is under extruding, why not just set the width to 0.432 and multiplier to 1.0? (0.48x0.9=0.432) This would be way more clear about how you are effecting the printer's behavior. I don't have S3D so I may be totally missing something obvious.
The most obvious tip to get stronger parts is to buy a bigger nozzle. I went from .4mm to 1mm just for fun, and my parts became unbreakable. Thicker layers adhere WAY better.
Proper part design is hugely important. Making sure there are no stress concentrations and reinforce critical areas with more material. Parts should use huge fillets and round overs and be as smooth as possible. Soon we will have topology optimization integrated into our design tools and we can print parts that actually hold up and use minimal material. How to design without software: ru-vid.comvideos Many have also mentioned annealing.
Why not mention the use of more durable materials? I just started using PETG and once dialed in it looks just as good as pla and it doesn't cost a penny more and the stuff is strong as hell. I'm working on a part that needs insane impact strength and it only broke only after multiple hard impacts with a rubber mallet with a steel part on it.
Very interesting video last year I built a automatic 3D printed farm gate opener the tooth pulley were first printed in 0.3 mm and they failed within a few minutes then I reprinted them on. 1mm layer height and a year later they're still working with no real signs of wear. This seems to be opposite to everything I've read but having said that maybe the forces on the part are different
What about baking PLA to strengthen it? 110°C for an hour, according to Thomas Sanladerers video "Bake your PLA and have it outperform everything else! #Filaween" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CZX8eHC7fws.html
Even though 3D printing is super efficent and easy to use, but machined parts are the strongest until 3D printers that use metal can be as easy to get as a normal 3D printer.
Ooopsie! I didn't know hitting "enter" would terminate my comment! Well anyway, back to what I was trying to say: A way that you could design in vertical bracing to resist torsional stresses would be to add a number of vertical holes. Then, when the product is complete, insert metal rods of the appropriate size and then fill in the rest of the hole with something. Hot glue, maybe? or, drill and tap for a set screw and screw it in. Those are at just about the min/max of the easily available methods you could use too retain the reinforcing rod. And, to finish my thoughts concerning my Anet A8. I am not happy with the electrical/electronics that I have seen on most of these RU-vid videos. One says, "Well, I haven't had any trouble yet..." But I am pretty sure that I've seen a couple of problems with his solution for wiring in a MOSFET. And he has months-old, open questions on his channel concerning that design that haven't been answered. Another guy has a video that I think has him short-circuiting his 110 v AC input plug/on-off switch design. But I'm not sure. I don't know what RU-vid etiquette is.
How about making a watertight print. I am running into this issue while making an adapter for a 2 liter bottle. I have used some of the same tricks you did here, but I will tweak them further with some of your ideas in this video. I'm trying to use MakerGeek's PETG and Raptor PLA because it needs to be food safe. Any help would be appreciated (and hopefully profitable).
Well, FDM is not the strongest, but SLS/Multi Jet Fusion is capable of producing parts as strong as Injection Molded parts in terms of Heat Deflection and Tensile Strength according to official tests. I also print with a 1mm nozzle and the parts are significantly stronger too. I didn't test the differences, but I'm sure you did at one point :).
Angus, could you do a show on making Simplify3d work with the Trinus? I'm having all kinds of problems making it work. I put in a post slicing macro to fix the file format and slowed the prints to the speed used in the Pango slicer but still get unprintable gcode out of Simplify3d. Thanks
Hi Angus I have got a problem with Meshmixer... When I want to generate facegroups and click on generate facegroups nothing changes at all! The window to manipulate the settings for generating facegroups pops up but no change what so ever on the part. Tried it with the cube from Meshmixer, same thing... Deleted Meshmixer and reinstalled it, same thing Any idea what is going wrong and what I can do? PS can't seam to find customer support for Meshmixer anywhere so I am asking you. Thanks for the help
My normal print temp is 205c or 115c some were between those I never go below 202 on any of my prints even know that’s over board for hatchbox PLA but I like the finish it gives it and oh ya my printer on those temps can get down to 0.20 mm I can’t do 0.10 mm top because I printed the tol test at 0.25 layer height and my printer is the MP mini delta but it’s rellly tounded sorry I can’t spell because I’m only 12.
There's something wrong with this world, an educational and useful video gets 67K views in almost 4 months while a ''vlogger's video'' talking about what they ate & where they're going tonight gets a 500K views a DAY!
after so much time i bet you have collected load of failed prints...like me and everyone that holds a 3d printer...and that makes me wonder how people dispose of all that plastic, for me, at the moment i'm just collecting it in a huge box(containing only PLA prints). Just like 3d printers become more available over time the same can be told about 3d printing channels of youtube....and none of them speak about how to deal with the "waste" that we get
YES, Having even one perimeter with a 1.00mm layer width is pretty strong. When I print more than one Perimeter It prints great but the perimeters do not stick together. Is this what happens on your prints or how are you getting perimeter to stick together. I get Perimeters that are really close to each other but I can peal them apart. Maybe Perimeters are supposed to be that way? I am printing with a 0.6mm REVO Nozzle and a 0.4mm layer height.
I found going to a 0.5 mm nozzle also makes for stronger prints which is why I have one of my printers with that size that I usually use for making structural parts and electronics enclosures or stuff that doesn't have a lot of detail. The main drawback is I have to redesign many designs for arduinos because it's hard to print small round pins so I lop off the pin and put a hole in it for a screw which is really a better way of making quality devices anyway, If I really want to get serious I do my prototypes in ABS and once I get it right I reprint in nylon. For instance I have a trolling motor with autopilot (iPilot) and all the electronics except the high current motor drive stuff is in the head and I didn't like the way it hangs unsupported when pulling it down the road on a trailer so I made a nice bracket that clamps to the side of the boat and the tube snaps into just below the head. Once out on the water you unclip it and it swings out the the way. Every boat is different and set up different so it's pretty much application specific and something you aren't going to find in stores .... And there is one of the big advantages of having a 3D printer and a little but of basic CAD skills (For me the CAD is the harder part, I took to the mechanical aspect like a duck to water)
One more setting I have used when there is a 'towering' appendage sticking up off of a flat surface. Something that could be easily snapped off by bending it sideways. In this case the surface layers at the base of the appendage would lift off of the infill and break away. Simplify 3D has a 'Print every infill angle on each layer' check box on the Infill tab. I didn't notice before this failure that the infill layers were not all identical. They alternate every other layer. Checking this box makes each layer fully bond to the previous infill layer.
one thing that I have found with soft PLA is that settings definitely can change the overall structure of the print. for example, set 40% honeycomb infill with a layer height of 0.2 and print something with soft PLA. then set 40% infill with a layer height of 0.1618 and then print it. for some reason, it slices differently with respect to the infill. 0.1618 layer height with the same infill will result in a print that is way more spongy due to the fact that the slicer oriented the honeycomb infill in 4 different directions vs 2 different directions for the 0.2mm layer height. it's weird but definitely something to consider since you can achieve different part qualities this way. I imagine this has a similar affect on other filaments also - which seems to support the conflicting results regarding layer height - where some say more layers and others say fewer layers. id actually suggest the most important factor is how infill is stacked in the slicer, since in reality, structure is more important than density to the overall strength of a part.
Mechanical engineer here. Your comment about pipe walls is missing some information - a pipe is strong for its designed purpose because stress in torsion, bending and internal pressure in a thin walled cylinder is always most concentrated at the surface or wall. This is specific to its geometry and structural mechanics. However this is not true for something like your bracket, which will have much more complex stress distributions which occur in multiple places. You are correct that making the part thicker will make it stronger, but that's not because a thicker surface is the answer, its just because the stress in any part goes down the thicker you make it, whether at the surface or centre. If you really want to design strong parts, put the 3d model into a finite element analysis program like ANSYS and study the maximum stresses in it under different loading conditions. This allows you to thicken the part at exactly the most highly stressed locations.
how do I find the correct values for extrusion width and extrusion multiplier? like I followed the documentatio for my kit and just copied the .ini from the stock Slic3r to the Prusa edition later. I feel like I am extruding too much plastic as vase mode prints with large surfaces do wobble a lot.
I know it's a common belief that you don't need to print at 100% infill for strong parts -- but when I tried it, I was blown away by how rigid my part came out -- it was noticeably more rigid than anything else I'd ever printed before (including the same part). Like night and day different. -- Also, if you're printing with clear PLA, it looks great. (Like actually decently translucent without a lot of extra work.)
Great video. One thing I would disagree with is modifying the "Extrusion Multiplier" in effort to gain strength... The multiplier is more for calibration, and should not be treated as if its a direct strength factor.
This doesn't help me. I am trying to make a flanged face and shaft extension to another flanged face. the flanges just snap on the joints at the shaft. It seems as the mesh just surface mounts the shaft to the flange face. I designed it in Fusion360 for the shaft to be extruded through the whole thickness of the flange. I have done all you say except the 25% overlap. Another model i have breaks apart just taking the supports off.
I heard that baking the piece in an oven (at around 140°C for pla) can improve the rigidity (because layers are "weld" between them) but it also change a little bit the dimensions of the print
Raising temperature will decrease strength, take a look at the plastics properties and go for the lowest temperature that will give clean results, so if 180 and 190 gives the same finish then 180 will be the best. To high temperatures will destroy the plastics bonding properties even if its not bobbling or showing other signs of failures.
Thanks for this nice video. I am looking forward to see detail video on printing with ABS with large flat objects resolving the warping issue using Prusa or clones. also covering all the setting what and what not to do using ABS. Because PLA is nice but its brutal so having ABS for more stronger parts is what I always recomend
These are really great tips. I just printed a holder for a Makita battery and broke it taking it off the table, that's WAY too weak. We'll see how strong the print is after I make a few tweaks....
What happens if you use a 3D printer inside at vacuum chamber would it affect the 3D print in anyway could it make it stronger I feel like it would suck the air out of the filament and make the filament more dense
I think changing the layer height doesn't actually change the "accuracy" as stated, however it changes the resolution. The accuracy of the printer is going to be the same as before you changed the layer height. hope this made sense.
While this video was very helpful, I would never mount a holder for my drill on the side of the work bench, especially the way you have it attached. It will be in the way and it will get knocked off constantly. Better to either attach it to a peg board, or fasten it to the wall using screws, where it is out of the way while you are working at the bench.
Lol i just noticed that although the video is about printing a rack for your drill, it is just sitting on your desk behind you the whole time! minor fail :P
An another solution can be that you print the parts separately using joints. Then glue them or use fasteners, dowels etc. Its very similar to another structural strength. Casted vs constructed items.
Increasing/changing the extrusion multiplier is usually a bad idea since it will change the size of the part slightly. That means that tight toleances might not fit.
Usefull tips. When I need extremely high resistance I print my object with 0% infill and two small holes in the position I consider to be the best then I use this holes to instill bicomponent resin. It becames as hard as a rock.
another idea is to prototype it, and then get it 3d printed in stainless from a vendor. I did this and it is now a part of a door locking mechanism that gets shitloads of abuse. Its been going for over 2 years now; being used multiple times a day, every day.
Interesting video. I am not convinced though about the layer height increase. It does not matter much how many layer interfaces there are, as a part is only as strong as it's weakest link. Also from what I have seen on 3D prints, the surface tents to get more bumpy, with sharp inside corners just at the layer interface. Sharp insides corners cause stress concentrations, that is the stress on the tip of the corner can be son the scale of 2 or 3 times higher. I do think a test would be necessary in order to determine what is correct though, as there may be other factors with coarser layers that negate this effect.
Ok cool, but how about the print speed? I figure printing on lower speed plus perhaps a bit higher temperature can cause better adhesion between layers?
Ok cool, but how about the print speed? I figure printing on lower speed plus perhaps a bit higher temperature can cause better adhesion between layers?
In my experience, in order to make proper tough functional 3d printed parts the best option is to split them up to make sure the print orientation matches the stress it's going to endure and then epoxy them together.
I'm making a headset component for repairs, but the thing is, I need alot of accuracy and detail yet I need it to be strong enough not to snap when putting it on your head
Hello Maker's Muse. Thank's for your great video! But I was a bit surprised that you did not mention the influence of cooling on adhesion, which is no small when it comes to overall strength.
I think you forgot to talk about the orientation of the layers. Depending on the application, this can make a huge difference. Example would be a long cylinder printed standing up or laying flat. But still another great video!
These are great tips but if you want something that is REALLY strong, you'll have to decontruct your design to print everything in the optimal configuration and bolt it together afterwards. Takes a bit more time and effort but uses less material and is BY FAR the strongest solution
Agreed. I print quite a few parts that have to be strong and rigid, and bolting together parts that are printed in their optimal orientation is really the only way to go i.e. optimize orientation as needed for tension, compression, sheer, torsion, etc.
This is what i ended up doing on a flanged shaft extension....mayb i will just start to go this route. I did make some 8mm - 90deg. elbows with 4mm wall thickness...they just split in half try to get supports out. is there a wall thickness ratio to prevent them from splitting?
