3D printing smooth recessed areas 

For the insert, you could try the aluminum plate and put some blue painters tape on top. That used to be how you'd get a lot of filaments to stick before as it provides a slight-textured surface and can be peeled off after.

I found that using aluminium or steel inserts with PLA that glue stick is the best thing to use, letting the insert heat up a little before printing also helps. PETG however is the perfect support material for PLA and you can print the insert to ensure it is the perfect size for your final part.

Reusable! I love it. All this time I have been using a very wasteful multi-filament changer (purge waste) and trashing the PETG part every time! Duh. Thanks!

Fantastic video! Ha ha .... you're definitely not the only one experimenting with this! There is a second Dutch guy working this! My approach is a little different bij printing the border on the box rather than the faceplate. Still work in progress but already some nice results. Keep up the experimenting 🙂

Cool idea… thanks for sharing 🙏

if you use petg to support pla or pla to support petg, it will separate quite easy

I think your attempt using that metal piece might still work with some preparations. When I use the stop at layer height to insert magnets into my prints, I do a few things first: 1) use gluestick on the magnet's side that will be printed on 2) put the magnet on the heated plate before they're needed (to heat them up a bit) and 3) slow the printer down on that first layer. I've had decent success using these preparations. Your idea to use PETG with PLA is really good for doing that recessed printing. I think that's probably the best way since the PETG has good texture to temporarily bond to. For anyone unaware, PETG does not bond well to PLA and vice versa so you can use either to support the other.

While everyone thinks the aluminum plate method can still work with some 'prep' like painters tape on top - the question then becomes, how reusable will it be? a tear in the tape means replacement, and the aluminum is going to be a heat sink for the incoming plastic. The PETG system seems like it is working well, and won't need as much effort to replace tape all the time. So sure, you could use some glue stick and warm the aluminum up before inserting and printing on top - and even changing the print speed at those first 2-3 layers on top of the aluminum plate, to treat it like a second bed.... but that seems like more hassle than just a PETG insert. Which for those that don't know, PETG doesn't really like to stick to anything but itself, so PLA is pretty much always gonna pop right off. PETG will absorb less heat than aluminum as well, allowing for less finnicky needs to texture or slow down to ensure the layer is going down smooth. And best of all, if a PETG plate does get ruined somehow... it's easy to just print another. (unlike a bent or marred aluminum plate)

I have some experience putting metal parts into 3d prints, and a little gluestick on the top surface of your aluminum will help immensely with adhesion. EDIT: Wrote this before watching the whole video and yeah, PETG works a lot better. But if you ever need to insert a metal part. Glue stick is what got me the best results

after that buildup, it's very disappointing to not see comments about the music 😎. great technique!

Hi, whizz bizz. Try the following, I did it in the past and it works like magic. Design your part as two separate prints. Print the plate first. Stop the print at the correct point and drop in the plate. Let the print finish. Now it looks like you printed the plate in mid air.

Nice video. I’ll try to remember these techniques for when I need them. Just a thought … Spray mount glue for your printed front plates might be easier to apply than the manually applied glue you use.

bravo!!

👍👍😎👍👍

Since you’re printing a lot of them, consider creating a stack of 10 connected in maybe 6 places that you can easily clip from the sides and short enough that your printer can easily bridge. Then print the whole set on a side.