Can You 3D PRINT Shoes for Free?! 

To me, the potential of 3d printed shoes is in making custom fittings based on 3d scans of your feet

You need to use cubic or gyroid infill rather than the square infill. That will help the stability of the actual shoe. I would recommend gyroid as it would retain the flexibility while also being more stable.

I print a lot of TPU for my online business. All of our products are TPU. TPU has very different physical characteristics depending on how it's printed. For soles, I'd print 4 mm on the bottom, 4 perimeter layers, 25% infill and 3 mm for the insole. For the uppers I'd print 2 outer layers (.9 mm) and 10-25% infill. You don't need expensive and difficult to print low durometer TPU for most flexible parts. Use 95A TPU and reduce the outer layers to get the flexibility you need. The only caveat would be enough layers for durability without being too stiff.

Man Dave absolutely killed it with his design. You should get into contact with him for a custom Seth Fowler 3D shoe.

Some time ago I was also playing around with pretty much the same shoe files and one thing to keep in mind is the settings for printing the soles. I would recommend setting multiple solid bottom layers, depends to the nozzle and layer size used this would differ but it is good idea to have at least 2mm solid layes at the bottom, better 3-4mm, then middle of the sole can be with least infill and the top part of the sole with a little more. The idea is to have a good bottom which can handle the abuse and prevent getting pierced by glass, nails or whatever on the ground, soft middle that will make it springy and comfy and then be a bit more rigid at the top so that the foot won't just sink in too much. I got best results using honeycomb for the infill, 3mm solid bottom with 20% infill in the middle and then 40% at the top.

good video as always. Next time print with 30-50% infill so the insole doesn't just collapse due to being empty. Enjoyable watch.

I'm so glad you're still doing this! I'd love to see you work on the design for an actually good, nice looking 3d printed shoe.

Would love to see a sole cushion comfort design contests 4x a vid one vid a week, this would really start to push 3d printed shoes into a more realistic idea going forward as well.

Seems like this is maybe not very realistic for sneakers, but for slides or house slippers I can see 3D printing having a lot of potential…

you need more infill for the bottoms of the shoes to stop them from collapsing, also your creality printer could use a direct drive upgrade to print flexible filaments better

As you further explore 3D printed shoes you should look into variable infill, for a shoe sole you want different parts to have different amounts of flex and support, which can be done by varying the density of the infill in specific areas!

So glad that you are getting into 3D printing!

you should put some (flex seal) on the bottom for wear and tear.

I made a ‘real’ pair in high school I Wear them everywhere including cross country practice, they are also waterproof Used fusion 360 forms function Sole infill was lines or cube at 13% for 130lbs TPU Took a month start to finish 4 days to print but that can be reduced to 2 days

I would love if you expanded on this and made some awesome, innovative shoes in the future! I'm a fan of 3d printing and I really like the idea of making your own shoes nobody has.

You earned my subscription because of this! So much effort for one single video! Love it!

love these projects! 👏😎

I made 3d printed shoes for my final year project at uni! Managed to get sole feeling like a normal shoe!

Cool man! Saw your first shoe vid and left a comment looking for ver 2.0 this is a neat segway but I’d still like to see your second version design!

you should re-print the two-tone Recreus shoe with a much higher percentage gyroid infill for better cushiony support. I think Cura lets you adjust infill percentage based on how high up in the print you are? Alternately, maybe cut a small hole in the sole and see if you can fill it with some kind of squishy urethane foam

You should use a higher infill and more outer layers. Also, maybe go to as high of a temperature as you can print well at to improve layer adhesion. Just some ideas :)

I think PrusaSlicer supports different infill densities by height so you can make the sole more dense.

This should be your new series, contacting other 3D print designers and creating something like those Adidas with the printed midsole

2 questions: 1 - what if u cut the back off of the gyroid and turned it into a slipper design? and 2 - is it possible to switch filament type mid design so that the sole is firmer and the upper is ninja and more flex/comfortable?

You should try making snap on faceplates that go over current shoes. I think that would be cool to have a bunch of different designs, but you only need one comfy pair of shoes that you snap the design onto.

Cool! Thanks for trying these and sharing your results! They are very interesting!

For the stringing maybe increase the retraction in your slicer

Hey Seth, For the Gyroid Shoe, maybe you can try to use NinjaFlex in the ankle opening and the filament that came with the Prusa printer so that it will stretch for your foot to fit into the shoe. Or, you can add laces in whatever 3D editor that you use.

Great project! 🙌 Gotta love Dave's gyroid shoe

Part of the stringing issues you had with the Creality come from that machine being a bowden setup. If you were to swap out the extruder system for a direct drive, you'd get way less.

Hey Seth! Love the videos, but we miss the "If I Designed" series! It would be cool to see how you'd design an Off-White Jordan 13!

Are we just not going to talk about 5:11 in this vid? 🤣

If you use the flexible 3d filament its way easier to wear

Keep up the good content, Seth! Nice Video

Man said $150 bucks showed $189 lmao

Why dont you try printing the different parts separately and glue them later? like the midsole, the insole, and the bottom part and all that

You should try using the upper from a normal shoe and try 3D printing the midsole

Hey Seth where is that shelf in the background from? the wooden one with iron features you use for your sneakers :D

Some of the detection features on the Prusa don't always work as intended. For your fan error you may need to turn off fan detection. Those of us who use an aftermarket fan end up having to turn it off. As for the stringing on the new printer...Bowden tube printers need much longer retractions than direct drive printers so that may be the issue. Also since the filament is pushed through a flexible tube that introduces a degree of inaccuracy that can make tuning in settings more difficult. For most normal PLA prints you won't notice this but for the thin wall printing I do with RC airplanes it makes them pretty difficult. This is probably the case for your shoes too because you are pushing a flexible filament through the Bowden tube.

Seth Fowler, you are CRAZY! (in a good way)

Try putting spray foam in the sole of the Requius 2.

You can stretch the sides on Plaza slicer that makes it easier to put it on

The flip flop would be a nice addition to the yeezy line up, the yeezy flip 250 .

The 3D printing material isn't free. If I remember correctly, it's actually quite expensive.

Notification gang Btw this was a great idea but these shoes do look painfull great job seth

Such a cool Idea!

They really need a multi-part design. The world doesn't end if a part fails, and you can make the sole more rigid than the walls.

You may need to change the infill in the sole to be more dense. Every shoe you've printed has not had a dense enough sole. That makes them unable to support your weight.

You need direct drive for the flexible filament to work properly. I highly recommend the Anycubic Kobra, around $300, direct drive and auto bed leveling can't beat it

Those black ones are super nice

Higher infill on the heel of the high top would make it useable

The filaflex joints look ready for the court! Ball you up in my Filaflex’s

You should do gel filling inside base of shoes. That would solve half of issues

What kind of filament did you use?

I love those blue 3d shoes idky

The pair that didnt fit was a pair id buy with a few design improvements like an insole and tread for the bottom

5:10 - "I''m not seen.." (silence as you see something of interest)... "...really much at all"

Hey Seth, what printer do you use?

You could try making a adidas 4d style series, where you can take different shoes e.g. af1, 990s and attempt to make them have a 3d printed sole. Dont know how it would work but would be interesting

Those are some cool socks!

I got a Creality CR-10 V2 and for 2 years now I have never ever had a failed print even with filaflex or PC. I put my printer in a closet for heat control and use blue tape on printbed.

How much did it cost you like in terms of input

Can you do a 3d print of mules or clogs? I think it will give you the same feeling as shoes but a lot easier to put on when 3d printed.

I love your vids 😊😊

To anyone that does 3D print, the main thing that people don't talk about is the air that melting the filament produces. There have been multiple studies that link them to cause cancer. Please be safe and print in a well ventilated area!!

Woohoo v2 is out

grate vid deserves more likes.

YEA MAN DELIVERED PART 2 WE BETTER GET A 3

What software do you use?

You should have cut a slit in the gyroid shoe where the opening is so you could get your foot in. Plus maybe dress socks would have worked better, those thick socks are a hindrance when trying new shoes to see if they fit. Other then that, awesome video and prints! It would be nice to see a follow up video on the before and after adjustments and durability of the shoes/sandal.

@Seth Fowler check out NIKE X ACRONYM BLAZER LOW 3D print model

Aha materials and time that goes in makes it not technically free but super cool way to self express design styles

interesting. saw printed adidas soles by carbon just today. they look nice! they can print it in 30 minutes. (adam savage video)

You make the shoes comfier by adding soles

I think you should do a lot of these but mate them to a rubber sole and put in an insole. great video though!

what printer did you get

Make a concept video on Yzy x Balenci shoes!!

How long do the 3D printed shoe last for

print your first shoe with the soft flexi material

Can you modify the files to fit your needs? e.g. thicker soles, bottom sole grip grooves, etc.?

how you take the measurements?

Theoretically you could do a scan with a xbox kinect and copy your favorite shoe

i would rly like 2 see that recreus croc in the ninja flex material

What material did he use to print this with? Because if its PLA I can't really fathom how it'd be comfortable since PLA would be hard asf. You'd want a more rubbery material.

Please get to look Zellerfeld 3D printed shoes and make a review on them! Best company in the market for suree

Modify the sanders to have octopus 🐙 tentacles suction cups in the bottom lol 😅

Do more designs and print them

And the highs are mental looking

For free? So i presume everyone has a 3D printer at home just chilling 💯

After you perfect your spray on shoes. Can we expect a FLDSMDFR food weather machine.

Don't forget your sponsor disclaimer when running adds!

3d printed chicago 1s!!

I've been coming up with a new gym shoes, workout sneakers. Going to try this technique. Maybe sell one or a million....

Damn got oregon 8s in tje back ground how much that cost damn

3D printed soles with the rest of it being sewn together may be more realistic.

i think that you should try the giroid one with two different types of flex material, one for the sole (it looked like that filament supported your weight better) and ninja flex for the body part, that would give you the stretch to insert your feet.

what you should do is 3d print a shoe where you can transplant some boosts sole onto it

The Gyroid shoe should have been done in the Ninja filament

I do still think this is the future, we are in the time of computers filling a room in comparison to 3d printing in 10-20 years it will be amazing what we will be able to print

I 3D printed a soccer cleat and a mid top size shoe