Massive prints (More than a kilo)

[LordVictor 0]

Hey there, I recently got access to an Ultimaker 3 Extended and thought to myself, with such a large print capacity, this would give new possibilities... BUT! It seems useless, if I'm being honest, but I hope someone can help:

I'm working on a print, which is so far looking like it might end up using the better part of 1.5-2kg's of fillament and take well over a week to print. Does this even stand a chance of being possible? Considering a) the size of a roll is normally 0.8-1kg, and b) the rate of potential print-errors on a small thing, would lead me to expect this to have no hope of even printing a fourth of the model...

Hope you have some insight, cheers!

[gr5 2,167]

Did you set infill to 100%, and if so why? 20% is usually very strong. I guess it would help to show the model. I have never printed > 30 hours but many people here have printed 4 day prints and longer. I don't recommend printing something that big the first 100 prints as there is a lot to learn about using the printer. A lot of things can go wrong and that would such a waste. Better to do 100 prints that take less than an hour to slowly become an expert.

Also consider breaking the print up (can you show a photo of it?) into multiple parts.

You can change filament part way through a print. But you should practice that. I haven't tried it but I think you go to TUNE and then PAUSE PRINT and then while it's paused I think there is an option to change material or you can just pull it out and put in a new one and prime it.

[LordVictor 0]

Did you set infill to 100%, and if so why?  20% is usually very strong.  I guess it would help to show the model.  I have never printed > 30 hours but many people here have printed 4 day prints and longer.  I don't recommend printing something that big the first 100 prints as there is a lot to learn about using the printer.  A lot of things can go wrong and that would such a waste.  Better to do 100 prints that take less than an hour to slowly become an expert.

Also consider breaking the print up (can you show a photo of it?) into multiple parts.

You can change filament part way through a print.  But you should practice that.  I haven't tried it but I think you go to TUNE and then PAUSE PRINT and then while it's paused I think there is an option to change material or you can just pull it out and put in a new one and prime it.

 

What I'm printing is essentially a speaker cabinet, and it is not really possible to split it up - at least that would be a bad idea. The infill was initially set to 100% as that would by far be the best for the acoustics of the speaker, but even at 10% it still takes 6 days vs. 8 days, but the amount of material is reduced to about 0.6kg of ABS. As far as making small prints first, whilst I ideally agree, that is somewhat pointless and impossible here, since what I need for this order is the size it is, and I have nothing particularly smaller I'm in need of printing - though I have experimented some. Enought to know that the failure-rate on these fillament based printers is worryingly high relative to resinbased ones, simply due to things like the fillament not extending properly due to snags/knots on the rolls etc.

I suppose an option on the Ultimaker 3 would be to use both printheads, thus allowing for two rolls of fillament - thought that does also limit the print size slightly, which could be a problem

But go big or go home I guess...

[ImogenB 3]

You can get extra large reels of 3kg from some companies if that helps? I'm sure i'v seen them for sale on 3Dfilaprint. ( dont know if they would ship to Denmark tho.)

[gr5 2,167]

colorfabb sells 2.2kg spools. I put them on the floor. It's really not that hard to pause a print and change filament - just practice once.

It took me at least 20 prints in ABS (after 1000 in PLA) to get prints that weren't totally useless. ABS is a whole other level harder than PLA. You really need to enclose the printer to bring air temp up to 35C minimum (or a bit hotter). And you need the bed at 110C and I can't get mine that hot without enclosing the whole printer.

You need to squish really well into the glass, you might need a few days of messing with the glass to get it really really flat in the corners - if you don't do that one of the rear corners will lift.

You need to get temperature PERFECT. ABS has a very narrow print range. 5C too hot and it clogs the nozzle and print fails (you can recover a failed print if you keep the bed hot while you repair things). 5C too cold and the part looks just fine until you drop it 1 inch and it cracks because layer bonding sucks. Too much fan and layer bonding sucks. Not enough fan and it doesn't bridge well and overhangs suck.

Basically things are hard enough with PLA but printing a full size print with ABS I would say 98% chance your print will fail within the first 4 tries.

PLA is so much easier - you always want 100% fan. There is a 40 degree temperature window. It sticks better and warps less. It's still tricky to get the bottom layer squished nicely so it sticks to the glass well.

[gr5 2,167]

Here's another thing - in Cura - with ABS profiles, it lowers the fan to about 50%. That's great for UMO and UM2 but for my UM3 that is the exact same fan speed as 100%. My fan speed doesn't start dropping until around 10%. so for ABS on UM3 you need about 3% fan. On a UM2, 3% fan won't even rotate. There's just lots of details like this.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I have done massive prints that filled the print volume. I mean it drops less than a few mm when finished.

I have also changed spools in mid print as suggested by gr5 with no issues. And, then you can buy the larger reels as suggested.

I have also done prints that average 5-9 days with no issues provided I account for a few things like humidity, etc due to various filaments. But, I do not print with ABS at all. I get much better results with PC and a few other materials if I need to go for superstrength. But when dialed in, the UM3 can do these things with no issues.

But, I do not feeds me printer spinachk.....

[JohnFox 25]

ABS is a real sod to print. Warping and delamination are a nightmare. Couldn't you use a 3D printed shell filled with resin?

On my project, ABS was the perfect material but the problems in printing with it forced me to use PLA instead and I never regretted it. Failure rate dropped from 75% to 0%

 

 

Did you set infill to 100%, and if so why?  20% is usually very strong.  I guess it would help to show the model.  I have never printed > 30 hours but many people here have printed 4 day prints and longer.  I don't recommend printing something that big the first 100 prints as there is a lot to learn about using the printer.  A lot of things can go wrong and that would such a waste.  Better to do 100 prints that take less than an hour to slowly become an expert.

Also consider breaking the print up (can you show a photo of it?) into multiple parts.

You can change filament part way through a print.  But you should practice that.  I haven't tried it but I think you go to TUNE and then PAUSE PRINT and then while it's paused I think there is an option to change material or you can just pull it out and put in a new one and prime it.

 

What I'm printing is essentially a speaker cabinet, and it is not really possible to split it up - at least that would be a bad idea. The infill was initially set to 100% as that would by far be the best for the acoustics of the speaker, but even at 10% it still takes 6 days vs. 8 days, but the amount of material is reduced to about 0.6kg of ABS. As far as making small prints first, whilst I ideally agree, that is somewhat pointless and impossible here, since what I need for this order is the size it is, and I have nothing particularly smaller I'm in need of printing - though I have experimented some. Enought to know that the failure-rate on these fillament based printers is worryingly high relative to resinbased ones, simply due to things like the fillament not extending properly due to snags/knots on the rolls etc.

I suppose an option on the Ultimaker 3 would be to use both printheads, thus allowing for two rolls of fillament - thought that does also limit the print size slightly, which could be a problem

But go big or go home I guess...

 

[geert_2 557]

As JohnFox already mentioned above, my first idea also was: print only a shell, and fill that with resin? Polyurethane or so? There do exist lots of PU-variations: from hard and brittle, to soft and flexible. Be sure to use a resin that cures slowly, with low shrink, and that does not get too hot, otherwise the shell might melt, or the whole thing might catch fire and/or explode.

Or print the shell with very light infill, just enough to make it stable. Post process it (sanding and smoothing), make a silicone mould, including a hard shell around the silicone for stability, and fill that silicone mould with resin. Be sure to spray the silicone with release spray: this gives a much longer mould life. If you need to have more than one copy, casting could be the fastest option. You can reuse the mould, or you can even cast multiple moulds from the same 3D-printed part.

On Youtube you can find lots of good videos on silicone mould making and casting.

[chrisw 70]

First thing I would do is insert a.8 mm nozzle and change layer height to .35 mm.

That will improve both print speed and IMO your chances of success greatly. Also fewer layers can strengthen the part in many cases.

There may be more post processing required if you want a smooth exterior, but we're talking maybe an hour extra, whereas you'd be saving days worth of print time.

After I started buying 1kg spools I never went back to anything smaller because I got tired of collecting spool cores with unused ends. 1kg+ spools should help you complete large builds with minimal filament changes required.

Good luck on your speaker housings!

[cjs 34]

Just an idea.

What about printing your speaker housing with a relative low infill percentage and later on filling it with sand or something else to fill the gaps instead of printing it at 100% infill.