Advice requested - Will this print?

[glen4cindy 1]

I want to print this laptop stand but I'd like to see the opinions of experts here before I try to print.

 

I'm just starting and I don't want to waste a lot of filament if this print is bound to fail because I'm missing something.

 

I let Cura place supports automatically. Will the supports it added be enough to support that tall arch?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

I'll put my money on "probably won't print". I'd be surprised if those legs didn't fall over under their own weight.

 

Use the Support Blocker tool  to create a support blocker, then switch to the move tool, click the blocker to make sure only it's selected, then open the Per Model Settings and click the second icon (Print as support) :

Now use the move and scale tools (make sure to turn off Uniform Scaling if it's on), I'd put it about halfway along a leg (you want it to go from the bottom your mesh to the floor) and big enough to support as much of it as possible. Then just copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) one for each leg.

Edited February 11 by Slashee_the_Cow

[gr5 2,235]

Usually it should print fine - those overhangs look to be a little steeper than 45 degrees but I think it would print...

 

I don't think they'll fall over exactly as slashee says or maybe she's simplifying a bit but I'm more worried it won't stick well enough to the bed and, well, fall over.  As slashee says.

 

You are going to waste a lot of filament regardless as you learn to print.  I like to say it takes about 100 prints before you are pretty successful.  And then when you switch to another filament, such as nylon, it will take another 100 prints to master that material.

 

So my point: I think the support looks fine.  I'm just worried about how well it will stick as beginners aren't good at that detail (making it stick so well you can lift the printer with that print).

 

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

1 hour ago, gr5 said:

I don't think they'll fall over exactly as slashee says or maybe she's simplifying a bit but I'm more worried it won't stick well enough to the bed and, well, fall over.  As slashee says.

Something like that - getting on the wrong side of the weight : centre of adhesion ratio.

 

Extreme example that actually happened to me:

There's an approximately 680% chance that disc will fall over, assuming it doesn't rock back and forth so much that it goes back and forth past the print head which will then be spewing spaghetti. And Cura only generated that much support after I set the support angle to 32°. Any lower than that and it would try to support the entire friggin disc (which tells you something about how shallow the angle the disc was at):

(Estimated print time: 3 days, 14 hours, 19 minutes)

 

So I used a plugin (I think this one) and got to this:

Overhang was fine. Just needed to stop it from falling over.

(Printing time: 1 day, 12 hours)

 

[glen4cindy 1]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

I've revised this project and added some supports.

 

Maybe now there is a better chance for success?

 

 

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

2 minutes ago, glen4cindy said:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

I've revised this project and added some supports.

 

Maybe now there is a better chance for success?

 

 

It's hard to tell from a single screenshot from a single angle, but the supports you added seem a bit weedy. I'd make them wide enough to support the whole width of each "arm" they're under. And I'd move them out a little bit further (not too far) from the centre because you don't need to worry so much about the weight after you've gone past the support.

[glen4cindy 1]

On 2/10/2024 at 11:25 PM, Slashee_the_Cow said:

Something like that - getting on the wrong side of the weight : centre of adhesion ratio.

 

Extreme example that actually happened to me:

There's an approximately 680% chance that disc will fall over, assuming it doesn't rock back and forth so much that it goes back and forth past the print head which will then be spewing spaghetti. And Cura only generated that much support after I set the support angle to 32°. Any lower than that and it would try to support the entire friggin disc (which tells you something about how shallow the angle the disc was at):

(Estimated print time: 3 days, 14 hours, 19 minutes)

 

So I used a plugin (I think this one) and got to this:

Overhang was fine. Just needed to stop it from falling over.

(Printing time: 1 day, 12 hours)

 

These are wild!

 

I'm seeing there is a lot to learn.

 

It can also take awhile to see if you really learned anything.

 

With the length of time some of the printing takes it could be hours before you know for sure. I've spent so much time printing "print in place" things that are supposed to move that are all fused together.

 

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

7 minutes ago, glen4cindy said:

I've spent so much time printing "print in place" things that are supposed to move that are all fused together.

For a lot of those to work your printer has to be pretty much perfectly tuned (and make sure you follow any slicing settings specified by the creator) or you won't have an air gap where you're supposed to and bam, part fused). It's not something I've ever actually tried myself, I like to design my own things so I've printed anything which needs multiple parts separately. Unfortunately some people seem to be taking the "print in place" stuff into a contest to see who can design the most complex thing you can actually print in place.

 

But you're right, like a lot of things, when you start 3D printing you probably won't be very good at it, but almost every print (especially the failed ones) you'll learn something. I'll be honest, the giant disc, I originally tried printing one that just stood straight up and didn't need support. By the time it got about 75% through, the vibrations just from the movement of the printer made it wobble back and forth so much that it printed curled over a bit and then it was just spaghetti coming out of the print head. In retrospect, I'm surprised it made it that far.

 

Also, 15 Slashee points to whoever can correctly guess what I made what was literally the biggest disc I could fit in my build volume (275mm diameter in a 220x220x250 volume) for.

[jaysenodell 18]

12 hours ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

Also, 15 Slashee points to whoever can correctly guess what I made what was literally the biggest disc I could fit in my build volume (275mm diameter in a 220x220x250 volume) for.

Has to be a milk bowl. but is seems more like a disc golf thing.