Monthly Print Challenge (MPC) July

[DidierKlein 729]

Maybe upload them to youtube (juste copy paste the link in the forum post and it will appear

I gave it a try but failed, i couldn't find a way to generate proper supports with meshmixer so i tried with lines support automatically from Cura:

 

Printed in Colorfabb XT. After cleaning all the supports it was horrible i didn't bother taking a pic, and my beloved wife proposed to clean the supports but she cut parts of the model so it's even worse :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

I managed after to generate some support that looks good on screen, need to print it to see how that goes

 

I hate supports :mad: :mad: :mrgreen:

 

[onkelgeorg 36]

Yes this bracelet is a tiny little b%tch :mrgreen:

I have managed the support in Meshmixer and it works fine, but the entire surface of the bracelet is... not good.

still more than 3 weeks to go, may be we will find a proper solution in the end

 

[tmrevlje 1]

Silly question and definitely a level 10 thing for me at the moment, since it's only my 2nd day of 3D printing, but how do you guys "define" what type of support the printer makes for the model. I mean seeing different versions in this thread I see there's different support types used.

How or where do you define that?

Thanks! Hope to see more of your results on this object, it's super sexy 3D model though, would love to be able to suprise my lady with a proper job on this bracelet.

 

[Blizz 53]

@AaronAlai: Where did you buy that clamp and what is it called (with which you are tearing away the support in your second video)? It seems like something very handy and helpful. Awesome stuff btw!

 

[mnis 11]

@ TMrevlje

Support material is almost always necessary when the printer nozzle must build bridges. Although large overhangs are very present with a steep angle in the object in relation to the ground surface, support material is required. Smaller overhangs low-angle, and short bridges, are usually not a problem and do not require support material.

- Some integrate support material in their own 3D objects.

- Some edit downloaded 3D objects later.

- Cura offers two variants of support material to choose from: "Touching build plate & Everywhere" ;From what angle support material is to be produced, can be determined in the expert settings, it mainly determined the total amount of support material.

Whether objects require support material, is not always clear, moreover, other factors are important, such as the material quality. It often takes a lot of experimentation, to the best possible settings are found.

Markus

 

[tmrevlje 1]

@ mnis, thanks for explaining stuff so clearly. I remember someone mentioning Meshmixer for support creation? I could be way off, but this stuck in my mind.

The attempt doesn't look bad at all, what settings did you use if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks!

 

[mnis 11]

It's not super secret, but until the end of the Challenge everyone should better keep quiet, I think. :lol:

Oops, I had betrayed a little in a previous post. :unsure:

Thank you for the compliment. When I answer, then I do my best, otherwise I am silent. But my answers are not always easy to understand, and of course I make mistakes.

Markus

 

[anon4321 16]

@ mnis, thanks for explaining stuff so clearly. I remember someone mentioning Meshmixer for support creation? I could be way off, but this stuck in my mind.

The attempt doesn't look bad at all, what settings did you use if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks!

 

@TMrevlje

Ha! I'll let you in on the MeshMixer secret. It is a free program from AutoDesk. You can do a number of things with mesh (which I believe are the triangulated surfaces that form 3D objects). One of which is adding a unique form of support that in some cases uses less material and can leave better surfaces after removal). See the videos and download here: http://www.meshmixer.com/

 

[mnis 11]

For this I would have anyway can not contribute anything, because I knew MeshMixer not yet, and so far I had no need for such software.

Thanks anon4321

Markus

 

[tmrevlje 1]

Oops, don't want to put you in this type of position Markus, will be more careful in the future or ask in a different way or different topic

Thanks anon, will have a look at those videos. So it can be used for 3D printing, you make a model add support and export as STL and it should carry all the necessary information. Cool

 

[cez_etc 0]

Any new entries? ONLY ONE DAY LEFT!

My strategy was to print with a filament that is sanded easily to hide the ugly surfaces left by support structures but unfortunately my orders didn't arrive in time. Well, maybe I should try something else.

 

[Titus 170]

Oh boy, I totally forgot. I spend all my time test printing stuff!

Will print it tomorrow! I actually really feel like printing without supports Not sure what will happen though.

@Aaron, when will we start voting for a a)winner, b)new month, c)new posts

 

[aaronalai 2]

Hey guys, I want to apologize for my extended absence. The week after we started the challenge I found out that I was going to have to move due to circumstances out of my control. I had only lived in that house for ~1 year, and to be honest I was stressing over everything after I found out moving was imminent. Some things people find very stressful in their lives I can handle with ease, but there are things that I obsess over and this is one of them. I do not like moving. To make matters worse I was put in a very tight financial situation that almost resulted in me being penniless. The two situations hit me at the same time and I wasn't taking it well, I haven't even printed anything for the last two weeks!

I moved into my new place on the 25th, just got my internet hooked up today, and things are finally starting to settle down. I know I helped spearhead this topic and feel like a jerk for letting everyone down, I will be setting up the topic again for next month still; although I will understand if there is hesitance in participating as I definitely botched the first month's attempt. I doubt this next month can be as bad as the weeks of stress I put myself through recently, so expect to see more participation from myself.

I actually have several bracelets printed out and none of them turned out very great looking, I think mnis's bracelet looks the best so far but will hold off on voting until tomorrow.

Titus with respect to your questions, voting can take place at any time and this Friday a winner will be declared. So far there are no votes for the new print, the dragon print looks pretty interesting, there is also the Preassembled Secret Heart Box on the table for a vote as well. Also, any vote suggestions can still be submitted if something strikes your fancy.

Print Vote: A Better Dragon

If the Dragon gets voted on as the new print for next month I think either file (baked in supports or no baked in supports) should be printable as long as people identify which dragon they are printing.

One more also, even though the bracelet was a difficult challenge I still support people printing it and posting progress in the new topic or even this topic. I know after my last bracelet attempt I came up with better printing strategies that I wanted to try out.

@Blizz, the tool I was using in the video was called a Hemostat also called a Kelly Clamp; I purchased both a curved and straight version from SparkFun here:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8555

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/71

They are definitely worth the couple of dollars, as the geometry of the tool lends itself to removing support structure in tight places easily.

 

[cez_etc 0]

Oh Aaron, I'm glad you're feeling better! Don't feel bad about not posting here, the important thing is that you got your terrible situation sorted out!

I think it's best to both set a new print challenge for August (so the monthly rhythm is kept) and keep this challenge open a little bit longer for voting because I don't really that many votes so far. Also, I'd love to hear people's strategies, especially the one mnis used!

My last attempt is printing right now, I'll definitely post later today.

My vote for August:

Print Vote: A Better Dragon (I've never done such a long print, excited to try!)

 

[Titus 170]

I'm afraid that I didn't managed to print one. I tried one but it didn't stick to the build plate and got ruined :(

As it turns out, it was too complicated for me :( I'm still tweaking the printer

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Good to have you back Aaron!

I am sorry to hear about your situation but it shows character that you got out off the mess and are back up on your feet.

I am going to participate in this month's challenge too so it is going to be a race!!

What dragon are we going to print?

 

[cez_etc 0]

I'm afraid that I didn't managed to print one. I tried one but it didn't stick to the build plate and got ruined :(

As it turns out, it was too complicated for me :( I'm still tweaking the printer

 

Yeah, making it stick to the build plate is much harder than printing these overhangs. Just adding brim in Cura isn't enough, you need some kind of support structure. I found a great setting for the overhangs (and I hope I get around writing that up over the weekend) but I'm still unhappy with my support structures.

 

[Titus 170]

@SandervG, you can suggest any model for next month, the current models that were suggested(winner is decided by a vote) are:

 

MPC PRINT LIST:

A Better Dragon, by illuminarti: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:218026

(0 Votes)

Bracelet - Voronoi Style, by roman_hegglin: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:192211 Printed in July; 4 votes.

 

Preassembled Secret Heart Box, by emmett: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:44579

(0 Votes)

 

 

[aaronalai 2]

Hey guys thanks, I'm excited to start printing again! Well, so far we have Better Dragon by illuminarti with or without baked in support in the lead, but I'll wait until tomorrow morning https://www.google.com/search?q=eastern+us+time&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS503US503&oq=eastern+us+time&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2019j0j1&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8 to update the official print.

I'll start the new topic and leave this one to be populated as long as needed. Just remember to continue following this topic and we'll be able to keep tabs on what's going on.

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/6769-monthly-print-challenge-mpc-august/

 

[cez_etc 0]

Here's my last attempt before I ran out of material :sad: I hoped my order would arrive before the end of the month but it didn't (to be honest, I only ordered it a few days ago.)

I used BioFila Linen which is easy to sand and prints very smoothly. Because the material is softer than PLA I used the standard retraction settings in Cura 14.07. I found using more aggressive retraction settings only leads to grinding.

The biggest challenge was to get the material to stick to the build plate. I had very much underestimated this problem and instead spent the month trying to figure out the best bridging settings. To get this very uneven bracelet to stick to the build plate, I tried Brim (not enough), Cura supports (ugly bottom surface) and several types of Meshmixer support. I should have spent more time with this and I'm not satisfied with the results.

I made several attempts with other materials and still want to try a few more things but I haven't had the time yet and I wanted to post this before the of the month (technically, it's already August in my timezone).

Yeah, and then I forgot to check the bed leveling, causing the first layer not to stick and this happened:

 

The orientation of the print was optimized by Meshmixer.

 

However, the print finished and after the minimal sanding it didn't look half bad:

More sanding would definitely improve the overall look but I'm too tired for this tonight and I believe that I can get a better print with different settings anyway.

 

But if you look closer and see both the broken bit and support structure I couldn't get off:

I printed with 30mm/s and 190°C (accidently, I wanted 180°C but put in the wrong temperature) but I believe that 20mm/s and a lower temperature improves the quality greatly but I didn't have the time and patience for that.

 

[SandervG 1,521]

@SandervG, you can suggest any model for next month, the current models that were suggested(winner is decided by a vote) are:

 

Ok, what about.. this one?

or are those to big?

 

[Blizz 53]

I tried the recreus sandals... The soles started out really nice but once it had to start on the overhangs to get stuff connected everything went to sh*t really quickly

Looks like those shoes are better, overhang wise, but I'll have to buy a new color then. I only have purple filaflex atm

 

[SandervG 1,521]

haha I have black, white and transparant Ninjaflex. I printed the sandals.

I just removed some support and some stringing, but no post processing besides that.. as you can tell

I am rather satisfied about the result because I am still always excited about the material and that it works

But it goes without telling that it needs some more tweaking on the profile part because there are too many blobs and to much stringing. Also, at some parts on the front at the toes you can see some under extrusion..

Disabling retraction would probably cure that, but that would make the stringing even worse. I think it would become closed sandals then

I guess I will wait for any votes then. In any case looking forward to what we will be printing!

 

[Blizz 53]

I tried printing them without support

Not a good idea, flexible filament + overhang - support

 

[aaronalai 2]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the interesting print ideas and submissions! With the influx of print suggestions I got last night, I think it fair to wait until ya'll have gotten a chance to look them over. I'll post the Current Challenge tonight at https://www.google.com/search?q=eastern+time&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS503US503&oq=eastern+time&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1656j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=Time%20in%20virginia, for a list of all the potential August prints check out the http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/6769-monthly-print-challenge-mpc-august/?p=62860

I wanted to print out shoes as well, but with a US size 14 my bare foot barely fits on the build plate diagonally oriented :-|.