I am putting an exhaust fan in my basement window to exhaust the 3D printing fumes. Instead of a box with a separate lid, I wanted to print something where I print a bottom layer a few mm thick (any suggestions on thickness?), then print walls that raise a few inches. Then I would want the print to pause and I would insert a piece of insulating foam in the cavity. Then the print would be restarted and print a layer enclosing the foam within it.
Is something like this possible? And could I program the print job to pause at the right time, or would I have to manually pause it?
Has anybody done printing like this where you encorporate a non 3D printed object at some point during the print?
One more related question. Could an object be put on the bed at the beginning before the printing starts, or would the printer not allow the print to start?
You can but a layer won’t work too well printing over foam and you may not be able to get it out again if you need to change it. I would just print a box and put the foam in it. Then print a lid separately to go on top.
After slice, on the preview page, right side of screen theres a slider. Set it at the height that you want to make the pause, right click slider position dot, select pause at height or whatever bambu calls it. Works great for inserting nuts into prints aswell. A good way of maximising the effect of a filter too. Your last paragraph doesnt work though. The print head would hit whatever you had sitting on the bed at start of print.
Just print a few spares. Pretty much filter cartridges
When you insert a nut into a print, do you cover most of the nut with plastic and just leave the hole visible?
Do you have any examples to show? And do you keep the nut heated before inserting it so it is the same temperature as the print bed, or just use it at room temperature?
Have you ever tried making stronger parts by inserting a metal plate within the plastic and fully enclosing the metal plate?
You can either have it print around the nut “hole” or completely cover one side of the nut for a hidden fastener. After dropping the nut in, wait until it naturally warms up to the print temp and then hit start.
Ive never tried printing plates or bars into the print, but thats a good idea for things like wheelchair parts. You could embed solid carbon fiber pieces into Tpu for padded components. May just have to spray the carbon fiber with tacky paint or even hairspray for that first layer on top of it.
If I decide I want it enclosed instead of having a separate lid, I think I will print a piece of plastic that will fit within the walls and place it over the foam, and then print the enclosed lid over that.
On a large, window-sized, scale you may have trouble sizing the foam precisely enough to use as a support. Too short and you are relying on bridging across the width of the box. Too tall and the nozzle will hit the foam. Try it, but it may be easier to get a good surface finish with a single separate lid, glued to be airtight.
Based on the width of the fan, the space I need to fill with the plastic and foam is 11.25" x 5.5". So I guess I will need to print it in two pieces because it is too large for the X1C, so I have to go the glueing route.
