I’ve been printing sample boards to find the tradeoff I’m looking for regarding strength and filament usage.
For small bins I planned on printing I’ve settled on 2mm with only 2 layers for top/bottom and 15% infill with 1 fill multiline.
Except naively I didn’t realize these setting only work on the top and bottom. I can’t see how to apply these settings for walls.
Is this possible or does it not work that way considering the way the material is printed layer by layer? Please correct me if I’m explaining this incorrectly.
Walls are strength, they are also quality. Too few walls can mean seeing the infill pattern through translucency of the material chosen (lighter colours), it can also mean the physical infill deforms the walls if too thin as there isn’t sufficient material to cover the infill pattern.
Start with 2 walls if you do not need strength.
3 or 4 if you do.
Depending on the thickness of the sides of your model, increasing walls may remove space for infill. This is neither good nor bad, just your choice.
Keep in mind the sides of your model need to be structurally sound or your model doesn’t serve its purpose.
Saving filament is good, wasting it by being cautious is less so.
Thanks for your reply!
In fact I started this experiment because I was trying to find a way to have a pattern in place of solid walls/top/bottom.
In another thread I asked if there was an easy way to apply a cross pattern on all walls. There are great models available but scaling them was problematic. I was told to try turning the walls to zero and it should simply print the infill pattern— which in this case was Rectilinear.
This worked perfect when testing by printing a wall flat on the bed.
Does altering the “wall” strength like you explain apply this to walls? If I put “0” wall loops?
Rectilinear would cause floating cantilevers, no?
In the end I found a 2 layers for top/bottom were better anyhow. Do wall loops take into account infill?
Walls are the left, right, front and back surfaces.
Shells are the top and bottom.
CAD is the software used to design model.
Slicer is the software that converts models into printable information.
Turning off walls will unlikely provide the outcome you want. This is something you should be creating yourself in CAD software and not a slicer.
The fact that the surfaces appear with only the infill pattern is happenstance, a benefit because it doesn’t affect the model itself. Down well, this can be very useful.
But, you must understand, the slicer is nit there to model for you. That is the role of CAD software. The slicer parameters are there to make printing your model more successfully.
Adding patterns to walls should be performed in CAD software. You have the control there to achieve your goal. Attempting to do this in a slicer will not give your the ideal result.
Thanks, yes, I understand what you’re saying. I am limited in TinkerCad in ability at this point. My original question regarding making these patterns was asking which software I should learn to easily be able to do this. I know it’s possible in TinkerCad but creating a mesh of holes to ‘punch’ into walls, etc.
I was told I should simply try removing the walls in the slicer to leave only the infill. Yes, they said walls. When experimenting I translated it to top/bottom shells and got the results I wanted. But now realizing it appears problematic for the walls because of the reasons I mentioned.
Apologies if my terms are confusing, I do think I’ve tried to use them correctly. Maybe you can see my confusion due to my original thread.
Thank you for your insight. I’m obviously still learning but very eager!
I hadn’t done any 3D modelling before 2024, since then I have shared over 850 models on MakerWorld, I have another 30 ish due to be shared when I am well enough. I have ideas for far more, my current projects involve CyberBrick kits and far more. From coasters and keychains, through to fidget toys and working my way through electronics.
In two years. If this idiot can do it, so can you.
Two tips as you move forward.
Do not try big complicated things as you will give up.
Try to create something you need or know well and learn at least one thing from it you can take to the next projects.
