Foxwoods Den

[Foxwood]

Hello Everyone!

I’ve been a long-time lurker here, and I’ve really enjoyed reading the forum — especially the posts about what people are working on. A big shoutout to @Josh-3D for his Design/Printing posts! I’ve been following your work and am currently printing some of your swatch boxes. Also, congratulations on getting them into the creator program!

I wanted to share a few things I’ve been working on since I started this adventure earlier this year and also ask for a bit of help with a new design that’s giving me some trouble during printing. But more on that in a bit.

A little about me: I’m a design engineer based in the UK, and I’ve been 3D printing for several years. I started with a Prusa Mk2 and have owned a few other Prusas over the years. About a year ago, I switched to a Bambu printer, and I couldn’t be happier!

At the beginning of this year, I began posting some of my older designs on MakerWorld and soon after, I entered my first competition. Here’s my Kit card entry:

That experience gave me the creative bug, and I’ve since been designing more and more. I particularly enjoy designing lamps and seem to have developed a fondness for Kumiko patterns. Here are a few of my designs:

I’ve been really enjoying this journey so far, and the fact that I can earn points to fund my hobby is a fantastic bonus!

I hope you liked seeing some of my designs! Feel free to ask any questions or just chat about design — I’m always open to conversation.

Now, onto the issue I’m hoping some of you could help me with. I’m currently printing something for an upcoming contest (I’ll let you guess which one!):

As you can see, I’m struggling with the dome part of its head. I’ve tried using variable layer heights, which improves the external appearance but makes the internal supports very hard to remove. There’s also a lower ring that consistently appears just above the eyebrows, and I can’t seem to figure out why. I need to maintain minimal wall thickness to allow light to pass through.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry for the long post, and I’m looking forward to chatting with like-minded people here!

[MalcTheOracle]

Great looking models.

As to your last image problem, it is a combination of tight angles changing on the curved surface and the need for a thin wall that emphasises the issue.

You have three obvious routes to rectify this.

1. Smaller nozzle, this will add significant printing time so it recommend.
2. Thinner layer height, this will add time, but, the results will be better.
3. Adaptive layer height, this will adjust the heights of the layers so thinner ones are used when the angles change quickly. This will not add much to the printing time, in some cases, it can speed up a big print. It gives you less control over any structural issues. The toolbar has an icon on it for this, selecting your model, press the toolbar button and use adaptive as a starting point, you may not need to change any values. It will not be perfect as physics is always against you, but, it may well provide some noticeable improvement.

[Foxwood]

Thanks!

Also thanks for the very helpful feedback. I may not have been clear when I said I tired variable layer height what I meant was Adaptive layer height. I just have trouble with the support for that but I will try again and play about as you suggested with the adaptive layer and support settings and see if there is a good middle ground!

[drakko]

Love your makes, and Malc’s tips are indeed spot-on. Hope it works out well for you. Keep us updated on how it goes.

[debonr]

Maybe build your supports into the design?

[MZip]

You could print him/her a sporty hat and just hide it? Not as good as getting it sorted but those layers on rounded surfaces are tough to get around (). The regularity makes sure it catches the eye.

As to support, I haven’t used it yet to comment on how well it works, but PVA support filament at the support/model interface might let you be more aggressive with supports and then just dissolve them away. Not central to the rings though.

[drakko]

nicely done (…and a bunch of characters to meet the posting requirement )

[Josh-3D]

I really like that Settlers of Catan piece holder. I can appreciate the patient it can take for things like that. I did do a full organizer once, that held the base + a few other things. What a tight fit, and everything was frustratingly 1mm off here or there. I get a pang of anxiety now whenever I see Settlers stuff. I saw yours come up on the feed though, and had to give a bit of a jealous nod. Thought that was a sharp execution.

I’m not sure I can be so helpful with your ghostly problem. There’s a few things going on there that go beyond what I usually do, and any which way I would consider to think to fix it, would cause problems in another spot. So, not sure.

I’d consider chopping the head short, and 3d printing a ghost cowboy hat.

That aside though. It’s cool seeing your works collected here. I encourage you to keep posting too, like I have. It’s fun, and I think a great way to relax and chit chat with friends here. I know from a random person’s perspective too it’s cool to come across threads like this. @Ukdavewood’s thread with the ships inspired that. Seeing the progress and everything that he has made along the way. It’s like anything, it’s fun to see behind the scenes.

[oddsandsods]

Some nice models you’ve got there, as Malc has mentioned adaptive layer height and smoothing will help with the visible layers but will add time to the print. Have a play with them to see if you can get a nice balance between finish and time to print.

[EnoTheThracian]

I really love your designs

As for the issues with the support removal, do you use an AMS? In that case, you could use a concentric PETG support interface with 0mm z-distance for PLA and vice versa. That should work a treat on a dome geometry.

I have not had much luck with PVA, but that was before Bambu offered any. I used very well dried (!!!) Fiberlogy BVOH to great effect with PLA though. But again, that was before I discovered the PETG-PLA support trick in the forum.

[MalcTheOracle]

Very jaunty, a dapper looking ex-living individual.

[MalcTheOracle]

No lasers? Nice crayons. You are still golden.

[Foxwood]

Sorry for the late replay, I got bit side tracked with these two projects

Another planter but this time a different shape to what I normally do so that did make it bit trickier to model the Kumiko patterns.

Also this thingy… saw a gif of some satisfying illusion and thought that would be a cool thing to have on my desk… don’t know why but decided to try and make it real. Still needs work and refining but the prototype is pretty fun.

@drakko - Thanks!

@debonr - had no thought about modelling in my own that could be quite a powerful thing to do. Have you done it before / seen it done?

@MZip - genius idea! Maybe I’ll make a range of head gear accessories for him to have! Maybe roles he’s had in life… a pirate?
I’ve not tried using different materials as support interfaces will definitely need to give this ago.

@Josh-3D - Thanks ! I know what you mean ! The hardest part was figuring out how to arrange the pieces!
Extra point to you for the nice artwork !
Thanks for sharing about @Ukdavewood post I had not come across but had seen the models ! @Ukdavewood My mum used to work for Cunard / P&O so I showed her the models and I think she shared with a few people internally that were very impressed!

@oddsandsods - Thanks Ive had a go and making some progress but not sure where the balance is.

@EnoTheThracian - Concentric support sounds good didn’t know you had that level of control for the supports will need to dive into that. Thanks!

[debonr]

This guy has a few vids on custom supports https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8AVjipCabM

There is also lighting supports (in cura) that can save time/filament

[Foxwood]

Thank you ill check it out!

[duane777]

Have a look at the speed or flowrate colour scheme in the sliced preview and check if there’s a big change in speed at those locations. It looks like it starts when the loops are uninterrupted after the brow, so the plastic is shrinking differently from there on up. The final part might be due to layer time restrictions imposed in the filament cooling section.

[Foxwood]

@duane777 thanks that’s a good idea I will look into that!