I printed it in PEBA SainSmart with X1C, the manufacturer’s official filament profile, 100% linear infill and Arachne wall generator, speed 40, and manual supports.
It’s a model of an airless volleyball purchased on Cults3d; the diameter and weight are equivalent to those of a standard ball.
It simply doesn’t bounce; it returns about 10% of the applied kinetic energy.
I think the ball’s wall thickness is too thin; it’s about 2.5mm. I’m asking the PEBA ball printing gurus for confirmation: am I correct in my opinion, or are there any changes I can make to make it bounce properly?
Paid model designers don’t provide support? Do you know if it’s supposed to bounce or just a static model? (I know it should bounce slightly, but it’s possible there’s some geometry that’s not letting it bounce properly)
I printed with the Bamboo Filament Profile published by SainSmart, and overall, the print came out well, and I was able to remove the supports without any major issues.
I think the problem is with the model, not the print.
I started with the idea of printing a volleyball for my daughter, who plays this sport; I wanted it to have the same size, weight, and bounce as a regulation ball.
From what I’m seeing, if I scale a regular ball down to the size of a volleyball (204mm in diameter), the weight will be significantly higher than the regulation weight.
I’ll weigh over 400g, when it should be around 250g.
You’re right, I speak English very badly and that’s why I rely on the automatic translator but it seems that this time it wasn’t very correct; I apologize for it.
First question: are you using PEBA Rebound? Otherwise, it will perform much like TPU in terms of rebound. If you want it to be genuinely bouncy, you need PEBA Rebound.
If the model you are printing is meant to bounce, it should behave the same way.
I have made a few toys for my cats, and the fully solid ones bounce the best. Hollow models need enough wall thickness to store sufficient energy and rebound properly, so to speak.
The designer didn’t specify whether the model should bounce or not. I also believe the walls are too thin, so I slightly reduced the dimensions of a basketball designed to bounce to the size of a volleyball. This reduced the thickness of the ball from 2.5mm to 12.4mm.
Time will tell if I’m right; there’s still a day to go until the printing is complete.
PEBA Rebound, or any other brand with rebound properties, will provide more or less bounce, but changing the wall thickness will significantly affect that behaviour. Walls that are too thin will simply contain less material to store and release the rebound energy.
As I was saying, I tried printing a thicker ball.
Now the wall is about 12mm, and things have improved a lot; obviously, it's heavier, but it finally bounces as it should.
Thanks for the advice.
