I want to print as many coasters as possible with my X1C. I had an idea to stack the coasters on top of each other, so I could have stacks of them, so I could use my 3D farmers modifications to push them off, therefore automating my machine. Is this a horrible idea? Any other ideas?
Yes.
Print quality will not be good when stacking.
Multicolor coasters usually rely on the plate to give it a good texture. Stacking gets rid of that.
Automation will be hard because thin flat items like coasters have very strong bed adhesion.
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Is there another way to automate it?
Realistically, how many are you wanting to make?
As many as possible in three days. Aiming for the hundreds.
Step 1: get in car
Step 2: drive to microcenter
Step 3: buy 4 more printers
Hundreds would be a difficult goal even with some automation.
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There are many ways to ‘automate’ 3D printers. However, these are almost always dependent on what you are printing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1e664e4/were_ready_with_the_bambu_x1c_automation/
This is an excellent example of automation that is used in a print farm.
Other techniques use the print head to shove the printed article off the build plate out off the front of the printer and hopefully into a bin where the items do not break.
This isn’t great for coasters or keychains as the process often requires a single object per print before the shove. This greatly increases print time for multiple colour prints as you can print 4 coasters in the same time as 1.5 to 2 of them. Also their relative height makes shoving them harder, as does their surface of the coaster, it takes far longer to cool down on a textured plate before a gentle push (that doesn’t break the print head will allow).
You could buy many printers, I have five, this greatly speeds things up.
There are mechanical methods, but as the X series is core x/y, this is far harder, much more expensive and takes up significantly more space.
The A series has many solutions, my favourite is the SwapMod, I have two of them.
Stacking, as you first asked isn’t suitable for multiple colour models as @CincinnatiDesigns already stated. Without the pressure required, the design will be poor.
For single colour models with the correct geometry, it can be done. It was en mass during Covid, all over the world to print visor parts for medical staff and gifted to hospitals and such by those donating, time, materials and energy.
The video below shows the concept. The models were not perfect as the lack of pressure affected the structure and visual of the resulting models, but, they did the job and helped save lives.
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That is unrealistic.
It will likely take at least 1.5 hours for 4 coasters and 4 keychains with 3 colours.
If you worked full time for 72 hours and hoped you had no problems, you would get maybe 150 coasters.
No sleep, manual swapping and likely at least one build plate clean in the middle.
Take a look at this company, there are many competitors as well, who may be better..
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No automation or stacking but are the coasters small enough that you are printer multiples on the bed? Square shape would leave less open space between them. Are you running a purge tower?
I have designed around 200 and as such printed far more.
The standard dimensions are 100mm diameter (for a circle) or 100mm square (for square/rectangular or rounded square/rectangles) and 2mm thick.
I usually have a 1mm thickness for the design and a 1mm solid, single colour base. I often print upside down (facedown) to gain the texture from the textured build plate as the top surface.
Keychains are usually around 35mm (same logic as coasters on shapes) and also the same thickness rules.
I can fit 4 coasters and 4 keychains on a single build plate for A1 (not mini), P & X series and 2 coasters and 4 keychains on the A1 mini.
I do use a prime tower as I often print with 3+ colours for the coasters and keychains. I locate it myself to maximise the print area.
dropping the number of colors to the minimum (ie : 2) rather than 3 or more should speed up the prints ?
@MalcTheOracle : the A1 swapmod is impressive
You COULD print a release layer between each coaster- a single PETG layer if the coasters are PLA or vice versa. That’s the most basic approach and if you’re willing to tolerate a prime tower, should give you at least some stackability.
If I were going this way, I’d try to find a way to delete the prime tower though - a small sacrificial feature on the part itself for priming or slicer and/or gcode settings to do something similar to a prime within the part itself.
Any filament swap will take time, the fewer swaps the faster the print.
Reducing colours needs to be an equation of want vs need. You are squarely in the need side of things.
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Perhaps you can print them on edge (for density) and in a single color (for speed). I might want some manually defined supports to reduce the domino effect of a partial print failure.
as suggested by @Bratling , the extreme color number reduction for the fastest rints could be single color + empty zones / thinner areas : no color change would give the max speed of your printer, leaving the plate change question, if stacking is impossible
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I will be printing a coaster with two colors. I think I can fit 6 or 9 to a plate. How would I maximize the amount of coasters I can print?
What are you placing on the coasters? When you say coasters, are we talking about glasses or mugs?
If the standard size is 100mm (diameter or square) with a build plate of 256x256. This gives you 2x2 on a build plate.
If you are trying for 9, they would need to be 75mm or less (diameter or square).
You have to make allowances for the cut out section you can’t print on and the gaps between the models, with an optional prime tower (the gamble is yours).
Make them smaller than the objects they are meant to be sat under!
^^ J/k
The diameter is around 3.5 inches. I am printing these for a school event, so I want them to be able to used for glasses, mugs, and perhaps even water bottles.
I must intervene here in a friendly but firm manner, with the best of intentions:
You’ve now opened… four threads dealing with your coasters? No problem. You’ve gotten help from all sides. But you can tell that you’re stressed out and losing your cool and starting to mess up - in the sense of poor print quality.
Here you messed up your SVG logo, where people helped you:
But here you are asking for the absolute best outstanding quality that exists, because it is important to you:
And now you want to mess up again - in the sense of poor print quality with this topic here.
Take a breath of fresh air and think about what you really want. Your problem isn’t a printer problem, an SVG problem, or a print quality problem, but rather time pressure.
It’s obvious that you don’t even have time to read the comment or respond to it in detail.
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Thank you for your response @RetroSharky.
Although I am under moderate time pressure, I also want to hear from the community as they have tried many things and are more experienced than me. I kindly request that you do not read into my actions. My errors are simple mistakes that are happening because, although I have been using fusion for quite a while, there are still things I do not know and am always open to learning from others, as is the point of this forum. I have opened one thread regarding print quality and experimental orientation, one thread talking about flush prints for a different project, and one regarding sketch issues. I am doing my best to apply the feedback given, but given different computer operating systems and setups, instructions are not always seamless.
Bottom line, I appreciate your help and feedback, as well as the very generous help of the community, but I ask that you remain kind regarding my experience level and constraints. The forums are here for people to learn, which is what I am trying to do. You do not have to engage with my questions if it is at a cost to you.
Thank you.