Hi everyone, I believe many design in Rhino for 3D printing. I also know that hobby printers don’t have the capacity of a Flashforge or Solidscape, especially when it comes to unsupported parts. Is there a more advanced forum where ideas can be exchanged on how to get around these limitations of hobby printers?
What limitations do you mean? Modeling a closed “water tight” STL mesh part for 3D printing?
It’s oftentimes a manner of knowing what your specific 3D printer is capable of and designing/modelling with these limitations in mind.
For instance, if you know that your model will need supports maybe try redesigning or reorienting it in a way to not need any. If you have a little leeway, when it comes to designing, this really shouldn’t be an issue. Models can also be broken up into different parts to make 3D printing easier. This can obviously be done roughly in any slicer or MeshMixer, or better even thoughtful during the design phase.
I 3d print a lot on an older printer, and I rarely use any or very few supports.
Here’s a YouTube channel with many great tips and tricks for modelling for FDM 3D printing:
They don’t use Rhino, but the applied concepts are universal.
If you have a printer that can print with at least two filaments (e.g. filament changer, multiple tool heads, etc.), you can basically use one filament to print and another for supports.
This is great because different plastics adhere to each other very differently, meaning you can use a support material that does support your part, but doesn’t fuse with the primary material.
The supports will thus come right off.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you can get pretty inexpensive 3D prints from China nowadays in all sorts of exotic materials. These services often have a plethora of machines and materials that are very expensive, tedious, or even impossible to print at home.
I don’t see why you can’t discuss 3D printing here. I bet there are lots of folks that do it regularly here, and would be willing to share some advice.
There are some 3DP subreddits I’ve stumbled on when searching for stuff. Also some of the better known printer brands have pretty active user forums.
Most 3d printers and slicers deal with support structures just fine - what exactly is the issue?
