My First Print

[Alan R]

My very first time using a 3D printer. I have a little bit of experience with Google Sketch Up ( very basic stuff ), but I am way more familiar with photoshop, which can be a hinderance more than a help when moving to 3D stuff.
I'm using Fusion 360 and Cura for Slicing.
Anyway, while waiting for my printer to arrive - Creality Ender 5 Pro - I designed a logo for my car and this is my first print of it.
All in all I am very happy with how this turned out. I wanted a two tone print. When I researched the method I saw that with a single extruder you can do this by pausing the print half way through and changing spool - but this wouldn't achive the result I wanted.
I wanted the two colours to be on the same level.
So I thought about it and decided to try and print the logo in 2 parts, which then click into one another. Well it couldn't have turned out any better. Absolutely hand in glove but tight enough to not even need glue to hold.
The only two colours I have at the moment are white and black, ideally I want this in red and black as in the original image. I think it should look pretty good when I get my red filament.

[Geit]

I hope you did not use PLA for the print. Inside a car this only takes one hot day to look like soft ice, while on the outside the hot metal surface of the car will also very quick cause melting of PLA.

For this reason car manufacturer use ABS for their plastic parts.

Overall a nice design. Such clip in solutions are not that easy to create, so well done.

[Alan R]

Had not considered that. Yes I used PLA, but it was mostly just as a concept design to begin with. I may try and create a mould to pour resin and then sand down to get a more polished and glossy look. Early days and still on a steep learning curve so I really appreciate the feedback. I really hadn't considered how the sun would impact. Not that we get much of that here anyway 😂
I must get some ABS. From what I've read it might be a bit harder to deal with that PLA, so I'll just get comfortable with the PLA first and then start introducing more stuff.
Also need to get my head around Octopi for starting and monitoring prints while away. Long way to go. I have a Creality Wifi box on its way, it was so cheap when getting the printer I just added to basket. See how that goes.

[Ender5r]

First, be careful with ABS. The fumes it gives off are toxic. You should only consider using it with a printer that's in an enclosure and that employs an activated carbon filter or is vented to the outside. I personally think the activated carbon option is the environmentally responsible to go. When it comes to printing ABS, our member Geit is the resident expert.

There is a trick you can try with PLA. You can place the print in an oven @110C/230F for an hour. A convection oven is best because it circulates the air around evenly. The heat will cause the PLA to crystalize, making it more heat resistant and stronger. To avoid possible sagging in the oven, you can immerse the model in some sand. Look on Youtube & other sites for more info on this.

I like the idea of making a mould. I have never tried it myself, but I had considered for making Covid PPE.

I've heard very mixed reviews of the Creality WiFi box but, like you said, it's so cheap it's not really a big deal.

I recently started running OctoPrint (OctoPi version) on a RaspPi 3 B+. It works well.

Finally, Youtube is your friend. Check out videos from TeachingTech, Hobby Hoarder, Chris' Basement, CNC Kitchen, Thomas Sanlanderer and, of course, DrVAX.

[Geit]

There is a trick you can try with PLA. You can place the print in an oven @110C/230F for an hour. A convection oven is best because it circulates the air around evenly. The heat will cause the PLA to crystalize, making it more heat resistant and stronger. To avoid possible sagging in the oven, you can immerse the model in some sand. Look on Youtube & other sites for more info on this.

But you need a special (and more expensive) PLA for that, which can be annealed (I hope this is the right word).

Standard PLA will just melt down like a candle, when placed into an area with temperatures above 65°C. It will flatten under its own weight very quickly. When using 100°C this process will take place even faster and there is no chance the part will survive one hour.

[Ender5r]

Thomas Sanlanderer has a video about this where the normal PLA not only survived the oven, it performed even better than the high temperature PLA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZX8eHC7fws

[Geit]

Thomas Sanlanderer has a video about this where the normal PLA not only survived the oven, it performed even better than the high temperature PLA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZX8eHC7fws

I know that video. He tested with only one random PLA type and has no information on the long term side. His parts also were more or less flat. Overhangs or interior structures like nut cavern or screw holes probably render a part useless quite fast, too, when deforming on the weight of the part itself. Sure you could put a part into sand or something, but then it starts getting really messy as the hot sand particles would push themself into the plastic surface. The annealing process also would take significantly longer as you need to heat up everything to the core.

Also PLA is affected by UV light. It gets brittle. Beside heat another point to drop PLA in the first place, when creating stuff for the outside.

In addition to that you also have massive shrinkage, which needs to be taken into account before even printing, so I would still prefer printing the parts using the right materials in the first place.

[Ender5r]

As you know, I do prefer to print PETG for parts that will be used outside, so I agree with you, especially about the UV resistance. I was simply pointing out that there are options available.

[Alan R]

Thanks for all the info guys. Very helpful.

[roon4660]

I'm still waiting for someone to join the forum that does lost PLA for casting metal or whatever.