hi all,
I'm bouncing this old thread to ask a different question and to get a feel of the state of the art. It has been quite a number of years since this thread started.
Today 3d printing is a rather mature tech, many people probably have a 3d printer compared to back then.
However, my biggest peeve about 3d printing is that it can take a long time (hours) to print even rather modest enclosures.
Does anyone here routinely literally 3d print your own project boxes?
take for an example, this instructable
https://www.instructables.com/3D-Print-a-Custom-Project-Box-Without-CAD/the author literally runs a service to do just that, generates the STL model for you to make a project box (free)
https://lightningboxes.com/and if you don't have a printer, you can purchase it from them.
https://lightningboxes.com/product/basic-box/you can literally download the generated STL file from the same link.
first the specs, the default selections generates a 100 mm (length) x 75 mm (width) x 50 mm (height) box
https://lightningboxes.com/product/basic-box/The thing is the basic model as given there, I run it through
pruslicerand for my very 'average' 'low cost' 3d printer (a Creality Ender 3 variant), it gives an estimate of 6 hours 18 minutes to print that.
This is a pretty long time considering that it isn't a 'big' box after all. I tried my own designs and the times run into roughly the same zone, 5-6 hours and more easily on average.
What could be worse is if you consider failure rates, e.g. with the 'difficult to print' ABS, that needs a heated bed and is prone to warping, 'complicated' 'large' models are particularly prone to warping.
There could be other failures, you could imagine worse situations if failure occurs.
Hence, I'd like to hear from those who literally 3d print your own boxes.
The thing about 3d printing boxes of course is, if there are a lot of custom openings and particulars, all that (windows and customizations) can go into the model. That is a big win vs conventional boxes. But the lengthy print time is still inevitable for the common FDM printers.
And there are various limits as well. One rather 'common', but I'd guess overlooked issues is, FDM 3D printing is a layered technology, with one layer stacking on top of another.
This means large vertical windows are *overhangs* and they are a problem to print. It would either need supports or that the whole model need to be redesigned to eliminate supports etc.
Possibly a multi-part print which needs to be glued together etc.
as to 'quality', 3d printing today is simply deemed *different*, some people literally likes those 3d printed 'layered' look, it is more of a preference / (personal prejudice).