3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io
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My favorite way is an air fryer, as it can actually hit the temperatures needed for certain engineering filaments (ASA-CF, PET-CF, PPS-CF) and the forced air combined with the fact that they aren't sealed tends to be more effective than the spoolholding dryers. I then print from a dry box made from cereal boxes with molecular sieves. This is overkill if you are just printing standard filaments though (PLA, PETG, TPU, etc.)
I'll add that there are still fairly common situations when you'll want ABS/ASA: If you're building something with stepper motors (say parts for a printer), ABS/ASA's higher temperature resistance means you can push more current through your motors without deforming the print where the motor is mounted. This is of course especially helpful if you're putting parts into a heated chamber, where PETG will likely start to deform under prolonged use at 60C+ temperatures. ABS/ASA are also more rigid, so they're better for high speed printer parts. Finally, if you're putting something in a car in a hot environment, PETG will not really hold up, but ASA will.
An air fryer is an interesting idea if you happen to have one handy, it's clever and I like it. But even dedicated filament dryers are a bit cheaper to buy, let alone a used dehydrator. And few people are using expensive engineering filaments either to scratch build printers, though some do.
Personally, I use PETG for phone holders and other items for use in my vehicles. But, where I live it doesn't hit the 80C required for a PETG phone holder to sag inside my vehicles, even in full sun. And half of the year temps are at freezing or below. PETG lasts for years just fine. So, choosing a filament requires understanding the environment it's going to get used in and how it gets used. But other places it might be over 100C inside a car. It is, like so much in this world, a YMMV situation. And understanding that, and many other considerations is what makes for good engineering design.
The vast bulk of everything that gets printed involves PLA, PETG, or TPU. They are inexpensive and easily available filaments that are "good enough" for 90%+ of all the things most people print.
*******I must apologize for bad spelling, punctuation, in possibly in comprehensible sentences. I seem to have an orange kitten that wants to have his a=say right now. I think I got things cleaned up.
That's all fair! For myself I use a lot of PET-CF, especially annealed. For some applications you can get away with the stiffness and the creep resistance provided by annealed PET-CF rather than needing a machined part, so for me an air fryer or equivalent is a must (for both drying and annealing). I build stuff for astrophotography, so having a material that is heavily resistant to creep and is also stiff is a must.
I'll note that for PETG, if your print is under nontrivial load, it will probably start to deform well below the 80C mark. Continuous use I believe is about 70C. Though because PETG is so inexpensive, you can always just reprint as long as assembly isn't too difficult.
You're right that PLA, PETG, and TPU are like 90% of anyone's needs though.
Special needs often require special materials. You have special requirements and can use those materials. When I have special needs for materials, I just walk up to my garage and machine things out of metals. I have a lathe, mill, drill press, air compressors, and welders. But, I'm that extreme outlier your momma warned you about.......Not everyone has the room, knowledge and skills to do that. So, 3D printing is a very good substitute for most people.
Still, don't dismiss those 'basic' filaments either. I have made more than one bending die set to bend up to 10ga/3mm steel out of the cheapest most basic PLA I can buy. It won't last for 10,000 parts, but I know can can get a dozen bends from it. And more depending on the material and thickness of it. And no, it doesn't take 100% infill either. 15% or 20% infill is enough. It's all about the number of walls.
Experiment, try, fail, succeed, and most important, have fun learning.
You're correct about all of this, but it's way easier to press print than machine a part from stock. I do some machining as well (I don't own the machines, but I'm trained on the mill, lathe, and waterjet in our shop). So most of the time if I can get away with a 3d printed part, it's worth it for the time savings alone. Plus sometimes the easiest or optimal geometry to design is not something that can be machined, but can be printed.
It's specific circumstances where the basic filaments fall short, like creep and heat resistance, irrespective of print parameters. ASA and PET-CF work well in most of these spots, so I don't do anything more exotic.