3D printed boxes

[Aentons]

Have you done any stomp tests yet?

[redkurn]

So if I'm looking to get into a printer for minimal $$ but good usability, what should I be looking for?

Depends on how big you want to print and how much you want to spend.
Creality has a great following with lots of info and help out there, but when it comes down to it all printers are generally the same.

The differences are the problems they have, at the moment lots of people have been having issues with the new mainboards and power supply on creality printers, I know the X5SA from tronxy had some issues due to the material used to hold it together, which the pro version solved, it was my pick, but I was advised to get a CR-10S and bought it used with all the modifications for $500. Mine is a CR-10S Super 300.

I love this printer enough to tweak and make changes, but if you wanted to print smaller items I'd say find a nice stock used ender 3 pro on offerup or get a v2, but be sure to be prepared to replace the power supply or mainboard, the support from the company isn't great since they only send a few lines at a time in english, if you speak chinese it may help?

Another thing to remember is do not order a Creality from the fake website, use this one.
This is who sold mine, they go over them and make sure they are perfect! https://tiny-machines-3d.myshopify.com/
I believe this to be the real website. https://www.creality.com/

AVOID!
creality3d.shop

You could go expensive and get a hardly ever changed design from Prusa, but I don't think there would be much difference in quality for the cost, especially when you can upgrade and easily achieve excellent results.
https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/17-3d-printers

There is a learning curve, my first printer was a XYZ DaVinci 1.0A and I had to print several mods to make it worth owning, including formulating a way to bypass the the little card that made the printer stop working, the way around it was make a stand for the card and place the card from the spool into it, use cura to print and only cura.
The stock software was garbage anyway.

I would have to strongly recommend a Creality Ender 3 or CR-10S, lots of support andcommunity made modifications that make the printer more viable and produce excellent prints, definitely look for one with an all metal extruder, the plastic ones tend to break.

My CR-10S has a Aero direct drive and Volcano nozzle, if I posted a picture of it, you would see it is Creality, but looks quite a bit different.

[redkurn]

Have you done any stomp tests yet?

I haven't dropped my foot on it as hard as I can, but it can survive as long as you aren't extremely heavy footed and aggressive with it.
My print is solid with no infill, so it should be durable enough to take a few stomps, if I changed to ABS or Nylon it would be able to take more abuse.

[PapaKev]

You can really stiffen it up by taking a small brush and "paint" acetone on the print. Don't glob it on. It will really smooth up the print and strengthen it.

[redkurn]

You can really stiffen it up by taking a small brush and "paint" acetone on the print. Don't glob it on. It will really smooth up the print and strengthen it.

Only works with ABS, PLA doesn't have the same reaction and as far as I know only ABS has that reaction.

[PapaKev]

You can really stiffen it up by taking a small brush and "paint" acetone on the print. Don't glob it on. It will really smooth up the print and strengthen it.

Only works with ABS, PLA doesn't have the same reaction and as far as I know only ABS has that reaction.

I've only used PLA. Have never used ABS

[PapaKev]

You can really stiffen it up by taking a small brush and "paint" acetone on the print. Don't glob it on. It will really smooth up the print and strengthen it.

Only works with ABS, PLA doesn't have the same reaction and as far as I know only ABS has that reaction.

I've only used PLA. Have never used ABS

I lied. I used ABS....Been to long since I messed with it.

[matmosphere]

I read something a long time ago about baking pla at a low temp in the oven to harden it. I've never tried it though.  I think it's tricky though because if the oven gets too hot the whole print will turn into a puddle.

[redkurn]

I read something a long time ago about baking pla at a low temp in the oven to harden it. I've never tried it though.  I think it's tricky though because if the oven gets too hot the whole print will turn into a puddle.

That and I would imagine hardening it would have the same effect as steel, too hard and it becomes brittle.
At the moment it has enough elasticity to provide some give, but not bend or break.

This is my third stomp box, but I also made a switch box to route audio to my amp and I made it thicker because the jacks I used are low quality and really grip a patch cable.

[redkurn]

Working on a box for the fireaxe, not sure how well the font will show yet.
I tried adding a flame graphic, but the only way it can show is to cut into the box or stick out like the font and it was pretty ugly even after meticulously tracing the image.
Someone who can paint would have a better chance, I can photoshop, but this is a new level. XD
I might have better luck if I printed at a lower layer height, or made some other slight print setting changes, but I am going to try the recessed version and I'll post a pic.

What do you guys think?


Printing this cleanly is going to be a challenge, I might invert the text and see how it goes...


Edit: Looks good in theory, but my print didn't come out great. Might want to pursue the embossed print...
For the curious, these are the settings I am going to try printing with.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/06c8uwdfa5nnx8o/cura-setting.png?raw=1

[redkurn]

!!!!!That's awesome!!!!!

Nicely done. Did you print it face down? If so you have your bottoms layer better sorted than I do.

Thought you might like a little printer pinup. XD
My printer, yes that duct pointing up is exhausting from the heat sink, the aero doesn't get hot like stock and this helped my prints a lot. No heat creep.

[redkurn]

Fireaxe box should be discarded as a failure, but... May as well use it and print a test face and if that works I can transplant it.
Beware of the ugly.

[matmosphere]

Yeah, i think if you print the box face down, which is the only way to go really, you would still have to probably do a faceplate for the lettering/artwork. The last thing I'd want to deal with is picking support material out of those tiny spaces. I have thought of trying this and having the bottom plate be the face of the pedal to simplify things.. other than wiring.

I have done some artwork with a .6 nozzle, but the lines have to be pretty thick. Fonts matter, the more blocky the better, anything with a universal width for each part of the letter is a lot easier to work with. Size of the text makes a huge difference as well. I've found with a .4 most letters are fine at a reasonable size, but a few have small gaps that won't print. I got some great detail going to a .2 but the print was painfully slow. I try to stick with .4 or .3 when I need to.

If you use the preview feature in Cura and look closely it will actually grey out any spots that will not print due to the nozzle size.

[redkurn]

Yeah, i think if you print the box face down, which is the only way to go really, you would still have to probably do a faceplate for the lettering/artwork. The last thing I'd want to deal with is picking support material out of those tiny spaces. I have thought of trying this and having the bottom plate be the face of the pedal to simplify things.. other than wiring.

I have done some artwork with a .6 nozzle, but the lines have to be pretty thick. Fonts matter, the more blocky the better, anything with a universal width for each part of the letter is a lot easier to work with. Size of the text makes a huge difference as well. I've found with a .4 most letters are fine at a reasonable size, but a few have small gaps that won't print. I got some great detail going to a .2 but the print was painfully slow. I try to stick with .4 or .3 when I need to.

If you use the preview feature in Cura and look closely it will actually grey out any spots that will not print due to the nozzle size.

I think I have a smaller nozzle, ordered a few a while back when I replaced the bent throat and aluminum block, switched those to titanium throat (if I recall) and a copper block, was setting up to print abrasive materials.

I may need to switch, but I prefer speed over layer lines and usually don't print anything that I can't use for a purpose lately. Now that I'm thinking about it, pretty sure I have a 1mm nozzle as well, box would probably print in a hour vs the 2.5 it takes now. XD

[redkurn]

I've been working on a solution to the issues of printing text on a box that needs to print top down...
Going back to a suggestion of making face plates that can be added later, I decided to drop the box -2mm into the bed and print that 2mm and the lid separate from the box.
It can be glued on later or interchangeable if you wish...

Doing a test print of that now with the text embossed, if it works out I'll add to the main post a zip containing all the files and options I've currently made, maybe someone else will have better luck with a smaller nozzle and the recessed text.