Hey everyone!
I wondered if I could print something like this?! The cube is the print area and I would like to to know if it is possible to print e.g. this phone case in this position? Or would it fall over?
Cheers
3 Likes
If you add support material, this shouldn’t be a problem at all. Not sure the bottom will be smooth that way though
I agree, Filemon. Certainly it can be done with my Up!
@Filemon and @Pot8oSH3D Thanks for the quick response! Sounds great 
It is possible with supports, but you must evaluate several aspects:
1) if is it worth spending material doing it.
2) if is it worth spending time cleaning the piece by taking out the supports once printed.
3) if is it worth having an ugly surface were the supports meet the piece.
4) if is it worth the increment in printing time.
Best Regards
Helder L. Santos
1 Like
@Creastudiostore thanks for your aspects!
If I would print this phonecase for me and spent time into that, could I grind off the surface so it becomes smooth?
Kind Reagrds
Dario Lantschner
The problem isn’t easy to resolve. I already tryed to use a proxxon to smooth the surface but most of the times it melts the plastic instead. Sandpaper can be used but it is difficult to use in angles or cavities.
The problem isn’t easy to resolve. I already tryed to use a proxxon to smooth the surface but most of the times it melts the plastic instead. Sandpaper can be used but it is difficult to use in angles or cavities.
I see! It would be worth a try. Well I just wanted to know if it is possible because I am looking for a printer but many printers do not have a big print-board! But thanks for the effort
I would recomend a Zortrax M200. Very precise, with a good printing volume and an interesting support system easy to pull-off.
Sadly this one is not in my price range. I am student and I am looking for something cheaper I have seen a cubify cube for 460€ but I am not sure about that one. Still thank you for the tip!
Brian
13
I think the question is if you actually need to print in this direction, but lets assume you do have to. You could have a look at generating supports with MeshMixer, see this youtube video on how to generate supports: 3D Printing Support Generator in meshmixer 2.0 - YouTube hope that helps 
Cheers for the great link
James_2
15
@dlantschner - you can print like that but there would be lots of unpleasant artefacts - basically the whole thing is a bridge, and the support does leave a mess - which has been mentioned is hard to clean up (the only trick I have found is wet an dry sandpaper because the water cools as it sands).
When you have a small bed you are often better off doing somethign simple like printing in two or more halves - to make the join obvious you could use two or three colours so the join becomes a ‘feature’.
I do this for architecture models all the time - small reference pins or marks can help!
James
@James_2 thanks for your advise! I would dragg it of with sandpaper but how can i actually join those halves because this case is quite thin and I think you cant really do it with pins?!
Cheers
Dario
James_2
17
Dario,
Therein lies the challenge - most of the hard work is done by the phone - having made a few fairphone cases you could actually join it with selotape and once it is on the phone you would not even know it was joined as it conforms to the phone so well.
So I would say not much joining would be needed.
Everything at bottom is true but in some cases you may want to print at 45 or 50° angle.
In your case you should just print it straight up, you’ll gain nothing nice with an angle.
But if you have a piece that will have constraints on it, you need to study these constraints. Generaly you print perpandicular to the main constraint force. But for resistance to torsion, you’ll want to print at 45°-50° if possible, because the bonding surface between each layers will be higher AND perpendicular to the twist force.
Thank you James, but does the case still hold together and protect the phone?
Cheers
James_2
20
The joy of printing is to try and find out!
Or get someone on the 3dhubs platform to print it for you
James
