Hi guys,
If you think my advice and recommendations are solid, please consider using my links when you buy stuff like filament and RC car parts because you pay the same price but I get a little bit of cheddar to make all this effort worth my while.
If you want to watch a video instead of read, click here. Like and subscribe if you find the YouTube channel helpful.
My NEW favorite filament is Solutech.
PLA:
Orientation of your part when you slice it is the most important factor, guys. Whether it's a beard on a part you want to look nice or a weak part that you want strong, the first thing to ponder is whether rotating it or flipping it or tilting it might make the print work better.
Beards: I get beards on the left side of my prints more than anywhere else (when looking at the part on the print bed), so turning the part in the slicer so that the side I care least about is on the left makes for a quick and easy adjustment.
I think I might be using Solutech exclusively. If you follow me down the rabbit hole, let me know how it works for you. Guys, I love it so far. Best filament I've used in over a dozen rolls total.
Guys, every tip here has improved MY results. That does not mean they will work just as well for you. You may be doing all sorts of things differently. Think about the advice and make an educated decision on whether or not to try any particular tip.
Caution: Follow this advice at your own risk.
My Printer: Creality Ender 3 - easy to assemble, easy to use, no major problems 18 months in.
Cooling: Petsfang Bullseye but I started out with a simple one that looks a lot like this and I honestly didn't notice a lot of difference. I think people swear by the Petsfang because of the time they invest in getting it figured out, printed and installed.
Filaments used: Solutech (PLA, flexible), Amazon Basics (PLA, PETG), 3D Hero (PLA), MG Chemicals (PLA, PETG)
Slicer: Cura
General Slicer Settings:
Wrench to drive or drive to wrench?
If you think my advice and recommendations are solid, please consider using my links when you buy stuff like filament and RC car parts because you pay the same price but I get a little bit of cheddar to make all this effort worth my while.
If you want to watch a video instead of read, click here. Like and subscribe if you find the YouTube channel helpful.
My NEW favorite filament is Solutech.
PLA:
- easy to print
- strong
- flexible
- strong (like wow)
- bendy, maybe a bit too bendy
- The best way I can describe this stuff is that it's a lot like Hot Glue, and you know I love me the hot glue
Orientation of your part when you slice it is the most important factor, guys. Whether it's a beard on a part you want to look nice or a weak part that you want strong, the first thing to ponder is whether rotating it or flipping it or tilting it might make the print work better.
1) Pay attention to the direction of the printed lines and layers. Imagine printing a tree trunk. Do you stand it up or lay it down? Trees grow standing up so that might be your first thought, but that would be a mistake. 3D prints are weakest at the layer lines so printing a tree trunk standing up means that you have potential weak spots all the way from the top to the bottom.
Print it lying down and you have long lines all the way from the top to the bottom which provide strength, and only a small number of layers which also run top to bottom providing minimal risk of weakness. Pay attention to this tip when printing roll cage parts, tubular shapes or anything long and slender in general.
2) Hotter plastic gets more melty and more melty plastic fuses back together better. The most common form of 3D printing is known as fused deposition printing, meaning plastic is melted and then deposited down in layers which are fused to the previous layer. Running the print head too hot is not desirable for some parts when appearance is the most important consideration, because too hot can result in a part that does not look it's best. For RC car parts, strength is generally the most important factor in the success or failure of the parts, so crank that heat up at least 5 degrees higher than usual to get a stronger part.
3) More flow means more strength. Guys, a perfect looking part is NOT the strongest part. Turning up the flow to 102-105 percent will give you a surface that looks a little less than perfect but the walls of the part will be jam packed with plastic and nice and strong.
4) Thick walls make strong parts. Bump up that wall thickness to at least 1.5mm to get a stronger part. I use 2-3mm for bigger parts that need to be strong.
5) More infill is good. I've seen 3D printing gurus claim that you don't need high infill for a strong parts. That's kind of true, but not if your parts need maximum strength. The reason I don't go higher than 95% infill is that 100% makes all layers bottom layers and the speed automatically gets cut in half. That and 100% is overkill. Where is the magic point of diminishing returns? I don't know but it's above 50% infill in my experience. I turn up the walls to make bits that stick out solid and then adjust infill (50% or so) so that bigger parts aren't totally solid unless I really think it would help.
2) Hotter plastic gets more melty and more melty plastic fuses back together better. The most common form of 3D printing is known as fused deposition printing, meaning plastic is melted and then deposited down in layers which are fused to the previous layer. Running the print head too hot is not desirable for some parts when appearance is the most important consideration, because too hot can result in a part that does not look it's best. For RC car parts, strength is generally the most important factor in the success or failure of the parts, so crank that heat up at least 5 degrees higher than usual to get a stronger part.
3) More flow means more strength. Guys, a perfect looking part is NOT the strongest part. Turning up the flow to 102-105 percent will give you a surface that looks a little less than perfect but the walls of the part will be jam packed with plastic and nice and strong.
4) Thick walls make strong parts. Bump up that wall thickness to at least 1.5mm to get a stronger part. I use 2-3mm for bigger parts that need to be strong.
5) More infill is good. I've seen 3D printing gurus claim that you don't need high infill for a strong parts. That's kind of true, but not if your parts need maximum strength. The reason I don't go higher than 95% infill is that 100% makes all layers bottom layers and the speed automatically gets cut in half. That and 100% is overkill. Where is the magic point of diminishing returns? I don't know but it's above 50% infill in my experience. I turn up the walls to make bits that stick out solid and then adjust infill (50% or so) so that bigger parts aren't totally solid unless I really think it would help.
Common Problems
Beards: I get beards on the left side of my prints more than anywhere else (when looking at the part on the print bed), so turning the part in the slicer so that the side I care least about is on the left makes for a quick and easy adjustment.
Klingons (Blobs): Blobs with PLA mean something is wrong (I've never had them crop up). Blobs with PETG were the norm for me and a big reason PETG is overrated. Solutech flexible filament does not seem prone to blobs but it's too early in my experience curve to tell for sure, so TBD. Update: it can print really clean at lower temperature but for a really strong part I find that hotter (217) is better but you do get some blobs and stringing.
Stringing: Nozzle temp too high or poor cooling. For the best strength in RC car parts, right on the edge with a little stringing is the perfect temperature.
Brittle parts PETG: PETG is very prone to going from strong to brittle when you get the heat too high. Obviously, brittle parts is not good when you're expecting impact, like RC car crashes.
Brittle parts PLA: PLA does not respond the same way, but too hot can lead to weaker plastic which I've observed in screw holes when the cut threads are prone to failing by becoming grainy or powdery when you remove a screw. This could be from nozzle temp or using an electric screwdriver to power in long screws (the screws get quite hot from the friction of cutting threads). I haven't tested meticulously, but I've seen the problem from hand tightened screws and powered screws, so I think it is more likely a result of the print temp being a little too hot. Keep in mind that the parts look good and are strong.
The Biggest Reason PLA Sucks
Guys, if you are going to run you car hot or in a hot environment, PLA is going to be a problem. PLA gets soft quite easily. As in, don't leave it in your car on a sunny day. Where I live, it is most often way to cold, so I have the opposite problem. If you need to deal with heat when you're having your RC fun, you may want to build yourself a DIY enclosure and print with ABS. I suggest ABS because there is tons of info out there and it's cheap and common, although much more of a hassle from what I've read. The enclosure scares a lot of people but all you really need is a big box with a fan that blows the air outside.
Other Filaments Types
PETG: is massively overrated by people who seem to know about specs but haven't actually used it much. I fell for their BS. It's hard to print. Blobs, strings, weak layer adhesion, sagging, you name it. This stuff is rough to get working right. The bigger problem for RC parts is that it is fairly strong until it shatters, and it shatters when it takes a hard hit (like an RC car crash). PLA is actually better for RC parts (my opinion), just make the parts more solid - thick walls and high infill. Guys, PETG does work, but I personally think that PLA makes better RC car parts. Do what you think is best. If you find a brand of PETG that works awesome, let me know and I will share the info along.
PP (Polypropylene): I haven't used this stuff because it's expensive as f$%!@. This guy used it for a drone frame and had pretty awesome results. I want to try it down the road, so stay tuned.
ABS: Not much stronger than other common filament and you need high bed temp and an enclosure to print it, so I haven't bothered getting into it. It seems to have gotten very cheap lately, so that makes it more attractive to me ;^)
Nylon: I really want to try Nylon filament because it is super strong and good for impact resistant parts, but it's also expensive and works best with a direct drive extruder (no Boden tube). PP seams like a better option, so I'm most likely going to try that first. Why duplicate this guy's effort, right?
3D Printing RC Cars
3D printing parts for RC cars is a bit of a fools game because of the strength issue. In case you're not aware, 3D printed parts are not as strong as injection molded parts and PLA plastic is not as strong as most of the plastic used to manufacture plastic parts commercially. I'm assuming you're using PLA because more seasoned 3D printing folks probably aren't reading this, but fear not, most of the tips apply no matter what kind of plastic you're using.Guys, every tip here has improved MY results. That does not mean they will work just as well for you. You may be doing all sorts of things differently. Think about the advice and make an educated decision on whether or not to try any particular tip.
Caution: Follow this advice at your own risk.
My Printer: Creality Ender 3 - easy to assemble, easy to use, no major problems 18 months in.
Cooling: Petsfang Bullseye but I started out with a simple one that looks a lot like this and I honestly didn't notice a lot of difference. I think people swear by the Petsfang because of the time they invest in getting it figured out, printed and installed.
Filaments used: Solutech (PLA, flexible), Amazon Basics (PLA, PETG), 3D Hero (PLA), MG Chemicals (PLA, PETG)
Slicer: Cura
General Slicer Settings:
- Nozzle Temp - 205-215
- Bed Temp - 55 (no heat leads to warping in my experience)
- I'm going to try a hotter bed to see if it gives a stronger part
- Speed - 40-80, usually 50 (slower when the filament is finicky)
- Walls - As needed (at least 1.6mm for strong parts)
- Infill - tri-hexagon, as needed for strength (15%, 35%, 50%, 65%, 95%)
- Supports - avoid unless absolutely necessary. Z-distance 2x layer thickness. I've had decent success with tree supports (experimental feature in Cura)
- Adjust your support angle to minimize bridge distance for a better quality bottom surface
- Custom supports - guys, if I provide a part with custom supports it's because they work and the part is stronger when printed with them.
Wrench to drive or drive to wrench?
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