5 posts tagged with "3D print"

Slicers can make or break your 3D print - quite literally. Over time, there have been many slicers, but two have remained favorites for the 3D printing community—Orca and Prusa. 

What happens when you have to choose between these two slicers? Let’s dive straight into it the right way!

What Is a Slicer?​

3D printing works layer by layer. Each layer is printed on top of another, and a 3D printing slicer converts your 3D part into 2D layers for the printer to follow and print.

A slicer also sends numerical code which positions the extruder, adjusts layer height, printing parameters, and supports. This makes the choice of slicer important, and switching to a new slicer is often a worthwhile upgrade.

Why Is Orca Slicer So Popular?​

Orca slicer is based on Bambu Studio (slicer for Bambu lab printers) and gives the best of both worlds. It’s an enhanced version of Bambu studio based on Prusa slicer with a more user-friendly interface, wide support for printers and regular updates.

Stringing can be a very frustrating print problem to troubleshoot. It can depend a lot on the geometry of your print; some models may have problems with stringing while others may not even if you slice using the same settings. In this article, we'll go over the causes of strining, and what you can do about it.

If you've ever done any metal machining, you already know that rigidly attaching your stock material to the machine is one of the most important steps in the process. In 3D printing, this is also true. Rigidly attaching the base of your part to the print bed, also known as bed adhesion, is one of the most critical parts of the printing process.

When this fails, it can be difficult and frustrating to debug. The reasons why bed adhesion fails are sometimes not obvious and can be finnicky to reproduce and rectify.

Season Two of the popular Netflix show Squid Game recently introduced international audiences to the Korean game of Gonggi: a fun, simple game similar to the classic American schoolyard game Jacks. The game involves throwing stones in the air, but the stones are often substituted for colorful plastic pieces - plastic pieces that could be made using a 3D printer! In this post, we'll walk you through the basic rules of the game, as well as how to 3D print your own set of Gonggi stones.

How to play​

At it's core, the game consists of throwing one stone into the air and picking up varying amounts of other stones off a surface. At level one, the player repeatedly throws a stone into the air, picking up a single stone off the surface before catching the thrown stone. At level two, the player does this with two stones per throw. This continues until level four, at which point the maximum number of stones is reached. At level five, the player throws the stones into the air and catches them on the back of their hand, often performing tricks like clapping their hands before catching the thrown stones. Early versions of this game used actual stones, but modern players use plastic sets instead.

For more variations on this game, see here.

Popular Model Sets​

Gonggi by PIETROMULLER on Cults3D​

Since this game was featured in Squid Game, many users have created model sets that match the aesthetic of the pieces shown in the show. This design is great because, since the symbols on top are raised, users without multi-material support can swap their colored filament for white to get the desired symbol contrast.

Introduction​

Imagine you've spent hours waiting for a 3D print to finish, only to find it has these unexpected and unwanted stripes or lines across it. This issue, known as Z banding, is a common headache in 3D printing. It's like when you're drawing a straight line but your ruler keeps slipping, leaving you with a jagged line instead of a smooth one. Z banding can make your 3D printed objects look striped instead of having a smooth, even surface.

But why should we care about fixing this? Well, these lines are not just a cosmetic problem. They can make your 3D printed items weaker and less functional. Think of it like building a tower with blocks; if the blocks aren't lined up properly, the tower won't be as strong. That's why it's important for anyone using a 3D printer, whether you're a hobbyist or a professional, to understand how to tackle this issue. This guide is here to help you do just that, turning those frustrating lines into a thing of the past and helping you get the best results from your 3D printing projects.