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[311.86 --> 316.90] So it takes that filament in through a drive gear, squishes it through the hot end, melts it, |
[317.42 --> 323.80] and then the pressure of the drive gears forcing that filament through forces it out of what's called |
[323.80 --> 329.72] a nozzle at the bottom of your hot end. And so the hot end is the thing that contains the thermistor |
[329.72 --> 333.66] and it's what contains the chamber where the melted plastic is and all that kind of stuff. |
[334.42 --> 338.80] And right at the very end of the process is the nozzle, which is what, you know, if you've ever |
[338.80 --> 346.32] watched a video of a 3D printer printing, it's that kind of nozzle shaped thing, funnel shaped thing |
[346.32 --> 353.92] on the bottom where the plastic actually gets extruded out of. And essentially the basic premise is |
[353.92 --> 361.18] you can use what's called G-code to move stepper motors left and right, up and down, forwards and |
[361.18 --> 367.78] backwards. You can use G-code to control the movement of that nozzle such that it will form layers of |
[367.78 --> 375.64] plastic. You know, we're talking an extruded line of plastic will be half a millimetre wide, a millimetre |
[375.64 --> 382.34] wide at most. And what it will do is it will build up layer upon layer upon layer of plastic to form models. |
[382.34 --> 387.88] It has some limitations. Obviously you can't print stuff with certain overhangs in certain shapes |
[387.88 --> 395.14] because the layer by layer construction of these things presupposes that there is a support underneath. |
[395.34 --> 399.56] So there's all sorts of different ways you can get around that by including supports in your models |
[399.56 --> 404.48] and things like that. But ultimately there are some shapes that just aren't very well suited to 3D |
[404.48 --> 410.42] printing. You know, a complete sphere would be quite tricky because it wouldn't be able to stick to |
[410.42 --> 415.72] what's called the print bed. And so one of the most difficult parts of 3D printing, which I'm sure |
[415.72 --> 420.64] both of you can attest to, is that first layer adhesion. |
[422.20 --> 427.36] Definitely. I know whenever I first started, layer adhesion was definitely a thing for me. |
[427.80 --> 434.60] I was using the inexpensive removable bed that came with my printer and quickly found out that that |
[434.60 --> 439.80] probably wasn't the best idea, especially after cracking off one print and then kind of putting a |
[439.80 --> 442.00] crease in part of the removable bed. |
[442.52 --> 446.30] Well, you're doing better than me. I had a Creality CR10 as my first printer. |
[446.84 --> 451.92] And I went to Ikea and purchased a mirror tile, which is I think about 12 inches square. |
[452.58 --> 457.08] And I actually had something stick to the glass so hard that when I was trying to unstick and |
[457.08 --> 460.82] unpeel this damn thing, that the print actually smashed the mirror when I was... |
[461.46 --> 461.98] Wow. |
[462.28 --> 462.38] Wow. |
[462.38 --> 463.94] Took a chunk of glass with it. |
[464.60 --> 468.80] That's impressive. Yeah. I mean, I was able to get mine leveled out pretty good, |
[468.90 --> 470.96] but I definitely had to go to a glass bed. |
[471.54 --> 480.10] So even with the original mat that came with my Ender 3, I honestly didn't have many adhesion |
[480.10 --> 486.62] problems with PLA, which, you know, we'll get into the types of plastics that you can use, but |
[486.62 --> 493.90] PLA I had no trouble with. It's when I started going on to more exotic filaments that I'm using now |
[493.90 --> 499.20] that I really started having adhesion problems. And fortunately, I was finally able to suss them |
[499.20 --> 503.88] out. But it's taken some time and a lot of experimentation to get there. |
[503.88 --> 511.22] It does. I think we should dispel the myth right now that 3D printing is out of the box, ready to go |
[511.22 --> 515.22] hobby. You know, it's not like you can go to Best Buy and buy a 3D printer like you could, |
[515.74 --> 521.02] you know, a paper printer, for want of a better word, and just press go and expect it to work |
[521.02 --> 527.12] first time every time. That's just not the reality. They are very finely toleranced machines. We're |
[527.12 --> 532.56] talking microns of a millimeter makes a big difference to how well a layer sticks or doesn't. |
[532.66 --> 537.04] You know, a few particles of dust can make the difference between a print sticking or not. |
[537.56 --> 543.30] Well, and it's not just that. There are so many different things that can really matter here, like |
[543.30 --> 547.68] the temperature that you have the filament coming out at, the temperature that you have the bed |
[547.68 --> 553.52] sitting at, whether or not it's in an enclosure, depending on what type of material it is. |
[553.52 --> 559.60] There are so many different variables that you can mess up and just totally throw off the whole thing. |
[560.36 --> 565.32] All right, so let's break down the filaments for a second. We mentioned PLA. That's probably the most |
[565.32 --> 569.06] beginner-friendly one that's available and probably the most popular, to be honest. |
[569.96 --> 575.62] PLA has a few interesting characteristics. First of all, it's very easy to work with. There's very |
[575.62 --> 582.54] little in the way of stringing. It doesn't require a particularly sticky bed in order to adhese properly. |
[582.54 --> 587.56] But it can be quite brittle. So for stuff like my racing drone parts, for example, |
[588.08 --> 592.80] when it got a bit cold outside, I'd slam my drone into a tree or something and the stuff would just |
[592.80 --> 598.90] snap. It would just crack. So it's good for sort of indoor stuff like plant pots or, you know, |
[598.96 --> 603.44] I've got a rocket lamp behind me that I 3D printed, for example. So a Saturn V rocket. |
[603.76 --> 607.40] It's good for that kind of stuff where there's very little load and very little stress |
[607.40 --> 613.72] on the print. But if you're wanting to do anything where heat is an issue, you know, |
[613.82 --> 618.76] let's say you're printing a bracket for your car, you know, another 3D print I've done, |
[618.80 --> 626.56] a functional print is a dash cam bracket for my car. And, you know, a car in the south of the |
[626.56 --> 631.42] United States gets pretty warm in the summer. I'm talking to a Texan. I'm well aware that you |
[631.42 --> 636.36] guys get warm too. But you know what I'm saying, right? If you were to try and use PLA in that |
[636.36 --> 641.36] environment, very quickly that plastic would get to what it's called its glass transition point |
[641.36 --> 646.90] and start softening drastically. And eventually, you know, if it's under any kind of load, |
[647.08 --> 652.94] even if it's just from a dash cam, you know, a few grams, it would start to warp and twist and |
[652.94 --> 653.76] eventually melt. |
[653.76 --> 659.54] Yeah. And I think that that depends on your print too, because a print that I had made for |
[659.54 --> 664.98] some friends, they had an above ground pool. And on that pool was a railing that, I don't know, |
[665.36 --> 671.76] you know, what the diameter of that railing, but they had no cup holders, right? So everyone was |
[671.76 --> 676.80] trying to figure out like, where do I set my drink down? So I made some cup holders and it just had |
[676.80 --> 682.20] these little hooks that hooked over the top of the ring on the pool and was able to, you know, |
[682.20 --> 690.04] put your drink there. And they probably sat out there for a little over a year before one of |
[690.04 --> 694.88] them finally failed. And one of the little arms had cracked. And I don't know if that's because |
[694.88 --> 701.80] somebody bumped it or how it happened, but it can hold up to some extent, but under a magnified |
[701.80 --> 706.66] windshield in the heat, direct heat, probably not the best. |
[706.84 --> 711.22] Yeah. There's no chances there. So for that kind of application, you want to be looking at |
[711.22 --> 717.06] something called PETG. There are a few other types that are suitable for sort of higher |
[717.06 --> 722.64] temperature environments, but PETG in particular is one of my go-tos. It's sort of chemically |
[722.64 --> 729.38] related to PLA. So it takes the best bits of PLA and another plastic called ABS, which is famously |
[729.38 --> 735.60] difficult to print and work with because of things like warping, which is where during a print, |
[735.60 --> 741.88] the corners of a print will lift. And then the entire model is put under intense stress and it |
[741.88 --> 749.44] can start to crack and all that kind of stuff. But PETG is probably the best of both worlds. It's got |
[749.44 --> 757.58] pretty much the same ease of printing as PLA and almost the same heat resistant characteristics as ABS. |
[757.58 --> 765.36] The downside to PETG is it can be a very sticky thing indeed. That was the filament that stuck to |
[765.36 --> 770.74] my glass bed and took a chunk of glass with it, for example. So chemically, it's very good at bonding |
[770.74 --> 776.92] with the build layer, the build surface on certain printers. So for my Prusa behind me, for example, |
[776.92 --> 781.92] I actually have two separate sheets. I have a texture sheet from Prusa, which is actually designed |
[781.92 --> 788.56] for PETG and a separate one for PLA, just so that I have that separation of concerns. I don't have to |
[788.56 --> 792.70] worry about glue sticks or any other kind of nonsense or tape or anything like that. |
[793.16 --> 799.62] It's worth mentioning too, that PETG is the slightly more exotic material I referenced earlier that I |
[799.62 --> 806.30] was moving towards and was having adhesion issues. It does require more heat than PLA to really get it |
[806.30 --> 813.52] to flow nicely. And you also can't print as fast because, you know, to get it to where it's flowing |
[813.52 --> 819.16] well, if you get it flowing too well, then it bubbles. And there's, you know, you need a hotter |
[819.16 --> 824.70] bed to really get it to stick well. And it's just, it's a lot more finicky, but not as finicky as |
[824.70 --> 828.62] something like ABS or anything like that. Yeah. |
[828.62 --> 835.94] So we're talking about with, with PLA, for example, that prints, the nozzle is around the hot end, |
[836.04 --> 844.10] sorry, is around 180 Celsius. And typically I run my bed at around 60 Celsius with PETG. I can run my |
[844.10 --> 850.82] hot end anywhere from 220 to 250, depending on the particular filament properties. And the bed is |
[850.82 --> 856.38] anywhere from 80 to 90 degrees Celsius. So there's a good step up there in the temperature and therefore |
[856.38 --> 861.10] energy required to use this filament. But that's why it performs better in, you know, |
[861.16 --> 867.04] heat sensitive environments. Speaking of, you know, different filaments from different |
[867.04 --> 874.36] manufacturers can have vastly different responses. Like I'm using various filaments from Micro Center |
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