A decent PLA filament.

[A7er]

I recently bought two reels of light grey copymaster 3D premium filament from Technology Outlet. It outperforms my old filament by a mile, I could never seem to get a smooth sanded surface. It's still early days for the new filament, but it sands to a finish as good (nearly) as my resin prints.

[bent]

A7er,

Thanks for the tip. I will probably need to purchase a new reel of filament soon, so it's useful to get recommendations from people who do a fair bit of this (versus the always-suspect Amazon "reviews").  Could you mention what brand your original filament was as well?

Do you do anything special when storing pla reels?  I've been reading and some suggest storing with dessicant, others say when changing reels to bake out the old reel and then store with dessicant.

The pla that came with my printer (MakerGear) seems to work pretty well...but then I have nothing to compare it to.  I've done a couple of figure models for friends and family, and they seem to print ok surface-finish wise (I don't bother sanding them, just hit them with a coat of flat spray paint).  I'm still trying to figure out how to make some "artistic" figures print okay (i.e. trying with/without supports, and recently discovered the ability to cut and stack parts to avoid having to use supports, etc.).  But some of the art prints available on free sites (thingiverse) are so full of unrepairable holes that they would never print for me.  At least, until I find out what all the bells and whistles in my software do (or don't do).  And still trying to figure out FreeCad well enough to make my own utilitarian (ie. stuff that works) stl files...though I had good success with my first efforts using Cad I know (Inventor).

My gosh this rabbit hole is deep...

-Ben T.

[crueby]

I've been using the Prusa PLA filament, no problems with it, very consistent. I store it in a Tupperware type box, had read reports it could absorb moisture. Other reports say its not an issue, including reports from the manufacturers saying it will take years to absorb even 1 percent moisture.

[A7er]

Ben.
My old filament was RoHS, 's their logo has a feather in front of the R. It's a good filament, but it took a great deal of work to get a smooth-ish surface. Even after sanding, filling, more sanding and then spraying, the layer lines were visable. I hope to be casting with the new filament soon. The new filament sands very well. I then use small scrapers to refine the surface followed by sanding with various grades finishing with 1000 grit wet or dry.

I have never stored my filament and admit I didn't know you should. I just leave the filament on my Ender3 all the time, open to the air. The second roll of filament is still in its air tight bag. Perhaps I should remove my filament and store it properly?

I used FreeCAD to design some very complex parts, slowly. I then discovered Designspark Mechanical. I now only use FreeCAD for small unimportant parts. Don't get me wrong, FreeCAD is amazing with features I would love to see in Desingspark. It's just a bit........?

Crueby.
It would be interesting to try Prusa filament and resin. Isn't it a bit of a chore having to remove the filament after each print, and then refit it?

[BillTodd]

Re: wet filament.

Certainly plastics do absorb water, nylon is notorious bith in bukk and as filament.   
 PLA seems pretty immune to the worst of it.  Tom Sanladerer (YouTube) tested pla by soaking in water for days without problems. Grant at 3dmusketeers based in superhumid Florida, says he's never had s problem with pla , whereas other filaments all required dryboxes .

Boxing the filament has the advantage of keeping the filament clean and dust free , so it's not a bad idea.

[AOG]

PLA has it’s own issues that may or may not be related to moisture ( I never could get a strait answer on that). If you leave it exposed on the machine for a few weeks it will become brittle and break when you try to feed it. I recommend pulling it from the machine when your done printing and storing in a plastic bag or box. I’ve had no issues since I started doing that.

Tony

[BillTodd]

Oh yes UV exposure, stress fracture creep due to winding strain and possibly plasticiser evaporation , all add to 3d printing woes.

[A7er]

An old reel of filament that still had a few metres on it had been stored on a shelf for a year or so, not in direct sunlight but not covered either. That had become brittle as it kept breaking when I tried to load it into the Ender3. I will try removing the new filament after a print and storing it properly, even though the brittle filament is the only Problem I've had.
Lee

[bent]

A7r, Todd, and others - thanks for the input!  I guess I will not worry about storage until I have more than one or two reels of material, and even then just to keep it clean.

Designspark Mechanical?  Had not heard about it before, will search around for it.  I've been struggling with FreeCad trying to design some basic parts - it sometimes won't accept putting a sketch on certain planar surfaces of a body, but will allow me to put it on other surfaces, and can't find any explanation of why.  And yeah, the interface is clunky as all get out.  Maybe it's just me.

Oh well, it's a learning curve...which for some perverse reason I find fun.

[BillTodd]

Re 3d cad.

Try onshape , it's a free online browser based system, from SOLIDWORKS team i believe.

Micheal Laws ,teachingtech on YouTube, has s series on it.

[A7er]

I've been following that Onshape series. It looks to be a very good cad programme. I didn't get on with it when I tried it a few years back, but I now think that was down to me being so green and having a slow computer. The main reason I don't use Onshape now is because my cad computer isn't connected to the internet. FreeCAD doesn't need the 'net, and Designspark can be persuaded that it doesn't really need the 'net. If I decide to re-connect my cad computer that I recently had a solid state hard drive fitted to, then I would definitely give Onshape a try.
It's a shame Solidworks is so expensive!
Lee

[Zephyrin]

looking at Onshape, it is far from a free tool, the cost is prohibitive...
and for a free and simple solution, I use Solvespace, which does'nt require internet connection.
the learning curve is very fast, with 3-4 video (ie 30 min) you understand the main tools,  (very similar to partdesign in freecad as regard constrains.
the main drawback is the absence of a tool for draft angle for models to be cast in metal ! 

the only part I successfully cast (a moot point I agree) in aluminium if the tiny cylinder head...

[bent]

Yeah, looked at Onshape before, and I know its pedigree (used SolidWorks a couple jobs back, it's a good modelling program).  Designspark looks good (also a good pedigree, I know a lot of people working Ansys that use their built-in modeller), and will probably be trying it out tonight (last night was busy doing my cardio and then running out for a shot of the new Covid booster).  A7er, you say you can run even without a regular hookup to the internet?  The documentation seems to indicate it wants to contact the mothership once a month.  I do like that Freecad has a lot of bells and whistles, however clunky some may be.  Built in FEA solver is nice too.  Had not heard of Solvespace before, will go looking...

[A7er]

Ben.
Because the computer I have my cad programmes on is only used for cad and slicing stl's and isn't connected to the internet, it doesn't need the system date to be current. Each time I use Designspark I change the system date to the day I installed the programme. I have been doing this for well over a year. If Designspark is ever upgraded to the extent that I like the new version, I will set the system date to be correct and download the new version. It would have to be much better than version 5 before I would do that.

Tonight I designed a collar in Designspark that will fit in an accessory pillar drill press that holds an ordinary electric pistol drill. The collar fits where the drill normally goes, and has a thread in the middle to accept a Dremel. I haven't printed the collar yet, but I did print a test piece that had the same thread as the Dremel, it was a tight fit, but it worked. I could probably have drawn it in FreeCAD, but I am getting a bit rusty with it now.

For me the biggest weakness with Designspark is the lack of a dedicated text tool. There is a workround where you can write/draw text and then extrude it and add draft. I couldn't find a way of adding draft to text in FreeCAD or I might have stuck with it. If I want to write text on a curve, as with a makers name plate say, then I will draw it in Inkscape and import the file into FreeCAD where it can be exported into Designspark. DS isn't too happy about importing such a file, but again, there is a workround. The picture is of two nameplates that I cast a while back. The text was drawn in Inkscape and imported into FC then DS where it was extruded and had draft added before drawing the oval and doing the same to it. They are both about 4" wide by 2" tall -ish. If I make a nameplate where the text is on a straight line then I can just use DS without using Inkscape and FC. If I could find a good cad programme that did all that for a reasonable price I would buy it. A one-off purchase price of about £150 sounds right.
Lee

[bent]

I finally figured out some of the quirks about the sketching tool in FreeCad, and got my first models done there and 3d printed them last night (well, started the 2nd piece and then went to bed). 

Have not explored far enough to check out the FreeCad draft tool (it looks like a secondary function similar to filleting and chamfering), nor to see if the pad tool can be used to add taper draft directly?  The old school crude way to create tapered lofts/pads/extrusions (why does everybody have to have their own term for that function?) was to set up the offset plane (end of the loft/pad) from the first sketch, and then create projected construction geometry of the base sketch on the new offset plane, offset the sketch geometry a specified amount inboard, and loft between the two sketches.  Clunky and slow, but it worked, unless some of the geometry shrank too far.  I've done it before for lettering that started from AutoCad font shapes exploded to .dxf lines that could be imported to...was it early Solidworks or maybe IronCad?  One of those.

I agree with you about a functional 3d CAD program for home use, and yeah, I'd pay $100 to $200 for a permanent license for it.  I was all set to download Fusion360 until I saw the license terms, and the future "rental" fees should I go that route.  If worse comes to worse, I have a pretty good working relationship and a gentleman's agreement with the boss that I'd be available for consulting work...which should also grant me friendly access to my Inventor seat here at work, at least for awhile post-retirement.  We'll see - I'd rather have something at home to use when the mood/muse strikes.

[A7er]

I understand that Alibre have some cad packages that might fit the bill. It requires an internet connection to check if you are using a registered programme. I think once you have bought it it's free for life with the option of paying a yearly fee for upgrades and support, not sure how that works. I have seen many screenshots on the forum that are from Alibre, so others will know more about it than me.
Lee

[bent]

Well, I browsed the FreeCad site briefly to check.  Apparently, in v0.20 (the most recent release, which I've downloaded) has a taper option included in the Pad function (i.e. you can create an extrude/pad with taper for draft), though they mention limitations:
 - Sketches containing B-Splines often cannot be properly tapered. This is a limitation of the OpenCASCADE kernel that FreeCAD uses.
 - For larger angles tapering will fail if the end face of the pad would have fewer edges than the start face/sketch.

Not sure if typical lettering fonts are b-splines (I don't think so?).  There is apparently a function to convert splines to tesselated arcs.  Might be easier to find fonts with minimal fancy shapes.  Will play with it a bit when I get home tonight.

[A7er]

I didn't know that about FreeCAD 2.0 I might have another look.

[A7er]

I re-installed FreeCAD 2.0 to try out the text extrude with draft feature. I could get it to do that with a single letter, but not a string. I created an extruded surface to put some text on, but the text didn't want to sit on the surface or the grid. I shut the programme down and uninstalled it. It is so frustrating when a programme has the same problems from release to release. I will stick with Designspark, not perfect, but so much better than poor old FreeCAD!

[internal_fire]

I recommend using the latest so-called development versions of FreeCAD. You can find them linked from the download page of the main FreeCAD website.

These development versions are "unstable", but that does not mean what one might think. The unstable part means that the master code is updated continuously, multiple times per day. However the usual meaning of unstable, namely prone to crashes, is almost the opposite. Many of the continuous updates are bugfixes, so the development version is actually more "stable" than the official releases. And lots of new capabilities are added all the time.

I have been using FreeCAD for years, and yes, it is different from other CAD programs. However, it is quite capable for design of various objects once one learns the details.

Disclosure: I am a moderator for the FreeCAD forum, and I may have a slightly biased view. 

Gene

[A7er]

I am often unfair to FreeCAD. Considering that it's free and maintained by volunteers it is amazing. I have produced some good designs with it, but, it's failure to not manage simple tasks like puting text on to a nominated surface and other shortcomings, have virtually stopped me using it for serious design work. I still dabble now and then, for old times sake! Here are some drawings of a half size Austin Seven cylinder block produced in FC 0.18.

[ddmckee54]

Bent:

I use Designspark3D, and have used it for years.  It is adequate, but not great.  Text in Designspark is a royal PITA, and you can't mirror a 3D object.  I still use Designspark, but I'm trying to wrap my head around FreeCad.

Don

[bent]

Hunh.  You had better success than me, A7er, in FreeCad 0.20 last night, I tried to extrude a text string, and got it to finally work, but not with taper.  I think some letters will allow a taper, others won't.  May be down to the particulars of the font, the one that came with the code has rounded ends and b-splines for the curvy bits, both of which may cause trouble in a tapered extrusion according to the documentation.  And yes, the whole switching workbenches to have a text input, then back, then trying to link the created designstring (or whatever its called) sketch to the original pad and get it to accept it...is a pain.  "Clunky" is how I think the user interface is best described.  But I can deal with clunky if the behavior is predictable and I can figure it out...time will tell. 

As noted previously, I've managed to get some simple shapes modelled in FreeCad, exported to STL files, sliced in Slic3r and printed via the "Getting Started" app that came with the printer...and then went back and tweaked one part to get the fit correct via the whole train, so that is working for me.  And now SWMBO should be happy(er?) because my roller skis are up off the floor and occupying an otherwise unusable corner of the entry closet hanger rod...felt pretty clever about it, haven't shown her yet (she is sleeping off the effects of latest Covid booster shot).

I may see about downloading a 30-day trial of Alibre, I too have seen a lot of people using it who like it.

Don, I have not yet downloaded DesignSpark, but may just to check it out.

Gene, is there a particular branch of the code you might recommend to us, and where is it located?  I've seen mention of them somewhere, possibly forum and/or reddit posts, but have not had time to dig into it.

[A7er]

Bent.
I believe the "Realthunder" version of FreeCAD is the one some youtubers like. I did try it, but it fell short of what I want to do.

Solid edge has every bell and whistle you could want in a cad programme, apart from cnc. It too is "free". My only real objection to some free programmes is the possibility of the free option being withdrawn or limited in some way as with Fusion 360, and if I remember rightly, Onshape a couple of years ago.

Edit.
I watched a video on the tube from The Hardware Guy. He showed how to put text on a surface. I tried it on 0.18 and then installed 2.0 on a laptop. My first attempt worked. I created a rectangle centred around the origin, then extruded backwards, to give me a surface then switched to the draft tool where I selected the shapestring. Using the tahoma font, I pressed the reset button so the middle of the rectangle was where the text would start and hit ok. the text was in the middle. I then switched to part design and selected the shapestring so I could adjust its position to approx middle of the rectangle. I extruded 2mm and added 5 deg draft. It worked. I wanted to try a different font. No matter what I did, the shapestring wouldn't sit on the surface of the rectangle, as it did before. Also the grid would show. So as per usual with FreeCAD, life is too short to play with it. I un-installed it from the laptop. Back to designspark. I am sure there are those who can make FreeCAD sing and dance. I can't.

[bent]

I have to agree with you, A7er, FreeCad is a cool idea, but falls short for me (clunky interface, unpredictable behavior).  Frustrating.

I did download a trial version of Alibre, and played with it this weekend.  Its UI is different, but usable, and some features are limited (e.g. you can't loft a hollow section), for the most part it's capable of doing what I want with a minimum of fuss, and a near zero learning curve (for me).  I'll probably end up paying for a seat of it, after exploring a couple more options.  Oh, and yes, it will extrude tapered fonts, Tahoma was one I tried; some others fail depending on the character shapes (serifs and other thin features disappearing...the letter "B" causes most issues).  I built several parts using Alibre, and had minimal issues.  One minor problem is that it won't import a .stl file, which I thought might be useful if trying to modify other people's files.  FreeCad can import .stl meshes...but converting them to solid files has not been very successful for me (probably more due to the poor quality of the .stl mesh, not the program - I've had problems converting .stl meshes even with Inventor).

[A7er]

I am not up to speed when it comes to stl's. Does Alibre import any other format based on stl? FreeCAD has a great deal of import/export formats, I wonder if you could import an stl into FreeCAD and then export as a file Alibre can work with. That's how I get fancy text into Designspark, export from Inkscape into FreeCAD then export a different format into DS.
Lee

[bent]

Freecad can supposedly import .stl files and export them to CAD-friendly file formats by doing a "mesh to solid" conversion.  Tried it on a few Thingiverse .stl files, and they threw errors...but I don't know if there were just unrecoverable problems with the .stl file (unfilled mesh?) or if the error was on my part (not knowing the proper sequence of Freecad commands - do I hold my left elbow up, or my right, and do I do a jig first, or after?) ...

[A7er]

Mesh to solid is supposedly a bit iffy, not just in FreeCAD.

[Admiral_dk]

Since nobody else replied - yes Alibre do Import of quite a number of formats.
I can't remember how many .... and I only have Alibre @ home - so no peeping now.

I have only used some of the Import formats, and with very few exceptions they have worked just fine. I have had some looking like a mesh afterwards - it is kind off like having see-through walls/sides - they work just fine, but looks strange ....
Some Import Formats have several Parameters that you can adjust during Import.
I have also seen a few Error Messages - where the Part was as expected, none the less.

Per

[bent]

I think Alibre will only import solid files, i.e. .SAT, .STP (all 3 flavors), as well as solid part files from other major brands (Autocad and Solidworks included, but not sure if you need to buy an upgrade for the Acad stuff).  Usually, I export and import .STP files here at work, they are more or less universal across 3D cad programs.

Mesh files (.STL and others) are what come out of surface modelling programs; most of these should work fine unless somebody has modified them by adding in another mesh (e.g. in Blender) and then not properly combining the two meshes (e.g. doing a Boolean "union").  Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff on free sites appears to be of the latter, poorly modified variety.  No biggie to me (other than as curiousities), but friends and family are keen to have me print figures of their favorite characters or DnD stuff...which don't always work well.

So far I'm pretty satisfied with Alibre, I've banged out several decent models with minimal issues.

[A7er]

I imported an stl file into FreeCAD and then exported it as a step file. I then imported the step file into Designspark, which doesn't like importing step files and tells you that the file is read only. Then with a bit of messing around I could edit the file. I didn't try saving it as a Designspark file. If Designspark can do this, very reluctantly, Alibre should be a breeze.
Lee

[Admiral_dk]

I got Alibre open right now, and the Import formats are :

Step Files ; .stp  .step  .ste
Iges Files ;  .igs
Sat Files ;  .sat
Rhino Files ;  .3dm
AutoCad ;  .dwg  .dxf
Image Files ;  .bmp  .dip  .rle  .img  .jpg  .jpe   .gif  .tif  .tiff  .png  .jfif  .emf  .wmf
Mesh Files ;  .3ds  .stl  .obj  .ply  .wrl
Solid Works Files ;  .sldprt  .sldasm
Inventor Files ;  .ipt  .ian
ProE Files ;  .prt  .asm  .xpr  .xas
Catia Files ;  .CATPart  .CATProduct
ParaSolid Files ;  .x_t  .X_b  .xmt_txt  .XMT_bin
Solid Edge Files ;  .par  .psm  .asm

You can argue that they aren't equally interesting - but I don't think that is a bad list for an old program - I haven't updated for some years now, as I can't afford to do so ....

Per

[A7er]

Per, I know there are different versions of Alibre, the one I tried a year or so ago on a try before you buy basis had some features missing, even if you bought the programme. As I say, it was over a year ago so I can't remember too much about it, plus I had a free, student version of Solidworks to learn. Unfortunately the student licence only lasted a year so I didn't spend too much time on it. Alibre didn't run too well on this computer, not much does, and Alibre needed to "check in" each time it was used. My cad computer is hardly ever connected to the internet, but it sounds as though Alibre might be worth it.
That list of files is impressive!
Lee

[Admiral_dk]

OK mine is not the Student version - but somewhere in the middle - Alibre Pro ?

Per

[bent]

Yeah, pretty sure the (today's) $150 Alibre version does not include importing a lot of those files, Per - but upgraded versions do. The full list is available on the Alibre website, and may have changed over time.  As mentioned, I don't need .stl import for my own projects, and can probably find workarounds if needed...I should probably talk to my eldest son who knows and uses 3d modelers for his game development job.