I’ve tried adding holes in some things and sometimes it uses more filament since the walls often use a lot more filament than sparse infill, even with the holes.
Comment on An interesting issue
Thorry@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Just a question, but why is the large gear solid like that? It’s probably printed at some low infill, so it shouldn’t matter much. But I think you can massively reduce printing time and material needed, while at the same time increasing the strength of the gear, if you were to switch to a spoked design.
mrcleanup@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Bluewing@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Part lazy design choice and part running these gears for a few minutes at speed to observe real world function. Spoked FDM plastic gears probably would not run long enough at 500rpms and there is no soft start on a lathe. And since most of the strength with FDM printed items lies in the skin of the part, removing half the skin would reduce the rigidity.
LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
You know… I just had to test it.
Just threw together a model with some holes, it’s actually faster to print without the holes, even though it uses slightly less material, because there’s fewer retractions and nozzle hopping around.
I’m sure you can optimize it more, but for a quick test, just throwing a solid disc out there will most likely be faster to print.
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Thorry@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Thanks for trying it out. I would model something up, but don’t have time right now. It would also depend on the slicer used, the printer and the settings etc.
It probably doesn’t matter that much and not be worth the effort unless it’s really what you want. But for a quick prototype just having it solid is fine and not worth optimizing.