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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • Glad to help! Mixing colors shouldn’t be an issue, I have done it in the past, also have mixed PA and PA-CF in the past without issue. I bet you could even find a tent with a window and run a PTFE tube to a dry box outside the tent then you could pull the first color out and put the second one in without having to open the tent.

    Also, just to say it out loud I would definitely test the strength of the layer adhesion (especially between the colors since they might have different additives) for anything structural, especially if you might get injured if it fails, just to be double safe heh.

    Last, at least where I am, PA is significantly more expensive than ASA or PETG so might be worth looking at those for at least prototypes of the parts. For example, I typically use PLA to prototype ASA parts, has usually been fine to swap it out with just minor tolerance adjustments and it’s way cheaper to print 50 versions in PLA while I’m working out the design and then I print the final ones in ASA or whatever.


  • I have printed PA and tent idea will probably work but the other person is not kidding, PA is very finicky. Plan on printing PA directly from a dry box as even sitting on the printer will ruin a roll of it if you live somewhere with more than like 20% humidity outside, also make sure your dryer can reach 85c to dry out a spool of PA, even with a dry box I usually dry PA immediately before printing it. As others have mentioned, definitely consider ASA or PETG or maybe even PC (if that printer can print it) where you don’t really need the material properties of PA specifically.

    The tent will also probably be important for maintaining temperature of the chamber more than the smell, nylon doesn’t have a ton of odor anyway. You may need to put a blanket on it, you probably won’t need a chamber heater since nylon needs like a 65c bed or more, just make sure to pre-heat the chamber first by turning the bed on, I usually let mine warm for 20 min or more. It is alap important to keep the temps stable as nylon also warps easily which can cause it to pop off the bed while printing too So make sure the tent is sealed and try not to open it.

    Sounds like an interesting project though, best of luck!


  • I found this diagram on SO at one point but I can’t find the post and it is the best explanation I have found for how all of the files work for bash and zsh, each color is an individual path of execution (eg, follow the red line).

    Bottom line though, it only really matters if you are overriding something that is already defined, for example I tell my users to use zshrc and I provide defaults and common things in zprofile because zshrc is executed last when they login.


  • So I stared at this for a while, particularly the pattern of the seam, I have a few questions. What type of infill are you using? how many outer wall loops? How much infill overlap (or whatever it is called)?

    Also what happens if you rotate the part on the bed 90 degrees so the seam is on a different axis? Or maybe 45 degrees? This will make sure it’s not some sort of mechanical issue in one direct that shows up in this specific situation.

    I know that all seems random but those are what I would check hah.


  • I think what that person is saying is that in your example the left part would probably be more durable because it is flexible and that the part on the right is less durable but more rigid, basically saying your result is expected and makes sense if you are wanting durability over rigidity.

    I think that the part that is unclear is that OP is using durability, rigidity, and strength as they are defined by material science not in common English and they way they differ in definition makes that comment make sense. I’m not a material scientist though so I could be wrong.

    I hope that is correct and makes sense hah!


  • Make sure your filament roller doesn’t have too much resistance as well. Since TPU stretches linearly way more than any other filament if it does have a lot of resistance then the extruder won’t be able to pull more filament until it overcomes that resistance and the stretch and it ends up physically thinning out the filament. Just a thought, hope it helps!



  • Yep definitely agree with all of this here, my friends and I have been saying the same things about Prusa too, they need to innovate or drop their prices in 2024.

    I am also a big oss supporter but the user experience of the Bambu ecosystem is really great, lately it has basically become the same argument as iPhone vs Android.

    To sum it up, I usually tell people that while both work, if your interest in the hobby is in the things that come off the printer then get a Bambu, if your interest is in tinkering and optimizing the printer then get a Prusa or something.

    I have a mk3s that is modded and an X1C and I always reach for the X1 because prints basically always work in any material without changing settings beyond infill/strength etc, I don’t even calibrate anything on it anymore, their auto calibrate function is extremely good and I have used it with PLA,PETG,ASA,ABS, PA/Nylon, PC, PLA/PETG/PA-CF, PLA+wood, and even TPU. The Prusa does well but it is definitely more finicky but I’m definitely a core-xy convert now so my next printer will be a core-xy because the accuracy is so much better for tall and square objects especially.


  • Yeah I’m with you, I read most of it but I just don’t know where the disdain comes from. At most scales of infrastructure anymore you can use them interchangeably because the difference is immaterial in practical applications.

    Like if I am going to provision 2TB I don’t really care if it’s 2000 or 2048GB, I’ll be resizing it when it gets to 1800 either way, and if I needed to actually store 2TB I would create a 3TB volume, storage is cheap and my time calculating the difference is not.

    Wait until you learn about how different fields use different precision levels of pi.


  • Yeah I’m curious too, I have an X1 and it has been extremely reliable and the wear parts are pretty reasonable I thought.

    You can also use whatever slicer you want, you just have to use Bambu/Orca slicer if you want to use the AMS or print from your computer which seems reasonable, it integrates with lots of other brands including octoprint. Both are very good and I actually use orca slicer with my other printers now because the UI is so much better.

    ETA: their hotend design is actually pretty great imo, and other brands are starting to release versions for it, e3d just released a HF hotend the other day.


  • I have never tried it but I am real curious for low speed things like that, I think it would come down to your printer being able to print something small enough. There are a bunch of print in place bearing designs on printables that I have run across too.

    I usually use 608 bearings for that kind of thing because they are really cheap on Amazon as well since those are used in roller skates and skateboards and stuff. I am definitely curious though so you should reply if you try it out :D


  • Yeah that is similar to what I was thinking but 4 individual sets of rollers, one for each spool. This version would be annoying in a drybox because all of the filament spools will probably spin at the same time which will make them all unspool since you will probably have them fed into 4 couplers and not clipped like on a shelf. Might work though if you don’t plan on having one output for each box and switching the “active” spool but I try to not open my dry boxes in general to keep air moisture out.


  • I mean if it’s working then it’s probably fine, two tubes would be interesting, I would think that would be a hassle when you have to take it in and out to change the filament. I ended up switching to using rollers on the bottom because of that anyway. I was going to try that one I linked before but I started designing my own similar one that used 1/2” EMT and bearings as rollers, I should finish that hah.


  • You can use PVC, if you are planning to hang it vs using the PVC as rollers then you will need larger diameter and maybe schedule 80 or it will be two flexible and sag in the middle. When I tested it I could get about 4 rolls on a 1.5” diameter piece of PVC before it started sagging. You might want to look at using EMT conduit for that, that’s what I switched to using for shelves and it works better.

    Does not have to be spaced but any friction can cause drag if you are printing from the drybox which can be a problem depending on your extruder and how much drag.

    Fitting thread size doesn’t matter if you are just screwing them into the drybox, what matters is the tube size it supports, M4 or M10 would only matter if you were using them on something that was pre threaded. For what it’s worth I just standardized on the PC4-M10 ones because there was a huge pack on Amazon that was cheap hah.

    I use these bins and I want to try this roller print (not my model) because it looks real simple, I don’t print from the boxes very often though so I haven’t bothered.

    Hope that helps!


  • Yeah! Once I learned a few basics and how to think in parametric it didn’t take long until I could make things that were in my mind which felt like a huge accomplishment. It still blows my min every time I think of something and then am holding it in my hand an hour later, it’s definitely worth the time.

    I ended up just paying for the basic fusion license because I quickly had more than 10 ideas I wanted to work on hah. I know it’s expensive but compared to the other options it is by far the most reasonable, especially if you ever want to sell anything you design. I also felt like I would spend that much on a physical tool to do a project if I needed it so :shrug: but the free version is definitely workable.

    The other thing that frustrated me was manipulating the view and to solve that I finally broke down and bought a space mouse which is an absolute game changer, I shouldn’t have waited so long and I will never go back haha. I found a deal on one on eBay but there are also a few DIY printable projects like this one which look awesome and I might build anyway.

    ETA: The space mouse works in many applications, it even works in Bambu/Orca slicer!



  • Okay we sound similar so I want to make sure you found this playlist about fusion 360.

    I recently had the time to sit down and spend time learning fusion after a delete failed attempts previously and the biggest lightbulb moment I had was really getting in the mindset of how parametric cad works. I guess I had assumed it was a buzzword coming from IT but no, it’s like the difference between building infrastructure manually and building infrastructure with something like Terraform.

    The other thing that was a big lightbulb for me is learning how to use the history in fusion, the first time I went back in the timeline and changed a dimension and it recalculated everything I about fell out of my chair.

    Anyway, I hope that is helpful, I can try to answer questions but I am certainly no expert in fusion hah. that playlist above is what I used to get going, definitely haven’t watched all of it but the first few were really helpful.

    Oh also, on shape and others are also parametric style cad so that is probably why they all seemed similarly frustrating.



  • I want to add a second to everything this person said, I have both a Mk3s that has some upgrades and an X1C and the difference in speed and quality is astounding. They are not kidding either, the quality out of the box is excellent. I basically only change strength related parameters anymore, the automatic flow calibration is incredible. The recent addition of the ability to skip failed parts mid print from my phone is awesome as well. I have also printed the same part with the same layer height and filament and the X1 is almost 3x as fast in “standard” preset.

    Also for what it’s worth, I am probably going to replace my Mk3 with the A1 in the next few months as well.