8 Essential Design Rules for Mass Production 3D Printing

In this episode of Design for Mass Production 3D Printing, we cover it all.
Discover 8 essential 3D printing design tips to optimize your 3D printed parts for mass production. We provide you with expert advice on how to enhance the quality, strength, and efficiency of your prints. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a novice in 3D printing, this video offers practical guidelines to ensure your designs are not only aesthetically pleasing but also reliable for production. From reducing overhangs to minimizing bed surface contact, we cover crucial aspects that will transform your approach to 3D printing.
If you would like to learn more about how to change your approach towards manufacturing products with Mass Production 3D Printing, make sure to SUBSCRIBE to Slant 3D!
0:00 Avoid Thin Walls
0:49 Reduce Overhangs
1:19 Simple First Layer
1:49 Round is Better
2:27 Avoid Cavities
3:15 Textures
3:36 Compliant Features
4:05 Minimize Bed Contact
4:51 Final Thoughts
🔗 IMPORTANT LINKS 🔗
Get a Quote for Your Production Project: www.slant3d.com/
Slant 3D Etsy Plugin: www.slant3d.com/slant3d-etsy-...
Get Our STL's: www.angled.xyz/
Get Affordable High-Quality Filament: www.tangledfilament.com
Try Shapr3D (Use Code: Slant3d): www.shapr3d.com/download?utm_...
Our Favorite Products: www.amazon.com/shop/slant3d
About Slant 3D
🏭 High-Volume 3D Printing: Scalability Meets Flexibility
Slant 3D's Large-Scale 3D Print Farms utilize 1000's of FDM 3D printers working 24/7 to offer limitless scalability and unparalleled flexibility. Whether it's 100 or 100,000 parts, our system can handle it reliably, while still allowing for real-time design updates, ensuring products evolve with the times. This adaptability is key in today's fast-paced world.
🌿 Sustainable Manufacturing: Eco-Friendly Efficiency
Embrace a system that drastically reduces carbon emissions by eliminating carbon-intensive steps in the supply chain, such as global shipping and warehousing. Our approach minimizes this footprint, offering a more sustainable manufacturing option.
⚙️ Digital Warehouses: Parts On-Demand
Think of print farms as a "Digital Warehouse", meaning we can store your parts digitally on a server rather than physically on a shelf. parts are available on-demand, reducing the need for extensive physical inventory.
Produced by Slant Media
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Produced by Slant Media

[@TheOneLifeRider]

I love the tip about the texture on the side to hide layer lines. That's clever. Thank you.

[@bio.s2903]

The problem with mimizing first layer contact with the bed is reduced adhesion which is wanted for some parts for instance a cylinder shaft that is long and thin, you would want to make sure the ends of the shaft have a brim or something to hold it down or else the whole print will lift off pretty easily and tuning a printer to that specific setting will also be pretty time comsuming.

[@slant3d]

Not relevant in production

[@aakh-sw1ls]

3d printing is a good mass production method for certain types of parts. I don’t think a cylinder shaft that needs a brim would fit that though.

[@hallweeklong]

@@slant3d what's your reasoning on that? It's pretty lame to say someone is wrong without backing up your argument....

[@fabianmerki4222]

@@slant3d why, plesse explain. how do you increase adhesion?

[@Khalm_Down_Hobbies]

In a prior video they give a production example of that style of part showing the ways to avoid the need to stand such a cylinder on its end. This is likely a big part of why the design ethos that is explored here doesn't really translate to all ideas in the hobby space.

[@thecroc]

Another one: Divide and conquer! It's very tempting to try to make every model a single big part that can be printednin one go. However if you do that you run into issues with all the tips in this video. It's not posible to get the layer lines right on every feature of a complex part. It's imposible to avoid overhangs etc. But if you divide your print into a few different parts and assemble them you can make each part optimaly strong for its purpose.

[@Khalm_Down_Hobbies]

Another awesome video, I appreciate the new formatting for your videos with some shorter form content to catch the eye and longer format content to extrapolate on the information further. I have started again from the beginning of how I approach projects with a lot of your content in mind and it has made many things that are more practical than decorative come out with a more consistent result. I hope to see more in future and best of luck with your busy period.

[@matthewmathis62]

Your videos are very useful! I really appreciate you, and the work that you've done for us (plus your team). I'd like to support you in some way at a later date. But for now, I am just a thankful watcher. Thank you!

[@slant3d]

You are welcome

[@ImSoMagic]

Great video!! I'm bookmarking this right away.

[@collinames1803]

Nice visuals. Especially on the overhang section. Reduces ambiguity of the idea.

[@ObGoRat]

Thank you for this concise video

[@fredshorrock377]

Thanks for giving back

[@acbthr3840]

Glad you got the photography for the fuzzy skin down! The example with the round enclosure from your other video really didnt do it justice

[@11thHourRecords]

Big thanks for this - you're giving us Gold 👍

[@slant3d]

Thanks

[@davidwylie8491]

Fantastic. I find your channel so helpful. Thank you for sharing.

[@Liberty4Ever]

Great video. This was a short summary of previous Design For 3D videos, but these concepts need to be stressed often.

[@Liberty4Ever]

I awoke this morning thinking of the very simple part I need to design today. It's a small collar, but the outside diameter needs decent part tolerance and the inside needs to accommodate loose part tolerance of the mating part. I had arrived at the idea of slanted interior fins (4:00) and was considering how to CAD them. We need CAD or slicing tools that automate these 3D printing features.

[@AerialWaviator]

Great design summary video and reference to the "How-to Design for Mass Production 3D Printing" series playlist. Including a link in the description would help viewers navigate too, instead of searching for the playlist.

[@oliverhoedl6170]

Thanks for your very informative and clear presented Videos. I have already learnd a lot and improved my designs due to your tips! happy printing

[@yevgennegvey4021]

This 6 min video have more useful information than some hours long, just perfect

[@prosodyspeaks4036]

thanks so much your videos are super useful!

[@slant3d]

Happy to hear that!

[@andrevanrossum8408]

Your videos are amazing. I learn a lot of them. 👍

[@slant3d]

Happy to hear that!

[@CharlesLogstonInTexas]

I would be interested in a deep dive on the rounded vertical edges saving time. Appears to be a good rule of thumb for time saving. Rounded vertical edges decrease printed volume, so I would assume the time saved is more volume and distance traveled dependent rather than acceleration dependent.

[@OneHappyCrazyPerson]

Always have some candy around before you start, you gonna need and like it.

[@chinook9785]

a 3d pixel is called a voxel

[@slant3d]

Thats a brand name

[@chinook9785]

@@slant3di really enjoy your content. The term voxel as a 3d pixel is older than the brand. pixel stands fo "picture element" voxel stands for "volume element" [1]. Voxel the brand was founded in 1998 [2]. The therm voxel as a 3d pixel was used since 1993 [1]. [1] www.cs.cit.tum.de/fileadmin/w00cfj/cg/Research/Publications/2018/LineRaycast/Kanzler2018.pdf [2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voxel [3] www.voxelgroup.net/index.html

[@logicalfundy]

His target market are people who work with injection molding, who probably don't know what a voxel is.

[@AerialWaviator]

A voxel is a vo(lumetric) (pi)xel, a term that that's been used in 3d computer graphics dating back to the 1970's.

[@patricktierney4392]

It's a highlights reel of my favorite Slant3D videos. I'm surprised you didn't link them in the description.

[@EpicHeroSandwich]

you *can* put text on a first layer, and I've done so for a print with around 77 parts, but it was VERY simple text and I used a single layer cavity that the second layer then fell into to create the contrast for the text, and this wasn't a dimensionally crucial part and the font I use for production 3d printing is picked specifically for the job.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

5:19 "You Tried" SuperVinlin

[@robertasumendi]

Great video, I share your dream of applying a texture with 300 little circles to a part in Fusion without it crashing

[@3d1e00]

Can you do a video on hiding layer lines please?

[@marshallb5210]

The thin wall stuff drives me mad, i made a small circular hook on the side of a part, the hook's outside wall was deliberately made 1.2mm (2x nozzle width), so in theory it's two lines fusing nicely into the rest of part, right? Cura does some nonsensical zhops on the inside then lays a 1mm wide turd of a half-circle at the hook's weakest point, the part that juts out

[@logicalfundy]

Extrusion width is actually slightly larger than the nozzle width, as you want to squish the layers together slightly for best adhesion. You were asking the slicer to deal with essentially a worst case scenario for layer adhesion. The default extrusion width for a 0.6mm nozzle in PrusaSlicer for my Mk4 is actually 0.65mm. This means a width 1.3mm is actually 2x the extrusion width. In practice, I've found that you actually want to avoid these numbers as you're asking the slicer to deal with edge cases. Keep in mind that modern slicers use the Arachne perimeter generator, which is able to vary the extrusion width, so it's not super important to make sure you hit these carefully calculated numbers.

[@SynthaPak]

How would you recommend dealing with SHCS holes where the head side ends up needing to be printed down? Are sacrificial layers the best way to deal with these types of holes?

[@Frankenstein786]

What infill would you recommend? I’ve been using gyroid ia lot but I could just be wasting material.

[@alaingrignon]

Is there a certain proportion to strive for when deciding what portion of the part sits on the bed? My product has a print in place hinge which really only gives me 2 options for how to place it on the bed and both have roughly the equivalent amount of surface area on the bed. That said, my preferred orientation is designed to increase strength in the direction at which it will be repeatedly hit. Yes, I’m aware that PLA with shatter eventually when hit repeatedly, which is why I’m printing it in TPU with different print configurations for the main body (stiffer denser infill and more walls) and the pivoting appendage (less dense and less walls for more flex as this is the part that will mostly get hit. Am I on the right track or am I missing something?

[@Jacksparrow4986]

Does your printer move the bed for y axis?

[@alaingrignon]

No, it’s a delta printer, so bed is fixed. I’m also printing it I TPU at 300 mm/s

[@4LXK]

Should we modify the rule about wall thickness if using larger nozzles? Am using a .8mm for 90% of my prints - is Slant's Farm only using .4? If so what is the reasoning behind that?

[@tempacc9589]

The small bed contact area makes me afraid the print will fall over during printing

[@mmmuck]

curious, with the overhang couldn't the part shown just be rotated 180 degrees to become and under hang?

[@andxperia2274]

Do you use any bed adhesion products for the low contact parts? If so, can you share it? I'll understand if it's a trade secret.

[@slimknight_]

glue stick. I'm not kidding.

[@mururoa7024]

I use liquid Dimafix, but only for ABS and only on the edges of where the part will be printed. Although it can help with PLA and PETG too for tricky prints, or if your printer is unable to heat the bed uniformly. For sticking PLA, usually cleaning the bed with IPA and increasing the bed temp is sufficient (for difficult or too low quality PLA I sometimes increase the bed to 45-50C and it sticks w/o problem).

[@slant3d]

Bed Adhesives are not viable for mass production

[@benjones7762]

Chances are you already have one as most printers now ship with them as standard, but on the off chance you don't I'd recommend a textured PEI plate. Never used glue and never had trouble with first layer adhesion while using one.

[@logicalfundy]

A dialed in first layer with just enough squish for good adhesion, a good material for the bed, and it looks like their machines are Core XY so they don't have to deal with a moving bed.

[@LJRossPhoto]

Awesome vid! You forgot to mention 30 degree peaks at the top of horizontal round holes :)

[@slant3d]

There are endless tweaks in any design process. But we wanted to condense these to the most important for optimizing cost and reliablity at scale

[@adamsvette]

I really want to work at a place like slant. Mass production 3d printing is so cool

[@slant3d]

Thanks

[@uiopuiop3472]

you are becomming: 3ed printer god

[@WKfpv]

go bouba not kiki

[@pillpoppingemo]

So the problem is...there are more times than not that you're not given the leeway to edit the design. So yes, still design for 3d print...but also...git gud at 3d printing.