INFILL pattern and SHELLS - How to get the maximum STRENGTH out of your 3D prints?

[@paulhamacher773]

Aww finally someone who's actually testing different infill patterns and densities!

[@CNCKitchen]

At your service ;-)

[@hootsmin]

Check out the geometry on this 3d printing from MIT: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHrGi5eZaZd5Zsk

[@legohexman2858]

@Dominic Cory Bot

[@legohexman2858]

@Cristiano Stefan comments

[@gilr1488]

Cringe 👁️👄👁️

[@lumberjackengineering2649]

I love the scientific approach to testing! Definitely one of my favorite things about your videos.

[@y.z.6517]

Would you mind to share your figures/graphs? I feel a bit lazy.

[@oljobo]

It's the filament sellers that dislike 😂

[@TrevorSmith-lx8sf]

I thought the opposite. No consideration to direction of prints etc

[@AlfredoAntonioMartinez]

You are the man! I love your videos because you face the 3d print as a science, not like others that only print stupid things without any sense or objetive, good job Stefan! keep doing that amazing job!

[@Gaxa63]

Alfredo Antonio Martinez i

[@jakubkabelka]

8:24 15% Full Honeycomb, 2 perimeters is stronger than 75% and 30% infills (same pattern, same perimeters) wow, that's impressive. I'm already using from 5% up to 20% only for really sturdy prints. Great video!

[@Meglification]

Being a mechanical engineer by profession I can say that this is what moves 3d printing forward. Thanks! I need to make high strength, light weight parts and this video definetly got me thinking about my design. Especially the possibility to make dual walls at high stress points to add strength while keeping the weight down. More of this please :-)

[@AlexandreG]

I know this might struck your ego and sense of self entitlement, but "being a mechanical engineer by profession"(whatever that's supposed to mean) doesn't give you any extra capability to evaluate what moves 3d printing forward. Any 3D printing hobbyist can do exactly the same, but you had to come to the comments writing something to make yourself feel special, I understand, some people are insecure like that 🙃

[@ericmanternach2340]

​ @AlexandreG And you seem to enjoy interpreting comments ungenerously. Most money spent on 3D printing is by industry, not hobbyists. Mechanical engineers play a significant role in choosing printers and designing parts. Suggesting the perspective of a mechanical engineer is no different than the perspective of a hobbyist is silly. Both perspectives have their value. While you may not like @Meglification 's tone, devaluing their perspective to justify calling them insecure is excessive. And an unreasonable reach.

[@AlexandreG]

@@ericmanternach2340 As you might have noticed, I didn't say I'm a mechanical engineer to give value to what I said but apparently the guy is right, some people will just take your word for what it is if you take crtedentials, thanks for showing me. A year ago, me as a mechanical engineer boughta a 3D printer and it was my hobbyist friends who introduced me to it in many ways I didn't even think about, they knew much better than me. And surely they know just as much as me what might move 3D printing forward. Me being a mechanical engineer doesn't make me more entitled to what moves 3D printing forward compared to a person without a degree. Hope you were clarified

[@ziberzero]

@@AlexandreG Never seen someone feel so attacked by a random comment on the long story of the whole internet untill you.

[@AlexandreG]

@@ziberzero that's really cool 🤓

[@indramal]

Final Conclusion is INCREASE SHELLS AND DECREASE INFILL. How the hell unlike this video? This is awesome.

[@appa609]

This is not universally true. Very dependent on loading case.

[@techlabs9385]

What are shells, please?

[@Amipotsophspond]

over time you also have to account for cats jumping up on the keyboard and clicking dislike on a video, 1 out of 100.

[@AIPTutorials]

The ones who would dislike the video are working for big-infill. That industry has a lot to lose because of this video. They want to silence the truth! Also, as stated above, cats.

[@matthewparsons4955]

@@Amipotsophspond ONE SURE FIrE WAY TO (oops caps lock) avoid the problemiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii990kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk ( ?!@@#! cat) , Get a dog!

[@GarranGossage]

Wonderful analysis! It is refreshing to see a KZbin video with solid engineering/scientific methods and result presentations. Well done.

[@SergioPolimante]

You have one of the best hardcore engineering of 3D printing. Keep it up!!!

[@philb912]

I love the rigor with which you do the testing. Varying only one parameter at a time. And thoroughly analyzing the results. Great job !

[@djleunam]

Great video. Love your content! I would add a comment/reminder regarding part orientation as the biggest factor (before even looking at infills, perimeter layers etc... whenever possible). It might be obvious, but understanding the load path of your designs and orienting the part on the print bed so that the load paths are in the XY plane (continuous filament) is likely the most efficient way to get strength for a given weight. I know it's not 100% the point of the video but it's still a good reminder. You have shown us how anisotropic printed parts are. Learning a lot from your studies.

[@racketman2u]

agree, and I've found that layer cooling is huge too, particularly when I am printing multiple parts together like these hooks were, and the slicer is making decisions on travel with parts that are being build up side-by-side.

[@sheiladyer8389]

hi if you were printing a furniture leg that is round that has an adjustable skrew to adjust the length, would you print it on its side to make it stronger xx

[@PRO3DESIGN]

Another awesome video from you. I really like the content and the quality of your work. I will try to help you keep growing. You deserve many subscribers. Cheers Roy

[@alexandrevaliquette1941]

This guy is awesome, I agree!!!

[@3DThird]

Wow that was impressive!!! If possible, how about you test the strength of the specimen when using different nozzle diameters? Excellent work Stefan! You have a new subscriber 😀👍

[@Nisse977]

I think you make great videos, thanks for that! I almost only print stuff that I use on my car, drone or in my home. So strength is number one prio for me. This video helps alot. I did allways print with 2 perimeters and 100% infill before. Now I use more shells instead and lower infill :)

[@philbarnett6045]

I just found this and it's very good. Thank you for your scientific approach, it really determines what works very quickly without opinion or conjecture.

[@habiks]

Proper tests with proper usable results. Thanks!

[@balthizarlucienclan]

Using all of your tests, you should combine your findings and print a set of test hooks. I would love to see how strong a hook you could make

[@sportbikeguy9875]

all roads lead to a solid hook lol

[@kevfquinn]

Just found your channel, thanks to a shout-out from Angus. Really like your detailed test and measurement approach. On this particular topic, I'd be interested to see how the cubic etc infill patterns in Cura perform - they claim to achieve more consistent strength as they move layer to layer by building a three-dimensional internal lattice. I can see they should be stronger under compression in all directions overall, but I imagine the layer adhesion for the infill itself is significantly weaker when under tension.

[@lapidations]

Your videos are the best! I'd like to point out that in Cura 100% infill will actually make as many perimeters as needed to fill the surface, instead of using paralell lines like S3D, so you would get Pisces a lot stronger with 100% infill in Cura.

[@carbide1968]

First time watcher and subbed right away. I love how you get right to the point and appreciate all the work you do in your tests. I just got into 3d printing and was messing around with shells a few days ago on a very small part but it had to be strong so i set shells to 1000, just to insure a solid part. To my surprise it worked great but took a long time. So this video taught me new things.

[@arthurmorgan8966]

At this point I’m thinking Stefan has more hooks than Ikea’s curtains and upholstery section.

[@yshwgth]

I always have to think about bird bones in this context, mostly hollow with "struts" on the inside. Maybe we need bird bone infill.

[@CNCKitchen]

Google for lattice optimization. e.g. Autodesk is working on these things, but they are not optimally usable in FDM at the moment.

[@alf3071]

If you do a topology optimization simulation you will get a result similar to the bird bones structure

[@budakhon]

Concentric seems to do this depending on your density

[@YeeKongChan]

You are wise to choose a good model to test both compression and tension stress at the same time. In fact in one of the slow motion video, the crack happened on the compression side first rather than on the tension side as many people would expect. If you could test torsion stress as well then it would be a more perfect experiment. Thank you for your contribution to the 3d printing community. There had to be a lot of effort you gave.

[@chrisdixonstudios]

Thank you for sharing this knowledge. Your videos are helping me to learn as I enter the world of 3D printing as an old school sculptor.

[@ThePsycomac]

Finally! you answered my question, I wondered why my parts were weak even when I printed at 100% infill or with higher outer wall and why my prints failed when the infill and outer wall were too high. For a while I've been printing with 15% to 20% infill and with an outer shell/wall thickness =

[@TheOriginalTanner]

Best video on the topic. Super easy to understand. I’m going to look to see if you made a video with the updated infills mentioned at the end of the video.

[@n00dles79]

Dude, I am new to this hobby. Thank you. I needed to find this I’m glad I did. The settings in CURA offer so many options and variables. So much to learn. So little time.

[@slicedpage]

It took some time, but I got there in the end. Now, I understand exactly what is meant by this video. Not because of its production. It is extremely well made and explained. It is that up until now I did not NEED to understand it. I have been firefighting one problem after another with the belief that if it ain't broke don't fix it. That of course was down to confidence in what I was printing. Now I can experiment knowing if anything goes wrong I can fix it. CNC kitchen has played a big part in building my confidence and I will always be grateful. Thank you, Sir

[@matjolic3321]

Great analysis Stefan! I really appreciate your rational scientific approach in a world where too often speculation is king. Keep up the good work!

[@edwardrivas7228]

Thank you for the great test results, this is well worth the watch because as a new user this type of testing would have taken weeks, but now I'm convinced that I have a new approach to printing.

[@ejensen99999]

This confirms something that I only had a gut feeling for before. I've printed some pretty strong parts with only 15% infill but with 6-8 perimeters

[@JS-di9qg]

This video confirms my own research on the perimeter shells. I sliced in S3D and print 3D boat parts for some low load rigging parts and some other areas. They work fine when the part is correctly drawn, load vectors are aligned, rounded edges (sharp edges brake sooner), 20-50% infill (usually triangular), Number of shells (5 is good for this application), material and color (black seems to be the most U/V weather resistant in any one material). Good work.

[@Pa55ion]

Awesome work Stefan. You hit this one out of the ball park. Best Yt channel out there.

[@shirascorella6363]

Your systematic approach is really refreshing. Nice work!

[@waynedollery9946]

Thankyou and what a surprising result. I'll be using this information in my next functional prints. I like that you explained the result and why.

[@YOURMOMxo69xo]

Just sub'd. I couldn't click fast enough when I saw the title to this video. Iv'e been hoping someone would do this very same test for a long time as I print almost exclusively end use mechanical or mounting parts. Very thorough, answered all my questions.

[@thereverent117]

dein Kontent ist echt Top. Ich bin mehr oder weniger gezwungen 3d Druck zu betreiben und Deine Videos befriedigen meine Neugier sehr. Danke für die viele Arbeit.

[@babyhermes2965]

Thanks stefan ..old video but really useful to learn something from this channel. Alot better than others! :)

[@antoniorivera7337]

Great video! Thank you for taking the time to do and share this experiments! The results are in some cases quite unexpected. Thank you again!

[@Inspironator]

More please! The infill orientation relative to the load vectors will also make a difference but that is a more advanced topic.

[@gabrielhacecosas]

By intuition I was already doing that not to put too much filler but to put more outer layers. now I confirm that I was doing well. Thank you very much for uploading this video

[@willbrickner1299]

Fantastic video! Not just speculation, tons of real data collection and actual science! Very thurough! Subscribed!

[@JamesWhite-hg8yg]

Man I love your videos you really go in depth at what your explaining, Keep up the good work!!

[@jarrod-smith]

Nice, your approach to the problem does a very nice job of quantitating this and also explaining why it should be the case. I came to similar conclusions that the rigidity of a part is mostly coming from the wall thickness, as long as there is *some* infill to brace the walls. Even parts that have to withstand significant crushing force don't need a lot of infill. I am usually using between 1.2mm walls and 10% infill, to 2mm walls and 25% infill. That's between 3 and 5 outer walls (with a 0.4 mm nozzle), and an infill grid size of between ~7mm and ~3mm. I prefer the grid type infill based on speed. I also use the "connect infill lines" option in Cura. This reduces visibility of the infill lines on outer surfaces, and also helps adhere it to the inner walls, while giving them even more thickness/strength.

[@timix_au]

Thanks so much for this research, Stefan. I'm designing a 3d printed C-clamp, and the first iteration would break quite easily if tightened even slightly too far - I increased the number of perimeters from 2 to 4 for version 2, and when I attempted to test it to destruction, it actually crushed a small indentation into the underside of a particleboard table before I chickened out.

[@Snagglepuss1952]

Fascinating, I’ve just started 3d printing and have only fiddled with the settings a little, this gives me an area to work on, many thanks.

[@TylerPilizota]

Got into 3d printing not too long ago. Your channel has helped me a lot! Thank you. Subscribed! :)

[@rafiklam6836]

thank you a lot, this is what i am looking for, i hope you can do more video about the filament's use and testing the object not just in traction but also in torsion and fatigue

[@WalkingPez]

This is why I always pay particular attention to items engineered in Germany when I'm researching purchases in general (non-3d printing items)... Lots of quality coming out of Deutschland

[@CindyBardalou]

Very great work. I didn't know your channel. This video was the perfect answer to my question about infill. Thanks a lot

[@seekertosecrets]

This is very useful. I'm in the process of making a helmet for a costume so finding out the strength of each pattern was useful. Also, this could be very useful when printing out props as well.

[@Zeus43full]

That was a very nice test, your video are always of a great quality from an engineering point!

[@KFRogers263]

Thanks for the analytical approach!

[@brunogrimaldi2935]

Nice job testing this out. I've found that if you want strongest part, you have to determine outside forces nature and enviroment first, then select corresponding material (PLA is fragile, so you wont go with it for impact-proof things, for example), then orient your part so that force goes parallel to the shells in most critical part, and then select infill and shells amount.

[@Xapalax]

Awesome video! Just the right amount of info to deal with real pragmatic situations.

[@forrestberg591]

Amazing video! So in depth, felt very complete, you’ll blow up on YT I’d bet

[@jcsplayroom7587]

most useful video I have ever found in 3d printing.=)

[@CDN_Torsten]

Thanks - this was an excellent analysis! I would suggest trying "Stars" in Slic3r. It's my current favourite infill as it's strong in many directions, and also prints quickly as there are no direction changes mid-pattern - the direction changes only occur at the perimeter.

[@EZ_shop]

I was under the impression infill contributed more to the strength than it really does. Thank you for shining some light on this misconception.By the way, your foam bending demo really turned on the light bulb for me. Ciao, Marco.

[@HeyBirt]

I quite often use fasteners to strengthen a part. For example, I have made a series of 'L' shaped brackets, about 50mm on each side, that hold various sized waveguides. The right end of the horizontal part of the 'L' has a cap that clamps the wave guide (half of waveguide profile is in cap, other half in 'L'.) Two screws run through the cap and into threaded inserts in the left end of the 'L'. The screws are needed anyhow for the cap, and having them the full length of the bottom of the 'L' keep that part in compression and makes it much stronger. You can also create a separate part/model for the highly stressed region of your part. For example in the part of the sample shown here you can have a separate 'embedded model' to which you apply completely different printing parameter to. I have tried this some in Simplify3D. I combine the two parts of the model in an assembly and export an STL of the whole assembly then tell Simplify 3D to separate the different objects.

[@alexandrevaliquette1941]

KZbin at it's best!!!

[@TheStangSlayer]

Thanks for sharing Stefan, I love the video. I think a good follow-up video to this would be to see how the same approach to perimeters and infill works when printing in a Z axis.

[@pmm4177]

Awesome info brother! I see so many people cranking the infill up to make stronger parts when they should just increase the wall thickness a tiny bit

[@JohnOCFII]

Excellent video once again! I appreciate your scientific approach and your willingness to share results.

[@ApexNick]

Thank you for one of the best videos on youtube. I have spent the last hour taking notes. One chart I'd like to see that was missing: The "Specific Strength" chart at the end that has various combinations of infill amounts, patterns, and perimeter layers - Do a similar chart for time. I am much more interested in time than strength. Speaking of strength: Since the triangle pattern was the strongest, have you tested variations with this infill pattern? I am setting up new presets/templates right now with rectilinear, 15%, 4 layers now. Thanks again!

[@davewilson3951]

I often use cubic infill, it tends to print well and is more geometrically uniform. I’d love to see you test those other cura infill patterns!

[@theeclipsemaster]

Interesting. Keep in mind that cubes can slide against each other really easily, so it may not be very good. One day I hope there can be rhombic Dodecahedron infill. I think that those could be one of the strongest 3d patterns.

[@HerpyMcDerp]

Very insightful video! Thanks for putting in the time effort and material into this thorough investigation. A look into the cura settings would be very interesting to see as well.

[@kostakigogos]

As has been said your videos are the best when it comes to actually seeing how strong a part or material actually is. I would definitely like to see a test of the 3d infill pattern as that is what I use when I want a part stronger in multiple directions, but I'm not sure how effective that actually is.

[@PeXnb]

Awesome vid. I totally agree with your findings. Shell/wall thickness always makes a stronger part. I've used a screws for cement, brand name Tapcon, and a spot of glue for structural PLA parts. Never less than 1.2mm walls with screws. This is strange Just noticed the date you posted this. Feb 25 2018. I just revived the email notification today. June 10 2018

[@CNCKitchen]

KZbin is probably doing it's "experiments" again...

[@mike3684]

Using Cura, I have had really good results with the 3D Cross infill. A majority of my parts in standard temper PLA are as good as they ever need to be with 30% infill and 3-4 walls with this infill (depending on Application). My personal thoughts, your applying to a market that is highly interested in "tech" if their curious about comparative destructive testing, bring on the "tech"!! Love it!

[@OrianIglesias]

Excellent and clearly time consuming tests. Your work is appreciated! Thank you!

[@fredstcheron1463]

Nice work! And very informative. I would live to see the same structured approach regarding the wrapping and the surface quality .Thank you

[@tonysplace8009]

Great engineering approach while still being practical....keep 'em coming!

[@workingTchr]

Very interesting. What I'm looking for now is software that can determine where the regions of greatest stress will be and then adjust the slicing accordingly in those regions.

[@WildChinoise]

I generally print with a .6mm nozzle for functional parts. I generally use 4 perimeters and 15% hexagonal infill pattern. I also increase nozzles temp by 5-10C. I am able to really durable parts.

[@alexandrevaliquette1941]

I very appreciate ALL the graphics and explanations. ---I will use honeycomb as a default by now. ---I will put the emphasis on perimeter over the infill. Thank you for spending time and effort in such a great demonstration! Salutation, Alexandre Valiquette, from Québec, Canada

[@alexandrevaliquette1941]

Ok, I've watched the video another time... Everything is not black or white, it really depend of your application... I will come back to watch it again to better understand all the subltilities on each graphics. That's what make a great video!!!

[@juhanaleiwo]

A comprehensive analysis, thank you! But have you thought about compressive strain and shear strain as opposed to torsion and tension? I saw a video of someone using PLA printed dies with 100% infill for shaping sheet aluminium. The dies were hammered against the metal, and the compression strength of the part was essential. For shear strain, maybe a through-hole screw fitting that is loaded perpendicular to the screw axis would be an example. It would be very interesting to see how infill vs. perimeter applies in these cases.

[@whereyaatfreak1]

I'm not sure what all options are available on other software but in slic3r to save time on the prints you can set the size of perimeters and external perimeters. Using a .4mm nozzle I set perimeters at .8mm and external perimeter at .4mm So you get a shell of 1.2mm in only 2 perimeters instead of 3.

[@android4cg]

This is really great and useful video! Want to see much more such content. Layer adhesion (printing other orientation) and comparing different filaments would be great.

[@fromthehearth5599]

This is wonderful material testing and very well done. Infill and shell (but not perimeters-- how interesting!) were settings I was thinking maybe would help improve my prints but I didn't want to go through each combo myself ;)

[@tHaH4x0r]

Its a great video, but an often overlooked and maybe more important consideration, is design of the part and orientation when printing.

[@SafetyLucas]

You could probably publish a research paper with this information! Great work. Thank you!

[@davec3275]

Awesome video! This is something beneficial considering I am starting to print parts that need to be strong.

[@maximumroc7127]

I'm new to 3D printing. Great video and methodology. I subscribed to your channel.

[@olaruud9366]

This is exactly what we need to see more off from youtube, scientificallyish comparisons between settings and filaments.

[@tomasmiddleton5717]

That was very useful information, thank you for saving me time on doing this on my own

[@jacobrollins37]

Great video. I personally use thicker walls to increase the strength of my prints and use infill as little as possible to save material.

[@britishogo]

very useful!!! thanks so much. Love the scientific approach. your explanation is good and easy to understand. Not to technical. thanks

[@FilipGoc]

Very neat. I'd love to see follow up with Cura's cubic etc. 3D infills. My current approach is to print cubic infill at about 33% and 2 perimeters as the default strong part, and using the gradual infill function to bump up the infill to 65% for the last few layers to get a good roof support.

[@Dave-gf3kd]

Hi, I am curious as to the effects of these two things (infill and perimiter thickness) on warping. I am printing very simple parts, and mostly, I want them to retain their designed “flatness” - I I don’t want them to warp while printing, and to stay as flat as printed afterwards. I don’t think I’ve seen you address this, but I will check again. Thanks for all you do. I appreciate your scientific, objectively oriented explorations!

[@GrantCarterBrown]

Thank you for this very useful video. I'm just getting into 3D printing and videos like this are very useful to help me learn :D

[@Tennouseijin]

I suppose the wiggle infill pattern might make sense for some elastic materials, for parts intended to bend, compress or stretch significantly. On one hand it looks like it offers support without adding much rigidity to the part, and on the other hand it has no obvious points of failure, instead looking like it would disperse forces over a larger area.

[@RoterFruchtZwerg]

Really nice video! However, you should also take a closer look at the extrusion-width. When I print strong parts, I usually crank up the extrusion-width to 0.75 - 1.25mm (with 0.4mm nozzle). This way you require less perimeters for the same wall thickness. It's also a lot faster this way.

[@Jason-gt2kx]

Thanks, Im going into business using several 3D Printers and I need all this tips I can get on how to increase speed to decrease print times. If I can print faster with less quality, then increase the strength back up with by increasing perimeters then Im willing to try!

[@pentachronic]

Increasing perimeter width is definitely a noticeable strength improvement. However I believe that alternate layers of serpentine and straight paths in the perimeter would improve strength even more and I’ve asked the Cura team to add this to their slicer. Would like to hear your results if you test this option too. My reasoning for it being stronger is that it will give a bit more on the serpentine but will have axial strength on the straight. But maybe the converse argument can be made !!

[@MidnightMarrow]

Still pretty new to printing myself but I've been using like 15% infill max and an average of 5% I feel like infill is simply to help stabilize walls to help prevent collapse. Thicker walls I feel is where the actual strength comes in. Ideally you slice it and skim through the layers to see how it will print to determine whether the percentage used is actually going to reinforce what you want.

[@StuSona]

Fantastic video. Always wondering about the effect each print setting has on time/strength, and now I don't need to do my own experiments!

[@christopherpacheco7807]

Great quality of video and information. Straight to the point amd very well explained. Subbed 👌

[@g.s.3389]

Very, very interesting, compliments!!! I personally do the same, I increase perimeters and keep infill around 15-20%. But for hooks, exactly for the reasons you said you should use concentric infill in cura. Personally I am a fan of triangular infill (there is a reason why the bridges are supported with triangles .. ;))) again great video !!!

[@stefanodri2430]

Hi, I found your channel today and I'm pretty sure that this weekend I will watch all of your video! anyway, can I ask you if you have already made a tutorial for building a "tensile test machine" like the one in this video? thank you!

[@CNCKitchen]

Unfortunately there isn't a video about the tensile test machine, yet.

[@edstar83]

I came. I saw, I subscribed.

[@joshuadrakard2981]

Did the opposite 😂😂😂😂😂

[@genau14zeichen]

I saw, I came, I subscribed