Slant 3D Filament Update, 3D Printed Molds are Silly, Comments on Layer Lines Video

In this episode of Layer by Layer, we discuss why Slant 3D won't be attending Rapid City in Chicago, why 3D printing molds are becoming obsolete, and expand on the Layer Lines video from a couple weeks ago. Lastly, we will provide an update on Slant 3D filament production. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the Slant 3D KZbin channel for more Mass Production 3D Printing content.
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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
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.*
0:00 Welcome
8:48 Slant 3D Filament Update

[@you_just]

i see two types of people in the 3d printing industry: traditional manufacturers who don't understand the process and treat 3d printing as a shoddy injection molding process; or lazy printer manufacturers who spend time and money on simple gimmicks and don't treat 3d printing like the manufacturing process it is. it's awesome to see someone finally integrate both of these ideas and broadcast things like "hey, maybe you should design for your process" or "maybe we should not try to make 3d printing a clone of injection molding". it's a breath of fresh air!

[@slant3d]

Really appreciate that.

[@martinmikus472]

Man, you can never mach the speed of injection molding with 3d printing. No matter how good the printers get. And the bigger the part, the bigger the difference. That is why I don't think molds will ever go away in favor of 3d printing. For small batches it can make sense, but if you are turning out thousands and thousands of the same part, injection molding will be overall cheaper and much faster.

[@FilamentStories]

Can't wait to try some Slant 3D filament! Some people, even hobbyists, will love the volume subscription option. Getting everything going at scale and the spool redesign sounds like a lot of work to get ready for rollout. Looking forward to it when you do! -Courtney

[@slant3d]

Thanks.

[@NotseenNinja]

We use about 300-400kg a month and a subscription or "guaranteed to have" model would actually be pretty great. It helps us on our end because we know we can get what we need and it helps the manufacturer know about how much they need to produce so that they can be consistent. The way most filament makers control supply is by raising the price -- higher price means that less people will be buying it but they can keep some in stock and still make the profit. Not ideal for the consumer.

[@slant3d]

Exactly!

[@Ethan-uf4jp]

$10/spool would be a game changer!!! I'd happily subscribe. Would greatly appreciate the flexibility to opt in at 1 spool/mo with the ability to up the quantity on a per month or even per quarter basis. I think that helps you with projections while still letting all the "little guy" hobbyists get in on the great price. Super pumped about this!!!

[@slant3d]

Thanks for the feedback. It really helps

[@Polymaker]

Looking forward to the new Slant 3D filament, we need to push the market forward :)

[@KanielD]

Do you have any videos covering the printers you designed? Or are they super dooper secret?

[@tamiamibusch]

My filament consumption as a hobbiest is very sporadic. A subscription is not something that would appeal to me because I feel it would just pile up over time. However I would bulk buy 5kg at a time with a long lead time on delivery to be fit into production planning. Buy 5kg and receive it sometime in the first quarter of the year. I am not time sensitive to the delivery so could easily wait to be fit into a production run.

[@czejczej]

This subscription stuff sounds really good, but my question is it will be available for EU countries too? Here a spool of filament cost anywhere between 16 bucks to 35 bucks for a kilo. But the cheaper ones many times to "same color" just not the same when you print it and as you running a farm you know a constant quality and color is a key :)

[@daliasprints9798]

Molds are needed for any material you can't 3D print. I guess whether that set of materials will shrink sufficiently to make molding niche is an open question, but right now it's a lot, especially if you count ones that are extremely expensive to print as non printable.

[@lifeteen2]

Question for a future video: How do you handle filament runout? It looks like you don't have any automatic filament loaders. Manual changeover in the middle of a print feels like a huge loss of productivity, at best you loose time until someone gets around to it and at worst you loose out on unattended printing for long print jobs. I see all these filament loader systems marketed for multi-color or multi-material printing, when mostly what I want is just a single standby spool. Am I wrong about the costs of lost productivity, or are printer manufacturers just not targeting this?

[@magomat6756]

My dad was head of a molding making workshop,and people have no idea how labor intensive and expensie it is to make a mold and keep it working .

[@MakerMindset]

11:20 I agree that the subscription model will allow you to lower the costs by having predictable consumer demand. However, I think that you should also have a short amount of your production dedicated to none subscriber demand. This will put a good taste in the mouth of potential future subscribers by allowing them to try your product. In addition, by allocating to the general public only a short monthly supply of filament, you will create high demand and a buzz within the community. Word of mouth can be a powerful advertisement method. In addition, it is literally free! 🤔

[@slant3d]

We will certainly do that as well. But the subscription lets us, as you say, plan production and anticipate demand. If you don't have the subscription you do not have guaranteed supply

[@G33X]

I really like the idea of a filament subscription. I was thinking about something like this the other day, since switching between spools from different brands can present a small adjustment and tweaking period, which totally gets in the way of pulling nice looking prints off the line. Maybe a recycling program would could run alongside the subscription service? I always feel a little wasteful when throwing away supports, knowing that those could be melted back down and reused

[@slant3d]

Thank for letting us know

[@ambiguousmartin4593]

You can start out by taking preorders. That way you know how much demand you have, and from client side it would be worth it to stock up on fillament at those prices. Win-win

[@slant3d]

We want to stay away from preorders until we have everything really ironed out. Otherwise it can degerate into a "we shipping soon" problem

[@MrKeith5021]

I would be good with 2-3 kg per month. It would all depend on if you had to order the same colors and material types each month. How many colors of which materials are you planning on making?

[@ralphglenz7207]

I love the subscription idea...I would hope to be able to get about 5 or so kg per month as a hobbyist as I don't need 25...haha. I usually try and catch sales of known good filament and store it, but a consistent supply would be ideal as room is always at a premium in my house.

[@slant3d]

Thank you so much for letting us know. That is big help.

[@qlum]

While it will not be applicable to me either way (being in europe and not printing a lot) Maybe it would work for people who print less to have preorders / a waiting list. I am pretty sure from my personal use that I know I need to buy new filament with in the next 2 months, I generally know. That way you can also guage demand and produce accordingly. I don't know if other people are as willing to wait for filament.

[@magomat6756]

Will the filament also be available for small users in Europe via subscription

[@SiBOneTheRocks]

Are the plans for the subscription only for US soil? Really curious about the spools as well Something that I would like to ask: What are your views on Prusa's blog post about the sustainability of open source in 3D printing? (even though you don't use 3rd party printers, for sure you use parts)

[@ThePhilbox]

Can you talk about what material you mainly use at Slant? I cant get past the creep issue and low temp for PLA. I use mostly ABS, but of course that complicates things needing enclosure and heat-up time etc. Can you talk about what materials you see as the future of 3d printing?

[@MichaelPetito]

I don't know if the subscription is aimed at hobbyists but I'm averaging 4-5 kg/mo (PLA or PETG) on one printer. Another idea for you might be to integrate with Klipper or other open tools so that you can forecast supply based on automatically reported utilization.

[@slant3d]

Thanks for the feedback. Probably can't rely on Klipper too much. It could convolute the product. But maybe someday

[@bradfox3887]

Subscription model would be great for those who are running print farms, and maybe that is your target audience. For a hobbyist going through maybe 5 spools a month on a very heavy month, at $10/spool and 5 spool/month at say $25/month sub your back to looking at $15 spools again IF you order 5 spools per month

[@mggevaer260]

For your filament, it might also be interesting to mention the volume when selling spools. It doesn't make much sense to me why spools are still sold by weight (1, 2, 3, 5kg) rather than volume. You can print more with 1 kg ASA than 1kg PETG due to different density. If I had to guess spools are sold by weight since this is the only thing that can be "easily" verified by the buyer. This means it's not as easy to compare prices for the same part in different materials.

[@slant3d]

Thats a big part of it. But the difference in density is made up for in the price

[@mggevaer260]

@@slant3d indeed, it just requires some extra math. Prusa for example sells ASA by 850g per spool, because it's so light. Easy enough to work around, but I don't see the advantage of selling by weight other than that everyone does it like that now.

[@SirSpence99]

What are your thoughts on using 3d prints for one off (or small runs) of metal parts through casting with the printed part being a male mold? This being in the relatively short term of course.

[@SirSpence99]

@@roscoepatternworks3471 I'm asking generally. In my case (probably next week) I'm going to be doing a plaster cast with Zamak.

[@richkaiser9453]

2 things, first subscriptions base and second recycle(let us send you our scraps + spools for credit), around 5 1k spools a month

[@slant3d]

Thanks

[@randomviewer896]

There will always be a time and a place for injection molding, like in the medical and food industry where you absolutely cannot have porous parts. 3d printing is going to replace just about everything else though. There's also injection molding massive objects like trash cans. I mean I'm impressed that's even possible but I don't see how 3d printing could replace that either.

[@slant3d]

There is still a time and place for horses.

[@b1tw0nder]

I use 0 to 2 kg monthly average. Occasionally, i will do so across multiple colors for the same project. Otherwise primarly white,black, or clear. All are pla+ except for clear.

[@Streamersshortclips4]

you are so underrated as a channel

[@slant3d]

Thanks. The team will love to hear that.

[@creativitybyph]

Mat black in 5 or 10kg spools. I use between 30-50kg a month

[@slant3d]

Thanks for that feedback. Big Help

[@anthonywalker6168]

I know you can HIP 3d sintered steel as a post process to even out the properties. Can this be done for 3d printed plastic parts?

[@rampage5275]

You can anneal printed plastic parts, and it does help a lot for strength along the z axis. CNC Kitchen has some vids on it. Not sure how realistic his process is for manufacturing but I'm sure it has its place.

[@anthonywalker6168]

@@rampage5275 Thanks for the feedback, I’ll check that out

[@SianaGearz]

@@rampage5275 It's more realistic for series manufacturing than for one-offs since you can compensate the warpage in the design once you choose one filament and the exact annealing recipe. For DIY and prototyping, it increases the effort a lot, with dubious outcome when better chosen material might do a lot better. For distributing a model to self-print, it causes issues since everyone's filament and annealing temperature curve will be different so you just can't count on it succeeding. Most plastics don't need to and can't be annealed. I expect printfarming at least in the intermediate future to be polypropylene and styrenes for cost, just the same polymers used in injection moulding, which don't anneal and don't need to be. So i don't really think it needs to be considered as a process for printfarms.

[@ThePhilbox]

Can we assume Slant filament will be master spool designed to use the slant spool?

[@slant3d]

no

[@ThePhilbox]

@@slant3d Why? talk about it in the podcast. to bad master spool still isn't the standard.

[@McRootbeer]

How about a 3 tiered system? Tier 1: small scale manufacturers with a monthly purchase requirement, get priority order fulfillment, best price, and can be polled for input on new colors, modifiers (glow, sparkle, etc) and materials. Tier 2: hobbyist subscription has no minimum purchase requirement, gets order fulfillment priority after tier 1, and has a cap on how much filament they can buy at the best price each month (any amount over is retail price). Can also vote in new filament polls but with less weight. Tier 3: retail buyer: pays full retail price for whatever filament is left at the end of a production run. What do you think?

[@slant3d]

Interesting. We did expect there to be some sort of tiered system at first. We'll look into this more.

[@tracynadeau4]

I'm just a hobbyist but I think any input is beneficial so I would say I use 4 to 8 KG a month.

[@slant3d]

Thank you. That really helps

[@lucianoag999]

About the anisotropy. You can not just build it bigger. If that was the case, by now all cars would be made out of plastic. Sometime you have geometric constraints. In your analogy with steel and aluminum, aluminum would be thicker, but lighter due to the higher specific strength (strength /density). With your approach you would be making heavier parts that injection molded. There are other materials with anisotropic behavior, like composites. They attack the problem by mainly using them as laminates, “2D” bodies, or with clear, known and simple loads. As soon as you have 3 dimensional, complex or unknown loads, you are usually better of with an isotropic material like a metal. The benefit of 3D printing is being able to make voluminous parts. You can also expect complex and 3D loads. At the same time, you can not just make it bigger in the z direction. You increase the size for all. At the end in order to make it withstand in z direction you have to over dimension for x and y, resulting again in a heavier part compared to injection. Since you are not really trading the z properties for better x and y, but you are actually just losing z properties, the material 3D-printed is objectively worse. I agree, you have to design for 3D printing and there are ways to overcome this problems, like fasteners and stiffeners, but that makes it more complicated.

[@andrewdreasler428]

7:58 "Just increase the cross sectional area by 50%" So that increases the print time by 50%, and increases the material cost by 50%. When dealing with structural materials, one thing that is looked at is the strength/weight ratio. For example, Titanium has a higher strength/weight ratio than Steel, which in turn has a higher strength/weight ratio than aluminum. Titanium is more expensive than steel, and aluminum is more or less expensive than either depending on the source (processing aluminum from ore is VERY energy intensive, making 'virgin' aluminum rather expensive. That's why the first metal recycling programs in the US were exclusively aluminum recycling, recycling steel had roughly the same costs as producing steel from 'virgin' iron). depending on the application, the strength/weight ratio can be ignored; skyscrapers can use heavy, cheap steel because they're not going anywhere, airplanes are almost all aluminum because every ounce matters when making a flying machine, and titanium would raise the cost of the plane to the point where an economy seat would need to cost 100,000 dollars to recoup the cost of production within the plane's expected lifespan.

[@icrofts]

Love love love the subscription model. $10 roll is nice... I would much rather have $45 3kg rolls.

[@slant3d]

Thanks for letting us know. That is a big help

[@fjlaboratories]

In the interest of sustainability and reuse, it would be nice to buy massive 10kg rolls that I could re-spool into smaller ones as needed.

[@jabberwocktechnologies]

Yah, a subscription would be great. Being able to pick up a single spool (even with a higher price and less reliable stock) to test it before subscribing would be nice too though. Most of the stuff I print involves lots of small detailed parts so I'd only need 2 or 3 kg per month. PLA plus/pro/max/whatever is better for what I do than ordinary PLA, but since the additives are all proprietary there's a lot of variation between manufacturers. That's why I'd like a way to test it.

[@jabberwocktechnologies]

Also, hooray for more work on reusable spools! That's great!

[@slant3d]

Absolutely. The subscription would just give the extra benefits and reliability. But we would allow anyone at any time to try some without the subscription.

[@evlsc400]

$10 Spools! $10 Spools! $10 Spools! :)

[@lifeteen2]

Sell filament in minimum quantities of ~10kg or more, probably on 2-3kg spools. That will limit your market to more consistent customers, and reduce your overhead costs. A request for filament that would set good precedent for the industry and I'd pay extra for: accurate composition information. I work in a niche polymer company, and there are a whole host of reasons I'd really prefer to know what's in my filament without bothering our analytical lab to run it through their GC/MS. If filament is supposed to be a commodity good, then that means no trade secrets in its recipe.

[@UbberMapper]

Molding is going to go the way of the dinosaur? Maybe you are right but i sincerely doubt it. But lets say you are right for a moment, Even the smallest of injection molded parts can be completed 20 times faster than 3d printing that part. And that only considering injecting 1 part at a time. A mold could easily have many of the same parts in it further increasing the gap. Additionally large parts have an even larger gap. 3d printing is no where near the speeds it would take to replace injection molding and to reach those speeds we would need multiple major revolutions in 3d printing technology. Even then, i have only discussed the time aspect of the process and not mentioned the things that can currently only be achieved via molding. Plus you have to consider that even the best 3d printers cannot produce parts as accurately as injection molding which does matter for some parts. If molding does get obsoleted like you suggest it isn't going to happen in the next 10 years for sure. I doubt it will happen in the next 50. So why not learn how to benefit from molding and making your own 3d printed molds?

[@dennisolsson3119]

I would kind of prefer the comparison to be the printing press vs a laser printer. The printer is way more flexible but if you need 1M copies over night and can love with the limitations the print press might be better. The massive throughput of injection molding is according to my view its main benefit. That being said, our world is designed to be injection molded ("if all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail"), so in a while we might not even want millions of any single part. Except Legos :) Speaking of... it would be nice with a tour of your facilities and a view of your printers. You have IP to protect so I am not expecting you to jump on this though.

[@andrewdreasler428]

2:52 "Molds are going to go the way of the White Buffalo anyway." I beg to differ. Injection molding has one advantage over 3D printing: Speed. Cycle times on injection molds are measured in seconds. Even if the mold is a single cavity, making only one part at a time, it can produce DOZENS of parts in the time it takes for a 3D printer to preheat the hod end and track to its zero point. 3D printed molds will work for medium-scale production, where the mold only has to last a few hundred cycles or so, producing a quantity of parts for testing iterations and experimental designs, or for productions where the expense of a fully-machined mold would be cost-prohibitive to the profit margin of a small part run. Also, injection molding produces parts with different characteristics and geometries than 3D printing. For example: a flat part with tooling on both faces, like a game coin or a piece of bulkhead terrain, can be produced in a single step in injection molding, while a 3D printed version would need to be made in two halves, due to the inability to produce much fine detail on the layer adhered to the build plate. 3D printed molds could also be used for casting in materials that cannot be 3D printed, such as plaster or epoxy resin. I can see where your viewpoint is: you are part of a 3D printer farm, 3D printers are your 'hammer,' as in the saying "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." It's just that some things are NOT nails, there are screws and bolts, cakes and chain-link fences, milk caps and soap scoops. Not everything is best suited for 3D printing, not every injection mold and forming die needs to be machined out of hardened machine steel. Oh, and electric vehicles will remain a novelty until there are sufficient high-speed recharging stations spaced out for one to travel from one end of the US to the other with the same frequency and duration of 'refueling stops' as for an equivalent internal combustion vehicle. If the EV can go 200 miles on a charge, and the nearest recharging station to the 'home station' is 300 miles away, then that station is unreachable and may as well not exist for that vehicle.

[@TheGonz08]

The just redesign the part for the layer adhesion problem isn’t that simple. If your making toys you can get away with that. Functional components generally have design constraints. Simulation has helped on being able to better optimize parts, but this is still an expensive endeavor.

[@volkerhauff6565]

Unless 3d printing is en par with surface finish of a pressed and polished part of a simple surface part then there will be still tons of parts produced old school

[@slant3d]

Already is

[@jdiviz14]

Dont forget about draft angles when it comes to injection molding.

[@slant3d]

On that topic you might enjoy this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmHQdHqZgpeqbck

[@spendymcspendy]

3D Printed molds and IMM have the massive advantage current 3D Printers really don't: scale and time. I love 3D Printing, but conventional methods still have a place in the future.

[@slant3d]

3D Printing already matches conventional in scale and cost

[@Schaub3]

You hurt Integza’s feelings at 8:17😅

[@andrewdreasler428]

4:15 "It will match injection molding in every way." Quick example: Plastic milk caps. Made from Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), produced from a mid-sized injection molding machine (150-200 ton ram) at a rate of 64 caps every 5 seconds, containing less than 10 grams of plastic per part, selling for about 5 cents per cap. 46,000 parts per hour, from ONE machine, with a dimensional accuracy of +/-0.5mm, able to provide a watertight seal against blow-molded milk jugs also made from LDPE. How large would a 3D print farm need to be to match that output and accuracy? I won't even try to compare a 3D printed gallon milk jug to a blow-molded one, as those are produced in the production line that fills them, a new 1 gallon container every few seconds, from a machine about 10 foot on a side. Again, I see where you're coming from: you're betting your livelihood and your family's security to 3D printing, so you want to see it succeed, but the era of Mass Customization will not replace the era of Mass Production, any more that the Maker movement will drive IKEA out of business: sometimes you just need to produce a few thousand, or a few hundred thousand, identical parts as cheaply as possible.

[@ARandomTroll]

I feel like the subscription is great for professional customers but will put off hobbyists who already dislike proprietary parts and subscription models. My idea would be subscription offers for professional customers who need a steady supply and bulk prices. These are probably going to be your biggest customers. Anything else can be sold off with markup as single pack for the home gamers. not quite the 10$/kg and not always in stock but still competitive. This would minimize risk and storage, as the bulk is predictable and if something goes wrong, you can tap into the open market side for backup to still satisfy subscription orders. I would gladly buy PP or CF-PC for 15-25€, even If I had to snipe it once its back in stock as I only need a little once every while. really excited to see what you come up with. Perhaps one of those models where you only buy a bundle of filament and reuse the spool?

[@slant3d]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes we will not require a sub to purchase filament.

[@AE-uj7qc]

i have an idea for you produces a reusable spool and filament without a spool. this way you save material and the customers save themselves the garbage.

[@kurtnelle]

Right, hold up there buddy. 3D Printing will not be replacing everything in anyone's lifetime. There will be machining of parts, and there will be injection moulding (which is just super fast and cheap per part). Metal 3d printing that can produce every kind of metal part as is still perhaps 20 years off; and more to be as cost effective. Injection moulded parts looks like it will always be cheaper at scale than 3d printed ones (I cannot envision lego switching to 3d printed bricks within the next 20 years or ever). Unless that is someone comes up with the replicator as represented in Star Treck.

[@tho2ea]

"Molds are silly Dur Dur Durrr!"

[@tazanteflight8670]

Filament production : If you cant produce filament with +/- 0.02 dimensional accuracy, dont even bother. Which 3d printer, on the market, has the best reputation? Prusia. Guess what Prusia's secret sauce is.... Prusia sells, and strongly recommends using prusia filament. Prusia makes PERFECT filament, which makes their printers work like no others. Prusia filament is BETTER than +/- 0.02 dimensional accuracy. They claim +/- 0.02 just to throw off competitors. Shhh its a secret.

[@tjpprojects7192]

Sorry, but you're not replacing my nice and smooth injection molded legos with 3D printed legos.

[@slant3d]

Don't need to. Lego already is

[@Aikano9]

Lego already has 3 separate official pieces that are 3d printed, supposedly you can’t see the layer lines, and they have a texture similar to paper. Sounds to me like they’re maybe resin printed?

[@tjpprojects7192]

@@Aikano9 That's pretty cool. I wonder if with Lego's resources, they could push 3D printing even further. A 3D printed Lego equivalent that has parity with injection molded Lego pieces would be interesting.

[@Nick-jf1il]

3d printed molds: for the sex toy industry...... small shops, making custom or new versions of sex toys, and allowing for better accessibility to these devices for more people.

[@Stopsign002]

5kg per month would be dope.

[@slant3d]

Great! Thanks for letting us know

[@tazanteflight8670]

This should be your 3d printing argument : The United States is currently in divorce proceedings with the main supplier of cheap injection molds, china. Without china, there is no injection mold factories that can produce cheap parts......

[@slant3d]

Taiwan, India. There is always somewhere. But you are correct that the disruption is still an opportunity

[@LILOREB]

2-5 kg per month

[@slant3d]

Thanks

[@stump182]

Electric cars. LOL