Jankiest 3D printing tips that actually work

[@Moose370]

The sharpie trick was amazing. This is something you could easily integrate into a 3d printer's nozzle.....

[@TheGiuse45]

Exactly what i was thinking... Would need slicer support but it's doable

[@Charely6]

My thought was actually that sharpie colored print video he referenced, but building at least a single color version of it, using something like interface layers and modifying the python script it could print then after it did the interface part it would color over that with sharpie.

[@dumbcrumb879]

@@Charely6 I believe that this has already been done by the same person who originally made the sharpie color printing contraption

[@eliokreier522]

I tried this a view years ago with simplify 3D but the main problem was the slicer. I used a clickable permanent marker and a "tool change" script to activate it. Maybe orca slicer can implement something like that. Simplify 3D didn't want to help me when I tried that.

[@nobocks]

Yep with a tiny servo

[@corvus_erinaceus]

Oooooh, I like this one because I am a proud owner of The Janky Ender 3 Pro (which still works despite all upgrades I commited to it). So... My list: 1. You heard of "cold pull", now introduce "hot push" to unclog heat creep. At first, heat up hotend to 280C and disable hotend fan so heat can transfer up to cold zone. It softens clogged plastic enough for it to be pushed out. Push in some cheap 1.6mm weed wacker string. When plastic starts extruding, turn on hotend fan and continue pushing weed wacker string until it starts extruding clean. Turn off hotend heater, while still pushing weed wacker string. Push it until it stops melting. Wait for hotend to cool down and do a cold pull. Now hotend should be clean enough for the next clog. 2. Replacing the nozzle is a well documented procedure, but I was getting leaks anyway. Probably hotend wasn't hot enough so I detached hotend assembly from printer, removed heater cartridge and thermistor, gently heated it with propane torch up to "not glowing yet" and tightened it up. No leaks since then. 3. Filament dryer can also dry socks. 4. Jon from ProperPrinting showed in his lamp build video cool technique to increase mass of printed part for cheap. Pause printer before it starts covering infill, pour in sand, resume printing. 5. Mainsail/Fluidd don't know how to "start printing job later". Or I didn't update for too long? Anyway. G4 P3600000 pauses for 1 hour. Thanks, bye!

[@davidwilson4190]

#3 lol 😆

[@Remmes]

Would not recommend 280c on a bowden tube based hotend... 230c will still soak into the heatsink with the fan off just fine and not be a risk.

[@Urza9814]

I cleared a clog a few weeks ago with a power drill... :) (I think what happened was I didn't fully seat the bowden tube after clearing some cracked filament, so a huge slug of plastic built up in the gap which I could not get out at any temperature...so in a last desperate attempt I took a drill to it. It worked! Lol)

[@arseburgers4208]

@@Urza9814 for that I use the blowtorch and screwdriver method, heat the tip of a screwdriver that will just about fit, use it to push out the obstruction as best you can, leave it to cool a little and whilst the filament is still stretchy ish, twist and pull to remove the remains

[@SkateSoup]

"But don't worry, we can move the bar lower." 🤣

[@opticalreticle]

great

[@anthonystownsend]

I am a firm believer in a janky cardboard enclosure. The thick cardboard that comes on new bed mattresses is perfect. It's thick enough that you can hot glue it together, I actually hot glue the cardboard to an old hardwood coffee table I put my 3d printers on. It works so good, I even use some packing tape to make hinges so I have cardboard doors on my cardboard enclosure, it's so janky it's awesome.

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

Hopefully you will never get a printer to set on fire.

[@roderik1990]

For a cheap way to dry your filament: You have a nice heated surface already! Just stick the spool on your heated bed, set an appropriate temperate, cover with cardbox box or similar. and go.

[@capitalinventor4823]

I know that the Bambu X1 series and the P1S has the option to dry filament using the heated bed in the firmware. On the screen for the printer there is an option under Utilities called Dry Filament. In there one chooses the type of filament which selects a preset value for the bed ( between 65-75 C for PLA, 75-85 C for PETG, 90-100 C for ABS, etc). It recommends putting a cardboard box over the spool of filament and turning it over halfway through the 12 hour drying cycle.

[@coreymartin9630]

@@capitalinventor4823 Fun fact, BBL even designed a cover that you can print and put over the spool. Almost certainly not more effective than a cardboard box but it looks kinda cool. Also the P1S doesn't have the option in the printer settings but they've published the times and temps online so you can just set the bed temp manually and set a timer, I really wish they'd add it to Bambu Handy and/or Bambu Studio so I don't have to do it manually

[@williwonti]

For a bonus wire one of those almost useless ender cooling fans to the top of your cardboard box to help remove some of the moisture

[@andrewsad1]

​​@@williwonti That's way too professional. Put a couple tiny holes in the top and bottom of the box or bag. The hot moist air leaves all by itself!

[@thimiraamaratunga7794]

The problem in some printer configurations is that the thermal runaway protection might kick in and shutoff the bed heat if a print hasn't started after x number of minutes. The default Marlin config on my Ender 3 shuts off the bed if a print hasn't started in 10 minutes.

[@BoBoable1]

You could improve the spool joining technique with even more jank: just leave the PTFE tube on the fillament! It’s not going to block anything.

[@smorris12]

Brilliant! I'm looking at joining 1/3 kg spools together and that could save a lot of faff!

[@SeanCMonahan]

Dude. That's an amazing point. I've been trying to figure out a way to make a removable filament splicer, like with a spiral cut PTFE tube, a hinged clamping mechanism, other stuff. But this is so much easier.

[@TadaGanIarracht]

I print out a bunch of 2.75mm PETG rods of different lengths. Then I hot glue them as crossbraces from support to support. It works amazingly well for printing tall skinny things... An example: Basically if you want to print something like a harry potter wand straight up and down you would add 2 tall rods beside the wand in the slicer, they can be round or square doesnt matter. Use print by object and make the rods hollow with a nice brim so you arent wasting as much material. Now when it is a printing you can pause the print every few inches and hot glue some crossbraces on no problem. Be careful to apply the glue outside the printer and get rid of any stringing, you dont want your part cooling fan to suck in the wisps and it stays liquid long enough that you dont have to apply it directly inside the printer. Another great bit of jank i seen was using thoae flat button style magnets to hold down brims and also you can pause the print about a half inch or an inch into it and place magnets inside the supports. I am printing out a 40hr kroq-Gar statue where the supports all swoop in at extrememe angles from outside to catch things in the middle. These would absolutely break or fail if I didnt employ the magnet and hotglue jank. Youd be surprised how tall and skinny you can make things while getting literally perfect results even at 0.08mm where the nozzle is constantly rubbing.

[@spookdome]

That sharpie thing honestly should become a built-in feature, it's incredible.

[@Ucceah]

lets call it "release agent applicator"

[@TheDutchMagicTeacher]

Yeah, that one is amazing, i am now searching for a white sharpie to try it out on white fillament

[@nikolajsromanovs9898]

​@@Ucceah this is the way how to sell Sharpie for a fifty times more expensive, and people will thank you with a smile

[@kiztime1234]

@@nikolajsromanovs9898 lmao you are not wrong

[@unidahl5821]

I've often joined leftover filaments with a translucent ptfe tube. After pushing the melted ends together, pull them a little and the weld will thin out again, so you can get closer to a perfect 1.75.

[@aa.design.excellence]

“If you’re going to do it you might as well do it right, with fire” man is an honorary Floridian.

[@yusky03]

Bet he would definitely be down for some bogging.

[@aa.design.excellence]

@@yusky03 hell so am I brother! Lmfao

[@Chad.The.Flornadian]

As you can tell from my username...I can unfortunately relate to this a little too much :o)

[@aa.design.excellence]

@@Chad.The.Flornadian Pasco here. Born and raised a wild Florida man. Seen all these transplants come down and freak out over a Cat 1 hurricane and I’m speeding down i75 eating a Publix sandwich

[@dedogster]

I bought a small tourch just for that reason

[@freedomcaller]

For TPU which sticks too well to pei, I have one side of my sheet which I rub my oily face on, and touch with my fingers. The has 2 advantages, I can handle my sheet much easier when I can touch one side, so there other side stays perfectly clean, and TPU has perfect adhesion on the greasy side. I just flip the sheet when changing filament types. Been doing this for years.

[@BradGreer]

For what it's worth, every version of Cura I've ever used has a checkbox for "union overlapping volumes", which works exactly like the hack but without any fuss whatsoever.

[@arne6787]

I don't worry about joining filament. When one gets closer to running out I just feed the second in right behind the first as the printer is running slowed down. The extruder happily catches it and keeps on feeding as you help it by pushing it in from behind as needed.

[@ZeeengMicro]

lmao, I thought I was the only one using this silly method

[@engineer1692]

I do this, but you do lose retractions until the joint gets to the nozzle. Also you have to be there and hold it until it's past the extruder gear.

[@JoshSamuelson]

Yeah I've done that. I thought that's what he was going to show when he introduced the topic.

[@DaveEtchells]

My Bambu X1C handles filament runouts pretty well, but I like the idea of just stringing a bunch of short pieces together and spooling them so I don’t have to worry or tend the printer 😁

[@SianaGearz]

That's good if your printer cooperates but for me feeding material in is a trial and error endeavour and sometimes the material just comes out from some unexpected place like say the small gap under the lever or through the nearby heatsink. I should probably add some path constraints. There is already one i added below the extruder gear but it seems to be possible to miss somehow regardless. Then again this IS the jank suggestion list.

[@codylund2169]

For the color in supports segment. Gluestick is PVA. Pla sticks to it enough to lay down, but it prevents layer adhesion, so the support will still pop off.

[@pirobot668beta]

I used a 'retired' CPAP machine as parts cooler. The air-flow was constant-pressure, but that was adjustable. A hose from the CPAP to the hot-end did the trick. The 'water-test' was fun...at full pressure, the air-blast almost emptied the coffee-cup! This was cooling for a Tevo Little Monster delta printer....so long ago...

[@KeithOlson]

1. To hold something in place so that you can remove it later, pick up some PCL (Polycaprolactone). It turns into a moldable putty at 60C and becomes sticky at 65-70C, yet becomes as tough as nylon when cool. If, for example, a support comes loose, you can use hot glue to stick it to the build plate, then heat some PCL up to 70C in hot water, followed by mashing it into the support and print. After the print is done, dipping the part with PCL stuck to it in some more hot water will allow you to remove it easily without deforming the print. It is also great for low-friction surfaces. 2. I once made a woodgrain print by using a dark-brown sharpie on only part of some wood filament. I coloured a section of it darkly, but haphazardly. It worked pretty well, all things considered, with darker brown streaks along the layer lines/etc. 3. Instead of learning a complicated CAD app to make a model, figure out the absolute basics of OpenSCAD and just keep trying things over and over until your model looks good enough. (There are also *LOTS* of code snippets you can steal from the cheat sheet/Stack Exchange/etc.) 4. Sample rolls of filament can placed in a 3lb coffee can that is stuck to the frame of your printer by magnets. It will work just fine and never, ever tangle. 5. You can make a gluestick mount for your extruder, use it to 'print' the first layer of your model with an offset to match the position of the holder, cancel the print, remove the gluestick, then print the model as you would regularly. 6. Placing a cake pan upside down over your leftover pizza on the (heated) bed works great for a hot breakfast. 7. There is no law that says you can't use compressed air to cool parts down. YMMV. Obviously. 8. There is no law that says you can't use your sister's closet for an enclosure, with all of the filament hung on the rack where her clothes used to be. YMMV. Obviously. 9. There's no law that says you can't use your mom's Vitamix to grind down your waste prints. It will be fine. I'm sure of it. I'm sure it will come off with a dental pick. No, I won't scratch the polycarbonate. Nothing. Nothing happened. Everything is perfectly fine. IT'S FINE! THAT SCRATCH WAS THERE ALL THE TIME!

[@HuntersOA]

Here is my janky one :D When I had issues with ABS lifting in corners, I used a knife to cut a piece of glue stick. Shoved it in, and used a torch to soften the curling part. Than used the spatula that came with the printer to push down the curved part into the glue stick. I did this now on a few occasions and works like a charm if you only have 2-3 layers above the bed and the print started to curl already. Janky as hell but work :D

[@andybrice2711]

Yeah, I've done similar. If something comes detached from the bed, just PVA glue it back down in your best estimate of the right position, and carry on printing.

[@daliasprints9798]

If this happens later in the print, baking soda and CA glue can save adhesion. Costs the bed surface but no problem if your bed surface is something cheap like blue tape.

[@henninghoefer]

Janky tips: 1. If applying glue stick to the bed is too tedious for your liking, you can just use hairspray. 2. For 3D scanning, you don't need the expensive scanning spray to make a part matte - you can just use dry shampoo. It stinks, but it's dirt cheap and leaves a matte dust.

[@GumusZee]

Don't use hairspray when the plate is on the bed... It'll get into the electronics.

[@originaltrilogy1]

Or use Homer's makeup gun for part 2.

[@greyspot00]

I've never been able to get gluestick of any brand to apply easily. Just water down some PVA glue (Elmer's) and apply with a foam brush. Goes on super easy, evenly and dries pretty fast, especially if you heat the bed.

[@fookingsog]

​@greyspot00 Didn't know Elmer's was PVA--I've always used Aleene's Tacky Glue which I know for a *FACT* is PVA. I just dilute with water and brush on! Also can be re-constituted by spraying with water and re-brushing the surface to renew the texture!

[@nosleep6344]

For 3D scanning I saw someone used corn starch and was spraying it on the part with a toothbrush.

[@GEERTIOHULST]

Another janky habit I have is to move my printhead to push parts from the bed remotely, so that they fall out and a new print can be started. This works especially well with camera setups like in Bambu printers and octoprint setups

[@clockworkvanhellsing372]

I think this doesn't count, since this is printfarm standard practice.

[@mosesbeltran8390]

what about the purge line?

[@blockfifteen]

@@mosesbeltran8390my thoughts exactly lol

[@blockfifteen]

What about purge lines? Or do you disable them

[@GEERTIOHULST]

@@blockfifteen in my experience it’s fine to Stack 2-3 lines on top of each other

[@kevinkunst3870]

"I discovered there's a spider living on my Rat Rig and I'm going to leave it there... [begins outro]" LOL that was gold

[@two_number_nines]

I tried to join two rolls of ABS in a similar way. Turns out the last 3 meters of material on the roll were significantly more brittle, so I had to fix a mid-print failure 3 times within 10 minutes, as the material kept snapping before reaching the weld. I always print on a bed covered with polypropylene or paper tape. Every material works with only one of them. I was too lazy to update the firmware, so I added 100 ohm resistor in series with the thermistor to raise the max print temperature. I use car lightbulbs to heat the printer chamber

[@simon1171]

Awesome to see my model in your video thank you :)

[@papplemyapple]

Torch for stringing is amazing, way better than heat gun, but you dont need a full blown torch LOL Those little pocket torch lighters from the gas station work perfect for this, and have a small flame you can pinpoint spots with. Also works great to remove stress marks from ABS.

[@symenbrug1992]

I use a "pen" soldering torch, which also works great :)

[@originaltrilogy1]

I sue the ones a chef uses for Creme Brûlée

[@Jeppedy]

You almost lost me with insulting flame torches for stringing. That's part of my standard toolbox! 😊

[@ZeeengMicro]

Some manufacturers sell G10 and G11 with the name Resin Fiberglass Plate or Epoxy Fiberglass Plate. Also, you can scratch the surface with Low Grid Sandpaper or a wire brush to give it extra grip. It also changes the first layer from glossy to matte finish. Also also, you can buy PEI sticker sheet and Boom, now you have a dual-faced bed

[@jlitwiller]

I bought a sheet of G10 after Angus's video. Paid around $15 US on eBay. The stuff works so well, and it's amazingly cheap

[@tuliobrunoro4136]

Do you have any tips for magnetic G10 sheets? From my understanding, your suggestion makes a double-sided sheet that need to be held by clips, right? I've trying to come up with a magnetic G10 sheet, but I can't find any options, even for DIY where I live.

[@ZeeengMicro]

@@tuliobrunoro4136 You could try using a magnetic sticker sheet (or magnetic adhesive sheet). That said, I've never tried it myself so I don't really know whether the magnet will be strong enough to hold the bed from moving around. The magnet is also going to lose its magnetism over time due to constant heating, but I understand why some people like it.

[@ZeeengMicro]

@@tuliobrunoro4136 Try magnetic sticker sheet or magnetic adhesive sheet. That said, I've never used it so I'm not sure whether the magnet is strong enough to hold the bed from moving around. Also, the magnetism will degrade over time due to constant heating, so you might want to test it and see how long the magnetism will last.

[@TechieSewing]

@@tuliobrunoro4136 I have a magnetic one. I had two PEI and one flexible magnetic beds already, they all came with magnets (at the time all magnetic beds came with magnets). So I used one of the spare magnets and glued it to g10. I put it under glass with some weight over for a week (because I forgot about it). Magnet-to-magnet hold is really strong, and it works nicely overall.

[@MichaelR1975]

Been trying the join technique for awhile. I have never gotten to work correctly. I will definitely try the smaller ptfe tube. For PETG I use windex goes on with no mess. Spread it around a bit with a paper towel the heat of the bed drys it up. Prints pop off with no issues. Just clean with IPA when swapping back to pla.

[@Enjoymentboy]

Many years ago my shop teacher told us "If you can't fix it with fire then it was never really broken to begin with". He then followed that up with "Everything can be fixed if you replace enough parts". I miss that guy.

[@michaelbujaki2462]

Here at the bad idea factory, to print ABS on my Prusa Mini in an enclosure heated to 70C. The parts on the printer melted. I now had a Prusa Mini with a bunch of twisted parts. By reheating the parts, I was able to straighten them enough to reprint new parts. Using those, I was able to reprint a second batch of new parts that was actually straight.

[@barrag3463]

Here's one I got- when printing multi-material (EG PLA-PETG or PLA-BVOH/PVA) in prusaslicer the transition towers would sometimes delaminate due to the materials not adhering together, and sometimes this could cause a print failure. My jank solution? After slicing a first time, make a box shape and edit its dimensions to contain the tower, setting its material to whichever is the main material. Reduce infill to something like 5-8%, reduce perimeters to 1 or 2. The jank part is that you're printing over the same place in a single layer, but this encases the transition tower, and the infill of the container object "holds down" the transition tower's layers. It also might be possible to also just make the container a draft shell around the tower to just contain it if it becomes a spaghetti mess, but I never tried that (arguably easier and less material intensive) option.

[@generic0000]

I think the slicer can do that automatically. I think there's a setting for changing the perimeter material of the purge tower. I think I saw a video of someone using that setting to accomplish exactly the same thing.

[@TheCommanderCain]

I have just taped it back down using blue painters tap… after a few layers it would work fine again

[@AngelDLM08]

OrcaSlicer by default makes tower walls only from primary material, if second one have flag of support material

[@bluerider0988]

​@@generic0000Yes, this. There is a setting in multiple extruders where you can pick the main extruder for the wipe tower and that will always be the other perimeters.

[@barrag3463]

@@bluerider0988 Even with that setting, with BVOH in particular I'd still have issues of delamination, so I chose a sledgehammer solution since it'd always happen on prints that were longer than 10 hours.

[@Crushonius]

for joining two filaments i use 80 by 80 mm sheet of 0.5 mm aluminium folded over a 1.6 mm steel rod that i had laying around now its shaped like a U when you look at it from the side stick the filaments inside heat it and once it sticks together slowly twist it inside to form an almost perfectly round joint if it is too thick use a bit of sandpaper to sand it down to size but usually it just works no problem. takes like two minutes tops

[@markus30000]

My jankiest hack is cutting 5cm thick blocks from printer packaging foam and putting them under the printer. For even better results, do this inside an enclosure or on top of a board and put another four blocks under that. That'll silence the printer right down to almost nothing. The thin 1cm foam covers don't work, because the printer settles into the foam over time. It has to be faily thick.

[@senseisecurityschool9337]

My wife thanks you for this tip.

[@eiriseven]

Just so you know, Cura has a setting to merge overlapping models too, called Union Overlapping Volumes (within the Mesh Fixes settings)

[@The_Nonchalant_Shallot]

0:01 Damn, not even 5 seconds into the video and this man just summed up my entire life.

[@HyviaVideoitaMansenlale]

You can also use two spools just by pushing the new one in when the old one is running out. I have done this multiple times one my Ender 3 V3 SE without problems. Just lower the printing speed manually to make it easy and it does not take long. Obviously you need to time it well but it is super nice to use all the fillament leftovers and such, or on big prints if you plan for it.

[@BenJuan26]

I finally got to try the sharpie trick, and it works great! It did uncover a problem with my Klipper idle timeout settings, but the support came right off and the first mesh layer looked great.

[@generic0000]

I don't know how janky this is, but I have a trick for speeding up print surface/part cooling after a print. I use a hot pad to remove the spring steel build plate as soon as the print ends, then put that on the biggest piece of metal I can find. I use our big metal sheer at work, but a table saw, band saw, drill press... would work too. I push the print surface down, to stop it from warping as it cools. The metal acts a a big heat sink and you can feel the build plate cooling down rapidly. It's great for impatient people.

[@HackCausality]

I printed a plate holder for my desk fan for this purpose.

[@andybrice2711]

I just fan the whole plate around in the air. Outside if the weather's cold.

[@blockfifteen]

@@andybrice2711thanks god I’m not the only one

[@petervillano3484]

Or put it in a fridge or freezer

[@blockfifteen]

@@petervillano3484 while I think you aren’t totally wrong, I think it’s the cooling differential between the two parts, hence why cooling the bottom might be the only effective way.

[@ansiaaa]

the marker support release worked surprisingly well! the result was awesome

[@timdale9123]

As a newbie to the game (with very limited funds) this is priceless. Thank you :)

[@wesmatchett615]

Here’s Jank…. When a print is pulling up I have paused and then used a heat gun (no flames here) and heated the warp. Then I use a short (40cmx40cm) piece of 6cm thick iron bar to press it back into place. The iron cools the plastic quickly and makes it flat. This works very well! I’ve used it multiple times.

[@rbuschy]

My Jankiest - Using Peel and Stick Chalkboard on my Glass Bed. I got 10 prints out of 1 application before I switched to PEI Sheet. Worked Great once dialed in. Went PEI for the Flex and higher temp range

[@Studio23Media]

I use a mini torch all the time!! It also helps to recover the color after sanding or trimming supports.

[@santiagopostorivo]

The sharpie trick is amazing. I think you should make an independent video about it and testing different settings, patterns and maybe a printable mod that we can attach to the printer so it prints a patter. I think that a patter will be better than coloring it all, because you will gain good adhesion, but also you will be able to remove the support.

[@-Shockwave-]

To join 2 loose ends of filament i use a cheap hair straightener where i sandwich the ptfe tube in between to get it warm enouh. It won’t heat up a very large area as with a heat gun and doen’t get to hot as with a lighter.

[@OldCurmudgeon3DP]

Used flame on occasion. My TH3D flex plate works great unaided with PETG. I just add 0.04 extra clearance to the nozzle. Wait for it to cool as it *really* sticks when heated. What's nice about Klipper is you can create an M600 macro for universal compatibility. Any M command that isn't already used in Klipper is fair game for a macro.

[@felixthecrazy]

Took a couple tries to get the process down, but the smaller PTFE tube splicing worked great! Thank you!

[@808GT]

Jank tricks show the difference between a pro and a newbie running 3d printers. Bravo!

[@stevesloan6775]

I loved that you had the true retro bit audio in your intro, when you first started your channel, and love that you haven’t changed it. 3d printing in 2024 is getting pretty awesome. I dearly hope KZbin is making it all worth the hard work now. It’s funny watching you over the last 7 years. You use to come across so robotic and uptight. Like the standard teacher, that taught the same curriculum over and over. I must say you seem heaps more relaxed and happy in 2024. Please keep up the amazing work. 🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼😎☮️🍀

[@banyaming]

Maybe cutting the PTFE tube along its length would make it easier to take it out after merging the filaments?

[@elvinhaak]

Yes, this works

[@ThomasKranias]

i think you are 2 yrs ahead of the community . GR8 video bro

[@madmaxh3]

@Teaching Tech, As for combining filaments, I use silicon tubing (1/8"O.D. x1/16" I.D.), using a soldering iron to heat, and slice it off afterwards. It works better than any other method I have ever tried.

[@darren4392]

Thanks Michael, I love the filament joining method and the wheelie big bags.

[@Bocharkov]

I oftenly use gas stove to remove strings from parts. Very useful. 👍 To clean heatbed I use water: just leaving heatbed under flowing water. Sometimes it helps to remove plastic particles, which stuck to the bed. To solder two filaments I tried to use silicon hose instead of PTFE tube. And it's not comfortable, because silicon is flexy and filaments move aside and don't melt together when you push filaments with force just more than needed.

[@shanebauman6555]

😂 the thumbnail is great

[@lmstrutt]

OMG! I just tried the Sharpie trick! It.Was.Amazing! Thanks!

[@joemitchell_662]

I like your new funny format. )

[@the4thj]

That was a great segment love the content and the splicing was brilliant.

[@originaltrilogy1]

Oh boy, I've done all of them except one! I've done the bag enclosure, also coupled it with a cardboard box enclosure, also the bank filament join for terrible multicoloured prints, and used a mini blowtorch (the chef ones) regularly for removing wispy bits. I also use the slicer 'boolean' all the time to modify prints, it's been ages since I have reverted to CAD. I made a Mandolorian jetpack/Mr Fusion mashup completely just using the slicer tools. I used the blower side of a vacuum cleaner as a part cooler, I'm yet to try the sharpie method for supports, but it's on my list for sure. Other bank things are using a piece of Kapton tape as a bridge when a support has fallen over, using my finger as a bridge when a support has fallen over, and turning the Z-couplers by hand to adjust the first layer while printing.

[@NoMercyFtw]

Slice the PTFE tube off unless you want to save it but you can actually use it again by wrapping it around and next time it will be easier to remove

[@andriihryhoriev2921]

I am always cleaning my strings with fire as I am printing on high speeds and high temperature. And my work doesn't demand high aesthetics. The part with the garbage bags was hilarious)) Thanks for the video!

[@Garoninja]

That sharpie trick I might actually use. Got a project that just doesnt have a good way to support it and look at the same time.

[@SianaGearz]

A probably less janky way is to add a holder at the bottom that you place a previously printed support block into at layer pause. You can print the support block from an adhesion incompatible material, or coat it in a release agent or temporary adhesive such as shittiest glue stick you can find. Instead of a holder, maybe an application of glue stick may suffice at the bottom as well? Actually this is something i have been puzzling about how to support just today so i'm going to try just that. The print will be cylindrical so it will just be able to wear its own temporary support.

[@jmunkki]

Here's one that I used yesterday: I needed to print a small part that goes inside a car, so instead of the usual materials, I chose to use ABS. I had never printed ABS on that printer before and the prints were not sticking great to the PEI buildplate. Instead of trying to wipe down the PEI or mess with the slicer settings in any way, I applied blue painter's tape over the area that the print was going to be on. This resulted in a perfect print. ABS seems to stick pretty well to painter's tape and the tape also reduced the first layer height slightly, squishing it down a bit more.

[@TheChillieboo]

I was totally expecting a waste of time “life hack” video, more than one of these I didn’t know and will use ! Thanks!

[@baalzevuv4509]

I used pause feature and some preprinted inserts when I was printing corner connecting aluminium T-sections, it wouldn't be possible other way as support would be unremovable. I added tiny amount of oil on both sides for easier release and a bit of stickiness so nozzle wouldn't move insert while printing first layer. Result was perfect

[@DanielSanPedro]

I’m loving the humor on this one!! Thank you for a good laugh and good tips! 🎉❤

[@stevedegeorge726]

Another trick for ABS is a small heater next to the printer blowing warm air. No bag needed (fire hazard?) Good video! Keep them coming!

[@dr_harrington]

I always love it when you and Angus reference your old Solidoodles. I still have my 2 and 4.

[@TeachingTech]

I still have the frame and some of the parts floating around.

[@madddog7]

great presentation; appreciate the depth on each jank !!

[@BRUXXUS]

I started using the torch finishing way back with my first printer back in like, 2014 ,and still use it to this day! I think it's probably the one tip I wish more people would use. So easy and fast.

[@alecatmew]

I'm experimenting with inserting acrylic jigs into prints to avoid printing supports. It's worked pretty well for my needs so far; the next step is creating embossed features by using engraved acrylic inserts.

[@MiguelAbd]

This is the coolest video idea ever! I didn't know about any of these! Amazing.

[@davidwilson4190]

I have a flashforge 5m which is a solid machine but no enclosure. I used a ceramic reptile heat lamp to preheat my enclosure that I built out of clear shed roof material ... I tested the heat resistance of the roof material with a 1200 watt heat gun held in one spot for a minute did not melt or discolor so therefore it is more than tough enough to be around the ceramic reptile heater... to these 150 watt bulbs can be had on the jungle site for less than $15 US

[@KitesAndDarts]

Very unique video idea. Will definitely use the sharpie support trick in the future.

[@lajoyalobos2009]

+1 on the G10 bed surface. Also, I use an "EZ reach Bic pocket lighter" for minor stringing.

[@adrianhenle]

My best jank: I ground up PLA leavings and made an acetone slurry of it to paint onto the bed to improve first layer adhesion with some custom filaments I was making.

[@andybrice2711]

Hmm, interesting. I just use a 50/50 PVA and water mix.

[@SianaGearz]

Interesting that it responds to acetone. PLA that i have... i only have one spool of PLA in spite of printing for 7 or 8 years now... doesn't react to it at all. I mostly do PETG and more recently HIPS that's why.

[@ZeeengMicro]

Btw, if you have a high-end PC, you could connect the exhaust fan to your 3d print enclosure and use it and an active heater

[@fazzah777]

or a server nearby (looking at my R720 and getting stupid ideas)

[@yourgamesbeover]

That's much better than my janky way of joining spools. I just watch the print, and as it's about to use the last bit of fillament, I start pushing in the new one, keeping consistent force pushing it in until the extruder gear grabs it. It means retractions are garbage for a bit, but it works surprising well.

[@802Garage]

LOL any video with a Zoolander reference gets my like.

[@mtrivelin]

Very appreciated! Gambiarra videos are the best ones! :D

[@josephpk4878]

Maybe janky (new word to me), but some of these solutions to recurring issues are quite relevant. It reminds me of my old boss who's favourite saying was, "It's not about what you can do. It's about what you can get away with." I keep my filament bone dry at all times (West Coast BC) and haven't bought a filament dryer, so I bought X-Large ziplock bags and bag the filament right on the spool holder. Keep my desiccant container in the bag and it maintains low humidity very well.

[@dpmott]

Same! The bag also keeps the filament on the spool - new spools tend to let a curl escape over the side where it binds up on the spool holder.

[@josephpk4878]

True. I redesigned my spool holder with 8mm bearings and it worked so well/poorly that the spool would continue unrolling at the slightest tension. The bag adds a bit of drag and keeps the filament wound.

[@charlesabju907]

Janky comes from jank which comes from junk, but with a funny pronounciation, I think

[@AtomicBleach]

Jankiest thing ive done is print a cm ruler on my brothers printer to then do a estep cal with since we had done a direct drive modification and extruder replacement but he couldnt find a ruler or tape measure anywhere in the house and we had both already had too many beers to go drive into town. We also printed tpu bed springs lol.

[@sail4life]

TPU bed springs, why not! Cool idea.

[@glabifrons]

If you have an OG Ender 3 (the one with the print-surface that clips down), you already have garolite... just flip the print-surface over! I've done this and it works amazingly well. :)

[@daveh7720]

Spiders are just about always welcome in my home. They're great for debugging! I like that idea of joining filament with a PTFE tube as a guide. Since you're using only a small piece, wouldn't it be worth it to split it open with a knife rather than slide it all the way to the end of the filament?

[@originaltrilogy1]

Or just leave it in place as someone else mentioned in the comments.

[@ADz0rer]

Brilliant tips, thanks for sharing!

[@MRKTM690smc]

love the sharpie trick... will definitely try that one.

[@DudesExMachina]

Put your removable bed (G-10, PEI or borosilicate) in your refrigerator or freezer for fast removal of your parts. Just like slow cooling, the CTE mismatch will free the parts. Don't do this with mirror or plain glass. I ! need to try the Sharpe trick!! and the PTFE tube joining. Awesome, thanks!

[@rollotomasi1832]

Excellent content as always, thanks!🎉

[@Konradius001]

I am working with a very nice and very successful jank right now. I (also) have a resin printer, and some time ago I got a leak in the FEP film of the vat. With some clear tape applied to the bottom side I have plugged that up. Now I do have a replacement FEP in house (ordered at that time). But as long as this is working successfully I see no reason to change to that €15 part. And I do use the section of the build plate that's over the plugged hole without any problems. As a matter of fact, even if this fails, I would first try another jank I heard about. And that's preparing half of a laminating pouch in an oven to get a similar clear plastic that the FEP is. That would be a factor 50 cheaper than that overpriced A5 size of clear plastic that's the official replacement. And of course, even if this fails, at worst I have a resin spill onto my silicone placemats in my enclosure. And then I can switch to the official stuff.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

15:40 Yes, the, speeAIder (also did he say "need to" or "going to leave it there"? 🤔)

[@Jenny_Digital]

PCB laminate comes in various materials and thicknesses. There’s boards in 1.6, 1, and, 0.8mm thicknesses you could try out with some very thin bits with no copper on them used when boards of more than two layers are made.

[@rodrigob]

Nice video concept! Informative and very clear, as usual in this channel.

[@safwan096]

that desktop fan for part cooling really works. My 5015 blower fan broke somehow and i used a desktop fan. worked like a charm

[@mscir]

Well done. Used the flame for stringing. Janky might include using old MS 3dbuilder to join parts.

[@DaveEtchells]

Dang, this one of *THE* most useful 3D printing tips vids ever! Long live jank! 🙇‍♂️

[@howardcohen2767]

I've tried the spider. Didn't change my print much tho.

[@glabifrons]

I had to search or this comment. I knew I couldn't be the only one who heard that question as if it were related to the previous statement! 🤣

[@AsiAzzy]

I've used scotch tape to recover loose parts on the printbed. Some just use superglue and realease with acetone (not for abs prints). I mean taping the print to bed after it curled up and was flapping .. the print continues embeding some of my tape in the print but at least is not completly failed. Also on boxes after gaining some height if the part starts to curl i put some magnets on the print (it attracts the bed keeping the bottom of the box in place). It has to be certain type of model and certain height to be usable, but when it's doable it's nice. Some of my advanced tricks involved making some double sided keychains and some oddly placed pieces of text i wanted with different color. So for my part it needed to be flipped and printed on the other side. I had a bunch of them to print on the other side so i designed a cradle to nest the part and left the cradle on the bed. Then modeled my rest of print on top of keychain, altered the gcode to start at the height of the revious cradle and using the cradle coordinates the print aligned just perfect. Long story short.. i put the part, start the print, remove it . I'm using prusa mk3s and due to selfleveling is tricky to start a print midair. I've spliced my G-code a lot and includes start printing the cradle - change filament (from petg to pla, also altered temperatures in gcode for pla), then after resuming (the part was aready placed in cradle) it prints on the other side and when it finishes it just pauses.. i get my part out, put another one and resume printing After the pause the g-code was copy pasted to have like 50 repetitions for 50 parts.. did about 20 or so (that's what i had) and canceled the print. Other unusual methods i've done: embedding all sorts of things in the print (magnets, bearings, bolds, rods, plates, nuts, etc), embedding another print (this a cool one.. like printing a tower of flats ad different levels.. model the flat slabs, print them, model the rest of the tower without that piece, add pause when suitable, resume printing.. it will fuse the plastic), adding manual reusable supports (insted of wasting lots of material or leaving ugly surface and hard to remove support.. i print and before the bridging i add a part that fits and support the print (metal washers, metal blocks.. i have a bunch of machinist gage blocks and stack how many i need for the exact thickness to not crash the nozzle. And there are plenty more G-code tricks to allow all sorts of unusual interactions with the printing process.

[@snerttt]

A trick I used to use was using sugar water instead of glue on my print bed. Was incredibly cheap and worked great. Unfathomably messy though.

[@charlesabju907]

You can buy a 1L white glue bottle for almost nothing, dilute some of it 1 to 1 in water and apply with a brush. I've been printing for years and I am still on my first bottle.

[@makeitreality457]

For the print bed, I just use scrap glass that I find in the dump. It gives me practice cutting the glass with a glass cutter. Wear gloves! Eye protection wouldn't hurt either. Then I round the edges with a sander. The glass print bed stays flat, does not warp, and leaves a beautiful, glassy finish on parts. But you'll have to have a release agent like glue stick or windex for PETG, or removing it will pull chunks right out of the glass. And even if it's cracked and not square, th' printer don't care, as long as it's janky enough!

[@Otakunopodcast]

My very first printer was an Anet A8. Of course I fixed all the "this could kill you" issues (I'm not insane) but once those were dealt with, the thing worked quite well. But wiring it all up was a nightmare, and my wire management skills are sorely lacking. Yeah, the wiring on that thing was... messy. Anyways a year or so into its lifespan, the part cooling fan started making the death rattle noise. Tried lubricating it, and that helped for a while, but eventually even that stopped working. I really, really didn't want to have to wire in a new fan (in addition to the wiring nightmare, that would also mean I would have to work on the hot end, which was a PITA to disassemble) So I just unplugged the dying part cooling fan from the mainboard and plopped a cheap desk fan next to the printer. Made sure to switch it on after the first layer went down (I never ran the thing unattended, even with the safety issues corrected, I still didn't want to take any chances; again, I'm not insane) and it worked amazingly well.

[@Zacknafin]

Guilty of the SolidSnake option (the humble cardboard box!) vice a plastic bag to help keep the printer warm! Thank you for all the jank (especially the ptfe tip! ordering some ASAP).

[@nosleep6344]

To join the filaments, the jankiest way I come up with is to tightly roll aluminium foil (a foil from some junk is preferred) over the filaments and then proceed like with ptfe tube. You can then easily remove the foil. Guaranteed to work up to ~660°C.