jhiggi83
Member
I am considering picking up a decent 3d printer, either resin or filament. Something Like a Bambu X1C or Elegoo Saturn 4. I just want to ask how everyone else incorporates 3d printing into their pen making?
3d Printer use case
- Thread starter jhiggi83
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carlmorrell
Member
I bought a 3D printer in January. The plan was to use it for making veneering patterns. Let's just say even though I have done no woodworking or lathe turning since I bought it, I love this new retirement hobby. Recently had to replace the control board, and plan on powering up soon to get the hours off it. So far the new board has 100, and I expect the older one had 1000 hours. I have made vases for family and friends and a LOT of different organizers. Was well as mounting solutions for all sorts of things.
I use mine extensively for custom pegboard holders. All my MT2 stuff (centers, drill chuck, mandrel) and all my 1"x8tpi stuff (faceplate, 4 jaw chuck, collet chuck) are now stored neatly and accessibly on my pegboard. Also made a custom holder for some of the more incidental tools (drill chuck key, tommy bars for Nova chuck, pen tube reamers) that keeps them organized and handy.
I've printed bushings when I didn't want to wait for a set to ship, or when I was turning a kit I didn't expect to buy more of, so it didn't make sense to buy bushings. Also bushings that don't really exist (like a tapered 1" truncated cone bushing that I use with my standard 7mm mandrel for turning the PSI one-handed salt/pepper grinder kits).
My lathe was missing the tailstock hand wheel when I got it. The lathe is old enough that replacement parts are generally discontinued unobtanium. Printed one and it's still going strong. It's even fancy enough to include a bearing and crank handle. Soon I'll design and print a replacement for the missing door that covers the belt/pulleys.
Silk PLA filaments, particularly the faux-metallic ones, have a high potential for use in segmenting, IMO. They look very good when polished up, and could even be printed with variations in the layer line directions for different effects. I haven't tried this in woodturning yet, but I did use a faux-gold silk PLA inlay piece in a ukulele once. Even regular colored filaments would make good small detail type lines for segmenting. Now I think about it, I have a great faux-mother-of-pearl filament I should try with segmenting...
I've designed and printed various pen stands and displays over the years, as well as gridfinity type drawer storage for my pens.
I have plans to 3D print some components for a segmenting sled for my bandsaw in the coming months, and I'm toying with the idea of attempting to design a decent sharpening jig for my tools with my 8" bench grinder instead of shelling out $120+ for one.
Really, the sky's the limit. Well... the sky and your CAD abilities. But I've never had any formal instruction in Fusion360 - just some YouTube videos and a fair amount of practice, and I get by just fine. It's excellent software, and free for personal use.
As an aside, probably 2/3s of the tools in my old school film photography darkroom are also custom designed and 3D printed. The point being, 3D printing is a really, really synergistic hobby to have alongside basically any other creative hobby.
I've printed bushings when I didn't want to wait for a set to ship, or when I was turning a kit I didn't expect to buy more of, so it didn't make sense to buy bushings. Also bushings that don't really exist (like a tapered 1" truncated cone bushing that I use with my standard 7mm mandrel for turning the PSI one-handed salt/pepper grinder kits).
My lathe was missing the tailstock hand wheel when I got it. The lathe is old enough that replacement parts are generally discontinued unobtanium. Printed one and it's still going strong. It's even fancy enough to include a bearing and crank handle. Soon I'll design and print a replacement for the missing door that covers the belt/pulleys.
Silk PLA filaments, particularly the faux-metallic ones, have a high potential for use in segmenting, IMO. They look very good when polished up, and could even be printed with variations in the layer line directions for different effects. I haven't tried this in woodturning yet, but I did use a faux-gold silk PLA inlay piece in a ukulele once. Even regular colored filaments would make good small detail type lines for segmenting. Now I think about it, I have a great faux-mother-of-pearl filament I should try with segmenting...
I've designed and printed various pen stands and displays over the years, as well as gridfinity type drawer storage for my pens.
I have plans to 3D print some components for a segmenting sled for my bandsaw in the coming months, and I'm toying with the idea of attempting to design a decent sharpening jig for my tools with my 8" bench grinder instead of shelling out $120+ for one.
Really, the sky's the limit. Well... the sky and your CAD abilities. But I've never had any formal instruction in Fusion360 - just some YouTube videos and a fair amount of practice, and I get by just fine. It's excellent software, and free for personal use.
As an aside, probably 2/3s of the tools in my old school film photography darkroom are also custom designed and 3D printed. The point being, 3D printing is a really, really synergistic hobby to have alongside basically any other creative hobby.
I have both the resin and filament printers. I have made details for blanks on the filament printer. things like scale patterns or patterns you fill with epoxy resin. I found its difficult to store the unused ones long term as they become brittle after awhile and tend to break apart when drilling or turning later. I think for a couple of the ones that failed I just waited to long to try them. I have 2 of the resin printers. I use them to either make masters of parts I want to reproduce or one off pieces for custom work. The new printers by Creality coupled with castable resins means I can print and then cast a part without having to make a mold of it. That saves a lot of time and takes one step out of the equation that can go wrong. The print right to casting also means less shrinkage to account for and negates the loss of detail when your going from printed model to mold to injection to casting. I also make prototypes once in awhile (non pen related) and can print out accurate models that can even be threaded with a tap and die set allowing the client the ability to see how the part fits and works and make changes before production on a larger scale.
jhiggi83
Member
Appreciate the thourough writeup. I probably have all sorts of things I could use it for in the shop. I keep a lot of the stuff I use normally in a cardboard box next to my lathe that ends up scattered across the table top
carlmorrell
Member
Yeah, I second the Gridfinity. I plan on getting my tools organized soon. I photo'd the silverware to make custom pockets for gridfinity silverware organizer. It was a full week of printing.
jhiggi83
Member
What printer did you get? For filament my research is pushing towards the Bambu P1s with ams2.
carlmorrell
Member
Yeah, no one believes the deal I got. I paid $115 for a NEW Ender 3 V2 Neo from BHPhoto Jan 2025. As I look and consider if I want to upgrade, I feel the need for multi-filament. Mostly to print supports in a different material. Supports can ruin a print. Currently, I design to avoid supports. I am not sure I want to print with resin. I make enough messes around here!
carlmorrell
Member
Should also add I upgraded the printer firmware with Mricsoc. Added Raspberry Pi running Octoprint. Put's the printer on my wireless so I can control it from my laptop and camera support. Improved the experience by quite a bit. MrIscoc has some nice features, but the bed levelling made a big difference for me. Newer printers have the wireless built in. Pretty sure Bambu P1S has all that built in.
Also the P1S is a huge upgrade from what I have. The direct drive extruder is required if you want to print soft TPU. 99% of what I have done is PLA. PETG was a pain to get dialed in, and I saw no benefit for my prints.
woodwzrd
Member
This is the one I run at work. It might be a little overkill for what you need lol. It has a 60"x60"x40" build capacity. We print full scale thermoforming patterns and prototypes with it. I run a lot of pelletized carbon fiber ABS through it but can run filament through it as well.
We also have several desk top units as well but I am currently looking at buying a Bamboo X1C with the AMS so I can run high temp material like PA6 with 25% glass fill as well as run trickier prints with dissolving supports. The two that we have that get used the most are an Ender 3 Max Neo and an Anycubic Kobra Max. The Kobra Max is a work horse but Anycubic customer service is painful so I would not recommend their machines for someone just getting started.
At home I have an old Ender 3 that I bought while I was off work during covid and have printed a lot of disposable casting molds, bushings, a few things for organizing, Gisi style casting molds, pen stands, and other misc stuff. If I was going to upgrade at home I would probably look at a Bamboo machine.
Its another rabbit hole for sure lol.
We also have several desk top units as well but I am currently looking at buying a Bamboo X1C with the AMS so I can run high temp material like PA6 with 25% glass fill as well as run trickier prints with dissolving supports. The two that we have that get used the most are an Ender 3 Max Neo and an Anycubic Kobra Max. The Kobra Max is a work horse but Anycubic customer service is painful so I would not recommend their machines for someone just getting started.
At home I have an old Ender 3 that I bought while I was off work during covid and have printed a lot of disposable casting molds, bushings, a few things for organizing, Gisi style casting molds, pen stands, and other misc stuff. If I was going to upgrade at home I would probably look at a Bamboo machine.
Its another rabbit hole for sure lol.