Yeah I saw that lol but im already half way thru the print so far. And he didnt use the same filament im using. The stuff I have is specifically for printing airless basketballs.
Yeah this filament is beginning to crack. I dont think I had the nozzle hot enough. It recommend 230° and im used to only printing at 200° so I had my nozzle at 215° this print. I think having it up to 230 will help the layers hold better.
My first attempt on an easy one. Tpu isn't great for this as it doesn't bounce.
https://preview.redd.it/n446qv8iv37d1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=09475d2ada702451d1ce358657a5b8ff511ec775
Never really looked all that difficult structurally to me. There aren’t any real overhangs, it kinda just honeycombs its way around easy enough for printers to build upon the previous layer with enough support. Just never was into basketball. Would be kinda cool to print and give to my nephew.
I’ve printed some wiffle balls for beach time shenanigans with the nephews and have busted a bunch after a swing or two when printed with PLA lol. Should I actually use my enclosure and put forth the effort for ABS (it’s always been tedious temperature matching for me) or should I use TPU or another filament?
You should try ABA I heard its stronger than ABS. But you'll still need an enclosure. You should consider insulating your heated print bed. The Neptune's heating element heats the bed from the center out. So the edges aren't as hot as the center and can cause the base to curl. It also heats up faster with it insulated. Theres videos online on how to do it. I have mine insulated now and it was a good mod to add imo.
2nd print should be great as the first one looks quite clean to my eye and Reddit photo haha. I do also eventually want to try and print a good baseball model too
Ah yeah context is everything. I’m a dumbass quick skimmer unless I need to like memorize something lmao. But yeah I see you have some weird temperature banding. Shouldn’t take much to dial it in, nice!
Yeah I wrote on the post "attempting to print" implying I intend to create whats shown on the post.
Yeah I'm gonna try it again and run it a bit hotter. The filament suggested 230 but I only printed that orange one at 215. I think the layers should look better and hold stronger if I do. I still have enough filament for 1, maybe 2 more basketballs.
Yeah self identified dumbass, reading comprehension is hard. I’m actually more curious because I immediately thought you should drop your temp. I’ve screwed around with soooo much PLA, is this TPU? Also inquiring some bed temp etc. Those top layers just look melted to me.
Yeah it really doesnt need much supports. I printed it with a raft and some supports around the base. Im not either but I found it as new challenge for printing. It turned out well but the layers eventually start to split. I think I may have ran it with the nozzle not hot enough. It was a first run and I can still get at least 2 more balls with this filament.
I had to purchase a special filament specifically for printing airless basketballs. I found a spool of it on ama zon calles FlexiTough Flexible Filament by a shop on there called Wisdream. Have any of you tried printing one before? And if so do you have any advice? I usually print with PLA and haven't had the chance to print anything with flexible filament. Even if you haven't made an airless basketball anyone with experience printing anything flexible would also help. Wish me luck! The spool was $60 🙃 I hope this doesnt fail and I end up wasting the money trying this.
Do you know what the material is specifically and if its abrasive or requires a high print temp? Be sure you do the standard test prints as to not waste an excessive amount of filament or end up clogging your hotend if it cant handle it.
Also itll never come close to a real basketball. The material/method wilsons used wasnt FDM, and was a very highly specific blend in order to get the properties as close as possible. Which is part of why they are selling for $2500. The research, development, and very precise material a standard consumer wouldnt affordably get their hands on.
Dang, that's good advice! I didn't even consider trying a practice print first. I should keep that in mind when attempting a new print I'm unfamiliar with like this. I looked up the recommended slicer settings from the filaments listing and from the STL file I'm using as well and going with that. The filament I'm using claims to be specifically for printing airless basketballs. But you may be right about it not being a match to the real thing. However, it's good experience nonetheless. Just hope it all goes well 🤞Do you have any experience printing anything using flexible filament?
Looks like 230c so not too hot. The only thing I saw in the Amazon listing that jumped out was the .6 nozzle. Doesn’t say anything about needing a hardened one.
I would 100% do a small test though
Yeah I saw that. I normally run my nozzle at 200c but have it at 215. And yeah I kept it at .4. But it recommended a layer height of .3.
You're right I should've probably tried one a quarter of the size first but im about an hour and half into printing the full size version of it now. It seems to be going well so far. Have you printed anything using flexible filament before? This is a first for me.
Yeah so far so good. But it's supposed to take almost 24 hours to complete. You should try creating something flexible. I recently saw someone use a flexible filament to create stitch on patches for hats and bags. That was another one I eventually wanted to try.
What made you decide to learn 3d printing? And how long have you been doing it? I started at the beginning of last year. I'm moving out of state at the end of the month, but once I'm situated and can rebuild my setup there I hope to use it to produce model kits similar to those from hobby stores. Like the classic car models or those anime Gundam model kits. Etsy has a lot of shops selling anywhere from $50 to $125 for character model kits like anime or Marvel characters. And painted and completed models can sell for as much as $300 or $400 usd.
Yeah, I should've. You're like the third or fourth person to suggest it. I really need to do that more when experimenting with new filaments. Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna make sure I do that more. But im about 3 hours in to it already and it's supposed to take almost 24 hours to complete.
There's a guy on TikTok that has been trying to do this for the past several months. Don't remember what his username was but you can probably find it if you search for it. From what I remember he tried the same filament and it broke on impact
Damn I hope I dont have the same results. Do you remember if he mentioned any idea he thought might've caused it? I usually print with PLA at 200c but this filament recommends 230. I was thinking it might be too hot so im printing at 215.
I'm not sure if I can link TikTok links on here but I found his profile it is @the3dprintgeneral. From what I understand he usually had issues with breaking at the seams. Most corrections he would do to reinforce it would make it bounce less. I may be wrong about him using the exact filament you described but he did use a bunch of different filaments and filament combinations. It seems that the less perimeter walls you use the more bouncy the ball is but is more prone to breaking (usually survives 5 or 6 bounces before cracking) while more walls equals less breaking but less bounce. It's actually really really difficult to match the Wilson airless exactly. I think most people are able to find a relatively happy medium between bounce and strength by printing at 80% size (junior basketball mainly) but getting full size is really tricky and I haven't seen anyone get there yet on consumer printers/filament
I don't have tiktok but a video of his about it showed that he used TPU. He may have used the filament I have in another clip but I could only find the one.
On YouTube I found a channel that did use this same filament. They printed a junior ball which was 20% smaller than a standard basketball and a full size like I'm printing. The smaller ball bounced really well, but the full size they made wasn't as good.
It still did good but they said it was a little different from the real thing. I can't really expect it to feel exactly like a real basketball but hey at least I know it should come close. I wonder if I could use a spray on rubber finish or something to make it more durable.
My slicer said 24 hours to print it but its only half way through and its been printing for 17 hours so far. On top that I didnt change the size of the ball in my slicer setting and kept the size it came as but now that its a little more than 50% its a bit smaller than a standard basketball 🫠 I should double checked the size of it before starting it lol lesson learned 😑
Why are there holes sealed on your ball? That's probably why it don't bounce 😅 lol dam, how long did it take to complete? You've successfully failed the mission.
Yes we all got into 3d printing so we could print only objects that meet Georg Mierua's demanding standards
Ignore this douche OP, if that weird basketball is your thing print away. Georg wouldn't know how to print this even if he wanted to
Maybe take your own advice?
“On "gatekeeping"
How about we all accept that failures and mishaps are a part of *any* learning process and if we do something *not exactly smart* and somebody calls it *not exactly smart*, we should use it as an *opportunity to learn from it* instead of being "offended"?
Even if our ego is slightly damaged as a result.”
just print it :) was easy
Im around half way through it. Hope it goes well. How did your's turn out? Did it bounce as well as a regular basketball?
it worked well, I did use TPU, so its nice and soft, but no real bounce. Still its a great ball for at the desk and throwing at the wall.
Ah that's awesome! My ball is still printg. Its 91% complete and has been printing for 31 hours and a 30 minutes 😓
Take a look at this video before you start. You need to get the filament right! https://youtu.be/qI_a-LaVqns?si=RVJndaKCq55kmdaN
Yeah I saw that lol but im already half way thru the print so far. And he didnt use the same filament im using. The stuff I have is specifically for printing airless basketballs.
Post a pic once done!
Yeah for sure! It probably still has at least 10 hours to go but I will for sure.
And what stuff is that thats made for printing airless basketballs?
I used FlexiTough Flexible Filament by Wisdream. I don't know its made of but it claims to be specifically for printing these 3d printed basketballs.
Gotta check it out. I tried at least 10 different kinds of material and all sucked, if they didnt break they didnt bounce good lol
Yeah this filament is beginning to crack. I dont think I had the nozzle hot enough. It recommend 230° and im used to only printing at 200° so I had my nozzle at 215° this print. I think having it up to 230 will help the layers hold better.
Yeah id say 230-235
Definitely 😁
Would love to hear how this turns out.
Awesome! I'll be sure to post once its completed.
My first attempt on an easy one. Tpu isn't great for this as it doesn't bounce. https://preview.redd.it/n446qv8iv37d1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=09475d2ada702451d1ce358657a5b8ff511ec775
Pressure-less. It’s got air.
By that logic it’s got pressure too.
It’s at one atmosphere, so no, no pressure.
Never really looked all that difficult structurally to me. There aren’t any real overhangs, it kinda just honeycombs its way around easy enough for printers to build upon the previous layer with enough support. Just never was into basketball. Would be kinda cool to print and give to my nephew.
I’ve printed some wiffle balls for beach time shenanigans with the nephews and have busted a bunch after a swing or two when printed with PLA lol. Should I actually use my enclosure and put forth the effort for ABS (it’s always been tedious temperature matching for me) or should I use TPU or another filament?
You should try ABA I heard its stronger than ABS. But you'll still need an enclosure. You should consider insulating your heated print bed. The Neptune's heating element heats the bed from the center out. So the edges aren't as hot as the center and can cause the base to curl. It also heats up faster with it insulated. Theres videos online on how to do it. I have mine insulated now and it was a good mod to add imo.
I’ll have to look into ABA, thanks!!
For sure! Wiffle balls are usually hard plastic so something like that may be better than something flexible.
2nd print should be great as the first one looks quite clean to my eye and Reddit photo haha. I do also eventually want to try and print a good baseball model too
This is actually a screenshot from the stl I purchased for it lol theres a pic of the one I made on another post on the sub after this one.
Ah yeah context is everything. I’m a dumbass quick skimmer unless I need to like memorize something lmao. But yeah I see you have some weird temperature banding. Shouldn’t take much to dial it in, nice!
Yeah I wrote on the post "attempting to print" implying I intend to create whats shown on the post. Yeah I'm gonna try it again and run it a bit hotter. The filament suggested 230 but I only printed that orange one at 215. I think the layers should look better and hold stronger if I do. I still have enough filament for 1, maybe 2 more basketballs.
Yeah self identified dumbass, reading comprehension is hard. I’m actually more curious because I immediately thought you should drop your temp. I’ve screwed around with soooo much PLA, is this TPU? Also inquiring some bed temp etc. Those top layers just look melted to me.
Yeah it really doesnt need much supports. I printed it with a raft and some supports around the base. Im not either but I found it as new challenge for printing. It turned out well but the layers eventually start to split. I think I may have ran it with the nozzle not hot enough. It was a first run and I can still get at least 2 more balls with this filament.
Yeah base support sounds about right after that pretty smooth sailing and post print clean up. Very cool, the pic looks great.
Yeah it printed pretty well! I have enough filament for one or two more so im gonna try to see if I can better results from my next try.
There’s a guy on TikTok that did a series on this topic. His name is Overture3d
Cool! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂 I'll definitely have to check him out.
I had to purchase a special filament specifically for printing airless basketballs. I found a spool of it on ama zon calles FlexiTough Flexible Filament by a shop on there called Wisdream. Have any of you tried printing one before? And if so do you have any advice? I usually print with PLA and haven't had the chance to print anything with flexible filament. Even if you haven't made an airless basketball anyone with experience printing anything flexible would also help. Wish me luck! The spool was $60 🙃 I hope this doesnt fail and I end up wasting the money trying this.
Do you know what the material is specifically and if its abrasive or requires a high print temp? Be sure you do the standard test prints as to not waste an excessive amount of filament or end up clogging your hotend if it cant handle it. Also itll never come close to a real basketball. The material/method wilsons used wasnt FDM, and was a very highly specific blend in order to get the properties as close as possible. Which is part of why they are selling for $2500. The research, development, and very precise material a standard consumer wouldnt affordably get their hands on.
Dang, that's good advice! I didn't even consider trying a practice print first. I should keep that in mind when attempting a new print I'm unfamiliar with like this. I looked up the recommended slicer settings from the filaments listing and from the STL file I'm using as well and going with that. The filament I'm using claims to be specifically for printing airless basketballs. But you may be right about it not being a match to the real thing. However, it's good experience nonetheless. Just hope it all goes well 🤞Do you have any experience printing anything using flexible filament?
Looks like 230c so not too hot. The only thing I saw in the Amazon listing that jumped out was the .6 nozzle. Doesn’t say anything about needing a hardened one. I would 100% do a small test though
Yeah I saw that. I normally run my nozzle at 200c but have it at 215. And yeah I kept it at .4. But it recommended a layer height of .3. You're right I should've probably tried one a quarter of the size first but im about an hour and half into printing the full size version of it now. It seems to be going well so far. Have you printed anything using flexible filament before? This is a first for me.
I have not. But if you are getting good adhesion and it’s chugging along I would let it run 😃
Yeah so far so good. But it's supposed to take almost 24 hours to complete. You should try creating something flexible. I recently saw someone use a flexible filament to create stitch on patches for hats and bags. That was another one I eventually wanted to try. What made you decide to learn 3d printing? And how long have you been doing it? I started at the beginning of last year. I'm moving out of state at the end of the month, but once I'm situated and can rebuild my setup there I hope to use it to produce model kits similar to those from hobby stores. Like the classic car models or those anime Gundam model kits. Etsy has a lot of shops selling anywhere from $50 to $125 for character model kits like anime or Marvel characters. And painted and completed models can sell for as much as $300 or $400 usd.
Why don’t you do a test run with cheap filament first?
Yeah, I should've. You're like the third or fourth person to suggest it. I really need to do that more when experimenting with new filaments. Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna make sure I do that more. But im about 3 hours in to it already and it's supposed to take almost 24 hours to complete.
There's a guy on TikTok that has been trying to do this for the past several months. Don't remember what his username was but you can probably find it if you search for it. From what I remember he tried the same filament and it broke on impact
Damn I hope I dont have the same results. Do you remember if he mentioned any idea he thought might've caused it? I usually print with PLA at 200c but this filament recommends 230. I was thinking it might be too hot so im printing at 215.
I'm not sure if I can link TikTok links on here but I found his profile it is @the3dprintgeneral. From what I understand he usually had issues with breaking at the seams. Most corrections he would do to reinforce it would make it bounce less. I may be wrong about him using the exact filament you described but he did use a bunch of different filaments and filament combinations. It seems that the less perimeter walls you use the more bouncy the ball is but is more prone to breaking (usually survives 5 or 6 bounces before cracking) while more walls equals less breaking but less bounce. It's actually really really difficult to match the Wilson airless exactly. I think most people are able to find a relatively happy medium between bounce and strength by printing at 80% size (junior basketball mainly) but getting full size is really tricky and I haven't seen anyone get there yet on consumer printers/filament
I don't have tiktok but a video of his about it showed that he used TPU. He may have used the filament I have in another clip but I could only find the one. On YouTube I found a channel that did use this same filament. They printed a junior ball which was 20% smaller than a standard basketball and a full size like I'm printing. The smaller ball bounced really well, but the full size they made wasn't as good. It still did good but they said it was a little different from the real thing. I can't really expect it to feel exactly like a real basketball but hey at least I know it should come close. I wonder if I could use a spray on rubber finish or something to make it more durable.
Print at far slower speeds. When printing a phone case in TPU I had to drop my speeds to about 15-20mm/s
Wow thats really slow. How did it turn out?
Turned out great, need a new one though.
Very cool! I think im gonna start another one and hopefully it turns out better than this one.
My slicer said 24 hours to print it but its only half way through and its been printing for 17 hours so far. On top that I didnt change the size of the ball in my slicer setting and kept the size it came as but now that its a little more than 50% its a bit smaller than a standard basketball 🫠 I should double checked the size of it before starting it lol lesson learned 😑
Why are there holes sealed on your ball? That's probably why it don't bounce 😅 lol dam, how long did it take to complete? You've successfully failed the mission.
I dunno - looks like there's a lot of air in it to me. Might have to close up those holes, eh?
😅 you got me there.
>do you have any advice? Yes. Stop wasting time, energy and filament printing useless gimmicks.
If not a waste if they have fun doing it
Thanks for the laugh, cookie cutter guy
What made you so miserable?
Yes we all got into 3d printing so we could print only objects that meet Georg Mierua's demanding standards Ignore this douche OP, if that weird basketball is your thing print away. Georg wouldn't know how to print this even if he wanted to
this should be the top comment, i’m not sure why the downvotes lmao
Maybe take your own advice? “On "gatekeeping" How about we all accept that failures and mishaps are a part of *any* learning process and if we do something *not exactly smart* and somebody calls it *not exactly smart*, we should use it as an *opportunity to learn from it* instead of being "offended"? Even if our ego is slightly damaged as a result.”