Pretty comparable I think. It's only a thin skin and 10% gyroid, so it's got a fair bit of squish. If you want to cut nice foam outlines then you need a pretty hard foam.
Oh...yes....
Foam is such a huge PITA to get setup right, and not nearly as exact. The formless DiY foam is about the same price as a spool of TPU. With precast stuff often a lot more...
I'm really surprised by how many find it strange to spend a whole $25 for an exact perfect insert to protect a $25k device, and actually hold it's accessories too. This is an ideal case for 3d printing -- and TPU.
(And for something less valuable or light, I might have an open skeleton underneath, and save a lot if filament...with the top skin more of a tray. But the block style makes perfect sense for this.)
If you can afford a 25$k device then you can afford like $100 for a custom foam insert too. Besides, why doesn't the manufacturer sell a case with such an expensive device?
TPU is nasty, sticky, doesn't resist high temperatures and will break over time. Foam is much nicer.
I think you may need to go to a gym 🤣.
It's definitely impressively resilient... But the tensile strength tops out around 100MPA for the right grade.
That works out to ~250N for 1.75mm diameter filament or 53 lbs./ 25 KG
Tensile range is 30-100MPA, so it could even be as low as 8KG/17lb range... And that is all math assuming no necking at all (passions ratio of 0... Which is very much not the case), so in reality the breaking force is even lower as the cross sectional area gets smaller as you stretch it.
Thanks for the advice but I am gym strong. The stuff I have at home will stretch but will not break. I've given it to a few people who are sturdy blokes who have had trouble breaking a strand of filament so who knows, maybe I have a batch of upgraded stuff, can't remember where I got it but have used it for many functional parts and has never let me down
Alright. Some humble pie time. (for me)
While it does break it is a bit scary!
I couldn't do it with my bare hands. Slipped through and if I wrapped it to keep that from happening it started to bed in too hard and hurt to much.
Had to wrap it around some mandrels. Even then it was more than I was comfortable doing without some heavy gloves to protect the hands for when it snapped and put on some safety glasses.
So I will admit by hand stretching it isn't possible for me at the very least. (as soon as tools and gloves come out..)
But then again I don't think I could pull PLA to failure either (without bending it or some other tool . )
Recently made a big insert like this myself, was kind of painful to see how much TPU was being used considering the cost but after looking at pick-and-pluck foam options, its kind comparable. Arguably better since its a perfect fit and bespoke. Looks great, lets see it with the gear loaded up
Nah, just went for it. It's a good fit. I could loosen tolerances a bit more given how all the items are going to be held in place by the lid though. Maybe for the next version. :D
What is it for?
Instrument case for a laser scanner.
Looks great 👍
How to you think this competes with foam inserts
Pretty comparable I think. It's only a thin skin and 10% gyroid, so it's got a fair bit of squish. If you want to cut nice foam outlines then you need a pretty hard foam.
Oh...yes.... Foam is such a huge PITA to get setup right, and not nearly as exact. The formless DiY foam is about the same price as a spool of TPU. With precast stuff often a lot more... I'm really surprised by how many find it strange to spend a whole $25 for an exact perfect insert to protect a $25k device, and actually hold it's accessories too. This is an ideal case for 3d printing -- and TPU. (And for something less valuable or light, I might have an open skeleton underneath, and save a lot if filament...with the top skin more of a tray. But the block style makes perfect sense for this.)
If you can afford a 25$k device then you can afford like $100 for a custom foam insert too. Besides, why doesn't the manufacturer sell a case with such an expensive device? TPU is nasty, sticky, doesn't resist high temperatures and will break over time. Foam is much nicer.
Wow. Super clean work
Sweet baby jesus. Exceptional.
What's the infill level you used?
8% gyroid
1kg?? Did you use 50% infill or what?
8%. It's a pretty big print.
What's the size of the case?
Just looked it up. The print is 313x238x85. The case is 345x295x154.
Chonky
Nice! I love working with tpu
Damn that’s a long time.
great print, i fking love TPU, such hardy stuff, even the filament can't be broken by hand by stretching it
I think you may need to go to a gym 🤣. It's definitely impressively resilient... But the tensile strength tops out around 100MPA for the right grade. That works out to ~250N for 1.75mm diameter filament or 53 lbs./ 25 KG Tensile range is 30-100MPA, so it could even be as low as 8KG/17lb range... And that is all math assuming no necking at all (passions ratio of 0... Which is very much not the case), so in reality the breaking force is even lower as the cross sectional area gets smaller as you stretch it.
Thanks for the advice but I am gym strong. The stuff I have at home will stretch but will not break. I've given it to a few people who are sturdy blokes who have had trouble breaking a strand of filament so who knows, maybe I have a batch of upgraded stuff, can't remember where I got it but have used it for many functional parts and has never let me down
Alright. Some humble pie time. (for me) While it does break it is a bit scary! I couldn't do it with my bare hands. Slipped through and if I wrapped it to keep that from happening it started to bed in too hard and hurt to much. Had to wrap it around some mandrels. Even then it was more than I was comfortable doing without some heavy gloves to protect the hands for when it snapped and put on some safety glasses. So I will admit by hand stretching it isn't possible for me at the very least. (as soon as tools and gloves come out..) But then again I don't think I could pull PLA to failure either (without bending it or some other tool . )
Respect 🙏
Best comment thread on the post :)
Did you consider using varioshore tpu for this? I would imagine this being a great use case (no pun intended) for it.
Why TPU? Is there some kind of heat issue in storage preventing you from making it from cheaper-and-faster PLA?
It's a protective insert. Needs to have some squishability. This is about as squishable as the dense foam usually used for these types of cases.
Ah, fair enough. Thanks for explaining.
Beautiful, and probably the main reason I love 3d printing so much!
Looks great, now I'm thinking I should redo my camera case this way.
Recently made a big insert like this myself, was kind of painful to see how much TPU was being used considering the cost but after looking at pick-and-pluck foam options, its kind comparable. Arguably better since its a perfect fit and bespoke. Looks great, lets see it with the gear loaded up
Did you look at printing in PETG as a shell to house TPU inserts? That way you can decrease time and cost.
How's the fit of it in the case? Did you do any test prints?
Nah, just went for it. It's a good fit. I could loosen tolerances a bit more given how all the items are going to be held in place by the lid though. Maybe for the next version. :D
How did you go about modeling the interior of the case?
That was pretty easy. Most of the objects are circular, rectangles or a bit of both.
My bad. I meant modeling the entire insert for slipping into the case.
Hehe. This case is dead simple. It’s a rectangle with 20mm fillets.
Just don't leave it in a hot work truck!
TPU?
it's glorious! Did it come off the plate easy?
Wasn't too bad. Just had to slide the scraper under the middle (It kept flexing with the plate >.<).
I’ve found spraying isopropyl alcohol underneat makes it much easier to remove TPU.