Скачать или смотреть Thermoforming 3D Printed Parts | Lessons Learned And What Worked For Me

In this video we are going to talk about the process of Thermoforming 3D printed parts. This process is pretty simple and can produce great results with some care and testing.

The idea was brought to my attention on ‪@zionbrock‬ AM Radio build. If you haven't seen it be sure to check it out here.    • Thermoforming was the missing piece in my ...  

Thermoforming traditionally is done with a plastic sheet heated up to its transition temp, laid ontop of a form and vacuum is used to pull the plastic down. The same process can be done with pressure on top. But there is a 3rd method with mechanical/force used to make the shape. That is the process we will use here because the parts themselves have openings created by the infill.

To make the parts we use a technique of setting the top and bottom walls of a part in the print slicer to zero, and then driving the shape with the infill amount and type. I found the best approach is to split the blank body into 2 pieces. One part that you want to apply the infill to, and the other that will be more structural. They can be broken to parts or objects in the slicer and settings applied by body.

For the form it helps to have some register features to help make sure the blank is aligned to the form. For my testing I was focused on a circular part so it was pretty easy, but for more complex parts you will need a different approach. We will be coming back to this process in a future design!

I see the application for this in a few areas. Parts like foam filter covers or decorative 3d printed features for speakers in car audio or home audio. You can also print flat parts and make forms for little brackets, clips and other types of features that can be designed with Sheet metal tools. This can help speed up print times, be able to plan layer lines for strength, or just ensure features get printed properly like holes.