I’ve seen whistles with the number for the local rapid response hotline printed right on them. Must have been one of those fancy multi-filament printers.
You can do it with any 3D printer, as long as you orient the letters so they’re at the top of the print, you can insert a pause in the print job just before it starts the layers with the letters. Then you do a manual filament swap and resume the print.
Another option is to print a QR code on them with a link to instructions/the organization.
Heat stamping might be quickest alternative. Should be rugged and aid low-vision use.
Full brass letterpress type sets and die can be pricy, but the cheap leather iron kits at craft shops commonly include small metal alphanumeric types that could be set (clamped) and affixed to your stamp (burning/soldering iron or pliers + hot plate/stove).
A lot has happened in 5 years; I was working as a maintenance tech for a print farm maintaining Prusa MK3s, that job died of covid, my attention turned elsewhere, I’ve been occasionally 3D printing stuff I need for my shop on my old reprap until I replaced it about a month ago and I’ve had a lot of shit to catch up on.
Yeah I bought a Prusa, and it’s clear they got blindsided by Bambu and they’re still scrambling to catch up. What Prusa used to do well, they still do well, what they used to do badly they now do even worse and what they used to didn’t do they’ve started a token effort at making it look like they do now.
yeah i think prusa really needs to lean much harder into open source… like thats kinda their biggest selling point against bamboo, but there only half-arsing it imo
like an AMS system… why have they not taken one of the open source projects and made it an offical prusa thing, provided financial backing, kits, and developed it?
IMO they could be years ahead of bamboo if they just took all the work the open source community is doing and ran with it, providing a kinda polished, easy version of the DIY side of 3d printing
heck even made their online print farm management system self-hostable and open so people could extend it… that’d absolutely crush bamboo for commercial operations
detail resolution is amazing on 3d printers these days too!
the arachne wall generator is incredible for resolving fine details in things like text
Arachne settings allow the extruder to adjust its extrusion rate based on the model’s line width. This way, the extrusion rates change according to the model’s requirements, resulting in precise printing of the model’s varying shape.
You can choose this setting if you want to print thin features with more delicacy, and your print needs a smooth transition between wall counts.
Do you have to prime 3d printed objects? If not, just print the number and like dip into water paint. Ideally you could print a lip with higher numbers so only the top of the numbers get painted
Only issue with black marker on 3d prints specifically is the ink tends to wick around the layer lines. Still works but doesnt look great. Paint markers are usually my goto
Yup this issue you can see in my picture. I was hoping paint markers would have been viscous enough to not bleed but it did anyways. Not that big of a deal for a fire and forget box of whistles.
If it’s bevelled text you can swap filament during print to make it stand out / easy to read.
Only problem is that you have to baby sit the print, which could slow down production considerably
I’ve seen whistles with the number for the local rapid response hotline printed right on them. Must have been one of those fancy multi-filament printers.
You can do it with any 3D printer, as long as you orient the letters so they’re at the top of the print, you can insert a pause in the print job just before it starts the layers with the letters. Then you do a manual filament swap and resume the print.
Another option is to print a QR code on them with a link to instructions/the organization.
Misunderstood, didn’t realize you meant color
Heat stamping might be quickest alternative. Should be rugged and aid low-vision use.Full brass letterpress type sets and die can be pricy, but the cheap leather iron kits at craft shops commonly include small metal alphanumeric types that could be set (clamped) and affixed to your stamp (burning/soldering iron or pliers + hot plate/stove).if it’s not multicolour then you can just make the printer leave indents for the letters (or print extra material to have it raised)
no need for post processing or extra equipment which slows down the process and adds extra work
Prusaslicer can add raised or embossed text on objects now as part of the plating process, I’m sure all of its forks can as well.
yeah it’s a very common feature among slicers these days
A lot has happened in 5 years; I was working as a maintenance tech for a print farm maintaining Prusa MK3s, that job died of covid, my attention turned elsewhere, I’ve been occasionally 3D printing stuff I need for my shop on my old reprap until I replaced it about a month ago and I’ve had a lot of shit to catch up on.
i think since bamboo entered the market everything changed and the entire industry kinda went warp speed :p
i’ve had a few printers, but until i got a bamboo i was “excited by the possibilities” more than actually doing things
now im printing loads, and have been since i got the printer a couple of years ago
Yeah I bought a Prusa, and it’s clear they got blindsided by Bambu and they’re still scrambling to catch up. What Prusa used to do well, they still do well, what they used to do badly they now do even worse and what they used to didn’t do they’ve started a token effort at making it look like they do now.
yeah i think prusa really needs to lean much harder into open source… like thats kinda their biggest selling point against bamboo, but there only half-arsing it imo
like an AMS system… why have they not taken one of the open source projects and made it an offical prusa thing, provided financial backing, kits, and developed it?
IMO they could be years ahead of bamboo if they just took all the work the open source community is doing and ran with it, providing a kinda polished, easy version of the DIY side of 3d printing
heck even made their online print farm management system self-hostable and open so people could extend it… that’d absolutely crush bamboo for commercial operations
I thought it was a matter of detail resolution not simply color. My bad.
detail resolution is amazing on 3d printers these days too!
the arachne wall generator is incredible for resolving fine details in things like text
https://orca-slicer.com/wiki/wall-generator-settings/
Do you have to prime 3d printed objects? If not, just print the number and like dip into water paint. Ideally you could print a lip with higher numbers so only the top of the numbers get painted
Black marker works on most plastic
Only issue with black marker on 3d prints specifically is the ink tends to wick around the layer lines. Still works but doesnt look great. Paint markers are usually my goto
Yup this issue you can see in my picture. I was hoping paint markers would have been viscous enough to not bleed but it did anyways. Not that big of a deal for a fire and forget box of whistles.
Good enough is good enough
If it’s bevelled text you can swap filament during print to make it stand out / easy to read.
Only problem is that you have to baby sit the print, which could slow down production considerably