The Filamentals of 3D Printing

Filamentals, like fundamentals? I got asked recently about filaments so I figured that it should be a blog post.

The main filament I use is PLA which stands for polylactic acid. It's made from biological sources like corn and is relatively easy to work with. It usually melts at relatively low temperatures, 180-215°C or 350-410°F which is low compared to the temperatures that other plastics melt at. It gives off minimal amounts of fumes or odors when heated so the printer does not need to be ventilated. It is susceptible to damage from moisture and should be kept in a airtight dry box filled with silica desiccant.

PLA is also usually an affordable filament although with the pandemic, prices have skyrocketed, with most brands doubling their prices. Ouch!

Some great places to find filament are amazon and matterhackers. 

Also note that I'm not getting paid for this nor do any of these links make me money, this is just a list of all the stuff I've used and links to get to it if ya want some.

Filament Rankings

1. Hatchbox (tied)

https://www.amazon.com/HATCHBOX-3D-Filament-Dimensional-Accuracy/dp/B00J0ECR5I/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2ALR82YY6GPSO&dchild=1&keywords=hatchbox+pla+1.75&qid=1596219644&s=industrial&sprefix=hatchbox%2Cindustrial%2C194&sr=1-2

Pros

• Affordable at ~20 to 23 for a 1 kg spool
• Minimum defects in spool, good print quality

Cons

• Price varies per color
• Out of a lot of colors

1. Overture (tied)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VBGWXM8/ref=twister_B07PJ3CSHG?_encoding=UTF8&th=1



Pros

• Affordable at ~27 for a 1 kg spool
• Minimum defects in spool, good print quality
• Comes with a free adhesive build surface and ruler

Cons

• Price varies per color

2. MIKA3D

https://www.amazon.com/Shiny-Sapphire-Printer-Filament-Bundle/dp/B07C3L6RP4/ref=sr_1_15_sspa?crid=5HRGKWVZOFO5&dchild=1&keywords=pla%2B1.75%2Bmm%2Bfilament&qid=1596220174&s=industrial&sprefix=pla%2B1.75%2Bmm%2Cindustrial%2C185&sr=1-15-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFVR1c5Q0pINDNIME8mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA1MzgyMzgyMExFWjFIUUtJSDNCJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwOTg3MDYxVkVZS0VVWjdaOUdMJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfbXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

Pros

• Sold in a 3 pack of 0.5kg rolls
• Minimum defects in spool, good print quality
• Lots of shiny filaments to chose from
• Color changing filaments too

Neutral

• $40 for 1.5 kg of filament is a bit high but you get 3 colors. 3 colors of 1 kg spools would be over $60-70. Good for just dabbling in 3D printing or if you want a lot of colors right off the bat.

Cons

• Non-standard spool size
• A little pricey for normal filament, but not bad for effect filaments

3. Amazon Basics

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SZLZG26/ref=twister_B07X1YH7C1?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

Pros

• Affordable at ~23 for a 1 kg spool
• Minimum defects in spool, good print quality
• In stock in most colors

Cons

• Non-standard spool size (doesn't always fit in spool holders)
• Amazon's undercutting other sellers as per usual
• Neon orange is actually transparent which was not apparent from the picture or the description and purple looks weird

4. KODAK

*NOTE: I've only tried the PLA+

https://www.amazon.com/KODAK-Printing-Filament-White-1-75/dp/B079NZL671/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=pla+1.75+mm+filament+kodak&qid=1596220659&s=industrial&sr=1-4

( I can't believe they make more than photos either)

Pros

• Pantone colors 
• Only place I could get teal in the pandemic
• PLA+ is supposed to be a more durable filament like ABS but without the toxic fumes

Cons

• Non-standard spool size (doesn't always fit in spool holders)
• Needs higher temperatures
• Brittle and will brake and then jam in the printer

Sizing Real Life Things (Carts) to Model Horses

Horses are measured in Hands which is taken from the withers to the ground. Which is not very handy when you have a tiny model horse. But I like math so I figured it out.


First measure the horse from the withers (in Inches)

Truly Unsurpassed is about 7 inches so I'll use that for all my calculations. I'll put the actual math at the bottom and an easy conversion here. This only works for 1:9 scale. To do other conversions see actual math at bottom.

 (height of horse in inches) * 2.27 = height of horse in hands

7 in horse would be 15.8 hands or approx. 16 hands in real world scale

Finding the converted hands of the horse can be useful to use real world fitting charts. Unfortunately the charts will need to be reconverted back to 1:9 scale to be really useful.


And now this will take a distinctly driving turn.







I found this chart from the American Driving Society. https://americandrivingsociety.org/Members/New-Drivers/Driving-Vehicles

If I know Truly Unsurpassed would be about 16 hands, my shafts should be about 80 inches long.

Math:

80 in * (1 ft/ 9 ft) = 8.89 in shafts


Which would be super helpful if someone was making a cart for a breyer horse...






Actual Math!

(height of horse) in * (1 ft / 12 in ) * (9 ft/ 1 ft) * ( 1 hand / .33 ft) = unscaled height of horse in real life.

Example: 7 in * (1 ft / 12 in ) * (9 ft/ 1 ft) * ( 1 hand / .33 ft) = 15.8 Hands

For other scales change this factor, 1:9 is (9 ft/ 1 ft),  1:12 would be (12 ft / 1 ft)

Wheel, wheel, wheel

I made wheels. Once upon a time, long ago, I made a cart for with my harness to show for a 4H show. The hardest thing to find for the entire project? Wheels. And that has prevented me from trying again. I really don't know what took me so long to make these...

Tadaaaaa! They come in 3 sizes because I couldn't decide and fit a 1/8" dowel through the middle for an axle. 

I shouldn't have looked to see if I still had pictures of my first (and only) cart.... But in the interest of science and showing the difference in wheels...

Maybe I'll try again at making a cart now that I've got some slick new wheels.

Everyday I'm haybag makin'

I thought I would be further along in making haybags. I really did... but here we are. There are a lot unmade and I kinda think I'm just going to give up and become a tiny cooler salesperson.

My printer is appoximately 100 times faster than I am...

 Sets will come back once I finally get through my haybag restock. Up next will be a marathon session of halters.

We're Back Open!

The shop is on hiatus no longer! Back and better than ever! I've launched a bunch of new products which I'm super excited about (and there are more to come)!

I've got milk crates!

And Cones!

Fun Rainbow Cones!

Groom boxes in Traditional, Classic, and Schleich!

I added each of the groom tools separately:

Comb!

Curry Comb!

And Sweat scraper!

And if you read this far: THERE IS A 20% OFF SALE GOING ON! Grab some of these goodies before they're gone (don't worry I'll restock :)  )

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!!! 

To celebrate the 4th, I made a themed jump. Unfortunately to celebrate the 4th my shop is on vacation mode so it will launch in two weeks. My shop reopens on the 13th of July.

The new jump design will also launch along with a filled in version that doesn't have the star.

Did you know that you can gets sooo many miniature scale flowers on etsy! I didn't. Which is why I bought several stalks of "these might be small enough" flowers from Joanns to cut off and rearrange. Not only is my shop on etsy, but there are a ton of options for miniature props, components, and tools to find. 

I'm trying to do more themed sets since that really gets my creative energy back up and running.  I had so much fun making the patriotic horse sets! I'm starting to think that limiting it to 3 or 4 renditions is the way to go. 

It's a few months out, but I'm currently playing with some Halloween themed items. Hopefully, those will be more than ready before that holiday. (Spoiler: Glow in the Dark)