Josh Kuper
New Member
Been watching videos on youtube, anyone have any luck trying out a 3d printer to make formed plastic looking letters good for outdoors? if so what model are you using?
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3d printing letters
- Thread starter Josh Kuper
- Start date
particleman
New Member
I bought a 3D printer years ago for this reason. After many tests I decided there were too many drawbacks to do any sort of volume. Artwork prep time, filament for outdoor durability, sanding and finishing prints, time to print, etc. It did work, but overall not viable process in my opinion.
JBurton
Signtologist
Yeah, I bought a couple different printers, but the speed isn't there, or at least it wasn't. I've been seeing new ones boasting higher overall speed, but compared to a $50k channel letter bender, you'll be left in the dust, with a product not nearly as robust as aluminum. That being said, there are numerous companies selling them for channel letters, I picked up a sample letter at ISA that isn't bad, but ya gotta know it took ages to print, and while it's got tight bends that would be 'impossible' with aluminum, it is not perfect.
Splash0321
Professional Amateur
3d printing is slow. Printing anything substantial would take days. Also, just think of it as a cnc controlled hot glue gun. The ABS or PLA has higher melting points but out in the sun it will soften enough that it warps. I make injection molded emblems and use a 3d printer to prototype. I once sat a prototype on the hood of a vehicle while I was test fitting another part and in just a couple minutes it had fully warped and taken on the contour of the hood.
You’d be better off with a cnc and routing out the items from a material that can handle the outdoors.
You’d be better off with a cnc and routing out the items from a material that can handle the outdoors.
CanuckSigns
Active Member
This. I have a 3d printer that I got for printing jigs and other stuff for personal use. It's very very slow, there are faster models out there, but to print a 10" tall letter 4" deep you would be looking at a few days per letter, whereas that same plastic letter from Gemini would cost you about $30, you would have more than that in a 3d printer letter in just labour to sand them smooth.
Also it's a very finicky process, I've left it.to print overnight multiple times only to come in to a mess of spaghetti in the morning because of some issue or another. 3d printing is very cool and useful around the shop, but once you account for time you could never charge enough for it to be profitable.
Jumpshoutmedia
New Member
This is really disappointing to hear, as I too saw some YouTube videos and have some experience with FDM 3D printing on a smaller scale, I got rather excited at the idea of being able to produce professional looking colorful, LED signs using something I already know and use (3D printing).
In regards to the outdoor durability issue, you mentioned printing with PLA and ABS, but I've found that both of those are indeed terrible for outdoor use.. but PETG however is GREAT. It's much more UV stable, and has a much higher glass transition temp than PLA, so it shouldn't get "soft" sitting in direct sunlight unless it's enclosed inside a parked vehicle with the windows up on a HOT summer day. Sitting on it's own, outside, or attached to the front of a building it shouldn't get nearly hot enough to start to get soft or warp at all.
I had considered the time factor, and I understand it would be a lot faster using more traditional methods (bending sheet metal, or milling them out) but I assumed it could be something I could start and run overnight, and after a few nights worth of printing, end up with the shells I need to produce a complete sign.
I also went on the assumption that I would only be producing smaller letters/signs anyway (<18" tall), and I wasn't planning on trying to compete with other methods like bent aluminum while trying to produce huge, 20" tall channel letter signs anyway, so the additional printing time isn't as much of a drawback for me, especially when considering 3D printing makes it possible to do things that would be extremely difficult if not impossible for standard bent aluminum channel letter signs to compete with, like utilizing multiple extruders to produce shells in different colors.. using a translucent filament to produce a "stripe" around each letter that light can pass through, so not only are the letter faces lit from within, but each letter has a lit-up "stripe" around it, making it almost look like they have a band of neon around them.
Another exciting prospect of 3D printing is the ability to vary the width of each letter/elements so they are wider in back, giving each letter/element a dimensional "debossed" look (also called the "pyramid" effect).
And because you can see all of the sides of each letter/element at once when you're looking at it straight on, If you incorporate thin translucent bands at different points throughout it's depth.. you end up with a really cool lighting effect that looks like your letters/elements are circled by bands of colored light!
I REALLY want to believe this is a viable method, SO badly! But I can see what you guy are saying about it taking forever.. but if you COULD tweak the process enough to be able to reliably let it print overnight, don't you think this could be a nice way for a smaller shop to be able to expand their offerings, and produce really unique, stunning-looking LED signs? And there's always the possibility of scaling up production by incorporating multiple 3D printers (farming) as well.
I hope this "bump" will encourage some other users to chime in with their experiences (good or bad).
Thanks guys.
In regards to the outdoor durability issue, you mentioned printing with PLA and ABS, but I've found that both of those are indeed terrible for outdoor use.. but PETG however is GREAT. It's much more UV stable, and has a much higher glass transition temp than PLA, so it shouldn't get "soft" sitting in direct sunlight unless it's enclosed inside a parked vehicle with the windows up on a HOT summer day. Sitting on it's own, outside, or attached to the front of a building it shouldn't get nearly hot enough to start to get soft or warp at all.
I had considered the time factor, and I understand it would be a lot faster using more traditional methods (bending sheet metal, or milling them out) but I assumed it could be something I could start and run overnight, and after a few nights worth of printing, end up with the shells I need to produce a complete sign.
I also went on the assumption that I would only be producing smaller letters/signs anyway (<18" tall), and I wasn't planning on trying to compete with other methods like bent aluminum while trying to produce huge, 20" tall channel letter signs anyway, so the additional printing time isn't as much of a drawback for me, especially when considering 3D printing makes it possible to do things that would be extremely difficult if not impossible for standard bent aluminum channel letter signs to compete with, like utilizing multiple extruders to produce shells in different colors.. using a translucent filament to produce a "stripe" around each letter that light can pass through, so not only are the letter faces lit from within, but each letter has a lit-up "stripe" around it, making it almost look like they have a band of neon around them.
Another exciting prospect of 3D printing is the ability to vary the width of each letter/elements so they are wider in back, giving each letter/element a dimensional "debossed" look (also called the "pyramid" effect).
And because you can see all of the sides of each letter/element at once when you're looking at it straight on, If you incorporate thin translucent bands at different points throughout it's depth.. you end up with a really cool lighting effect that looks like your letters/elements are circled by bands of colored light!
I REALLY want to believe this is a viable method, SO badly! But I can see what you guy are saying about it taking forever.. but if you COULD tweak the process enough to be able to reliably let it print overnight, don't you think this could be a nice way for a smaller shop to be able to expand their offerings, and produce really unique, stunning-looking LED signs? And there's always the possibility of scaling up production by incorporating multiple 3D printers (farming) as well.
I hope this "bump" will encourage some other users to chime in with their experiences (good or bad).
Thanks guys.
JBurton
Signtologist
Hey, if you'd like to give it a go, please do! Don't let everyone here discourage you. In theory, a print farm could churn out appreciable sets at a decent rate, but in my experience, sh*t goes south real fast when leaving the printer overnight. PetG or Polycarbonate were both on my list of suitable materials, but printing with either was kindly a nightmare. Eventually I just gave up and bought a new router, and between that and a bender, I can run circles around my printer. But really, fire up your printer and churn out some letters and see what you think!
sh*t goes south real fast when leaving the printer overnight
JBurton, you have inspired me. i am going to carve that in a nice piece of mahogany & mount it over the door of the shop.
(kind of like our version of "ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE"
en.wikipedia.org
JBurton, you have inspired me. i am going to carve that in a nice piece of mahogany & mount it over the door of the shop.
(kind of like our version of "ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE"