Can 3D Printed Shoes Be Classy? I Put Them to the Test at a Major Event!

If you look at 3D printed shoes, they are very futuristic or simplistic. It seems like no one has made classy 3D printed shoes yet which I think are the best looking type of shoes. So I designed my own and challenged myself with a very tight deadline combined with the usual setbacks and went to Formnext, only wearing these shoes!

Design software used: Autodesk Fusion 360 #AutodeskAd

[CNCKitchen]

Uhh, I'm famous! I'm in a @properprinting video 37:02!
Great work, Jon!

[cabbypat]

You and Ivan together is a scary thing

[RowanCorbett]

This is why you are one of my very favorite YouTube creators; your honesty about your process and your willingness to show your failures just as prominently as your successes in such an open way. Thank you for all that you do!

[properprinting]

I'm finishing 2024 with this idea of classy 3D printed shoes that I've been talking about for 2 years now. By setting this tight deadline, I forced myself to finally get this done. Far from being perfect, but I believe that this idea is worth exploring further. What do you think?

Happy New Year everybody!

[AndrewSink]

Nothing like a tight deadline to help a project along! They came out great!

[pinaz]

23:00 Finally, someone shows a Bamboo Lab printer failing at something!

[anchopanchorancho]

I love that you used parametric design for a shoe. It's a true challenge of CAD skills.

[feliwein_cc]

ahhh the good ol reliability of a properly modified and improved creality printer, we've all been there, the coffee tastes better today

[mandyj]

I honestly LOVE the way these shoes look! I agree the other efforts to 3d print shoes look like slippers, moon boots or Crocs. I'd be proud to print a pair like these for the men in my life! Awesome design! I laughed with you the whole way 😅 Gotta commit to those blisters. Solid effort! I love that so many creators choose the VERY last minute to take on a huge difficult task just in time for the conventions! I love our community. Have a great week all! ✌️🫶

[Nebulaoblivion]

Glad to see someone finally 3d printing a shoe that wouldn't be embarrassing to wear. All the other ones I've seen have been goofy as hell, and I get that they're showing off unique traits only a 3d printer can do, but I don't want a crazy flashy spiky weird shoe.

[hellothere]

For everyone else watching that want to try to make their own shoes, you don’t need a 3D scanner or foam blocks. This is how I did it in a similar way:

Use soles from your shoes, draw a line down the middle and lines going out every cm. Using calipers measure the end points and intersections. To make it 3D prop a ruler above the soles and measure down over each point. A 3D sketch in fusion creates a point cloud closely matching your sole.

In the fusion forms mode use the plane tool and select the points on the sketch to create the surface of the sole. Use the thicken tool and drag up and refine the top of the shoe. Delete a surface to make the volume a flat plane. Next use the thicken tool (~1mm) again to make the shoe a volume. Drag the bottom surface down to create the shape of the sole.

The top and sole of the shoe should be different materials, you likely don’t have an IDEX so the bodies need to be split. Printing separate parts and gluing could work or, make the entire sole removable and that slides into the thin shell of the entire shoe.

Use Ninjaflex 85A TPU or the top/shell, normal TPU is too stiff. Normal TPU around 13% infill for the sole with 4 layers where the foot rests. TPU is extremely tough so 2 perimeters is all that’s needed both on top and on the both coming in contact with the ground. Print the ninjaflex slow, I’ve had flawless prints from an unmodified ender 3, so most printers can handle it at slow speeds. My printer is an LNL Tenlog D3, IDEX. It has no issues printing fast with NinjaFlex, just have a direct drive printer with a short and direct filament path.

[MasterThief]

What you could try next time is design and print the shoe "unfolded" and flat and then origami it into the shoe shape. This could allow you to design additional features and patterns much easier and might even be more comfortable.

[ivanmirandawastaken]

That's commitment Jon! It was really fun seeing your progress that day. EPIC!

[damstickers]

Best content on YouTube! And your personality is outstanding 😂

[bartzrt]

I remember reading an article ages ago, probably on Hackaday, that pointed to a paper that did some material studies for multimaterial printed shoes. Might be interesting to have a look at, but the basic gist I recall was to use rigid materials where your body is squishy, and vice versa, to maximize comfort. I also remember an old US army study on how to best prevent blisters; it recommends wearing two pairs of 100% wool socks, a thin pair and then thicker ones over that. Wool breathes, so it's actually not that hot, and since the socks rub past each other you don't get that rubbing against your skin. I once met a drifter who'd always wear wooden clogs and he said the same thing.

[SapioiT]

Please turn this into a series. It would be nice if we could one day "download shoes" and just 3D-print them at home or in a nearby 3D-print-shop.

[craigsharpe]

Honestly great for the 2 weeks you gave yourself to do it. I do see a future for 3d printed shoes in any style. Vending machines that scan your feet and automatically print the ideal shoe for you.

[michaeldevlin]

Feet swell out when standing and walking all day. I think before making your feet imprints next time, you should go for a long walk first.

[danialjelkin]

credit where credit is due, actual leather dress shoes are SUPER uncomfortable, have sharp edges, are super hot and give me blisters so I think you nailed it

[kruszielski]

Those shoes look fantastic! Make some "breath" holes on the sides, and your shoes will be much more comfortable in terms of heat (and also will help them be more flexible). Great video, as always, showing the failures as proudly as the successes! This inspires me much more than any other makers do!