3D Prints Outside for 7 years: What happened? RMRRF2024

I recently visited the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival 2024 in Loveland, CO to show you some really interesting and new stuff. Let's talk about a new Swiss Quick-Change Hotend, beautifully 3D printed images with HueForge and 3D prints that were left outside for 7 years!

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*Chapters*
00:00 Introduction
01:40 Swiss3Dc Quick Change Hotend
06:00 New High Flow Nozzle
07:54 Sponsor
09:17 How HueForge works
24:06 3D Prints left outside for 7 years
28:56 Outro

#3Dprinting #RMRRF #diy
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[ratchet]

The Hueforge guy is really down to earth, open and honest about all the strengths and limitations of the system. Mad respect

[DPT]

Thank you for interviewing me! It was great to see you at RMRRF!

[robertheinrich]

suggestion for the hueforge guy: create a calibration card. print it, put it into a scanner, and let the software calibrate itself.
still some work, but it would allow the software itself to see the result.
a second idea: if you allow people to upload the profiles for different filament brands and types, this would create a database of which filaments are good for which uses, and which filaments are constant in their quality and which ones should be avoided.

[VoltexRB]

Truth be told, I think optimizing nozzle changing speed is pretty low on my "what I find useful on a 3D Printer" list

[woodwaker]

I really liked your approach, instead of a quick walk trying to show everything, you went in depth on a few very interesting ones. The next will also be a must see

[add]

Been using Duramic Pro PLA for outside use...but, after many prints over several years, I have finally found the key to longevity with it. Primer and plastic paint. And using a light color too. The biggest factors are not temp changes but rather UV and heat. Lighter colors reflect light and the paint does a great job at blocking UV. I ran this experiment on an EV charger handle mount for the front of our garage. Unpainted the Pro PLA would last about a year in Upstate NY weather, full sunlight southern exposure. Painted however has been up there 3 years with no deformation or cracking/brittleness so far. I use Rustoleum filler primer (1 coat and sanded) then finish off with Plastic specific paint in white or off white. I am currently experimenting with skipping the primer phase and just spraying the plastic paint directly on the print and so far, so good.

[hebijirik]

Shortly after I got my first printer in 2020 I printed a weirdly shaped extension of a rain gutter for my house. I needed to make the water go from the down tube at the end of one trough a bit sideways to the next in very little vertical space so no elbows or anything I could by would fit. Being constrained by the size of a Prusa Mini resulted in a shape that is not optimal for water flow but it works anyway.
I printed it out of some green semitransparent PETG. It is exposed to sun at least half of each day or more and 4 years later it is still there. Nothing broke and recently when doing something on the roof I went to touch it to see how it is holding up. It does not feel brittle at all. When feeling the flexibility of the wall of the part I actually cannot tell any difference between this and a fresh print in PETG with similar wall thickness and curvature. So I guess you really can print rain collecting parts out of PETG and expect a decent life time out of them.

[tonyrivera]

The Hue Forge is absolutely amazing. Those look like paintings!

[justinskywalker]

Doing the filament experiment is awesome. Esp in Colorado. The high UV exposure and wild temperature swings found at this elevation, along with literally every style and variation of ways water can fall from the sky make outdoors in Colorado a true torture test for plastics. I personally made some garden stakes for my back yard a couple years ago and found out very quick how brutal the weather is for plastic and just how awful PLA is for outdoor use

[russellschlack]

I live like 20 minutes away from the place this was held, I learned about it the day after.
I was sad until now,
Thank you.

Hope you make it next year too.

[roboman]

The one thing i think was kinda missed with HueForge section was that, since it is a mesh, you can add it onto existing 3d prints, as long as it is on a flat section.

[Lldemort]

I just want to say thank you for your effort to get good sound on the interviews. It is so well put together. Really appreciate it!

[MrDivinePotato]

That 7 year experiment is super cool. I would have loved to see some ASA samples but I guess that wasn't really a thing at the time...

[alexandrevaliquette]

25:09 I use to work in the R&D department of an high end paint manufacturer. We use an aging chamber to simulate outside condition: UV light, high humidity and temperature. Freeze/thaw cycle.
You can simulate a 10 years outdoor exposition within 3 months.

[RobHasIdeas]

It was great meeting you there! I enjoyed our chats, and really appreciate your insights and encouragement. Hopefully, I'll be able to share the results of those projects soon :)

[AzaBC]

Great stuff. The wire EDM exhibit cutting through metal like a light saber was awesome.

[TheNetworkingGuy]

So happy I got to be in the intro! And again thank you for the ride to the airport!

[kylek]

That Swiss3d quick swap nozzle is an interesting design and I can already see a way that it could be automated with a jig for during-the-print nozzle swaps. Definitely a product line to keep an eye on if they can compete with E3d's price model (or undercut it).

[eideticex]

I would love to experiment with the HueForge stuff using fluorescent PLAs. Shine a cheap UV pen on flourescent PLA and it will glow like an LED. I imagine that property could blend into other filaments given the translucent nature of PLA.

[dougingraham]

Stephan. Thanks for the event coverage. I was there and saw you a couple of times but you were so busy I never got the opportunity to talk to you. I just wanted to thank you for all your material testing efforts and the comments/reviews over the years. Perhaps we can exchange greetings next time.