3D Printing a Pinephone Back Cover

[dgdimick]

I've made a few changes to the print settings and trying again.

I'll be curious to know how it turns out.

It looks like the STP file will not print a usable cover when trying it with a FDM printer. I even tried it at a .08mm layer.

Unfortunate, although not surprising. What changes did you make, and what went wrong?

Great question. I tried different temperatures, speeds and layer heights. I'll break down what these things do for you, I'm assuming by your question you may find it interesting.

Speed - When you print an idem at a slower speed, you're able at times to get better print quality. This is because the printer isn't fighting against the inertia caused by the print head being moved along the X/Y axis. The print head starts and stop, changes directions of movement, etc.
A slower speed also allows the filament to be heated a bit longer, this will help will also help with filament flow as well.

Layer Height - The larger the layer, the less detailed the print will be. Think of filament being like a tube of tooth paste, you squeeze it out while moving it, then raise it to allow to print the next layer. If the change in height is smaller you get a better print. Normally prints for most 3d Printers is a layer height setting of .20mm, where .16 and .12 are considered much better, however, a print with these layer heights will take longer; it becomes a game of speed vers quality. I also use what's called "the rule of 4's", this "rule" states that all layers should be multiple of 4. This seems to be the best layer height setting for most people; thus the .08, .12, .16, and .20 settings. I use .08mm when I want to print a very detailed item.

Temperature - All filaments have a range of temperatures that it should be printed at, these temperature depend on the filament type, ABS, PETG, PLA, etc, as well as the manufacture of the filament. When I get any filament, the first thing I do is print a "Temperature Tower" (TT). If the range of the filament is 220C-260C, I'll print a TT that starts at 260C and after 15 or so layers, I'll drop the temperature 5C until the lowest temperature recommended is reached; this is all done automatically via the software used to create the item to print, as well as I use a standard model. After the TT is completed, I visually inspect the TT and decide what I think the best temperature to use for the filament is, then use that temperature when I use that filament; the temperature could end up +/-5C off for some items I print.

What I found with the model provided is the design really wasn't created for printing with the type of 3d Printer I currently own, however, if I owned a different type, I maybe could get a print that would work with the model.

[wibble]

I've done some 3D printing in the past, but don't currently have access to a printer, so what you're saying is familiar. The variable layer height in Prusa's slicer helps a lot with the detail/print speed tradeoff. When you said you'd made some changes I thought you meant to the solid model, changing some of the fine features used for injection moulding quality for functionally equivalent ones better suited to FDM printing.

[dgdimick]

I've done some 3D printing in the past, but don't currently have access to a printer, so what you're saying is familiar. The variable layer height in Prusa's slicer helps a lot with the detail/print speed tradeoff.  When you said you'd made some changes I thought you meant to the solid model, changing some of the fine features used for injection moulding quality for functionally equivalent ones better suited to FDM printing.

The issue with trying to make those types of changes is it looks like the back case would no longer line up correctly; it would be larger then the front of the phone.