What about 3D printed tees?

[Jerome]

I did a quick search and didn't see anyone mention it. Anybody try it? I'm going to try it with flexible TPU filament(waiting for the printer to be delivered). Here is a GIF of model I built in Blender:
The slicer says it will cost 9 cents to print.

[Jerome]

Thicker ring:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q10...ew?usp=sharing
With render:

[Jerome]

Anybody have any experience with annealing FDM printed TPU? This site makes it sound like annealing makes TPU softer at room temp.

https://www.ptonline.com/articles/materials-thermoplastic-urethanes-why-annealing-makes-a-big-difference

However, in TPU materials, annealing enhances performance at both ends of the temperature spectrum. Annealing has been shown to improve properties at elevated temperatures, but it also enhances low-temperature performance by reducing the Tg of the polymer.

[Jerome]

Unscientific TPU anneal test in process:
- Printed two of the tees above in TPU.
- Have a 12oz can of kitty liter heating up on a wood stove.
- Once the temp of the kitty liter hits 60C I'm going bury one tee in it and let it cook 60C - 100C for one hour.
- After cooked I'll let cool compare to un-annealed control.

[edit] didn't notice a change in softness or size. Will repeat with temp 110C-140C
[edit 2] after heating to 130C in cat litter and slowly cooling I can't measure a size difference but 5 out of 5 times in a blind squeeze test the annealed one felt softer. I will play my round tonight with the annealed tee.
[edit3] epic fail. Third shot broke the head off.

[RJBoogie]

Thicker ring:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q10...ew?usp=sharing
With render:

If I mainly use Birtee #2 & #3, what is the best way of scaling this down? Is the model a #7?

[Jerome]

How tall are Birtee #2 and #3?

I don't know what # Birtee this thing is like. I guesstamated proportions from a picture on the web. This one is hard to print. The tee in post#65 is easy to print and is more durable.

[leibin]

I just printed a few in Ninjaflex TPE - I think I might have a winner, but I'm going to swing at it for a week or so and see how it holds up

[Jerome]

I'd love to try foaming TPU but this is getting out of hand LOL.

[leibin]

It’s super hard to even get loaded to print lol. I have an artillery v4 and I’m putting a genuine bondtec direct drive in tomorrow as the Chinese direct drive in the stock config took me hours to feed the ninjaflex and gives me issues going from abs to even tpu

[Jerome]

I got the NinjaFlex loaded and first 6 layers down at 10mm/sec. Monoprice mini select V2 has a very short bowden tube and tiny gaps in the feeder. Its going to be slow but I think it will work.
[edit] 10mm/sec and 15mm/sec printed fine. 20mm/sec bunched/jammed in the feeder.


[edit2] OK, so I broke my driver shaft testing the NinjaFlex tee (41 drives and counting...). To start the re-shaft of my driver I put the PXG(not bragging..but :-) ) sleeve with the broken shaft on the wood stove and opened the vents up. The basement, where I'm allowed to work, got hot(75F+) and all NinjaFlex prints failed.


Moral of the story.1:
Build a shop away from where your wife lives.
Moral of the story.2:
If you want to print NinjaFlex on a cheap bowden printer, keep the room temp down.

[Jerome]

The OCD in me could not take some of the less than optimal geometry in my attempt at the bird tee. I'm new to modeling, only making crude 3d place holders for past software projects during development. Here is a cleaner bird tee like attempt:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10YO...ew?usp=sharing

[Jnc10]

I like the look of the previous one better
although I think this new design will print easier

[Jerome]

Printed one in cheap TPU, after ~20 shots it is still in good shape. The wall of this one is thick at the bottom and taper thinner to the top. That, the "twist" and good geometry might make this a acceptable non-ninjaflex birdTee like option.

[Jerome]

NinjaFlex version went over 100 shots before staring to break down. It is still serviceable but the end is near. $0.38 well spent, in my opinion(ignore the cost of the printer).

[Jerome]

PLA test print - GizmoGeeks TPU - NinjaTek NinjaFlex

NinjaFlex crazy flexible compared to GG-TPU

[bb1632]

Has anyone modeled the #1 birtee? I lose those little buggers like crazy!

[Jerome]

Here is a tee modeled after a pac-man ghost. I'm guessing you can scale the Z down as low as a BirdTee #1. Prints better upside down.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16Q8C16Ul4aI67pJr23kb0rNIYOB_hmCm/view?usp=sharing

[Justin JY Christensen]

last year i designed a tee set to be used at ranges that dont have the right tee height...printed them in Ninjaflex so they are super flexible and durable...there is a hole in each tee so i took some paracord, tied a knot and now they are all tethered together so you dont have to go chasing them down after each hit...i was selling these but i have the .stl available for anyone interested

[Jonathan Webb]

last year i designed a tee set to be used at ranges that dont have the right tee height...printed them in Ninjaflex so they are super flexible and durable...there is a hole in each tee so i took some paracord, tied a knot and now they are all tethered together so you dont have to go chasing them down after each hit...i was selling these but i have the .stl available for anyone interested

What are you charging for these? Very interested!!

[dugue4]

I don’t know anything about 3D printing, so this may be impossible, but has anyone tried printing the tee on its side and tested hitting with the grain (or against it) like you would with a wood bat?

[Jerome]

I tried it and needed to use supports to print hollow tubes and cones sideways. Removing supports from TPU/TPE prints is a pain. I guess it is an option but I'm satisfied with a tee lasting 100+ shots like I'm getting with some NinjaFlex printed designs. 200g of nylon filament is being dilivered today with a low enough melting point for my printer. I might try sideways printing with that.

[Jerome]

My first nylon print crumbled as I took it off the printer(250 degree hot end), Running 260 now... might need to rebuild the hot end after this.

[Diceberg]

Has anybody made any more progress with printing a good durable tee?

[leibin]

Has anybody made any more progress with printing a good durable tee?

I recently rebuilt my sim and have tee strike turf to use real tees, but my last design for my mat seemed to be pretty solid (didn't break in the last few hundred drives on the old mat). You can just resize it as needed and it has a loop to tie it down. Prior versions of this without the supports in the center would eventually break in half. This has to be printed with Ninjaflex or a similar soft material. Just rename the file to .stl: Teev17_1.3875.txt

[Jtangm04]

A lot of great info in this thread. Trying to figure out which are the winning designs. I take it that post #65 and post #74 are the most durable.

Also never printed with ninjatek ninjaflex. What are your nozzle temp and bed temp settings?
I have an ender 3.

Thanks