3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)
Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible
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For the record, chopped strand fiber in a fdm printer doesn’t significantly increase strength- especially along layer lines.
It might increase tensile strength of the load is parallel to the layers, but that’s about it. In every other direction, the fiber doesn’t cross layers, and delaminating is the primary failure mode.
The strands would be more like glass fiber than asbestos- you wouldn’t want it in your lungs, but then it shouldn’t really be airborne.
A better option might be graphite filled, which will still get you that look, and help lighten the part without losing strength. Still would not want to sand it without ppe, though.
I used it in a project 5 or 6 years ago, and my experience was basically this. It's strong in the direction of the layers but brittle between layers. Works great for some applications, but I'd definitely experiment with it before committing to use it on anything where the strength of the print matters because it's really only useful in two dimensions.