Placing a Decal on A Case

[Not A Potato]

i'm currently working on a Raspberry Pi project, and i was wondering how well decals work on 3d prints.

also, what is the cheapest/lightest material that will withstand some impact? my print will look like this:
screenshot_182.jpgscreenshot_184.jpg
as you can see, my print has fine details i hope to have etched into the faceplate, but i'm afraid it's going to be too small to show up, and i dont have the budget to go get it made in extremely high-def.

what are your recommendations?

[RobH2]

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of talented users here so you came to the right place to get help.

I haven't weighed various filaments but I think they are all pretty much close to the same density or weight. Certainly there are variations but with smaller objects I doubt you'd see differences of more than an ounce or two, if that. I'd guess that ABS is your cheapest option. There seems to be more of it being sold and therefore the prices are low. Nylon is really tough and not brittle but it's really hard to print. It warps badly and is hard to get to stick without a lot of experimentation. I use PET+ a lot. It's not the cheapest but it has nice properties. It doesn't warp much and is not brittle. It's like a cross between PLA and ABS. I like the way it feels when I hold it. Plus, it makes no smell when printing.

I think that for the most part talking about "cheap" when it come to filaments is a moot point. It's all pretty cheap when you look at the price per part. Sure a spool of one thing might cost $75 and of another $35, but in the end, a good sized part might wind up costing you $1.05 or $2.24. That's pretty cheap still. And you'll get a lot of parts out of a pound of filament unless you are printing really big and tall items. Makerbot says that from 1kg (2.2lbs) of filament you can print 392 standard chess pieces. So even a filament that costs $75 per roll, that's $0.19 per chess piece.

Here's a segment I pulled from a website that might help you decide between ABS and PLA.
----------------------------------------------------
Strength

While many people will claim that ABS is stronger than PLA, we haven't found them to be substantially different. PLA is more brittle than ABS and will tend to splinter and break where ABS may tend to bend, but similar force is required for either to fail. It is more likely that you will find your print settings to be a bigger contributor to the strength of printed objects than the plastic you're using (at least between PLA and ABS). Insufficient infill density, too few shells, delamination (layers pulling apart), and related problems may make your object weak even though the material itself is relatively strong. If your objects feel too flimsy or break too easily try upping infill, adding shells (perimeters), and tweaking your temperature and speed (to try to get better adhesion between layers) before you write off your plastic.

---------------------------------------------------

So for what you are doing, I don't think you need to worry too much about the strength differences as it appears that your project is a handheld housing. It won't be under much stress and dropping it on a hard floor is its most extreme risk. Most of the common filaments we use in the RepRap world are suitable. It comes down to which filament are you able to get reliable prints from more often. Having used a lot of PLA, ABS, Nylon and PET+, I've fallen in love with PET+. I seems to be my goto choice for about everything I print now. There are other exotic filaments out there to experiment with too but for what you are doing I'd use ABS, PLA or PET+. You'll have a good part from either of them once you get calibrated.

Your project sounds interesting. I dabble with Arduino so I'm always printing small cases and housings for stuff. Post some photos of your project when it's finished.

[Not A Potato]

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of talented users here so you came to the right place to get help.

I haven't weighed various filaments but I think they are all pretty much close to the same density or weight. Certainly there are variations but with smaller objects I doubt you'd see differences of more than an ounce or two, if that. I'd guess that ABS is your cheapest option. There seems to be more of it being sold and therefore the prices are low. Nylon is really tough and not brittle but it's really hard to print. It warps badly and is hard to get to stick without a lot of experimentation. I use PET+ a lot. It's not the cheapest but it has nice properties. It doesn't warp much and is not brittle. It's like a cross between PLA and ABS. I like the way it feels when I hold it. Plus, it makes no smell when printing.

I think that for the most part talking about "cheap" when it come to filaments is a moot point. It's all pretty cheap when you look at the price per part. Sure a spool of one thing might cost $75 and of another $35, but in the end, a good sized part might wind up costing you $1.05 or $2.24. That's pretty cheap still. And you'll get a lot of parts out of a pound of filament unless you are printing really big and tall items. Makerbot says that from 1kg (2.2lbs) of filament you can print 392 standard chess pieces. So even a filament that costs $75 per roll, that's $0.19 per chess piece.

Here's a segment I pulled from a website that might help you decide between ABS and PLA.
----------------------------------------------------
Strength

While many people will claim that ABS is stronger than PLA, we haven't found them to be substantially different. PLA is more brittle than ABS and will tend to splinter and break where ABS may tend to bend, but similar force is required for either to fail. It is more likely that you will find your print settings to be a bigger contributor to the strength of printed objects than the plastic you're using (at least between PLA and ABS). Insufficient infill density, too few shells, delamination (layers pulling apart), and related problems may make your object weak even though the material itself is relatively strong. If your objects feel too flimsy or break too easily try upping infill, adding shells (perimeters), and tweaking your temperature and speed (to try to get better adhesion between layers) before you write off your plastic.

---------------------------------------------------

So for what you are doing, I don't think you need to worry too much about the strength differences as it appears that your project is a handheld housing. It won't be under much stress and dropping it on a hard floor is its most extreme risk. Most of the common filaments we use in the RepRap world are suitable. It comes down to which filament are you able to get reliable prints from more often. Having used a lot of PLA, ABS, Nylon and PET+, I've fallen in love with PET+. I seems to be my goto choice for about everything I print now. There are other exotic filaments out there to experiment with too but for what you are doing I'd use ABS, PLA or PET+. You'll have a good part from either of them once you get calibrated.

Your project sounds interesting. I dabble with Arduino so I'm always printing small cases and housings for stuff. Post some photos of your project when it's finished.

Thanks so much for your help!

how about decals though, i'm going to be sending in my model to shapeways/another website because i dont have a printer of my own.

[RAMTechRob]

Is this just a one-off label you are needing, or a production run of hundreds?

[Not A Potato]

just a couple, one for the front and one for the back.

[34Ford]

I have a vinyl printer. What do you need, a peel and stick label, or logo?

[Not A Potato]

that'll be Cool!
i've got a Logo and a Label i would like to print, one for the keyboard (to tell what keys are mapped to what) and one for the logo in the back. i'll be finished with my drawing of the keyboard as soon as my model is 100% bug-free, but i've got my logo made already to be transferred and extruded into my model. if you could do that, you would be my hero, and i'll pay for it.

[RobH2]

I have a vinyl printer.

Can you elaborate a bit about your vinyl printer? I have some projects that might benefit from it and would pay for it too. What's the smallest thing that will hold up, type? Colors, etc.?

[34Ford]

that'll be Cool!
i've got a Logo and a Label i would like to print, one for the keyboard (to tell what keys are mapped to what) and one for the logo in the back. i'll be finished with my drawing of the keyboard as soon as my model is 100% bug-free, but i've got my logo made already to be transferred and extruded into my model. if you could do that, you would be my hero, and i'll pay for it.

Gotta remember that vinyl stickers are made to stick to flat surfaces.

[34Ford]

Can you elaborate a bit about your vinyl printer? I have some projects that might benefit from it and would pay for it too. What's the smallest thing that will hold up, type? Colors, etc.?

It is a Roland SP-540i vinyl printer. Details here. http://www.rolanddga.com/products/printcut/versa/
And I have 2 other Graphtec vinyl cutters and a 80 watt laser.