Obsessed with Airless Basketballs
Added 2024-03-03 17:32:27 +0000 UTCI’ve been printing A LOT of airless basketballs over the past week for an upcoming video.
There are a few file options out there and I’m testing out printing them in a bunch of different materials and sizes.
I have some new material arriving today that I will be running as my last set of tests before publishing.
I will say, even if they don’t bounce like a real basketball or the official $2,500 airless ball, they are way too much fun to print & play with.
PLA , PLA +, Flexible PLA, PetG, TPU 85a, TPU 95a, and 2 TPU rolls that I’ve had laying around for 3+ years now after baking in a filament dryer. I also have a roll of super PLA arriving today that supposedly works great for them but 🤷♂️🤷♂️
If you want to do these in TPU / flex PLA I’d recommend setting you Top Z offset to .3 or higher in order to cleanly get the supports off
I’m printing with 3 different files I’ve found off makerworld
I also just saw a soccer ball option 🤯🤘
Comments
I'm new to 3d printing. It looks like all the files on Makersworld are for Bamboo products. If I load them into my slicer with settings for my machine, should they still work?
Tyson Cheek
2024-03-09 15:15:26 +0000 UTCNice, man that looks like fun, I bet one would look really cool if you make it with Protopasta’s metallic filament and put a patina on it, I know it will not bounce but would look really cool in a man cave.
Gizms12 .
2024-03-07 02:27:52 +0000 UTCWill you be posting orca slicer settings for this?
Nick and Jeanne Guenther
2024-03-07 01:01:07 +0000 UTCWhat's so wild about this craze is that we were printing hand size bounceable balls like this at EOS as demo parts in nylon by plastic laser sintering powder in the mid 2000s. I haven't printed any in FFF/FDM yet, but I can't wait to hear what you learned so far and try printing some for myself! It's been like 15 years since I printed something similar and with machines that cost $100ks of dollars. Take care, Alex
Protopasta
2024-03-04 04:06:32 +0000 UTCThat looks awesome, will it bounce? :o
Pat L
2024-03-04 02:33:10 +0000 UTCHave you tried printing on the XL using PETG as a support material?
Nathaniel
2024-03-04 01:15:56 +0000 UTCWhat infill percent you did it at and the wall count?
Javier Bermudez
2024-03-04 00:11:52 +0000 UTCI can wait to see it in action… I might have to try printing one?!?
Wayne Nero
2024-03-03 20:44:57 +0000 UTC
