Hello, 3D Printing Friends! Today on the BV3D Channel, we're gonna design a
desktop trashcan in Tinkercad, and then print it out in vase mode!
Stick around and we'll get into it, right after this! I'm Bryan, and you.. are watching BV3D!
Hi, welcome back! Hey, if you're new here, and you want to learn about cool
3D printer upgrades, 3D modeling, and other 3d printing related stuff, start now by
subscribing and clicking the bell, so you don't miss anything!
OK, so today we're gonna design a desktop trashcan in Tinkercad. Now, why would you want a
desktop trashcan? Well, for me, the answer is that the floor trash can here at the
BV3D Channel never seems to be in a convenient location. And that's
especially true when I'm sitting here removing supports from a model. Breaking
a bit of support material off, and then spinning around the chair to throw it
away, and spinning back... It really isn't all that fun. But if I don't do that,
then all that debris builds up on the desktop. So a small printed trash can is
actually a useful thing to have on the desk. It's also a useful thing to keep
next to your 3D printer, you can use it to throw away the little bits of
filament that you snip off the ends of a spool when you're loading your printer,
as well as those little priming lines and skirts that get printed around your
parts. When it gets full, you can go empty it out into a regular trash can. It helps
keep the area around your printer neat and tidy. Oh, if you actually have a way
to recycle your filament, then obviously save it for recycling instead of sending
it to a landfill. I'm using the term "throw it away" euphemistically. I also
mentioned that we're gonna print this in Vase Mode. Now, if you don't know what
vase mode is, that's ok. For a long time, I didn't know what it was either.
Some slicers call it Vase Mode, some get a little wordier and call it Spiral Vase Mode,
which is starting to hint at what it does. And others call it Spiralize Outer Contour,
which gives us probably the best three word description of this printing process.
So what are the slicers trying to tell us about this method of printing?
What does it mean to "Spiralize the Outer Contour" of a printed model?
Well, think of a Slinky™ spring toy. When you see it in its natural compressed
state, it looks an awful lot like a 3D print, with layer lines. But you know it's
not a stack of concentric rings. It's one single piece of metal. When you lift it
up from the top, you can see that it's a spiral.
In the same way, something printed in Vase Mode is also a spiral.
When you slice a model for Vase Mode printing,
the printer will print the bottom layers, however many of them that you specified,
in the regular way, one layer at a time. But after that, it starts to move in a
spiral pattern around the outer contour of the model. Hence the term "Spiralize
Outer Contour." As the printer traces the outer contour of the model, it is slowly
and continually raising the Z-axis. When the nozzle completes one orbit around
the model, the z-axis has moved up your specified layer height, so when you print
with a layer height of 0.2 mm, every time the nozzle comes
around again, it is 0.2 mm higher than it was the last
time it passed that point. In effect, it's creating a spiral, just like the Slinky™ toy.
There are three things to note about models designed for Vase Mode printing.
The first thing is that the path around the model has to be unbroken. For example,
if you had a two-headed vase, the extruder would have to stop pushing
plastic on one part, move to another location, and start printing again; and
that wouldn't work. The second thing is that because the printer is moving the
nozzle in a spiral pattern and always moving up, Vase Mode prints are only one
perimeter thick. In your slicer, you have some degree of control over the actual
thickness of that perimeter. Increasing the flow rate, for example, will result in
a little more plastic being pushed out, which will thicken it up a bit. And the
third thing is that models designed for Vase Mode printing are solid. They're
not hollow. They don't need to be, because the printer is only gonna print the
outer wall. So, knowing that the model is solid makes it easier for us to design
our trash can, because we don't have to worry about hollowing anything out.
So, this should actually be pretty easy. Let's get into Tinkercad, and get started.
OK, so here is a new blank design in Tinkercad that we can play around in.
But let's rename this, because it is not a Cool Kup-Wluff, it's a Desktop Trash Can.
There we go. All right, now let's think for a minute about the shape of a
trash can. Many of them aren't really cylindrical. They're more of a truncated
cone. There is a circular base, and then a slightly larger circular top. Tinkercad's
"Cone" object allows us to set a radius for the upper and the lower parts, so
we'll use that. Let's drag a cone out onto the workplane. I think having a
little trashcan on about a hundred millimeters tall on my desk would be
just about the right size, so we'll set the height to 100 millimeters.
Then let's set the base radius to 35 millimeters, and the top radius to 45
millimeters. And we'll set the number of sides to 64, so that this is as smooth as
Tinkercad can possibly make it. And that's it, we're done!
Just kidding! Tou could certainly use this as it is right now, and it would print just
fine in Vase Mode. Remember, Vase Mode models are solid objects. But I think we
can dress this up a little bit and make it look more like a classic Oscar the
Grouch kind of trash can, which is what I had in mind.
So you know how those trash cans look like a Greek column, with the grooves cut
in them, running from top to bottom? We're gonna make a part to cut that kind of
shape out of this trash can. And the kind of shape that would make a cut like that
is a capsule shape, essentially a cylinder with a half sphere on either
end. And we'll make one of those now. So we'll drag a cylinder out onto the work
plane. We'll set its number of sides to 64, so we get it as smooth as we can. Then
we'll set its footprint to be about 15 millimeters by 15 millimeters, and we'll
set its height to 70 millimeters. Now we need a half sphere object. And to make it
easier to get it right at the top of the cylinder, I'm gonna show you a trick. Did
you know that you can move the workplane? if you've ever wondered what this Workplane
item here is, that's how you do it. we'll drag that work plane out, and put it
on top of the cylinder like this. Now the work plane is where we need it for this
next operation, and we don't have to fiddle too much with the object
placement. Let's drag a half sphere out onto the top of our cylinder.
We'll set its footprint to 15 millimeters by 15 millimeters, and we'll
set its height to seven and a half millimeters, which is half of 15. We're
just trying to keep its proportions. Now draw a selection around both the
cylinder and the half sphere, and then we're going to use the alignment tool to
align their centers. And then we'll click away from it. Now, due to a teeny tiny
inaccuracy in Tinkercad, we need to embed this half
sphere just a little tiny bit into the cylinder. And if we don't do this now,
we'll have trouble later. So to do that, with the half sphere selected, click and
drag a little bit on the cone-shaped handle that lets you move the object on
the z axis. What we want to do is set it to be -0.1 millimeters, and
that will drop it just a tiny tiny bit into the cylinder. And with that done, we
can draw a selection around both of those, and then group them together.
Let's reset the workplane back to its usual location. Drag a workplane out onto
nothing, so that it resets the workplane. Now we need to flip the cylinder and
repeat the process of adding a half sphere to it. So, click the cylinder to
select it, and then click here to set the angle, and set it to 180 degrees. Now that
it's upside-down, we can drag another workplane on it. And we'll repeat the
process of adding a half sphere, setting its size to 15 millimeters by 15 millimeters
by seven and a half millimeters, selecting these, and aligning them,
and dropping the half sphere just a tiny bit into the column.
Then we'll group those together, and reset the workplane. OK, so now we have the body of
the trashcan, which is a truncated cone, and we have a capsule shape that we'll
use as a cutting tool. Let's align the capsule and the trashcan a little bit,
because I need to show you something. Let's switch over to a top view. Oh, and
while this perspective view is cool, we need to use orthographic view to get
a better idea of how things are lining up. So click right here to turn on
orthographic view. OK, let's draw a selection around both the trashcan body
and the capsule, and then we'll align them just on that one center. Now we'll
switch to the front view so I can show you something.
Notice the angle on the side of the trash can? If we move the capsule over to
the left, we can see that it's not going
to cut evenly when we turn it into a "hole"
part. We want to set the angle of the capsule to match the angle of the side
of the trashcan, so it'll cut evenly. For most non-precision designs (and this is a
non-precision design), you can use your eyeballs and the TLAR method.
What's TLAR? It stands for That Looks About Right, and it involves adjusting things until
you're satisfied, and say, "Well, that looks about right."
For this design, I already did the hard work, by which I mean I used trigonometry
to figure out that the desired angle is 5.71 degrees, but let's
do this by eye and see how close we can get it. So we'll adjust this using the
angle setter here, and yeah, six degrees... That looks about right. See, TLAR. It's a thing.
OK, now let's use the alignment tool to
center of the capsule within the height of the trashcan. So we'll select both
objects, use the alignment tool, and align them on center here. Let's maybe nudge
that over just a bit, and we'll take a look at this. We'll turn the capsule into
a "hole" part. And I'm gonna look a little bit more closely at this and that
looks like it's going to cut about the amount that I want cut out of that, to
make those grooves around the side of the trashcan. I'm going to group those
together, and see what we get.
Yep, that's about what I want, but we need to get that to happen all the way around
the trashcan. And fortunately, I know an easy way to do that. First, though, we need
to ungroup these things and switch back to the home view. What we need is to have
a pair of capsule-shaped cutters on opposite sides of the trashcan.
So duplicate the existing one, and flip it horizontally with the flip tool. Now
we're going to move that flipped one over to the other side. Let's switch to a
top view so we can see how this is lining up. We want to get these lined up
pretty evenly, and so again, we're gonna use the TLAR method. And that looks
about right. So now we'll click away from this, to
deselect all of the selected items, and then we're going to select just the two
capsule shapes. We'll click on one, hold down the shift key, and click the other.
And then we're going to group them together so that these two cutters are now
acting as a single object. Let's make sure that we're perfectly centered on
the trashcan body, So we'll select all these bits, and use the alignment tool,
and get it aligned. There, that looks about right. So next, we're gonna make use
of a cool trick in Tinkercad to make more of these cutters, and space them
evenly around the trashcan body. So click to select that cutter group, and then
click duplicate. And now we have two cutter groups, and they're right on top
of each other. So we're gonna click on the angle setter here, and we're gonna
set that to 20 degrees, and then we're gonna click the duplicate button again.
And this time, not only did we get another set of cutters, they also rotated.
So we'll keep on clicking that until we have cutters all the way around the
trashcan. And now, we'll draw a selection around everything that's there, and group
it together. Let's see how that looks.
There we go, that's the look I'm going for. It needs one more thing though. I
want something to make the top look a little more finished. Now the trashcan is
90 mm in diameter, so let's bring out a cylinder, and set its
footprint to 95 mm by 95 mm, and we'll
make it 95 mm tall. We'll set its number of sides to 64, and
we'll set its bevel to one, and leave its number of segments at one. I'm gonna move
this over just a little bit. So now we've got this huge roller-looking thing with
a nice 45 degree bevel around the edge. But I really only want, like, the bottom... I
don't know, 10 mm of it? Maybe 20 mm. So let's drag out a
"hole"-type box, and we'll set its footprint to 100 mm by 100 mm
and we'll set its height to 75 mm.
Then we'll select both that box, and that cylinder, and we'll use the align tool and align
them at the tops, and align them on their centers, and then we can group them
together. And that leaves me with this little bit here. Then we'll select both
of these objects, and use the align tool again. We'll align them on their centers,
and at the top, then we're gonna switch to the front view.
So now we'll select just that new part that we made, and we'll use the Z handle
to move it up a little bit. Maybe a little bit more TLAR again. That looks
about right. And now we can select both of those objects, and group them together.
And woo-hoo! We have successfully designed a trash can for Vase Mode printing.
Let's export that as an STL, and then we can slice it, and print it.
OK, so here we are in PrusaSlicer. Let's drag that trashcan STL file in.
There it is. I'll be printing this on my Creality Ender 3 Pro. I've got it connected to
a Raspberry Pi running Octoprint, and I've told PrusaSlicer how to
connect to it. It's very easy, and if you want, I'll make a video about. Just let me know
in the comments. This makes it extra handy, because you can print right from
PrusaSlicer to Octoprint. Anyway, I'll be printing this using my spool of Alien Ooze PLA.
I haven't printed much with it yet, but I wanted to see how it looked as
a single wall print. And I'll print it at 40 millimeters per second. Now we'll want
to turn on Vase Mode, otherwise this print is going to end in sadness and
failure. And what I mean by that is the model is solid, so we'd use a whole
bunch of filament and in the end we'd have a trash can that was... Well, solid.
We wouldn't be able to use it for its intended purpose. So here's where we go
to enable that feature. Click on the Print Settings tab, and right here in the
Vertical Shells part, click the checkbox for Spiral Vase. And when you do that,
you'll get a dialog box telling you about all the other settings that Spiral
Vase mode depends on, and PrusaSlicer will adjust them all for you when you
click Yes. So click Yes. There. Now we're all set up to print the trashcan in
Spiral Vase mode. But there's one more thing that I want to adjust, and that's
the extrusion multiplier. See, this print only has a single perimeter, and with a
0.4 mm nozzle, that means the thickness of the sides of the
trashcan will only be about half a millimeter thick. I want it to be a
little bit thicker, but I don't have a larger diameter nozzle installed on the
printer. But what I CAN do is increase the extrusion multiplier, and get a
little bit of extra filament squeezed out as we print. And that should give me
a slightly thicker, and therefore stronger, sidewall on the trashcan.
So let's drop into the Filament Settings tab, and right here in the Filament
section, it is the third item. right now it's set to one and I want to set this
to 1.25. OK, now let's click back to the Plater
tab, then click the Slice Now button. The preview shows what the model should look
like when it prints. Now you can export your G-code and send it to your printer.
And because I've got PrusaSlicer set to send directly to Octoprint, I can
click the Send G-code button, and send the file over. I can even have it start
printing as soon as it receives the file. I'm gonna do that. Now we'll let it run,
and in about two hours, we should have a trash can.
So here we go! Now we've got our desktop
trashcan! And when you look at a model this size, you know, if we had designed it
as a hollow model, something that had walls maybe a millimeter thick, it would
have taken a lot longer to print. But because we're only printing one
perimeter, the outer contour of the model, it prints a lot faster. Now, because it
is only one perimeter thick, it's got some give to it, but that's okay. I wasn't
expecting a rigid trashcan. So this is printed in Alien3D's Alien Ooze PLA. what
do you think of it? I think it's cool. To me, it looks like green glass. You can buy
this filament on Alien3D's site, and I'll put a link in the description. OK, so
that's our Tinkercad design and print for today! We learned how to design a
trash can, we learned about the TLAR method (that looks about right!),
and we learned about printing in Spiral Vase mode, which is kind of a cool thing
because Vase Mode prints finish quickly. OK! Thanks for making it all the way to
the end, and thanks to everybody who likes, comments on, and shares these
videos! And if you haven't subscribed yet, don't forget to do that, and click the
bell so you don't miss any cool 3D printing videos. If you liked the video,
please give it a thumbs up. If not, give it a thumbs down. But either, way share
your thoughts in the comments! If you like the content that I'm producing and
want to help out, consider supporting the channel with a one-time micropayment.
You could buy me a coffee, or leave a little something the PayPal tip jar, and links for those
are in the description. Another way to help out is to make use of the affiliate
links in the description when you are shopping online. It doesn't cost you
anything extra, but a tiny portion of any purchase you make goes to the
channel and helps cover the cost of making cool videos for you! Well, now that
I've got a trash can model that prints well in Vase Mode, I'm gonna go print a
few more. You go print something cool, and I'll see you next time!