Adding Ballast During Printing?



  • I'm printing a Phil A Ment pencil holder right now. It's going to be almost 7" high. I set the Fill at 10%. Mid-way through the 24 hour print, I read a comment in Matter Hackers that I should have set the fill high so Phil will not be top heavy. So, it got me thinking. Could one stop a print, add BBs, sand or other ballast to the print, then resume?



  • Well, I tried it and it worked! When the nozzle reached the top of Phil's boots, I paused and added lead shot (fishing section of you favorite store). Then resumed printing. I worried about bed adhesion due to acceleration inertia and the added mass, so I dialed down the speeds and accelerations. Also, as Phil got taller, I used the speed adjustment to take all speeds to 70%. No problems, but it does increase the time. The lead shot rattles, so next time I'll try sand.


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