I think I found a counterexample to the common wisdom that more walls always create a stronger part.

The pictured S shape is 1.5mm thick, so printing with 2 walls leaves no room for infill. My testing wasn’t very rigorous, but it seems that the hybrid structure of walls + rectilinear infill is 10-20% more rigid than walls alone. The infill adds strength by cris-crossing between adjacent layers.

I think it’s fine to include a concentric top/bottom layer, but multiple identical layers weaken the part. I also tried 0 walls (infill only) and that was garbage.

  • p1mrx@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I just tested this hook by hanging a 5 gallon bucket and gradually adding water. PLA 1 wall = 1710 g, 2 wall = 1178 g. The thing is, a 1.5 mm hook fails by straightening rather than snapping, so rigidity is more important than strength.

    Edit: I also tried PETG: 1 wall = 1441 g, 2wall <998 g (failed to hold the empty bucket)

    So the 1 wall hooks can support >40% more weight before straightening enough that the bucket slips off. That’s more significant that I expected.

    Edit2: Part of that 40% difference is due to friction; the 1-wall hook has a rough surface that makes the bucket less likely to slip off. But even with bluetack on the hooks, 1-wall has less deflection than 2-wall for the same weight.

    Another confounding variable is the weight of the hook itself: 2-wall = (0.83g slicer, 0.78g actual); 1-wall = (0.95g slicer, 0.88g actual). I don’t know if that extra weight is coming from density or volume, but either way the stronger hook is more expensive.

    Sigh, reality is so complicated.