July 3D Printing Update

By Apollo · July 13, 2026

July was mostly spent rebuilding my fursuit accessory models and improving my print workflow.

Rebuilding the ring piercings

The ring piercings took the most work.

I first tried making a fully rounded version with interchangeable threaded ends.

I tested different orientations, support settings, thread sizes, and layer heights.

The rounded version could print, but it was not reliable enough for production. It also needed too much support tuning and cleanup.

I stopped after about fifteen attempts.

My usual rule is that if a product does not work after around ten serious attempts, it is probably too frustrating to make repeatedly.

I rebuilt the rings with attached ends and a flat section for printing.

PLA and PETG supports

The failed threaded rings taught me a lot about multi-material supports.

I tested PETG as a support interface for PLA. I also tried making the entire small support structure from PETG.

settings:

I also found that the PETG profile was using a purge temperature of up to 270°C.

This appeared to overheat the PLA during repeated filament changes.

The threaded ring was retired, but the support testing will still be useful for future projects.

Print settings and filament testing

I tested finer layer heights and alternate wall settings on the new piercings.

The full product plate used less grams of filament with alternate wall enabled.

I also tested several PLA temperatures because some filaments were producing stringy curved overhangs.

Some of the overhang problems were also caused by steep stair-stepping after the first layer height was set too tall. Temperature towers have not been very useful for me because most of the sections look the same.

Testing the actual products gives clearer results.

I also found that I had been printing Prusament Galaxy Silver much hotter than Prusa recommends. That may explain some of the bad overhangs.

I may phase that color out because it is expensive O-o

New piercing models

After simplifying the rings, I made several new piercing styles:

Most of these printed correctly on the first attempt.

The simpler models matched the printing process better and did not need the same amount of support testing.

I did need to rebuild the industrial models because I forgot to add enough geometry to the spheres before combining the parts.

Packaging

I also started making logo stickers for tissue paper and packaging.

This makes everything look finished without needing expensive custom boxes!

Learning OpenSCAD

I rebuilt my fursuit tunnels in OpenSCAD.

The new models can be adjusted for different opening sizes, heights, and fit preferences.

I also changed the sizing so it refers to the usable fursuit ear hole size, or main barrel, instead of the outside flare lip diameter.

This should make custom orders easier and reduce the number of separate files I need to manage.

New parametric ring piercings

I also scrapped the ring piercing models and rebuilt them in OpenSCAD.

I can now adjust the ring diameter, thickness, opening, and end style without rebuilding the model.

Current styles:

Slicer problems

Some filament profiles became corrupted.

Temperatures, fan speeds, volumetric limits, and filament brands were changed or reset.

I cleaned up the profiles and now manage filament selection more carefully for each printer.

I uninstalled OrcaSlicer. I am pretty sure it mangled my Bambu profiles.

Final result

This month I made:

Print quality

My goal is still:

Print, pack, mail, done.

I would rather fix the source model once than fix every printed copy.

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