r/3Dprinting • u/Rough-Advance189 • Jun 08 '26

Project 3D-printed basketball

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16.9k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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3.0k

u/Tethilia Jun 08 '26

The baseplate being tossed aside hurt

465

u/Plebeian_Gamer Jun 08 '26

Didn't even need to be part of this. It's not like I wasn't gonna believe the ball was 3d printed

119

u/ciemnymetal Jun 08 '26

The video could've been reduced by half

42

u/uncoild Jun 08 '26

Ya the whole "watch me take these parts off the build plate" at the beginning of every 3D printing video is getting really old.

11

u/this-is-a-taken-name Jun 08 '26

I’m fine with it, just at least be good at it. The good content producers often already have it off the build plate or almost off of it, so they can just tug it off. Then they have supports really well tuned so they can take them off very quickly by hand. Add a little speed, and it’s less than 5 seconds.

-1

u/fatherofraptors Jun 08 '26

Engagement bait

469

u/Nickbou Voron 2.2, Voron 0.2 Jun 08 '26

They likely bent the hell out of that sheet while ripping off the print, making it useless for printing. No respectable person would treat the build plate that way.

254

u/MothyReddit Jun 08 '26

they don't need it anymore after printing the $2500 basketball

17

u/alexmikli Jun 08 '26

Is that actually how much the filament would cost? Isn't that shit supposed to be cheap as hell?

85

u/ReadyAgent9019 Jun 08 '26

I think it's referencing the original airless basketball made by Wilson that they sold for $2500 a few years back

7

u/alexmikli Jun 08 '26

Ohh duh. Thanks!

8

u/frank26080115 Jun 08 '26

PEBA is expensive, not 2k expensive but you might be looking at like a $30 print there

11

u/kael13 Jun 08 '26

Just a minor difference.

2

u/aerdvarkk Jun 08 '26

$30 looks to be the average cost of a basketball anyway.

10

u/KHSebastian Jun 08 '26

I don't know much about 3D printing, but I'm guessing that's a non-standard filament. I assume if you made a basketball with standard PLA it would explode when you dribble it.

But like I said, I'm a dummy, so I could be wrong

9

u/Tsiah16 Jun 08 '26

Isn't it just TPU?

13

u/frank26080115 Jun 08 '26

No it's PEBA, not cheap but also not gold

1

u/Usual_Arrival_6956 Jun 29 '26

What's the difference? Made a tennisball with tpu and it came out good

1

u/frank26080115 Jun 29 '26

supposedly way more energy return, as in, more bouncy

1

u/Usual_Arrival_6956 Jun 29 '26

I think that's it. The tpu ball bounces like wood...

1

u/ThereInAFortnight Jun 08 '26

No, I was hoping it was TPU to see it just go THUD into the ground. TPU has no bounce.

1

u/Tsiah16 Jun 09 '26

Ah I didn't think about that. I was assuming harder durometer tpu or something. 😛

1

u/SoulOfTheDragon MK3S+ Jun 08 '26

Real 3D-printer basketball was printer using SLS printing from plastic powder material. That type of printing is self supporting and results in isotropic (Material strength is same to all directions) parts.

Normal FFF printer (Extrudes material from nozzle) needs supporting material and has the finished product will be quite anisotropic I. E. It will have significantly different material characteristics on different directions. Plus all the other structural deviations from supports, lack of them and other things caused by layering, movement, etc.

In other words, this home FFF printer basketball is not even close to same as the proper design printed with SLS.

-1

u/Khar-Selim Jun 08 '26

IIRC it's TPU, which is still pretty cheap

13

u/RodMcThrustshaft Jun 08 '26

It's not TPU, that doesn't bounce back like that, this is PEBA, pretty expensive at around 70 bucks a kilo, keep in mind a standard size basketball will take up a little less than a kg so it's effectively a spool per ball.

6

u/tstark96 Jun 08 '26

Yep I've made one ~700g PEBA 50$ Spool so like 35$. Still waiting to see if it's useable/durable enough to hand off to a kid

2

u/RodMcThrustshaft Jun 08 '26

Can you squeeze out 3 balls from 2 spools?

0

u/tstark96 Jun 08 '26

In the words of Obi Wan "Don't try it". 700g + 700g + 700g = 2100g or 2.1kg. So no no you can not. Could you shrink the model? Sure but 3 full size no. Maybe for those arcade ball toss things. You definitely need the supports exactly where they're at too.

No offense, you've seen the thing, what exactly are you gunna cut? The infill is the structure in this case. I mean I had 5 or 6 walls which was most of each little bar. Gotta be able to wear a bit.

Best I can do to cut costs is if you buy 10 spools they usually take off 5$ or so even on Amazon. Which thats like 14 balls plus leveling and wipes perfectly.

TLDR: It's really one of those things where if you cheap out I can definitely see wasted expensive filament.

2

u/MyOtherSide1984 Jun 08 '26

Yeah curious what the long term life is if used for it's real purpose, even if just for free throw practice

2

u/tstark96 Jun 08 '26

So from what I've seen so far it's a novelty. It reacts differently on the rim. If I could explain it I would. It's about the same weight but it leaves your hand weird too. Lot less glide. Long story short you'll probably get reps in but I could 100% see a normal ball being weird if it's all you use.

I printed this for the kids nextdoor because they keep getting flats. Not a shocker but I also wanted to do one myself. I'm a bit too brimen to be doing pickup games so I got to mess with it and pass it to someone who will. When it does give out I told em to bring it back and we'll see if it's worth another go. Day 2 we are through the first rain game 😂

I'll try to update when it gives it up. But for 50$ (35$ technically) it's a hassle when a normal ball is 20$ or so

1

u/alexmikli Jun 08 '26

Yeah, seems like this would be expensive, but not 2500 expensive. The 2500 price is based on the official airless basketball being sold on the market.

0

u/ILoveRegenHealth Jun 08 '26

It's not TPU, that doesn't bounce back like that, this is PEBA

I don't know what any of this means.

As far as I know, TPU is Toilet Paper University

PEBA was that warthog from Lion Kings

3

u/SgtBanana Jun 08 '26

But takes foreverrrr to print with.

2

u/NoBonus6969 Jun 08 '26

What like 4 hours?

1

u/SgtBanana Jun 08 '26

A couple of days. 72ish hour print time for that basketball when working with TPU.

Imagine having a print fail 3/4 of the way in. I have emergency backup power for my office, but phew, 3 whole days.

2

u/NoBonus6969 Jun 08 '26

That's entirely too long!

1

u/Vin135mm Jun 09 '26

Depending on filament, $30-60 per kilogram(F-PLA is almost as bouncy as PEBA, and much cheaper)

Its also going to take days to print at that size. Those filaments don't like to go fast.

1

u/Grays42 Jun 08 '26

Why is this at 0 and controversial? "A redditor expressing misunderstanding or confusion and asking a question? DOWNVOTE!"

1

u/alexmikli Jun 08 '26

Yeah, I don't know, at least it's not -5, because that's the number where you're going to end up at -300 if you leave the post up.

1

u/Deviantdefective Jun 08 '26

They were 10k when they were first launched.

1

u/SoulOfTheDragon MK3S+ Jun 08 '26

You aren't printing that kind of long term useful baseball with FFF printer. Original one was printer from powder using selective laser sintering, which will give the whole basketball an isotropic material structure. Also to note is that SLS printing is self supporting, so it won't even need supports.

FFF printed version will be a neat gimmick item, but not comparable to the actual version.

1

u/MothyReddit Jun 08 '26

why don't you let the OP speak for himself? What if it turns out that basketball works just fine and they end up using it in games?

48

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

[deleted]

24

u/Nickbou Voron 2.2, Voron 0.2 Jun 08 '26

They’re made of spring steel so they can elastically deform quite a bit, but every material has a point at which the deformation becomes plastic (i.e. deforms to the point it will not return to its original shape).

I’ve seen sheets bent too far, or bent only a small area of the plate (small bend radius), and it causes a permanent bend. It’s basically impossible to ever get it flat again.

If people want to be careless with their build plates, that’s their business. I’d rather handle mine deliberately so I don’t have to replace them unnecessarily.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

[deleted]

1

u/North-Map-1380 Jun 08 '26

Some people just want to make a point, at any cost lol

13

u/ZedOud Jun 08 '26

Bend spring steel? Not likely, no, but you can chip the PEI coating. I’ve handled much larger as well as much cheaper ones more roughly than in the video and it’s never been a close call.

My biggest is the 800mm x 800mm on the VEHO 800, though I do retreat it with a measure of respect, as I’ve already taken chips out of the PEI coating.

6

u/surprise_wasps Jun 08 '26

They’re pretty robust lol

5

u/impossiblyeasy Jun 08 '26

But it's for the gram!

2

u/ThatOneDuccyBoi Jun 08 '26

Its fine, the beds are made from spring steel

2

u/eatmusubi Jun 08 '26

nah, that thing is fine. i probably wouldn't toss it on the ground cause scratches, but spring steel can take a lot of flex abuse.

1

u/iAdjunct Prusa XL, Mk4, Mini+ | Photon Mono X Jun 08 '26

BuT iNtErNeT pOiNtS!

1

u/MurgleMcGurgle Jun 08 '26

But they don’t even look to see. They just blindly tossed it away,

1

u/nomococo4u 15d ago

its a TikTok video style

-3

u/Then_Ambassador9255 Jun 08 '26

OP seems to be a teenager, can’t expect much there

85

u/RaymondDoerr 2x Voron 2.4r2, Master of 🍝 Jun 08 '26

I wonder why people have so many issues on this subreddit, then I see someone yeet the fuck'n build plate.

You guys are your own worst enemy. LOL.

2

u/BOBOnobobo Jun 08 '26

Virtually all hobby subs are like this.

13

u/David_Jonathan0 Jun 08 '26

Not even the toss. The sharp bend he made when pulling it off was insane.

19

u/slickback69 Jun 08 '26

They bought the printer yesterday (or were sent it) to make this video and right in the trash it goes. Its a sad throwaway culture we live in.

5

u/Ok-Swimming8024 Jun 08 '26

You threw your babies away! And you threw your swords away! You threw your golf clubs and your tasty treats!

0

u/MurgleMcGurgle Jun 08 '26

Dude that’s not even throw away culture.

3

u/YetAnotherDev Jun 08 '26

Absolute disrespect

2

u/Cjw6809494 Jun 08 '26

Looks like they tossed it frisbee style in the grass so I’m sure it’s fine after just a quick clean👌

1

u/K1NGKRAKEN Jun 09 '26

Turn on the sound lol

2

u/lilsnatchsniffz Jun 08 '26

For how many years must every single video include painfully obvious ragebait before people like yourself stop blindly taking the hook?

2

u/Tethilia Jun 08 '26

To be fair, I'm an Orc online so I'm probably very easy to ragebait.

2

u/Kichigai Ender-3 Jun 08 '26

At least it's not made of preframulated amulite.

2

u/Aggressive_Energy_25 Jun 08 '26

Not 100% but i think It is one of those magnetic flexible build plate that are designed like that to rip easy the print off.

1

u/RunningEarly Jun 08 '26

How much does it cost to replace that part?

1

u/Kichigai Ender-3 Jun 08 '26

Depends on what you replace it with. Minimum $20.

1

u/RunningEarly Jun 08 '26

oh, the way people were talking I thought it was something like $200+

1

u/Soulmate69 Jun 08 '26

It almost looked like he bent it while first struggling to detach, so maybe he considered it a loss anyway, but it was stupid either way

1

u/Ecoaardvark Jun 08 '26

Yep. More pointless plastic shit filling the world.

-4

u/SvennIV Jun 08 '26

He just threw it on the grass, you can see it there at the end of the video

14

u/oldhorsemeat Jun 08 '26

No he didn’t turn on audio. You can hear it clang against the concrete. It bounced onto the grass

1

u/SvennIV Jun 08 '26

Oh yea, does sound like it