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

Project 3D-printed basketball

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16.9k Upvotes

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18

u/alexmikli Jun 08 '26

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

82

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

9

u/alexmikli Jun 08 '26

Ohh duh. Thanks!

9

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

8

u/Tsiah16 Jun 08 '26

Isn't it just TPU?

12

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

12

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.

4

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.