"Hassle free holes" was my nickname in college

As an engineer in industry, I thought I knew most techniques when it came to prototyping. This video actually taught me more than I would ever get from a KZfaq short or tik tok.

I'm shocked you didn't mention the best way to design top holes without support: polygonal approximation. The 1st layer of the hole when coming up from the bottom you cut out a rectangle that is as wide as the hole and as long as the inside of the box. That way there is only clean bridging on this layer, no starts and stops over empty space. The 2nd layer of the hole you cut out a square surrounding the hole. This square is supported by the cleanly bridged layer before it, so again we're only bridging. Usually the long rectangle and the square are enough but you could go on and add another layer with a polygon of more than 4 sides that surrounds the hole.

Would have been great to mention the caveat with grip fins: they are great for disassembly, but in many 3D printed plastics (PLA), there is significant creep (deformation on sustained loads). This means the force will change (get looser) if the rod was inserted for a long time and doesn't maintain consistent grip strength as mention in the video. Small distinction but important to note for people new to 3D printing.

who knew making holes for 3d printing could be so varied and dependant on your design intent. As always, great content!

This is probably the best video about practical manufacturing with 3d printing (at least for me!) that this channel has published! Solid GOLD.

Came back to this video 3 days after watching it specifically to like, sub, and comment. My first impression of the video was that it was okay, but that hole with the fins cut into it so it grips with even pressure has really helped me out big time.

Thank you very much for the tips and to everyone whom has left great comments. Very much appreciated.

That second tick of making holes tear drop shaped is genius! Im totally gonna use that in my future projects!

When printing spare parts for my Mk4, I noticed that Prusa puts a notch on top of their holes. Kind of the same idea as your teardrop shape, but easier to apply to larger holes. They also like to use hexagons if they can get away with it.

4:48 We (3D printing community) need to stop calling clearance as a "tolerance". Clearance (or interference for a negative clearance) is how much nominal distance there is between two (nominal=in a perfect world). Tolerance is how much a dimension in a real part can deviate from the design and still function as intended (including but not limited to clearances). Tolerance is how much error is acceptable, since there is always some amount of error. Clearance is the gap. The confusion comes from the fact that we can design a gap to be tolerant to errors. But they are different things

In my experience: For holes in vertical faces like 1:20, rather than using a teardrop shape, you can just use a decagon (with horizontal edges top and bottom).

This channel is fantastic. Simple to the point content. Every video ive watched has helped me learn a new design tool. Im trying to start a webshop selling parts and its fantastic to hear your thoughts and attitude on the design and industry. Thanks and keep it up

"Maniacal Labs LLC" has a video on how to make some holes without support. The trick being adding a sort of step a layer or two underneath the hole, then another in a different direction. It provides enough support that the hole itself doesn't have a huge amount of filament hanging in mid-air.

These are great tips. Another way to print a top hole that's simple, and requires no extra cleanup, is to either make the hole extend to a cone to the outside edges of the box, or make a 45 degree ramp inside the box that the hole goes into. The disadvantage of that is longer printer time and more material, and that it uses up volume inside the box.

How did I get here? I don't even own a 2D printer, let alone 3D.

7:22 Almost a HOLE video in and of itself. I see what you did there. Also using concentric layer patterns can help make really nice vertical holes especially chamfered or filleted.

Watching this video made me realize the top point of the hole isn't necessarily required. Just enough extra to compensate for the sag.👍

I absolutely love your channel. These kind of videos are a wealth of inspiration and information

Loved the unintentional pun there at the end. A "HOLE" Video indeed. haha

I'm only here to give my legally required "your mom" joke due to the thumbnail.

You completely skipped over the most important detail: what brand are those tweezers!?!?

One thing not mentioned in this video is using fuzzy skin. It's not always feasible since you usually have to enable fuzzy skin for the whole print, but it can help create a nice friction fit while allowing for some non-destructive deformation. Great video, btw!

Thanks for these vids. They have changed the way I thought about designing.

Ok, I have to ask. Did you guys get an order of nothing but electrical enclosures for forever? Or is that just the most common part you get orders for? Cause it’s been mentioned in almost every video.

There's another way to make and unsupported top hole, make a rectangle of one layer to one side of the hole and the opposite side (these are then bridged), next layer up make rectangles left right top and bottom of the hole and then a pentagram for the 3rd layer. Everything is bridged and supported for a round hole on the 4th layer. It's a bit more work but it saves a lot in the long run with repeatable results and no post processing. First saw this on prusa designs and there's a few videos on this by various KZfaqrs (Teaching Tech, Makers Muse, etc).

"Design better holes to improve tolerance" is this a message to god?

If you plan on drilling or taping the vertical hole. The 'tear' shape hole will cause the drill or tap to shift upward. You may want to add a bottom 'tear' to create the same forces from the top and bottom.

I know the top comment is giving you a hard time, but this was an awesome video. I learned a lot. Thank you for making these videos. It's greatly appreciated.

For supporting overhanging through holes, the best solution I've seen is designing in a cylindrical plug that is barely larger than the diameter of the hole and just meets the bottom of the hole. This plug provides support to bridge to and breaks away cleanly.

For top holes, there has to be some sort of software support to force prioritizing filling in the corners, from walls, to adjacent ones, until an octagon is made first. Then spiral fill in an octagon shape until the hole can be cleanly shaped, to reduce bridging distance on overhangs in general, then alternate to a traditional fill pattern on even numbered layers for tensile strength. You'd always have 3 points of support if that could be changed readily: a starting anchor, lateral support and end point anchor to keep the build from sagging while cooling and no curved extrusion for printers that can't handle it. Of course with that being something some can try, any change with geometry would warrant plotting out the best path differently on each build specifically to avoid issues.

That's a hole lot of good info!

Very cool!

Excellent tutorial. Makers Muse did the point at the top style a few years ago because you done require supports, when done the right way. The trouble with grip fits is they are slower to print but better than getting the fit slightly wrong over and over.

depending on application. i'll post processing with a drill bit, and thanks for the relief feature idea, im going incorporate that to my designs.

As soon as I saw the thumbnail I knew it was gonna be a great vid. These tips are so good, and definitely gonna be used :)

Amazing content. Dont forget to mention the influence of the material as well: PLA for instance will change its tension over the placed part (or rod) with small time of stress.

Awesome video. I love that you get straight to the point without wasting any time. Very informative.

Wow! Thank you for this!

these seem to be great video's. they are all basic knowlegde things. but because of that, nobody ever explains them. it just comes natural to me so i don't think about them in this detail. keep making these video's. i'm not your target demographic. but this is going to be helpfull for many many people.

How not to love this? 🤟🏼🤟🏼

When i read "hassle-free holes" I didn't think about 3d printing. Very interesting though

This vid added a whole new dimension to my learning. 😉

Great stuff, thanks for everything you've been sharing, very useful information.

one note: buy a cheap set of reamers and then you can easily get perfect sized holes much easier to control than trying to use a twist drill on plastic.

Great holes.

My mind is being blown by your design tip vids. Loving it.

hi, great video, it showed up at me feed exactly when i needed to design a universal pen holder! Modified the last approach to maximize flex of the hole diameter, only one large flexibel element instead of multiple. Works like a charm, cheers

"That is a hole video in and of itself." - I see what you did there :D

3D engineering. Always have great ideas. Thank you 👍

im not old enought to watch this vid with a straight face. but cool vid, even tho i dont have a 3d printing mashine, maybe in the future

I have this exact problem at the moment, I'm designing router bit holders, they need to grip the bit shaft securely but also release without too much force since you don't want to slice up your fingers on the bit. I started with a half circle with two 50-60 degree fingers of a smaller radius to grip, but that design just doesn't have the dimensional flexibility required.

The hole at 5:37 seems ideal to insert threaded stuff of unknown shape into. Might be good if you have a fine thread that your printer's resolution can't match.

I wish more people were creative with their "holes" for tolerances ... as a casual user I prefer something that "just works" rather than have to brute force tolerances when I am constructing an item with individual 3D printed parts.

Where was this video last week??? lol Such great tips I hadn't thought of! Thank you for sharing :D

Bigbrain video 👍

That tear drop design is the symbol of the RepRap project for that design reason

Well presented and useful tips for production quantities. It presupposes that the printing isn’t exactly the same on every machine and that you want less cleanup. It would be good to mention the print direction, in particular to not force fit parts that may split in the vertical sections where layer adhesion is less, that’s where the grip fingers become useful. They’re also useful where you don’t want a loose fit, like a sliding bearing. This method seems to be a fit for most applications that don’t carry too mush load where the plastic crepe might be a problem. If the load is higher, make the walls thicker and add those finger for a tight fit. This video is also good for drawing attention to production where you don’t want to spend time working after the print. For prototyping this is less relevant, you can always interest a heated rod or ream/drill it out.

7:04 "Use this hole over and over again." 😂

7:04 That's the dream

that's sick and super useful. thanks!

Very useful video! thanks a lot!

Hey, thanks a lot for this video, I learned a lot! I have a project that could make good use of the info you gave here :)

06:20 personally. i would do this one the other way around. that way screwing something in is nice and easy. but it tightens when you try to unscrew it. it's a self securing type of connection.

This was rad, thanks dude.

These are exceptional tips for 3D printing 👍🏻

That thumbnail has me cracking up! My ADHD brain started reading "HASS" and immediately jumped to the giant "HOLES". The accompanying image just added to the experience lmao.

I just tried printing a picture frame with holes on the ends to connect four pieces together with pegs, the holes looked awful, thanks for the tips!

Holy polymer I was hoping for this topic!

I would love to learn more about grip fin design!! A removable grip could be a nice alternative to threads which can be challenging to print

I do .15mm over for a snug fit and .2mm over for a nice slip fit

Legit, keep em coming Slant

Great video! Thanks for this

Very useful knowledge!

Align and size vertical holes to fit with layers.If you don't you get egg-shaped holes, like in this video. Seams is a problem. A serious problem. This is fixed horizontally either by angled walls or by making a tiny notch. For vertical holes, this is solved by angled walls, as in not using circles at all. As for chamfers, they simply do not print accurately for vertical holes. They easily ruin a print. I only use that, when I absolutely have to, and in such cases, I constantly search for ways to avoid using them, because they, well... You get the picture.

Big fan of the quantity on this channel! :)

Very useful indeed...thanks a lot!

Thanks again for these good vids

Very nice video. I look forward to the whole video on sizing with grip fins

Very useful design tips !

Brilliant. Thanks

@ 7:22 "That is almost a hole video in and of itself..." I see what you did there.

For the unsupported top hole, print it on a 45 degree belt printer😮. Any side holes should print well too. No need for any workarounds!😊❤👍

7:04 EXACTLY! I was trying to explain this to my gf the other day.. not sure why she left 💀

Great video! Though the shallow focus you had on your camera when showing the diferent prints made it very difficult to see the details :/

awesome - but .. 2:50 for this kind of hole, you would make a support like that there? It's not clear to me.

Grip fins won't hold with constant force for a long time when printed with pla, as it can deform under constant load.

I stared at my part for an hour yesterday trying to figure out how to print a hole at the top of my model without using supports. I ended up just cutting the whole piece in half so there were no overhangs.

My wife is gonna leave me when she sees this title in my recently watched

Can you do a video on printing threaded inserts? Thanks.

What is your opinion of custom supports? As in, modeled directly to combat specific issues while making the post processing easier than with slicer supports? Is the work-flow too challenging to make something like that per-part? If a modeler is specifically making design choices to tailor to the printing process, couldn't that same understanding be extended to custom support structures?

great tips!

I always had this issue of holes always being undersized if I don't make them oversized in the model itself. Very annoying.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:28 ⚙️ Adding small fillets around a hole helps create a cleaner 3D printed hole and prevents deformation. 01:10 📏 Adding a point to the top of a hole prevents sagging and maintains the outer profile for reliable screw placement. 02:21 🏗️ Unsupported top holes can lead to messy prints; consider supporting or using a sacrificial layer to avoid issues. 03:46 🛠️ Compensate for 3D printing shrinkage by adding a small chamfer at the top of the hole for a good fit. 04:56 🏗️ Design holes at true diameter and add relief features on the outer side to create a strong press fit while avoiding deformation. 05:24 🌀 Crush ribs are sacrificial features that enhance press fits by allowing controlled deformation. 06:22 🔄 Grip fins are flexible features around a hole's outer edge, providing constant grip force for removable and reusable parts. Made with HARPA AI

curious, you mention sacrificial layers for printing the floating hole. but what about the method thats common on prusa parts, where you print a single direction layer up to the edge of the circle either side, then another layer going in the oposite direction up to the edge of the circle on either side. then finally print the layer with the circle. you get the benefit of the sacrificial layer without needing to punch through any material. floating holes are just yet another one of those complicated slicer problems that hasnt been cracked yet. in theory doing something similar but in a single layer should be possible, with custom gcode to prioritise the outer solid sections first then use them as supports for the inner walls, while also preventing sudden velocity changes. not sure what would be needed on the slicer side to generate that kind of gcode automagically.

you don't need to smooth edges manually. This funcion is automatic and it's called Junction Deviation. Try calibrating. Cheers.

Been looking for a hassle free hole for years.

Last hassle free hole i encountered was probably back in high school......

I just watched this hole video.

What color filament is that, it's nice