3D Print T-Shirts, Holograms, and More! 5 Easy (Cursed) Printing Hacks!

How the "holographic" build plate works and transfers colour just based on its shape blew my mind

4:30 fun fact, this is also how opals get their hazy colorful glow. Same with certain types of butterflies. Science is crazy

Fabric be darned: "Darning is a traditional method for repairing fabric damage or holes that do not run along a seam, and where patching is impractical or would create discomfort for the wearer, such as on the heel of a sock." 100

Another Hack ive used myself, I wanted to draw an image onto plexiglass. So I put my sheet of plexiglass on my bed, removed the filament, heated the nozzle, adjusted the speed and VOILA!!... I drew a Homer Simpson face INTO a sheet of plexiglass just by melting the lines with no extrusion. You just have to adjust your Z-height into the negatives and be careful. Subtractive manufacturing using an additive machine!

8:08 Pro tip: use square nuts instead of hex nuts if possible. Easier to plan, top and bottom of the hole can be the same size, and more area to keep the nut in place. Only downside is you probably have like 100 hex nuts in your house already, but need to buy square nuts.

I used TPU on me socks to make custom print grippy socks

The 3D printing directly on to a shirt seems like a gimmick at first, but you can use it as a template to do bleached shirt designs. Night Hawk In light did a video years ago on how to make shirts this way, but its really time consuming using freezer paper like he does, especially for intricate designs.

"It's not a benchy, it's just a bench!" XD

zack is one of the few people i pay attention to when he lists his patrons

I once printed some designs on fabric in TPU. They were somewhat like old engineering drawings so lots of thin lines. The print kept separating from the fabric too easily. What I found saved the whole project was combination of baking paper and ironing. It took few tries to get the temperature right but then I was able to put some smooth plywood under the fabric, baking paper wax side down on top of the printed side of the fabric and iron over the paper. This re-melted the TPU a little while pressing it hard into the fibres of the fabric. The final result looked good and felt durable. I think it even survived some trips through a washing machine on "delicate" settings.

Jesus Christ, a My Immortal reference was not how i expected to start my day

This looks like the "Billy Reuben" episode. I know she did a lot of the early work on printing onto fabrics. AND YOU CREDITED HER! You are awesome, Zack.

10:04 That's my purse! I don't know you!

This was a fun one playing a game of 'have I done this'.. A bunch of these were from before the days of metal build plates, so it was clips around the edge of the glass sheet to hold fabric in place. Billie's ones with magnets in the edges make for fun clip-on clothing. And made a bunch of entrance/ID tags for a makerspace using NFC tags and dual colour prints, also lots of fun. Including one with embedded magnets and a reed switch that would change tag ID when you flipped over a part. Glad that worked on the first try because I'm never doing it again!

Zack, the level of production and detail you do is simply amazing for each video. Just when I think you make a mistake, you have a later b-roll clip of you correcting that very thing. Love the effort man. That said, your perfection doesn’t determine your value. We love you dude. Don’t burn yourself out though. Have fun doing what you do and we will continue to enjoy it.

@10:02 I feel personally attacked

The alliteration at 3:53 was insane!

great content, full of information, explanation even dumbed down that i can understand. thank you for sharing this one , good luck for future ones.

On the PLA and PETG not sticking part, you can also make jointed parts using that technique. It's similar to how joints in Gundam toys are made, except there they are double-shot injection molded ABS and PP, another pair of incompatible materials. If it's a vertical joint, just make two parts with zero clearance and one will mold perfectly over another, making a smooth joint that will release with some gentle persuasion. PETG's low coefficient of friction helps. It doesn't work as well across layer lines so there a bit of clearance might be needed, but it's still more precise and has more potential for geometry than single-material print-in-place parts.

I love how creative these Ideas are !!