Letter cubes

German

• When I searched for letter blocks on the internet, I found some, but the printing times were beyond what I was willing to endure (more than 5 hours per cube was not uncommon).
• So I developed my own solution, which on the one hand prints significantly faster, and on the other hand dispenses with any restrictive specifications.
• As a template, I prepared a print bed with approximately 220 tiles, from which only the necessary tiles need to be selected:
  • The alphabet with small and capital letters
  • The digits 0-9, arithmetic symbols, and other characters
  • Simple pictograms
    • General symbols
    • Animals (excluding birds)
    • Birds
• All templates are prepared for two-color printing (with AMS). The first color is for the base body, the second color for the symbol)
• The cube, which serves as a carrier for the 6 side panels, has an edge length of 3 cm.
• The individual tiles are glued into the prepared recesses. Since the tiles are quite stiff, a few drops of adhesive on the surface are sufficient. Precision is not necessary, as the bevels practically self-center the tiles.
• To keep the printing time relatively short despite multi-color printing, a few rules must be followed (these are actually self-evident for most, but should still be mentioned):
  • Cubes are generally printed in one color.
  • When printing the tiles for the cube sides, always print only identical color pairs – meaning only 2 different colors per printing process (only 4-6 color changes are then required).
  • If all cube sides are to have different color combinations, then there must be as many printing processes as there are color combinations.
  • If all this is taken into account, for 10 to 20 cubes, you will achieve approximately 30 minutes of printing time per cube, including the side tiles.
  • Gluing on the tiles is an additional step, but does not take much time.

• Enlargement can be carried out in the slicer as needed, but this can have significant effects on the printing time.

   

• Selection of Side Tiles for Printing
  • Open the 3mf file containing all templates in the slicer ("Collection.3mf").
  • Add one or more additional print beds (one per planned color combination).
  • Duplicate the required tiles onto a new print bed (this always happens automatically on the active print bed).
  • Assign colors (Color 1: Base color, Color 2: Symbol color).
  • Save the file as a copy with a new name.

  • Before printing a print plate, set the color pair (vary for more variety).

     

• Add Side Tiles with Custom Content
  • Other countries, other customs: Depending on the language, there will be many other requests regarding letters and accents alone.
  • Customization is easy; I know this because I created all the letter tiles myself in the slicer exactly this way... and it works as follows:
    • First, load the “Collections.3mf” print plate.
    • Then create an additional print plate and copy one of my prepared tiles by duplicating it (e.g., the one with the capital letter “A”).
    • ATTENTION: the characters are placed with the reading side down so that the texture of the print bed is adopted. This allows for nicer surfaces.
    • Now duplicate as many parts as needed.
    • INFO: when duplicating, the created copies are always placed on the active print bed.
    • Then turn the print bed over. A lot of “A”s (from below) should now be visible.
    • Switch from “Global” to “Objects”.
    • Each tile consists of two objects: the base body and the text. The colors must be different.
    • By clicking on the tile on the print bed, the tile is highlighted in color in the object list.
    • Find this tile in the list and click on the corresponding text shape. The “old” letter is now selected for modification.
    • Now select the text tool in the icon menu. The old settings are displayed:
      • Size: 20.00 (can be changed)
      • Thickness 0.05 (must be less than half the layer height)
      • Embedded depth: 0.60 (means that with a 0.2mm layer height, the color is only introduced into layers 1 to 3)
      • Enter text: replace the existing character with the new one.
      • Verify placement.
    • Done, proceed to the next tile.

  • Important: Before printing, set Quality/Wall Generator to “Arachne”

     

• Assembly

  • The tiles are glued into the recesses on the cube sides with a few drops of suitable adhesive.

   

• 3D Printing

  • The cube is placed on one side for printing. A recessed side surface must then be supported (my solution: manually set 9 points). The cube must then be separated from the print bed very carefully, otherwise the surface could be damaged. The surface must/can be reworked slightly if it is too high. After gluing on the tile, this is no longer visible.

     

• Material
  • The material does not matter, but PLA is suitable.

Content of “Collection.3mf” (bottom view)

English

• When I searched for letter blocks on the internet, I found some, but the printing times were beyond what I was willing to endure (more than 5 hours per cube was not uncommon).
• So I developed my own solution, which on the one hand prints much faster and on the other hand dispenses with any restrictive specifications.
• I prepared a print bed with approximately 220 tiles as templates, from which only the required tiles had to be selected:
  • The alphabet with small and capital letters
  • The digits 0-9, arithmetic symbols, and other characters
  • Simple pictograms
    • General symbols
    • Animals (excluding birds)
    • Birds
• All templates are prepared for two-color printing (with AMS). The first color is for the base body, the second color for the symbol).
• The cube, which serves as a support for the 6 side panels, has an edge length of 3 cm.
• The individual tiles are glued into the prepared recesses. Since the tiles are quite stiff, a few drops of adhesive on the surface are sufficient. Precision is not necessary, as the tiles are practically self-centering due to the bevels.
• To keep the printing time relatively short despite multi-color printing, a few rules must be followed (these are actually self-evident for most, but should still be mentioned):
  • Cubes are generally printed in one color.
  • When printing the tiles for the cube sides, always print only identical color pairs – meaning only 2 different colors per printing process (only 4-6 color changes are then required).
  • If all cube sides are to have different color combinations, then there must be as many printing processes as there are color combinations.
  • If all this is taken into account, for 10 to 20 cubes, it will take approximately 30 minutes to print each cube, including the side tiles.
  • Gluing on the tiles is an additional step, but does not take much time.

• Enlargement can be carried out in the slicer as required, but this can have a considerable effect on the printing time.

   

• Selection of Side Tiles for Printing
  • Open the 3mf file containing all templates in the slicer ("Collection.3mf").
  • Add one or more additional print beds (one for each planned color combination).
  • Duplicate the required tiles to a new print bed (automatically always on the active print bed).
  • Assign colors (Color 1: Base color, Color 2: Symbol color).
  • Save the file as a copy with a new name.

  • Set the color pair before printing a print plate (vary for more variety).

     

• Add Side Tiles with Custom Content
  • Other countries, other customs: Depending on the language, there will be many other requests regarding letters and accents alone.
  • Customization is easy; I know this because I created all the letter tiles myself in the slicer exactly this way... and it works as follows:
    • First, load the “Collections.3mf” print plate.
    • Then create an additional print plate and duplicate one of my prepared tiles (e.g., the one with the capital letter “A”).
    • ATTENTION: the characters are placed with the reading side down so that the texture of the print bed is adopted. This results in nicer surfaces.
    • Now duplicate as many parts as required.
    • INFO: when duplicating, the created copies are always placed on the active print bed.
    • Then turn the print bed over. A lot of “A”s (from below) should now be visible.
    • Switch from “Global” to “Objects”.
    • Each tile consists of two objects: the base body and the text. The colors must be different.
    • By clicking on the tile on the print bed, the tile is highlighted in color in the object list.
    • Find this tile in the list and click on the corresponding text shape. The “old” letter is now selected for modification.
    • Now select the text tool in the icon menu. The old settings are displayed:
      • Size: 20.00 (can be changed)
      • Thickness 0.05 (must be less than half the layer height)
      • Embedded depth: 0.60 (means that with a 0.2mm layer height, the color is only introduced into layers 1 to 3)
      • Enter text: replace the existing character with the new one.
      • Verify placement.
    • Done, proceed to the next tile.

  • Important: Before printing, set Quality/Wall Generator to “Arachne”

     

• Assembly

  • Glue the tiles into the recesses on the sides of the cube using a few drops of suitable adhesive.

   

• 3D Printing

  • The cube is placed on one side for printing. A recessed side surface must then be supported (my solution: manually set 9 points). The cube must then be separated from the print bed very carefully, otherwise the surface may be damaged. The surface must/can be reworked slightly if it is too high. However, this is no longer visible once the tile has been glued on.

     

• Material
  • The material does not matter, but PLA is a good choice.