[HN Gopher] 3D Printing Sex Toys
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3D Printing Sex Toys
Author : app4soft
Score : 132 points
Date : 2021-10-10 16:58 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.billieruben.info)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.billieruben.info)
| ahefner wrote:
| I'm not judging, but that is an amusingly non-human looking
| phallus that she has crafted.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| I already have a great human dick I get to play with.
|
| A dildo would be a poor substitute for him.
| Causality1 wrote:
| I have questions. If you're doing it all yourself why do you need
| to go to a silicone shop and "talk to the experts about your
| needs"? Why tell a beginner to use 3D Builder or Meshmixer when
| you could do it in ninety seconds in Tinkercad? Why would you
| slice it in Chitubox to get the volume when your original
| modeling program or regular slicer would give you that info? On
| what printer is 0.25mm a step-integer layer height? Finally, is
| this really any better than printing your dildo and using a $35
| clone-a-willy kit?
| the-dude wrote:
| From the Guidelines :
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
|
| _Please don 't post shallow dismissals, especially of other
| people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. _
| Causality1 wrote:
| That's not a shallow dismissal. I don't understand some of
| these choices and I want to know why they were made. I want
| to know why I'm wrong.
| the-dude wrote:
| Allmost all your 'questions' are closed questions and
| include your assumed preference. They are not really
| questions. The tone is belittleing ( is that a word? )
| h2odragon wrote:
| I disagree with all your assessments. I think specific,
| discuss-able questions like this lead to educational
| answers. Asking questions about something isn't
| disrespectful.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| the way they are asked can be though, as evidenced above.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| I think the trouble was your tone, it's important to
| remember that another real life human made this article.
| Nicksil wrote:
| That isn't a shallow dismissal.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| hey thank you for saying this, I also though the tone was
| pretty off.
| vorpalhex wrote:
| 1. Not all silicones are equal
|
| 2. Different 3d modeling programs are better at different
| things. Meshmixer is really good at some organic shape
| manipulations. Tinkercad is very limiting.
|
| 3. Not all slicing programs will give you the volume
|
| 4. Just because it isn't a default in your printers config
| doesn't mean it won't work.
|
| 5. Clone a willy kits have limitations, may not suit your needs
| or be available, or you may want more control of the process.
| app4soft wrote:
| > _Meshmixer is really good at some organic shape
| manipulations._
|
| FTR, _Blender_ and _MoI3D_ is also good choice for organic
| (NURBS /B-spline) surface modeling.
| [deleted]
| BillieRuben wrote:
| You go to the shop and ask so you get the right product because
| silicones that are safe for this are rare and rarely advertised
| as such.
|
| Because 3D builder is legit better than tinkercad in many ways,
| but you're free to use tinkercad, it's totally a matter of
| preference. I actually list it as an option in the article, so
| not sure what prompted this comment.
|
| Tinkercad won't give you volume info and nor will most organic
| sculpting software.
|
| Are you talking about "magic numbers" with regard to the layer
| height? If so, I'm printing on a delta so it basically doesn't
| matter.
|
| Yes, because it removes the layer lines, which is the main
| health risk in printed toys (and without smoothing those layer
| lines just get transferred to the toy, silicone picks up
| microscopic details)
| linsomniac wrote:
| Why not spend 90 seconds building it in TinkerCAD? My
| experience is that it took a year for me to get to the point
| where I could build it in TinkerCAD. Love it, but I really
| struggled at first. Now it's my go-to, and you can make some
| awesome stuff quickly, but I'm the only one in my house that
| can do, well, pretty much anything in 90 seconds in TinkerCAD.
| :-)
|
| Why do this rather than clone a Willy? If your willy looks like
| the sex toy in this blog post, you'd probably better see a
| doctor.
| dTal wrote:
| The core of this technique is the use of beeswax to act as both a
| filler/smoothing agent and mould release. A clever hack - but I'm
| confused by some things:
|
| - the assertion that 3d printed materials are not body safe; PLA
| (the most common 3d printing material) is nontoxic and used for
| utensils (although agreed that the layer lines are a hygiene
| hazard)
|
| - the description of the "traditional" method as printing a
| positive shape, then casting a negative in silicone, and then
| casting a positive _also_ in silicone (with release agent,
| presumably because silicone bonds to itself). Why would you not
| just print a negative directly - as indeed she later does? Is it
| because she considers the concave surface difficult to sand
| smooth?
|
| - Why is release agent "$$$"? There are a variety of extremely
| cheap household items that work as release agent, notably dish
| soap.
|
| - Pouring 100C beeswax into a print. This is _well_ above the
| glass point of PLA. She doesn 't say what material she's printing
| with, which may explain the earlier remark about not being body
| safe.
|
| - The need for any sort of release agent. Silicone does not bond
| to thermoplastic, at all. She's not casting silicone in silicone,
| so what's the problem?
| BillieRuben wrote:
| - PLA as a material is at least food safe (though food safe and
| body safe aren't the same). But! The material passes through
| nozzles which probably have lead in them etc. even if that's of
| negligible consequence though the main issue with making
| something body safe is the layer lines, which retain moisture
| and breed bacteria.
|
| - yes, concave surfaces are dang near impossible to smooth.
|
| - plenty of household release agents don't work in a silicone
| to silicone mould, or impede the cure of platinum cure silicone
| (the body safe kind), and if you bugger it up you're just
| wasted the mould and the dildo's worth of silicone which is
| $$$.
|
| - I just used PLA. the beeswax doesn't touch it for long, you
| literally pour it in and immediately back out. Because the
| print is hollow on the inside and because beeswax has such a
| low specific heat capacity it cools instantly, and this all
| works, my pics are proof.
|
| - silicone doesn't bond to PLA, no, but you need to smooth the
| layer lines, which brings us back to point 1....
| dTal wrote:
| Thank you for replying in such useful detail!
|
| I've been orbiting this array of technologies lately - 3d
| printing + silicone, and also epoxy resin - so this is all
| really useful info for me. Your comment about having to
| figure out working processes by trial and error rings true.
| I'll be sure to bear beeswax in mind - maybe it'll work some
| magic on epoxy as well.
|
| In the spirit of reciprocal knowledge sharing, I've been
| using filler primer spray or smoothing prints. You're
| probably aware of it already, but it seems very underrated in
| the 3d printing community. Sands to a mirror finish amazingly
| quickly and easily, especially under running water. Obviously
| that's not a body safe surface, and I don't know what effect
| it would have on silicone curing, but still - one worth
| keeping in the toolbox.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| Which comment about trial and error sorry? I honestly
| rarely do the same thing twice... ADHD and all. lol
|
| Yes, filler primer is great and I recommend it often. I
| think I actually mention it in the article? It's just a LOT
| more work than pouring some wax in and out of a mould.
| KaiserPro wrote:
| > PLA (the most common 3d printing material) is nontoxic and
| used for utensils
|
| Utensils are (generally) not inserted. however more crucially
| in this respect, depending on the mix, silicon is more
| compliant. You want to have a bit of give. (I know I know,
| glass dildos exist, but thats a specific, advanced usage)
| h2odragon wrote:
| I wouldn't fear a PLA thing first use; but cleaning it
| thoroughly enough to re-use is going to be a challenge without
| special effort applied to finishing it after printing.
|
| Beeswax temp: Thermal mass of the print is probably high enough
| that it sucks the heat out of the wax before melting much
| surface feature. in this case, smoothing bumps is beneficial.
| lostlogin wrote:
| Beeswax melts at about 65 degrees centigrade. Going higher
| than that discolours it and if you go very hot, when it sets
| it cracks. These things would seem unlikely to be an issue
| when using it more like paint.
| yarcob wrote:
| > Why would you not just print a negative directly - as indeed
| she later does? Is it because she considers the concave surface
| difficult to sand smooth?
|
| I think the problem with sanding a mold is that it would be
| very hard to sand both halves equally, so you'd end up with a
| step where the two halves meet.
|
| Using the wax to smooth the mold when the two halves are
| already stuck together is quite ingenious, as the wax will also
| smooth the part where the halves meet.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| > [...] presumably because silicone bonds to itself [...]
|
| Silicone absolutely _loves_ silicone. If you pour silicone into
| a silicone mould you end up with one piece of silicone -- which
| now includes the mould. So a barrier is absolutely essential.
| dTal wrote:
| Yes, that's why I typed that.
|
| The question is, why make a silicone mould in the first
| place?
| yarcob wrote:
| I guess silicone is a good material to make a seamless
| mould of a smooth object. Since it's flexible you can
| remove it from the original object without cutting it.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| this is the reason.
| [deleted]
| convolvatron wrote:
| this is totally off topic. but where did she get those scissors
| that are in the video at the end - they are gorgeous. never
| thought i'd have scissor envy
| Levitz wrote:
| God knows what is the actual model, but googling for "Stork
| scissors" yields a lot of results.
| BugsJustFindMe wrote:
| I think they look more like unicorn scissors like
| https://hiyahiyanorthamerica.shptron.com/p/hiyahiya-
| rainbow-...
| BillieRuben wrote:
| aren't they great? I got them at Spotlight here in Australia
| but I've since seen them on aliexpress too. :)
| throwaway387235 wrote:
| I think 3D-printed silicone would be useful for making a condom-
| like sleeve with fluid channels, so that males can use a diaper
| more reliably.
| d33 wrote:
| Hm, reminds me of something:
|
| http://dildo-generator.com/
|
| Thus the question: what exactly is novel about the approach here?
| BillieRuben wrote:
| the bees wax to smooth it instantly and painlessly.
| 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
| Why does it have to be novel? Maybe it's just well presented
| instructions that work?
| BillieRuben wrote:
| I hadn't seen the beeswax smoothing done anywhere else, so I
| felt I had to share, hence the article.
|
| But yea, I dunno why it should have to be novel..
|
| But hey, haters will attempt to find literally anything they
| can to try and cut you down. I've unfortunately learned this
| well in my time producing content.
| app4soft wrote:
| Method of 3D printing use in manufacturing soft surface solid
| things from silicone.
| ddingus wrote:
| Yes, and useful in many contexts. What a great technique!
|
| Other methods, such as solvent mists and such, can be toxic
| and or dangerous. And doing all that costs a little time,
| space and money. Not a huge deal, but given how simple and
| cheap this is...
| xor99 wrote:
| The author highlights a good consideration that its not just the
| filament (e.g. pla) but also the printing process (e.g. hotend
| materials and bowden tubes) that may effect the body safety /
| biocompatibility.
| drummer wrote:
| Why go through so much trouble when you can easily find a man who
| would love to lend you his dick? Oh right, sexual suppression.
| tacon wrote:
| https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=sex&type=things&sort=re...
|
| >No results found for sex. Please try another search or upload
| your own design.
|
| Yeah, sure!
| MisterBiggs wrote:
| Cults embraces it they even have a category for it but it is
| locked to users with an account:
| https://cults3d.com/en/categories/naughties
| yorwba wrote:
| Add "toy"
| https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=sextoy&type=things&sort...
| tacon wrote:
| Wow! They aren't as prudish as it first appears.
| nom wrote:
| Good point, they also filter similar words like buttplug and
| dildo. Sad, a niche market within a niche market. Their loss.
| nom wrote:
| Can't edit on mobile. Looks like they don't Filter "sextoy"
| but other obvious words.
| linsomniac wrote:
| Try Thangs.com, their search engine actually works, and it also
| produces results for objects from other sites. I've completely
| given up on Thingiverse as of ~6 months ago.
| sebazzz wrote:
| Thingiverse word filter is case sensitive. Try again.
| pixl97 wrote:
| Why in the world would they have a case sensitive search.
| linsomniac wrote:
| Clearly you are not familiar with Thingiverse. Their slogan
| seems to be "Why fix it if it's broke?"
| kneel wrote:
| Her name is Billie Ruben, interesting choice.
| blowski wrote:
| ...because? I'm not sure what you mean.
| boomskats wrote:
| Might be insinuating that whoever named her Billie had a
| jaundice fetish?
|
| edit: the other answer is a way better answer
| [deleted]
| hlieberman wrote:
| I think it's a reference to bilirubin[1], a compound used in
| the liver for breaking down red blood cells.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilirubin
| BillieRuben wrote:
| sorta yes:
|
| It's a reference to my teddy bear (Billy Rubin) who I've
| had all my life. He was named after I made my mum's
| bilirubin wonky in the womb, my parents have a great sense
| of humor.
|
| A few years ago I wanted to study medicine, but I knew we
| would miss my income, so what's a girl to do to make easy
| money while studying? ... Porn of course! So when I made my
| porn accounts I used Billie, the name was so familiar and
| it had a good alignment with my goals.
|
| But my porn went unexpectedly viral and I kinda got
| overwhelmed by that. And in the mean time I took up 3D
| printing, and that's how I ended up moderating the largest
| 3D printing community on earth under the username
| BillieRubenCamGirl. lol.
|
| I ended up meeting lotsa doctors because of the name
| (doctors love puns as much as I do it seems) and decided
| through talking with them I didn't want to be a dr after
| all. Ended up starting a double degree in two other STEM
| fields.
|
| I still have the teddy, he sleeps on my bed every night.
| bobthechef wrote:
| Maybe she's full of bile.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| mean.
| app4soft wrote:
| She explained it many times.[0]
|
| [0]
| https://twitter.com/search?f=live&q=from%3ABillieRubenMake+B...
| BillieRuben wrote:
| :)
| crobertsbmw wrote:
| > So traditionally you'd have to print a blank and smooth it
| (with loads of manual sanding and buffing), and then cast a
| silicone mould around it, add a mold release ($$$) and THEN
| (finally!) cast your actual sex toy.
|
| The process is here to print the negative and then do a thin
| layer of beeswax inside to smooth the layer lines from the print.
| I haven't done either method but would like to try it out soon.
| I'll probably stick to figurines instead of sex toys though..
| ddingus wrote:
| Or, depending on the polymer, smoothing can be done chemically.
|
| This is simple, cheap and clean by comparison. I have the same
| inclination to try it too. I think it's brilliant.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| Thanks!
| SamBam wrote:
| She mentions that it loses a fair bit of surface details, so
| good for largish organic things, but maybe not so good for
| miniatures?
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| WediBlino wrote:
| If you're planning to make figurines you're better off with a
| resin printer (as opposed to filament).
| linsomniac wrote:
| This is very true, I tried to print some figurines using
| filament, and it was a total disaster. I'm sure there are
| some figures and some settings of slicer and printer that
| work, but just grabbing a fig and printing it isn't the same
| as grabbing other things and printing them. My experience
| based on 5-7 spools of filament printed through a rather
| enhanced Ender 3 Pro (+BLTouch, MicroSwiss, new mobo, dual
| gear extruder, upgraded bed springs).
|
| Though, as others here mentioned, resin may not be what you
| want either. I looked at them briefly when my son was
| interested in painting minifigs, and decided I didn't want to
| deal with resin and I _DEFINITELY_ didn 't want him working
| in resin, based on the messes he makes with cereal.
| tdeck wrote:
| Resin is really nasty stuff though. Many folks may not want
| to deal with having it in the home and disposing of it.
| HWR_14 wrote:
| It depends on the scale. I'd imaging GI Joe/Barbie scale you
| want FDM. Minis for D&D you want resin.
| cronix wrote:
| Not to mention, way cooler to watch while printing.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| and you can add glitter!
| Griffinsauce wrote:
| > I'll probably stick to figurines instead of sex toys though
|
| That sounds painful.
| isoprophlex wrote:
| Everything's a dildo when you're brave enough
| p1mrx wrote:
| Counterexample: bowling ball
| malka wrote:
| You are not brave enough.
| botverse wrote:
| My urologist friend has removed some of that everything out
| of those brave people's bladders
| barelysapient wrote:
| Depends the figurine I guess.
| linsomniac wrote:
| You can go a long way with just 3D printing a mould in PLA and
| then just filling it with silicone. I've done some parts this
| way, and haven't felt the need to use mould release for either
| the silicone from the mould, or the resulting glass reinforced
| epoxy parts from the silicone. Not for body use in my case.
|
| I modeled some plastic parts as a meta-mould to make a mould for
| some parts I wanted to make.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| yeah but silicone will pick up microscopic details, so you will
| retain the grooves from your print doing it that way, which
| retain moisture, which gives bacteria a chance to grow.
| 4g wrote:
| In my experience using beeswax in contact with platinum cure
| silicons will cause the silicone not to set properly. For the
| record the molds were for a different purpose.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| When using 100% pure beeswax, it seems to be an issue with just
| Smooth On Dragon Skin. Is that what you used? I've added a note
| to the article about it.
|
| I've also had a few folk think they were using pure bees wax,
| but noticed when they poked around on the label after that it
| wasn't actually, it's often mixed with other oils and waxes.
| 4g wrote:
| I was using smooth-on ecoflex, the wax was bought from a
| reputable seller. The result was a sticky uncured expensive
| mess.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| yea, seems like it's a smooth on thing, unfortunately.
| InvaderFizz wrote:
| Not interested in her specific application, but good info none
| the less about how to do reusable and fast 3D printed silicon
| molds with smooth surfaces.
|
| It suffers a loss of detail, but that acceptability depends
| entirely on your intended application.
| john_yaya wrote:
| Another technique is to print in ABS and then give it an
| acetone vapor bath - you preserve details much better, but
| setting all that up is a pain and a little dangerous.
| BillieRuben wrote:
| Also you end up with gooey ABS to leech VOCs into your toy.
| :/ I really worry about that method.
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