A real quick intro for this one. This week’s tip comes from Lars Christensen, who’s known around the interwebs for his rapidly growing YouTube channel, and long running blog, cadcamstuff.com. Take it away, Lars! 

Want to add a little extra grip, or texture to those 3D printed parts? Today, I’m going to show you a way to do this in a completely unorthodox way. Yes, you could model every little dimple, grove, or peak, but think about all the faces, patterns, and time it would take to edit? What if I told you that you can use the CAM workspace to generate geometry that could otherwise take hours to model?

I know most printer guys zone out when they hear the word CAM, but wait! In just a couple minutes I’ll give you a crash course in CAM, so you can make those knurls and grips in a portion of the time, and on more complex surfaces:

As you can see in the video, there’s no need to know about feeds & speeds, or having a tool holder in your back pocket. So the next time you want to make a cool pattern 3D printed part, remember you have another trick up your sleeve.

This tip was originally featured on Lars Live #116 (!), and if you don’t know what that is, I’m going to suggest you subscribe to his channel ASAP! This guy is one of the most genuine and helpful people you’ll meet in your life! 

Thanks for reading/watching/participating!