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Does anyone have any experience in making a rod on a 3D printer? If so what all materials did you use? Pros and cons?

Hey everybody! I want to make a little post today detailing what I've learned and what I do to make 3D printed soft plastic molds. I looked on the forum and I know there have been 3D printed lure threads in the past but I just kinda wanted the throw my hat into the ring on this topic. But I apologize in advance if I repeat what is commonly already known. Instead of resin 3D printing I use FDM printers which are 3D printers that use spools of plastic filament instead of liquid resin. Kinda like a fancy advanced hot glue gun. Resin printers are great but it's simply not the path I went down. Software: -AutoDesk Fusion 360 (you can use a program like FreeCAD but I think it's harder and good tutorials are harder to find for it) Fusion 360 is free under a hobby license but you can subscribe to higher versions if you feel the need to. -Ultimaker Cura (This is the slicing software that turns the 3D mold model into printable code for the 3D printer) Cura is also a free to use software that works well in my opinion. The 3D printer itself: -I used to use an Ender 3 V2 but it was finicky and I hated adjusting the spring knobs to level the bed all the time and the included bed surface was pretty unreliable. -I now use an Elegoo Neptune 3 which has become my favorite budget printer for less than $200. That being said, you must be prepared to change a few things on this cheap printer because there's less quality control because they're so cheap. I ended up having to replace my stock bowden tube and z-Axis aluminum extrusions so the printer could work right. though, after my adjustments my prints turn out great. The printer comes with auto bed leveling, a touch screen with phone cord, and can print multiple kinds of materials. The bed surface for the printer: -I have found that a magnetic PEI coated bed surface works great for me. The Neptune 3 comes with a bed like this and I've been very happy with it and had very little bed related failures when printing. I wipe the bed down with 70% isopropyl alcohol and occasionally Acetone when I feel the bed is too dirty for the iso. Materials: PLA: Yes, PLA can work in molds contrary to what some people may say. It works in a pinch and that's what matters to some people. PLA is great for making prototype molds that only have a few uses in them after they warp too much or fail in some other way. It helps to inject a PLA mold with 300-320 degree F plastisol. Also making sure the inside of the mold has lots of solid top layers when printing. With PLA I recommend 8 to 12 solid top layers and with 25%-50% infill on the inside. You can get away with higher infills in PLA without much warping and the higher internal density of plastic will make the mold slightly stronger. PETG: I've worked with this material and it's great for prototyping hard body baits but it doesn't work well for soft plastic molds. The plastisol sticks very well to the inside of the mold even with oil. It is not usable to me. ABS/ASA: I primarily make my molds using ABS. It withstands higher temps but also warps more so you need good clamps as you use the mold more. ASA is like ABS but I find it sticks to plastisol slightly more than ABS so I don't use it anymore. Of course you need an enclosure to print ABS to give it the best chance of turning out and being strong. ABS molds will last longer than a PLA mold but will warp over time but with good clamps it's not a huge deal. My ABS molds are still 25%-50% infill but the solid top layers are about 6-8 layers on top. Vent holes: -I also design my molds in a way that makes it so they require minimal pressure to inject so there is hopefully less chance of injury. I include small vent channels in the mold so that plastisol can slightly ooze out of the ends letting you know it's been fully injected. So far this has worked well for me and I've had no injection incidents. I Think that's most of what I know. If anyone has any questions or tips of their own please feel free to chime in!

This is my first post. I've been browsing around for quite some time and I felt like it was time to give back to the community who helped get me started in soft bait making. After much trial and error I have been wanting to put out some info about 3D printed molds, First, you don't need a super high tech printer to make a good bait mold. The printer I started with was less than $170. Most CAD software worth having can be had for FREE to a hobbyist( I recommend Autodesk Fusion 360). With that being said, most frustration for me has come in the form of learning to design in a virtual space. If you can do that you have it licked. If you are new to CAD, youtube is a wealth of info but I promise YOU CAN LEARN!!!! On to the details: (Steam-lined) #1.Printing open pour molds is surprisingly easy. PLA is very capable of holding up to the rigors of pouring softbaits. Settings that seem to work well for me are 1.4 mm wall thickness with at least 20% infill. Perhaps printed molds have a shelf life however with over 125 documented pulls on my double cavity, open pour, chunk mold I think for personal use it more than does the job ( I have the file stored to print a new mold if needed, which takes roughly 2.5 hr print time). #2 If you want to make a custom mold for yourself the cost to quality cant be beat. #3 I have found injection molds I printed to be less than stellar. I have had more luck designing a 2 piece mold in two sections and the making a silicone mold of each side, then injecting. With this process it allows you to have a mother mold which you can reproduce as many times as you would like. #4 Sometime printing a actual model and then making a silicone mold is a good option #5 If you don't own a 3D printer their are plenty of 3rd parties that can print you design at reasonable prices I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone might have. Attached Pics are my chunk mold with a printed chunk that I made silicone molds off of as well as a two piece mold with masters