3D printing

09-19-16 (WORKFlOW):

Today I started to 3D print. We have new 3D printers (Lulzbots Mini) that have a better success rate than the 3D polars. However, they run a bit differently than the 3D polars. The main goal for today was to print something simple to learn how to print on these printers. Here are the steps:

1. Load stl. on USB

2. Copy the file from USB and paste into download on computer

3. Eject USB and upload the file from "downloads" into Cura

4. Wipe the bed off with alcohol

5. Set temperature to 205 degrees and bed temp to 60 degrees (don't be surprised if the temp goes down because it will go back up)

6. Extrude PLA up or down (*Note: do not pull or push PLA if temp is not 205 degrees)

7. Clip the excess

8. Click on print (if the bottom doesn't have much surface area (i.e. dog's paws) make sure to click the box "print brim". If the object is oddly shape and won't stand up, make sure to click the box "print support structure")

9. You can scale the object using the bottom menu

10. Be sure to turn of printers if you are the last one to use it at the end of the day.

I printed a practice print of a dog using an already created stl from Thingaverse. However, because of the little legs, there wasn't much surface area for the dog to stick to the bed. Tomorrow I'm going to try again and add a brim.

09-20-16:

I listened again to the 2nd 3D printer tutorial that Mr. Dubick gave today. Because someone left the printer running all night, we learned how to fix the jammed printer. First we had to heat up the printer because you never pull or push the PLA when the printer is not warmed up. When we pulled out the PLA the end was hard and not as pliable. We clipped this part off and put it back in the hole at the top, but we didn't push it in. We went back to Cura and retracted the PLA back in and extruded it until it came out normal. I printed my dog again using a brim, which is a base so the legs wouldn't rip off. But, it failed again.

09-28-16 (What can you make with only a 3D printer?):

This whole week I have been trying to design something that can only be made with a 3D printer. The difficulty with this task was that I didn't know what to do. Our only instructions were to print an object that couldn't be made with any other machine than the 3D printers. I kept asking Mr. Dubick what was the answer to the question "what can only be made with the 3D printers". Of course he didn't give me the answer. He just told me to think about objects inside another object but no way to get in or out. Because I still didn't know what in the world to do, I tried to get the answer from Mr. Taylor, who also had to complete this assignment in his "FAB Lab" training. He too wouldn't tell me the secret. He said, "a 3D printer is an additive machine, so what can be made that cannot be made with a subtractive machine (shot bot, laser cutter, etc.?" He also shook a baby rattle he made with a 3D printer in my ear, which was quite annoying, but that was it. I knew what it was. I needed to create something that could move within something else without any openings such as a ship in a bottle, a ball inside a cube, or a whistle. I decided to make a gymnast that could move around a hoop. If I wanted to make it not connect to the grounded hoop, there needed to be another way for the gymnast to not fall when printing. I added a thin support at the foot of the gymnast and a thin support at the bottom of the hoop (so it didn't roll). I haven't printed it yet but a screen shot of the design is below. The stl. file is uploaded at the top of the page under the google drive folder. Tomorrow, we are going to start electronics, but at the beginning of class I am going to try to print.

10-20-16:

After 3 trials of 3D printing my object that can only be made by a 3D printer, this is what I ended up with. Because I have tried it multiple times without changing anything, I can be certain that the printer is not at fault. My design is flawed although it would have been sweet if it worked. First of all, the hoop is entirely too thin and therefore not strong enough to add support structures when printing. The first time I printed it, I didn't add support structures, but I ended up with a wad of PLA to point I couldn't even take a picture of it. The second time I tried it again without the support structures and ended up with the same result. The third time I added support structures but it cracked under the pressure of the added material. If I could revise my design I would make the hoop thicker and the gymnast bigger.