3D Printing

123d Design:

Lynda-

I watched and completed watching tutorial videos on 123d Design, a CAD (computer aided design) program for designing objects to print using a 3d printer, on a website called Lynda (https://www.lynda.com/123D-Design-tutorials/Welcome/371320/415648-4.html?autoplay=true). The tutorials covered the basics of 123d design such as the ways to look at the screen, zooming in and out, top, bottom, or side view. Also drawing shapes, and creating basic shapes with the tools that provide the shapes for you called primitives, or basic shapes. Also how to create arches and lines using the two-point and three-point arcs and the line tools, how to create patterns such as the rectangular pattern, circular patterns, pattern on a path, creating a pattern of holes, and using the mirror tool, how to use the text tool to put it on shapes and make the letters a solid instead of a 2d object, importing svgs, also known as a sketch, and importing 3d files, even from other CAD softwares, creating fillets, adding polylines, using the extend feature, just moving lines around, projecting sketches, splitting faces and solids, using different materials on objects, saving and exporting, combining while constructing, hiding solids and sketches, lofting, shelling a 3d primitive, merging objects, subtracting objects, and intersecting objects . I can also extrude objects and make adjustments to objects using tools like tweak. There are many different tools and features of 123d Design.

Why 123d design over other CAD programs?-

Compared to other computer aided design (CAD) softwares, I believe that 123d Design is a better program than Tinkercad because this software has more complex skills to improve my projects, such as lofting, subtracting, merging, orbiting, and splitting faces of objects, and has a variety of ways to create a similar project but can have very different approaches to the same project, which I find very interesting, and it shows how many different features this software has. Where as Tinkercad is a very simple software and does not have a variety of tools or ways to approach a design. It is more straight forward and easier, but you can't be as creative with it. I just need to work a little more with 123d design to fully grasp the features because I think it will be more helpful in more of my projects than Tinkercad.

3d Printing:

3d Printing Workflow-

1. use a usb to download an stl file from thing a verse or your own design and then plug in the usb to the computer that is connected to the 3d printer

2. start up the program, Cura, and download the stl file from the usb

3. wipe down the platform on the 3d printer with alcohol

4. scale the file to what dimensions you want

5. make sure the setting for material is pla on control

6. go to control and then set the temperature to 205 and the bed temperature to 60

7. extrude the pla when the temperature is at 205 degrees

7b. if it does not extrude, you need to pull out the pla, use wire cutters to cut it, push it back in, and then press extrude again

8. pla, when extruding, needs to be going straight down, and keep removing excess pla when it begins extruding, with tweezers

9a. if the file or object has feet or has a thin bottom or no surface area, then press the print brim box for the object to have supports

9. print the file

Example Print-

I used a usb and the website thing a verse (http://www.thingiverse.com) to download my design for a 3d printed object. I first had to select my design or object; I chose a duck and searched duck in thing a verse. After I selected the duck of my choice, I saved the files as a stl file, which is needed for the printers and download it on to a usb. Then, I used that usb and downloaded my duck design to the computer that was hooked up to the 3d printer. Then I scaled my duck to be a smaller size in order to finish it in under 30 minutes. I then set the correct temperatures for the printer of 205 degrees and 60 degrees for the bed temperature. I then extruded the pla, and once I realized the pla was extruding and went in a straight line, I was able to print my design. The temperature dropped a little during the process of printing on these new 3d printers, but it did not effect my duck design. This project created a new understanding for the new Lulzbot printers we have in the FAB lab.

Only 3d Printer Manufactured Project-

We were required to design and 3d print an object that can only be made using the 3d printer and not with any of the other tools we have in our FAB lab such as the laser cutter. I learned to think that all of the other tools we use are subtractive processes, but the 3d printer is an additive process, and a way to add things to my projects rather than subtract can to be to put something inside of something. The fact that whatever I make is an additive process rather than a subtractive process is the reason I can only manufacture it through 3d printing and not through something like a laser cutter or milling machine. I decided to make a box made of rings and are all connected and have a ball inside of it that will not be able to come out of the rings or attached to any of the rings after I 3d print it. I had to interlock and connect the rings and put the ball in the center of the rings and close the gaps so the ball will not be allowed to escape, so I added more rings. The ball remained in the center without anything touching it. After I complete my project, I saved my project as a stl and then downloaded it to a usb. I then plugged the usb into the computer, followed the proper steps for 3d printing and printed my project.