Fusion 360 and 3D Printing

These are two designs that I have created using Fusion360. Fusion360 is a website that allows you to make or change files into 3D objects that you could print out using a 3D printer. The picture below on the left is a picture of the Lego brick design that I made and the on the right is a book holder design. I ended up printing out the Lego brick because I was the most proud of this design.

3D Printed Lego Brick Design

In order to make this design, I had to follow many steps. I started my design by making a rectangle. I had to create a sketch to make it. I then pressed the extrude button to make the rectangle more of a block. I then made a circle on the top of the block and I had to make sure that it was properly spaced out. The circles are what allow other bricks to connect to it. I then had to extrude the circle to make it the right size of a regular Lego dot. I copied this circle down the first side of the rectangle face and then I copied this row onto the other half. After all of the dots have been placed, I moved on to the bottom where I had to use the shell feature to get the hollowed out center. In order for this brick to connect to others, I had to make the Lego columns on the bottom of the figure. I sketched one of the circle rings and then extruded this circle. I then copied it to get the other two. Legos can be sharp, so I had to add fillet to the top circles which rounded them out. I also added fillet to the bottom columns. The final step to make my Lego complete was to add my name. I added text on the side of my Lego and then added a negative extrude to make the text go into the brick.

3D Printed Book Holder Design

The next design I made was a book holder. A book holder goes in the middle of the book so that you don't lose your page. Also, if you want to hold the book more upright, the pages won't fall and instead they will stay in place. To start off this design, I made a sketch and added a circle. This design was symmetrical, so in order to minimize the work, I added two lines of symmetry down the middle of the sketch, one horizontal and one vertical. The lines won't show up in the final product and they helped with the construction. I added an arc on the top right side of this design and then shaped it to get the angle I wanted. I used the mirror button to copy this shape below the first arc. I used the mirror tool again and copied both of these arcs to the left side. I had to correct the distances and shape of the arcs, so I simply dragged the points of this design. Once the sketch was finished, I extruded the design to the thickness that I liked. I did not want the edges to be sharp, so I used the fillet tool on the hole and the outer edges on the top and the bottom. Finally, I added my first name on one side and my last on the other. I used a negative extrude to make the words go into the book holder. 

Workflow For Using the 3D Printers

• Make design

• Save the design and name it the final name - for Lego "Final Lego" or "Final Lego - Karlin Smith"

• Press export and save the design as a STL file

• Next go to Prusa slicer and import your saved design there

• Check the print settings and printers

• For this Lego, it was on 0.2 QUALITY for print settings

• Press slice now 

• Then, if everything looks right, export G-code

• Next go in to chrome and pull up the list of 3D printers

• Select the printer you would like

• Choose one that is not in use!

• Log in to OctoPrint

• Upload your G-code to the printer

• If your printer is not connected - press connect

• If you are ready, print your project

• Wipe down the printer before use with alcohol and make sure to scrape the excess if there is extra 3D print material

I chose to print out the Lego brick. I was most proud of this design and I thought it was amazing that I was able to make it. This is what the brick looked like after I printed it out. It is a functional Lego and it actually connects to other Lego bricks!

Thingiverse Design Modification

Thinigverse in an online website were you can collect the designs of others in order to 3D print them. There were so many designs to choose from! I chose to modify a dog phone stand. If it was printed out, I could prop my phone up on the tail without having to stack up things lying around the house. To make this design my own, I started by downloading all files. I had to extract all files while in the files tool. After that, I logged on to Fusion360 and uploaded the extracted file that I wanted to modify. In order to edit it, I had to turn the design into mesh. It took a while to upload, but it eventually turned multi-colored and I could add my own touches to the design. I added my dog's name, Bogey, to the side by adding text. I then made a paw print by adding three thin ellipses and one thicker one under them to resemble the paw shape. I added a negative extrude on all of the ellipses and my dog's name so that it would go into the phone stand if it was printed.

Problems Faced

I faced two major problems throughout the whole 3D printing unit. The first major problem was when I was actually 3D printing. The 3D printing material would always get caught around the nozzle that dispenses it. It would not let any more material come out and it picked up more material as it moved around over the design. I retried printing the design multiple times, but every time it would mess up and the Lego could not be printed. The solution to this problem was simple, change printers. I tried using another printer and thoroughly wiping it down with alcohol, and it worked perfectly with an amazing result. The second major problem I ran into was when I was modifying the Thiniverse file. Originally, the design I was going to modify was a StarWars key chain. When in Fusion360, I  just could not figure out how to modify it. I figured out that I had to turn it into mesh, which ended up taking over an hour to finish. Even as mesh, my modifications would not show up. It was frustrating and taking far too much effort. I ended up trying a different design, the dog phone stand. This only took around five minutes to turn into mesh and I could easily modify it.

Patient Spotlight: Modeling the Way with 3D Technology Article Reflection

In this article, we learn how a puppy named Cayde has a severe limp. As Cayde grew, the weight of his body on the limp leg caused the bone to become deformed. Cayde's owner, Sharon King, decided surgery was necessary to help the puppy as this leg must have been causing him pain. Cayde was brought to the NC State veterinary hospital. The vets did a quick scan and found that he had fractured his shin bone below the knee, the tibia bone, and it had healed abnormally. These fractures are somewhat common, but because Cayde's leg was growing at an abnormal angle, his case was more complicated. In order to preform the surgery to the best of their ability, the veterinary team used 3D printing software to virtually plan out the surgery. The team helping the puppy first 3D printed out a replica of Cayde's tibia. They corrected the 3D printed tibia, practicing for the coming surgery. They also used this model as a reference during the surgery. This technique of practicing the surgery beforehand is very impressive and useful. I believe that this practice is very important to ensure that the surgeon can properly carry out the surgery, and it might speed up the process because of the mastery. This incredible use of 3D printing only shows the many uses this amazing tool can have.