Week 1 - Journal
Ideation
Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What inspired you? (Please include images or links to sources of inspiration)
Click on Image for the Laser cutting file source
Basically, it's all about getting comfortable with the tool chain at the Fab Lab; how to use the laser cutter and the 3D printer to make simple selected models.
Laser Cutting Idea: I love lions too much; I'm a Leo horoscope sign, so when I founded this file on 3axis.co, I liked it too much!
3D Printing Idea: I usually travel for my work and attend meetings for long hours. Sometimes, I need to put off my coat or jacket if it feels a little bit hot. With this 'on-the-go' hook, I can keep my coat or jacket tidy and neat by hanging them at any place using this awesome 'S' hook. I founded this file on prusaprinters, and I decided to 3D printing it; it's simple and quite useful.
Tool Chain
Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?
Software
RD WorksV8
A software used to setting cutting and scanning parameters for designs desired to be cut with Laser Cutter machines
Ultimaker_Cura-4.13.0 Interface
A software used for slicing 3D objects and export them to G-code file suitable for 3D printers
Machines
El Malky ML 1390 CO2 Laser Cutter @ODC
PRUSA i3 MK2 3D Printer @ODC
Materials
Plywood sheet (3 mm. thickness) for Laser Cutting
PLA filament for 3D Printing
Design/Preparation Process
Explain the design and/or preparation process of your assignment. How did you use the tool or software to design and/or prepare your assignment before fabrication/implementation?
Laser Cutting Preparation
DXF file was downloaded and imported to RD WORKS Software
Cutting Parameters
Scanning Parameters
After importing the DXF file to RD WORKS, the figure was fit close to Origin point with scale of 50x54 mm.
Cutting and Engraving (Scanning) lines were highlighted with black and red respectively. Parameters are follows:
Cut:
Power: 60% - Speed: 10 mm/s
Scan:
Power: 15% - Speed: 350 mm/s
The file saved on a flash disk drive in a 'UFile' format that is compatible with the Laser Cutter
3D Printing Preparation
The 'S Hook Heavy Duty' .stl file was opened with Ultimaker Cura software, scaling and printing parameters were set as follows:
Layer height: 0.15 mm (Normal)
In fill rate: 20%
Orientation: The part was put down on the virtual bed plate (in Uultimaker Cura) with 0 dimension in the Z axis, and it was moved in the right direction to avoid printing in the middle of bed.
Filament Temperature: 210 C
Build Plate Temperature: 60 C
Build Plate Adhesion: Brim
Scaling and 3D Printing Parameters
Scaling and 3D Printing Parameters
The model was sliced by the software, and it turned out that total number of layers are 67 with 5 grams of filament and 37 minutes to fully print the design
Slicing - Time and Material Consumed Preview
Development/Implementation Process
Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?
Laser Cutting Implementation
Setting parameters on Laser Cutter:
Navigating to find the desired file
The origin point and work space of the machine were defined as well as as the work time preview.
Time needed for cutting completion: 1 minute and 39 seconds
Laser Cutting work time preview
And finally, here it is 😃
The entire cutting process and final outcome can be viewed from the video here.
After cutting completion
Second: 3D Printing Implementation
After saving the file in '3mf' format after adjusting all printing parameters, it was saved in 'G-code' format which is compatible with the 3D printer.
G-code file has the full description with all needed parameters : Newest Clip S Hook Heavy Duty_Brim_0.15 mm._20 Infill-black PLA_5 gm_37 min
The G-code file was copied to the SD card of the printer with all parameters set ( Layer height-Infill rate-Filament and Bed Temperatures).
The filament was loaded and the printer started to calibrate the base bed surface after reaching the target temperatures.
The entire process from turning the printer on till the final object printing can viewed from the following videos: 😃
Clip S hook heavy duty finally printed and in action!
Community of Learning
Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?
For me, Laser cutting preparation and implementation were Ok, but I faced some issues regarding the 3D printing during my first attempt for this week's assignment. I consulted the Fab lab specialist and the G1's Slack group for proposed solutions, but the problem was within the hardware of the printer itself.
On the other hand, I helped one of my colleagues, Farida, to set up laser cutting parameters for her assignment, and guess what? it worked safely!
Overcoming Challenges
When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this assignment?
I worked thoroughly with the FabLab specialist especially on the 3D printing of this week assignment when the molten filament stuck with the nozzle and didn't settle down on the base bed. We tried many ways to manipulate filament and base bed temperatures to successfully perform printing process, but it seemed that there was a problem the nozzle heater.
After nearly four weeks later, I managed to successfully print week 1 assignment (S clip hook) after the printer has been maintained. Besides, I increased the scale of the design, added a Brim adhesion, and decreased the infill rate to avoid insufficient cooling of the molten filament and to increase stability of the printed object.
Besides, I was keen to keep the Fablab specialist noted and posted with every step I do on the Laser cutter as a matter of safety.
Finally, I reported the total consumed amount of time and material for laser cutting process to the FabLab specialist.
During the face to face session of that week, it was my first time EVER to use the Laser Cutter and 3D Printer personally, I was a little bit nervous about setting cutting and printing parameters. For 3D printing, the first attempt failed as we didn't set the filament temperature accurately (as per recommended), so printing didn't go well. Finally, after setting the right filament temperature in Ultimaker Cura software, the model was printed correctly!
Final Project
How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?
The technique of Laser Cutting and 3D printing preparation and implementation are essential to design and finalize the enclosure part and other crucial parts of my final project hardware.
WOW!
What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?
During the EOW session ( Saturday), Rawan, Salma and I, have executed sample laser cutting and 3D printing exercises, and they were really cool.
The most important things that I have learnt are:
Laser cutting: setting cutting and scanning parameters matters! You can see the difference between the three Super Mario models with different power and speed values.
3D Printing: It's highly important to closely monitor the first layers while printing for a successful printing process.
Besides, NEVER forget to set the right recommended filament and base bed temperature 😃
Weekly Digest [OPTIONAL]
Tell us about any other cool things that you've made this week: in the Hands-on activity, tutorial examples, exercises, or any other cool mini-project that you tried out aside from the assignment.
Title of Media