1st. Week

Goal

Being Familiar with Digital fabrication methods such as laser cutter machine and 3D printers

Prusa MK2 3D printer

El Malky ML149 CO2 Laser Cutter

Tool Chain

For this week we used 2 Software Programs . Laserwork6 for laser cutting preparation and ultimaker Cura for 3d printing preparation.

Ultimaker Cura

LaserWorks

Design/Preparation Process

First : Preparing Laser cutting files.

This was a group task with Khloud and Sara . We had 15 minutes to prepaire the file to be fabricated using laser cutter machine .

1- We imported the file to laserworks and rescaled it to be 70 mm in hight.

2- We removed the unnecessary lines then we colored the outer line in black , the inner spots in red and the inner lines in blue .

3- We made sure that the black color is the "cut" color with 30 speed and 50 power.

4- Specified the red color to be the " scan " color with speed 330 and power 30.

5- The blue colored lines was specified as "speed cut " and its power is 10 with 330 speed .

6- In the end we created 3 copies of it and reordered the colors ( red , blue then black ) and we saved the file with rld extension.

1- After Browsing for an open-source DXF file , I insert the file to the laserworks software and rescaled the model to be 100*100mm.

2- I changed some of the inner lines' color to red , the rest of inner lines in blue and kept the outer line black.

3- I specified the black color to be the "cut" line . Then I changed its speed to 30 and its power to 50 .

4- After specifying the red color to be the "Scan" lines , I changed its speed to 330 and its power to 30 .

5- The blur colored lines was specified as "speed cut " and its power is 10 with 330 speed .

6- I made sure that the scan process is the first thing that will happen then the speed cut and the cut will be the last process. by reordering the colors making the red color in top then blue and black .

Coaster Open source

Second : Preparing 3D Printing files .

1- After Browsing for an open-source STl file , I insert the file to the Ultimaker cura software .

2- I changed the size of the mobile holder to be 70*70*30 mm

3- I made the fill 10% , profile 0.2 mm , infill patern to grid and the shell thickness to 1 mm .

4- I changed the rotation of the object as shown so I didn't need to add supports.

5- After slicing , cura showed me that the holder needs 13 grams of filament and 52 minutes to be printed .

6- To finish the preparation process I saved the file as a G. code .

Mobile holder Open source

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?

lv_0_20240112174918.mp4

The FabLab specialist ( Asmaa ) reviewed the XDF and the rld files then we copied them to the machine's removable desk .

We reviewd the files again then we exported the rld file to the laser cutting machine and that how it was done .

Attached the wooden shield and fixed it to the machine .

Redefined the origin of the machine to fit the wooden shield .

Made sure that the nozzle's hight is suitable and finally draw a virtual frame of the shape to make sure that everything's going right .

Then we started the cutting process after locking the cover of the machine

( safety comes first )

lv_0_20240112174506.mp4

After preparing the file and the FabLab specialist checked the file , I copied the files to the machine's SD card .

Then I changed the fillament to change the product's color to Blue before heating the nozzle .

We waited till the heat bed heated to 60 c then chose our file and started the process of 3D printing .

Overcoming Challenges

What kinds of challenges or problems did you face while doing the assignment, tutorials, or exercises? How did you solve them? Did you ask for help from an instructor or peer? Please provide a link to the tutorial or article that you used to solve your problem (if any)

1 - I didn't know how to change the fillament of the 3D printer so, I asked the specialist for help and that's a video showing how did we changed it .

2 - with laser cutting machine , I specified the Power of the scan to 15 and the speed to 330 . I expected the burn color lighter than the actual result .

3 - the speed cut shapes were given a 330 speed and 10 power and its result was clear but I forgot to remove the overlapping points . That causes overburnt points that you can see from the back view of the part .

Final Project

How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?

This week I learned the fundamentals of 3D printing and laser cutting machine . Now I know how to choose the suitable file extension , how to prepare files for fabrication machines and how to match my expectation of the result to the actual result I'll get . We all made a lot of mistakes and I wish we all learned how to avoid them in the future .

I also learned a new software ( fusion 360 ) and I'm getting used to it .

WOW!

What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?

These are the final results of my 1st. week in Maker Diploma .

The first project is a wooden cup coaster that made by laser cutting machine.

The second project is a mobile holder created by prusa 3D printer .

I'll never forget how fast I learned and how good my instructors were . They were always there for us any time and anywhere .

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