3D Printing/Scanning/Modeling

  • Rules for 3D Printing
  • Printing a 3D Object
  • 3D Scanning an Object

    • The 3D Printer

    I am using makerGear m2 3D printer.

    Evaluating the printer:


  • Test the accuracy of the print.
  • Test the speed of the print.
  • Test detail and smoothness

    • The first test print was a recommended test
    3D Printer Test File
    The size components seem so be fairly accurate. The overhangs seem to be correctly sized and free of noticeable string. The suface appears to be mostly smooth, but clearly a 3D print.

    Notice that the printer had a hard time making the cone. This seems to be typical of a printer at this level. (I will check into improving this.)

    I wanted to quantify the printer quality tests more.

    More Testing

    I used a second project to study:3DBenchy
  • The roof dimension should be 23.00 mm.Actual(Yellow Version): 23.0mm
  • The chimney has a 7mm outside, 3mm inside and 11mm ring. Actual(Yellow Version): 7.0mm,3.1mm,11mm
  • The overall length is 60mm Actual(Yellow Version): 60.1mm
  • The width of the boat is 31.00 mm and 48.00mm tall. Actual(Yellow Version): 31.0mm,48.0mm
  • Hawspipe is circular 4.00mm with 0.3 mm ring. Actual(Yellow Version): 4.0mm(Ring is visible)
  • 3D Benchy letters visible in 0.1mm letters.Actual(Yellow Version): Visible
  • The hull should be smooth and symmetrical.Actual(Yellow Version): Has some striation but is symmetrical.
  • The inside cabin and steering wheel should print without support.Actual(Yellow Version): YES
  • The first layer has letters on the bottom.Actual(Yellow Version): Not well. Letters are blurry.

    • The second task was to make an object that could not be made using subtractive technology.

    First Project:

    I chose to make a box trapped within a box.
    It was modeled with SketchUp.This was for practice using Sketchup. Not printed because it does not seem exciting enough.



    STL file

    Second Project


    I thought it would be fun to make a siphoning cup.
    A siphoning cup has a center raised hump which contains a hole that siphons the liquid in the cup only when the cup is filled above the inner siphoning tube. The neat thing is that there is a hole at the bottom of the cup. When the liquid is filled over the hole, it does not drain out. When the liquid is filled over the center hump, the siphoning starts.



    1.) Designed a plane with the cross section of half of the cup.(Using Fusion 360)
    2.) Added a stem to the cup cross section.
    3.) Removed excess parts of the plane.
    4.) Revolved the sketch cross section to make 3D body.
    5.) Another look at the 3D body.
    6.) Hid the Body and look at the Sketch.
    7.) Created a second path which is the internal siphon of the cup.
    8.) Created a circular plane that is perpendicular to the plane at base of siphon path.
    9.) Extruded the circular plane along the path creating a siphon.
    10.) The new extruded body is removed from cup 3D body using the COMBINE commmand(with CUT option).
    11.) The cup is made.

    Here it is: (It works too!)

    Link to Fusion 360 shared file.

    Scan an object and optionally print it.

    3D Scanning Software Used

    This week I scanned the arm of a person holding a baseball.
    The object was scanned using a Kinect sensor and Skanect software.

    The print is here: STL image
    *The uploaded STL is reduced in size from the printed one.
    The scan is here: