3D Scanning and Printing

Assignment



Testing the 3D Printer Limits

We have an Ultimaker 2 and a dimension sst 1200es in our FabLab. We decided to test the limit of ultimaker 2 because of the time limit and beacuse of the unavailability of the dimesion printer.



In order to test it we looked for test projects on Thingiverse and shortlisted a design which seemed complex enough.Here is an image of the design file as well as the link to the site:
Link to Thinnkverse



For testing the 3D printer, The design contains many shapes like circles, angles, gaps, triangles and other geometrical shapes.AFter 3D printing the design, By cross checking the original shapes and measurements with the printed shapes measurements, we can understand how precise our printer is.



Here is the STL file opened in Cura, which is the software that Ultimaker provides to convert from STL to G-code.



The print took about 1 hr to complete. Here is the finished product:



Here is how Ultimaker performed on all the tests:

  • size: the object is 4x50x50mm (baseplate)
  • hole size: 3 holes
  • Nut size: M4 Nut should fit perfectly
  • fine details: pyramide, cone, all numbers
  • rounded print: wave,h alf sphere
  • minimum distance between walls: 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5mm
  • overhang: 25°/30°/35°/40°/45°
  • bridge print: 2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9mm
  • surface: all the flat parts
  • size is correct with only slight variation.
  • accurate
  • fits fine
  • surface not as smooth as it should be
  • Half sphere surface is slightly irreegular
  • Looks fine
  • Bad result at the top
  • Looks fine
  • smooth

3D Printing

I was behind schedule and didnt have much time to design a file to 3d print. So i decided to downlload a file from the net and modify it according to my specifications. The design i ended up with was a SD card holder, very useful since i am always misplacing and forgetting where i put my card.



The design file needs to be exported to .STL format inorder to print.I used cura for making the gcode.



The orientation was wrong.so i fixed the orientation and next step was to print the design. The estimated time for completion was around 2Hrs.



The completed product was perfect for holding SD cards.


Design file: SD cardholder Since the assignment was to create a non-substractive model, i had to design something else.After a few weeks and learning Autodesk Inventor, i created a new design.


The design is a type of boll joint that cannot be made by conventional methods. The design is such that the parts cannot be seperated without breaking.The clearence between the ball and cap is 1mm.



The ball can rotate within an angle inside the cap.The measured angle is 58° to the horizontal.




3D scanning

We have 2 scanners available here at fablab kochi- The Roland MDX-20 and the XBOX 360 kinect.
I decided to use the kinect since it was much less time consuming.



Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices by Microsoft for Xbox 360 and Xbox One video game consoles and Windows PCs.
The software used for make the kinect into a scanner is kscan3d. Here is the download link- kscan3d
The best way to use the device for scanning is to place it in an optimal postion or platform and place the object to be scanned infront of it. the objects needs to be rotated in the appropriate intervals. Another method is to place object in a platform and move the device around it in appropriate intervals so that all the angles can be captured. We can set the required no of rotational settings as per our requirements. For me, i chose 12 rotations.
I scanned myself using the kinect device. I did this by sitting in a stool and placing the device parellel to my face. Each time the device beeped, i would change my seating position 30degrees so that my whole profile would be captured. The software created a pretty good 3D image of me.



Face Scan by nizamky on Sketchfab

Scan Files: kinect file


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