Week 5 – 3D SCANNING AND PRINTING
This week assignment is to test 3D printer and what preparations and steps we must follow to achieve a successful 3D printing for an object that we should design it in a suitable measurements to print without any problems beside doing 3D Scanning.
* Testing 3D printer :
First of all , we should know exactly what is 3D printing means , 3D printing simply is an manufacturing process that produce a physical object from digital design that saved into a file which then we use it for printing. The scientific principle is simply to print the digital design into 3 dimensional object by adding a material layer more and more to create the final object.
I learned in 3D printing to choose suitable dimensions and sizes depending on the printer capabilities to avoid wasting of material and time also to avoid damaging the printer as its so sensitive , moreover I learned not to design a complicated object as the percentage of errors is high and the 3D printer will need so long time and finally you will have big chance to get the final object is damaged , as many of my friends inside Kuwait fab lab was facing this problem and they had to repeat their printing and changing the designing to other simpler object.
* Designing 3D Object :
For me I was thinking of many objects that are good looking and not so complicated , like : key holder , weight for gym , Christmas tree and finally I decide to design a Christmas ornament which is beautiful object and need similar parts around the main axis. I used " Onshape " which I used it before in week 2 , I start to design main polygon with 16 sides that should be solid then adding 16 edge parts around the whole polygon to create Christmas ornament.
In the beginning we choose “ Sketch “ option from main menu then choosing “ 16 sided Polygon. “
Then I add diagonal rectangles for each side from the 16 side on the polygon to complete the ornament object easily copy and paste the rectangles around the polygon to complete it.
* Converting to “ FCODE “ Extension :
After that we have to export the design drawing to “ STL “ extension then take the “ STL “ file and use it on a famous software called “ Real vision “ that this software helping you to modify all dimensions scaling easily and you can modify the total dimensions of the object design as I recommend to chose 30 – 40 mm maximum height and between 15 – 20 mm width and 20 – 25 mm length for the 3D object , then you export again the extension to “ FCODE “ that the 3D printer can read this extension as final step for 3D printing.
* 3D Printing Final Object Hero Shot :
Snap Video For my Christmas Ornament 3D Printing
* 3D Scanning :
* Notes & Problems :
Unfortunately I faced some critical problems with all my friends as the following :
- The 3D printing process reasonably slow as you need to consider at least 1- 2 hours , as I was waiting more than1 hour to finish my design printing as my friends do , so I need to come early to Kuwait fab lab to get sometime for long printing timing and give more chance to deal in case of errors , repeated printing and changing the whole design if necessary.
- The header of the input for the material that used for 3D printing was stuck and hang , so I try to start printing but I cannot then I shift to other 3D printer to start printing which cause to us more delay and more than 2 person have to use 1 undamaged 3D printer.
- Some printing was not succeed as the holder for 3D printers was not fixed properly with glue then some objects was falling down when printing.
- Some other designing issue causing the 3D printer wires spreading out and hanging the 3D printer.
Referring to the above mentioned problems I choose a simple 3D design as I have many other ideas but due to our lab insufficient quality I choose the a christmas ornament and really even for my choice I was so scared from printer failure but finally I get my 3D object was printed in successful way.
* The Design Files :