Design Rules

  • This week the assignment was to:

  • - Test the design rules for the printer.

  • - Design and 3D print an object, that could not be made subtractively.

  • - 3D scan an object (and optionally print it).

  • So starting off with the design rules, this one was a group project so me and two of my friends did each of our separate test, testing different things. Here’s a link for their pages: Arnar and Aron

  • I was testing the minimum space between objects before they would conjoin. I did my test using Fusion360 starting with a platform raised up 2mm and bars extruded also 2mm up.

  • I started with 2mm between the bars and the space between the next would be half that. So it was: 2.0 - 1,0 - 0,5 - 0,25 - 0,125 - 0,625 - 0,03125 (mm).

  • The print didn’t come out perfect but it still showed the results I was looking for. According to the test the minimum space between two objects in this printer is 0,25, anything lower than that and it’ll start conjoining. Here's a printed version of the test and next to it is Arnar's test.

  • The reason we do these test is to see the limits of the printer we are using.

  • 3D printers can do overhangs and create 3D objects that something like a CNC machine could not achieve. There are still limitations, for one the printer will have a hard time printing an object where there is nothing beneath so objects often need support material, costing time and material. Some objects do not need support however, but you should definitely keep the printers limitations in mind.

Design

  • For my 3d designed object I was going to 3D print a fractal. I eventually gave up for it was way too time consuming. If anyone would be interested I used Mandelbulb3d v1.7.9.3 to generate it and was going to use Fiji to stack the layers from mandelbulb and generate an .stl for printing.

  • But due to my limited time I found online Autodesk’s project shapeshifter and spent some time making a few unique shapes.

  • I decided to go with this one for the print.

  • This is the result:

3D Scanning

  • For this one I went to Sæheimar, a local natural museum and aquarium.

  • One of the main symbols for Vestmannaeyjar is the puffin. I decided to scan a rare variation of a puffin, and the only known case.

  • For comparison here’s how a regular puffin looks like:

  • I used memento and the result came out great. I took pictures going 3 times around the subject each time in different heights. Memento uses the background to assemble the images into a 3D object so I used in this case scissors on the table to help with the assembly, made sure there were no objects moved in the process and that the light was the same all around.

  • I made the 3D display with Sketchfab

  • 3D scanning is definitely a useful tool especially when you can simply use a point-and-shoot camera along with free software to get an pretty accurate 3D image of almost anything. I can see a use of this in video games.