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WEEK 5

3D SCANNING AND PRINTING


Assignment:
Test the design rules for your printer(s) (group project).
Design and 3D print an object (small, few cm) that could not be made subtractively.
3D scan an object (and optionally print it).

What I used for this assignment
Machine:
- Ultimaker Original +, in kit, my 3D printer

Softwares:
- Cura, CAD-Software to prepare your model for 3D printing
- Rhino3D, 3D design software
- 123D Catch, 3D scan
Here are the output files for this assignment:
Rhino and STL file of my object


DETAILS

What I did this week

I first spend a lot of time in mounting my 3D printer, from an Ultimaker kit (Original+ model).
Then I spent a lot of time understanding how it works, and solving my first issues.
I was finally able to do few prints with it.
I also did a simple 3D scan.

Mounting my 3D printer from the kit

At the starting just a simple box
looks simple at this stage
notice says it is between 6h00 and 20h00 to mount it

... but inside there is so much parts
all the structure is made of wood (laser cutted)
and so much bolts, nuts and so on

Step 1: assembling the Frame (about 2h30)
at starting; identifying each part (numbers logic, etc)
took some time

Step 2: assembling axes X and Y (about 2h30)
building and understanding the role of slider blocks
was not obvious


Step 3: assembling extrusion head (about 2h30)
this part was a bit tricky

Positionning of the head and X/Y axes inside
the slider blocks was not so clear
it was necessary to found more info on Internet to understand how to fix it in the blocks

Step 4: assembling the Z axe + heated bed (about 2h30)
the bed is a bit heavy and fragile, it was not so obvious to put it in place on Z axe

Step 5: assembling the material feeder (about 2h00)
nothing particular except that I had to take care of not damaging the wooden gear with the small plastic gear

Step 6: mounting electronics circuit board (about 1h00)
all the wires are going to the bottom of the frame where will be installed the board

PCB is installed, the explanation of the connection inside the notice was not so obvious
but after some time each connector found its place

Step 7: installing Ulti Controler (about 1h00)
It is placed at the bottom of the front side and is connected to the board

the controler give some information in real time (temp, etc...)
and allow us to control/interact directly with the printer, even while printing, great feature

And finally positionning the Z endstop (Z limit switch), not a so obvious task!
And after about 14h in total, the printer hardware is ready! cool!!
now I need to check if it is working ;-)

It took a lot of time, but mounting my own printer was really very instructive
I understand now: X/Y/Z operations and feeder mechanism from the mechanical point of view; extrusion head components; electronics components and connections.
I really feel more confortable to use and maintain it because I understand it better!

Starting with Cura, and doing first 3D printings

Starting Cura, specifying the model of my printer
Cura has a wizard when we declare a new printer and propose to update firmwares

Then Cura does a checkup of my printer: communication, head temperature, Z endstop...

First print: opening a file test found on http://www.thingiverse.com/
Fastprint as setup, then loading .gcode file on my SD card

Using PLA material provided with the printer
Using temps 210/70(C) for head/bed

First time filament is going out of my printer extrusion head

Printing

What a bad result!
in fact at some moments, no more plastic going out
of the extrusion head

After reading about material feeder, I understood what I made wrong
I did not close the lever correctly, so not enough pressure on the filament

Trying again, still a bad result :-(

This time, the problem was coming from my Y axe, in fact the pulley on the Y motor axe was not enough tightened
And sometimes, the motor was turning into the void

Then, I did a more simple model to print, a simple 1cm width cube
Using Rhino

Exporting it to STL file

Print looks really better

Yes, not so bad

And the dimension is OK !

I still have low quality while printing the first layers
some plastic "mess" on the back of my object, head melting previous layers
probably an issue on my bed leveling
I have to work more on the calibration of my bed
I will continue working on the tuning my printer

Production of an object that could not be made subtractively

I did an object for our Team Machine that cannot be done subtractively
Here is a screenshot of object done with Rhino3D

Here is the printed object in action
I have finalize the settings of my 3D printer, now printed object are very good quality

3D scanning

I registered on autodesk website
I installed 123D Catch, from Autodesk, on my smartphone

Using 123D Catch, I did several photos of my object (my bag)
Turning around the object, trying to keep same distance to it

Then I load photos to Autodesk cloud
I had to wait several minutes for post processing (30 to 60 minutes) on Autodesk platform
As first result, 3D Preview on the website is really IMPRESSIVE

Then I can download 3D files, as outputs

Several format are available:

Opening .obj file in Rhino (so much meshes), looks like it will be a big job to clean it if I want to go to print!

no more time spent on 3D scanning
I spent/spend so much time on the 3D printer (assembling, and now trying it)