Busy evenings!

Went a bit crazy this week and printed a lot of things!

• Christmas Minion (#FAIL – his legs fell off) Also, in my own defense, this was the first time I tried to print something at the low quality setting (as I was looking for a prototype, not a final product)

Christmas Minion

• Whistle

3 tone whistle

• SDCard case

It uses an old microSD-SDCard adapter as a lid! Genius!

MicroSD box

• Bolt (just … because)

Nut and Bolt

• SDCard holder. This one is a neat idea. Instead of carrying around ‘naked’ microSD cards, put them into a little case to protect the contact points – it’s also more visible than the black microSD card itself. Comes complete with a potentially copyright-infringing logo. (whoops) Note when zoomed in like this you can see the actual lines that the filament took while being printed. If I were to print at a higher heat or use a different filament such as ABS, it might melt those together and look way nicer.

Micro-MicroSD Card Case

• Logo for a non-profit I volunteer for (x2) : I volunteer at a local school to teach a series of sessions for Computer Science. The organization is called RESET – their website is https://www.resetonline.org and their proper logo is

The official RESET logo from their website

So I used my favorite online STL design site, https://www.tinkercad.com to create a 3D model of this logo, and printed out v1 and v2 of my attempt to recreate it.

• “rugged” Raspberry Pi case

Raspberry Pi Zero / Zero 2 W Snap-On Case Rugged Style

So what did I learn this week by printing all these things?

• modeling something quickly as a fast prototype is fun and easy.. (I already kind of knew this by doing the logo for our company in Tinkercad)
• it’s better to print a first version, get a feel for how it feels and scales, then iterate.
• Always, always, always lay down a layer of glue on the print bed before starting to print. (No spaghetti disasters this week, but I did have a larger box that I was printing for v2 of a larger WaveShare e-Ink containing box that started printing without glue, and I noticed the edges rolling up after the first 3 layers so I caught it before there was much waste.
• I’m still timid about BIG models. The biggest thing I have printed to date is still the “Thor Hammer” head from last week. It’s time for me to try for something bigger. I’m thinking a Christmas ornament – but I have plenty of time before I _really_ need that. 😉

I hope that you’re having fun reading about these adventures!

Gut-wrenching experience!

Last night I found an incredibly interesting STL template for something to print, on my new favourite site, www.thingiverse.com

Wrench!

Yeah, that’s right. It’s a WRENCH!!!

Imagine that. You’re stranded on a desert island, with nothing but a 3D printer, some filament, 120V electric plug, and you need to take a nut off a bolt somewhere…

Farfetched? Maybe.. but you can’t argue that this is bloody cool.

Here’s how mine turned out:

The bloomin’ thing works!!

May The (3D) Force Be With You

Last night I printed the most delightful little thing!

The STL (design) came from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2822812 – it is supposed to look like this when complete:

R2D2 Surprise Egg
by skylerboy347 March 11, 2018

I printed the R2D2 robot first, in black – hoping that the detail would show as well as in the photo that was posted along with the design. It turned out quite well:

R2D2 instantiated

And then I printed the ‘egg’ for him to nest in, wondering as I did so if I should print it at a slightly increased size, to ensure that it would fit properly.

The printed egg

Well — my fears were for naught, the R2D2 fit like a glove into the egg!!

R2D2 nestled in his egg (ignore the pen)

But I wasn’t happy with the contrast. So I printed a 2nd copy of both, in silver, and when I place them side by side, I’m _very_ happy with the result:

And that’s how I ended up with two R2D2 eggs.. Both of which I gave away to co-workers after they commented how cool they were. Now I have to print one more for myself!!!

Happy Tuesday!

3D Printing!

My wonderful wife bought me a Creality Ender 3 V2 printer for Christmas, and I’ve been having a blast printing things with it! Here’s what the 3D printer looks like, installed in my office:

Things that I have printed thus far (NOT in chronological order!!!)

• cribbage pegs : jan 12, feb 18
  • 
• dog (design came with printer): jan 12
  • 
• Orc : Jan 31
  • 
• Pug : Jan 14
• small owl : Jan 24
• two hearts intertwined (fixed) : feb 11
  • 
• two hearts linked: feb 11
  • 
• heart with puzzle pieces : feb 11
  • 
• domino racks : Feb 5
  • 
• Raspberry Pi case : Jan 27. Jan 31
  • 
• butterfly pencil topper : Feb
  • 
• corporate logo – made into a keychain (designed myself!): Feb 13
  • 
• butterfly bookmarks and butterfly bookmark and butterfly bookmark: Feb 15
  • 
• two owls cuddling : Jan 14
  • 
• owl bookmarks : Jan 26
  • 
• owl bookmark (larger) : ?? #FAIL
  • 
• trains to use as markers for Mexican Trains : Jan 20
  • 
• XWing fighter : Jan 13
• Music Note + Heart : Feb 11
• pen shaped like Thor’s hammer : Jan 26
  • 
• 4 sided die : jan 13
  • 
• 6 sided die : ???
  • 
• iPad stand : Feb 4
  • 
• hinged butterfly or hinged butterfly: Feb 16
  • 
• 3d butterfly model to assemble : Feb 16
  • 
• miniature sword and sheath : feb 3
  • 
• Croc gimlets hands that form heart : Jan 18
  • 
• toy coins with bitcoin logo : Jan 13
  • 
• sleeping dog : ??
  • 
• Christmas ornament : Feb 15 #FAIL
• Canada coaster : Jan 27 #FAIL
• big owl on log : ??
• orb : ??
• chopsticks : Feb 19
  • 

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Some notes about the Technology

(Again, remember that I’m a beginner here!) 3D Printing takes a design, which comes in a file format called STL (which stands for “stereolithography”) that describes the object you want to print, in 3D space. The design of the thing you want to print is described in excruciating detail within the STL file, because ultimately, your printer needs to know what you want it to do!

Next, there has to be a translation between the STL file and what ‘language’ your printer can understand. This process is called “slicing”. The Creality printer that I’m using understands something called ‘gcode’. The tool that I use to convert from a STL file into a .GCODE file is Ultimaker Cura, which is an OpenSource tool. (Free to use!)

Now that I have a .gcode file, since my 3D Printer is not connected directly to my computer, I have to load the .gcode file onto a small microSD card, which I then insert into the front of the 3D printer.

The Creality printer reads the microSD card, and offers me a menu of .gcode files that I can print. (amongst other things). BEFORE printing, it’s essential to do a few things, though!

1. make sure that I’ve got the right filament (reel of plastic) loaded
2. make sure that the printer ‘bed’ is level
3. make sure that the nozzle is the right distance from the bed
4. (pro-tip) apply a thin layer of glue (!) to the printer bed, to let the first layer of the print job adhere!

After that, I let the print job run. For a small thing, it may take 10 minutes. For a big object, it may take hours. Seriously!

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Where to go to get these STL files

Remember, STL files are ‘models’ that you can take, print, or modify and then print. There is a marketplace for STL files – if somebody spends a lot of time building a detailed model, it’s reasonable for them to ask that they get paid for their work.

• https://www.thingiverse.com
• https://cults3d.com/en
• https://www.prusaprinters.org/
• https://www.myminifactory.com/

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Great tools to create/edit .STL files

Sites that I like to use for CREATING & testing .STL files

• https://www.viewstl.com/#! : view a STL file before printing
• https://www.tinkercad.com/ : design STL file online
• https://www.blender.org/download/releases/3-0/ : more powerful STL desginer
• https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura : slicer to convert STL to gcode
• https://www.creality.com : manufacturers of the printer, and distributes slicer too
• https://openscad.org : powerful STL design tool
• https://voxelizer.com/ : reverse a .gcode file back into .STL !