Fab Academy 2019

The Next step was to check the units which can be checked with "STL units and scale" is also marked in the picture, The units are in "mm (millimeter)" as seen below in the picture representation as well.

After Checking the units, we will slice up the model into layers, Since the 3D Printer prints in Layers. For this purpose we use the Slice button to Slice the model in layers. The slicing of the model begins, it takes a few seconds. The slice operation computes part curves by analyzing cross sections of the STL file. The slice operation begins at the sections of the STL file. The slice operation begins at the bottom of the model and progresses sequentially to the top at a constant interval, or slice height. The value of slice height is based on the material and tip size used in your modeler. Stratasys recommends using the default values.

The below is the model created after slicing, with different red lines as the layers depicting how the layers will be printed in the 3D printers.

The supports settings need to be checked carefully before printing, In our case we selected the support to be "Base only" since we required support material at the base. There are other settings as well and one of them is "Supports Extended for Base".

After checking the support settings we go for the final stage of printing, we select "Build" and allign the position of our model in the 2D plane where we are willing to print. The Task will be in queue and we can prioritize our task in the queue as well. Wear the gloves and place the Foundation sheet inside the chamber where the 3D Design will be printer. After putting the design in queue, we can check the Stratasys Printer LCD Screen as well to see our task. Select your task, there is a Play Button to begin the task. Another window will open which will inquire about the Part Placement of location where the 3D printing shall begin. Touch the LCD to place the part and click the Tick symbol. The printing will begin.

The 3D Printed model is printed, with a Base Support. The Base Support is being removed and the Printed 3D part can be seen in the Picture. Since it was our 3D print, it was really amazing to observe such details the printer can print in 3D.

The .stl file format of the model was being opened in the slic3r, and the Model can be seen below in green colour. The Dimensions of the design can be verified on the right bottom end of the window which demonstrates the Size in mm (millimeters).

After confirming the dimensions of the design, In this Printer we have to create the G-Code file. A GCODE file contains commands in G-Code, which is a language used to describe how a 3D printer should print a job. It stores instructions in plain text with each line representing a different command, such as how fast the printer should print, the temperature it should be set at, and where the printing parts should move. The G-Code file can be created by pressing the Export G-Code button as mentioned in the picture below as well.

The Created G-code file is then taken in USB from the Computer and the LeapFrog machine has a USB port where the USB can be attached and from the screen the command to print can be initiated by selecting the file in the USB and pressing the play button which begins the printing.

After printing, the design came up and we just have to remove the design from the platform being attached. The printed design was printed as the 3D file.

The .stl file format of the model was being opened in the Sindoh 3DWOX software, and the Model can be seen above. The next step was to slice the design into layers, as explained earlier why layering is important. Then was to define whether we require support material or not, for this purpose goto Profile-->Profile Settings-->Support and select None. As, In our case No Support Material was being required and then the command to print the model was given.

The Print command was given as seen in the below pictue. Take caution, if there is already a printed object on the bed. Do make sure remove that object before having a new print.

The design was being printed, and it looked really nice as can be seen in the picture above.

After Getting the idea of my design with a simple square shape, I utilized the keyboard shorcut "R" for this purpose. At every stage of my design, I started to define parameters that will assist me to modify (increase/decrease) the size of the design in the later stages of my design. By looking at the tolerances, I decided to use a hinge gap of 0.6mm for my design with Stratasys Fortus 380MC 3D. My idea was to initially make a simple box and I extruded the shape in 3D thereby I was able to create a box. I modified the box to shell to make the box hollow from inside then I inspected the box from inside by utilizing Inspect--> Section Analyses.

Then, I constructed an offset plane then I Modify-->Split Body and then I splitted the body in halves. As planned the Box was being split in half as seen below in the images as well.

After splitting the box in half, the next step was to create a sketch for the hinge that I was going to utilize for my design. For my Hinge, I required three concentric circles, the 2nd circle will perform the functionality of movement. I seperated these concentric circles with different dimensions "D" in between. To support the hinge with I draw two lines connecting the two split boxes at the edge.

After creating the sketch of the hinge, I extruded the hinge design as seen in the picture below. After that I decided to cut the hinge into three parts, I drew three sketches of rectangle and then I made cutouts of the rectangle slots. I deleted the top and bottom rectangles to create top and bottom hinge at the box.

Below picture can be seen with the top and bottom deleted rectangles being deleted. After that to check whether the hinge works, I went to assemble menu and used a build joint to check the mechanism of openning and closing the box. I was able to open and close the box using the assmeble menu. Then I moved to the next stage to print the design using the Stratasys Fortus 380MC 3D

The 3D Printed model broke as seen in the picture above when I was trying to close the box, it seems like the hinge mechanism was not working properly, there was a defect in the design due to which I had to go back to the 3D design of the hinge to see what the problem in the design was. As I looked closely into the design, I observed that the hinges at the edge of the boxes were being connected to each other but actually they should not be connected to create a movable effect. I tried to modify the design by disconnecting the two hinges so that they can perform the function of mobility instead of being connected with each other. Also I modified the width of the hinges as seen below in the cross-sectional images of the hinge. Finally I proceeded for the print again.

After printing, I check the 3D hinge box mechanism and this time it worked perfectly for me. It was finally a success, the modication in the design also demonstrates this as shown in the video.

I selected few objects in the FAB Lab for my Scanning process, The Software Sense 3D Scanner is pretty easy to use. The Software has an initially asks for the Type of Object and then it asks about the size of the object which I was willing to scan. place the object stationary on a flat surface and with the 3D Sense device in hand move around the object by placing the center circle as seen in the software of the scanning device onto the image.