WEEK 5

05. 3D Scanning and Printing

  • Design and 3D print an object (small, few cm) that could not be made subtractively.

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


    • I started the exercise "playing around" with 3D scanning together with my collegues. We had an X-Box 360 Kinect which we used with Skanect software.

    A scan of Gianluca Pugliese

    Processing the scan of Gianluca in Rhino (very low mesh).

    After the first scans we realized that to have better results we had to keep the Kinect steady and rotate the object instead of moving the scanner around, because the Kinect doesn't have any georeferentiation capability. So we clamped the Kinect to a tripod and we turn ourselves on a rotating stool.

    The set up

    Kinect clamped to a tripod

    Me on set (this is a reconstruction, I had no glasses on during scenning)

    Scans came out much better, but we had some problems with holes in the model. I exported the model as a .obj file and put it into blender to work the holes I had on the left of my nose, top of the head and bottom of the chin.

    Textured model as it came out of Skanect

    I sware my nose is not like this!

    Sculpt mode in Blender

    Then I moved to Rhino where I refinished the shape and added a base with my name to the bust. I plan to 3D print it as well.

    Celebrating myself

    As a 3D print project I designed two caps to close my bike's handlebar's ends. I took the measure of the inner and outer diameter with a caliper and then moved to Rhino.

    My ride's name's CATerina

    Measuring inner diameter

    The caps have an "anti theft curse" engraved on the rim: on one cap it says "if you steal me I will" and on the other one "ride you straight to hell". I find a useful tutorial on youtube to wrap a 3D text around a cylinder.

    Model on Rhino

    I then created the mesh on Rhino and exported as a .stl file which I opened on Cura. On cura I set some parameters for the print and send it to the printer.

    Mesh preferences

    In red, on Cura, you have the parts that might have problem because they overhang

    Printing on a Mendel i3

    Printer status

    While it was printing I discovered that the text was mirrored left to right, so I stopped the printer and came back to Cura to mirror the file on the x axis and export the g-code again. In the lab there were other students with the same problem, but we didn't investigate to see if the issue was cura or printer related.

    Mirrored text

    Mirror command on Cura

    Success! I made a fitting test on the bike handlebar and it goes smoothly into it. I have added a 0.3 mm to the diameter of the cylinder to give it a strong fit, to make sure it stays where they are.

    Final piece

    Final piece

    At the end I wanted to print the little bust I made from my scan, but the print was a total fail! We discovered that the y axis belt was very loose and the printer gradually lost a lot of steps on it. We fixed the problem tightening the belt pivot with "strategically placed" plastic ties. The fix was effective, and the result is pretty good.

    Messed up me

    Two plastic ties tighten the pivot, while the other one keep the previous two from falling aside

    Final print of myself

    STL files of the caps and my bust are available here:

  • Bike Caps
  • Bust