3D Scanning and Printing

My experience

First steps

In order to understand the operation of a 3D printer, I first resorted to diagramming both the physical part and the process to achieve a product. 3D printers come in many shapes, sizes, features in general, but they all handle a similar operation. Below I show you some of my drawings and description of its parts and some concepts in general. 💪

3D Printing

1. Base plate: Receives 3D model information from the computer via USB port or SD card and transmits it to the motor controllers.
2. USB port: CUSB ports are designed to transmit electrical power to the device that is connected, so no additional cable is needed to connect to a power outlet.
3. SD card slot: They have the ability to read and write data to and from SD memory cards, which allows data to be saved for later access.
4. Extruder: A cartridge applies heat to a metal core that melts the plastic. The core is wrapped by an insulator.
5. Printing nozzle: The molten plastic comes out of the extruder tip to form the layers of the printed object.
6. Materials used: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high density polyethylene and polyactic acid plastics. (PLA)
7. Three axes of movement: To build a 3D object, the printer moves in three planes, each on a different axis.

A. X plane: Moves the platform from side to side.
B. Y plane: Moves back and forth creating each of the strata.
C. Z plane: Move the extruder vertically to add the layers.

Processes

The sequence for 3D construction has a series of steps that are not so complicated to understand, like any system, the 3D printing machine has an input, process and output. These are linked to certain programs that will help us to complete the cycle. Below are some explanations. 💪

Sequence

1. What do I need?: A computer, CAD software and 3D printer. As a first step we export the file in STL format, the exported file is a grid that includes the 3D shape of the object.
2. This software is responsible for laminating the entire object vertically, hundreds of layers, with this we observe the number of layers with which the object will be created.
3. When the printer heats up, it begins to recognize the movement in the different axes and deposits the material chosen to start the sheets.
4. The overlapping of sheets is completed starting from the lowest part (next to the bed) and goes up to the last point on the Z-axis. This completes the construction of the physical object.

(Source: Wikipedia.com)

3D Scanning

A 3D scanner is a machine used to capture the geometry of an object and its color to then form a 3D model of it. That is, it is capable of transforming a real object into a virtual one that we can manipulate with our computers and specialized programs. Its use is very varied and is currently used in many sectors such as art conservation, sculpture reproduction, dimensional control, quality control, reverse engineering of parts, use in the dental area, architecture, archeology, etc. Here I show a little of the logic of the process.

Sequence

There are two types of scanners, contact and non-contact, depending on the type of object to be scanned. In the case of non-contact there are three distinctions, one is a laser scanner, another is a structured white light scanner and the third is a time-of-flight scanner. There are also several ways to solve this process without having the machines, in my case I had to solve it from home and it was a good experiment. 🤩

- Well, the first machine I brought home was the Colido Compact, I had already used this machine before when we were giving digital fabrication workshops to students in different parts of Peru, I will now mention some of its features. ✔️

- Construction volume: 13 x 13 x 13 x 13 cm
- Printer size: 27.6 x 31.8 x 31.8 x 34.3 cm
- Printer weight: 7 kg
- Nozzle diameter: 0.4 mm
- Filament diameter: 1.75 mm
- Filament material: PLA
- Structure: Acrylic
- Software: REPETIER-HOST
- File types: .STL, G-Code
- Operating system: WINDOWS 7, MAC OS, LINUX
- Power: 12 W



- The software I used was the Repetier Host, this previously allowed me to print designs on this printer but this time apparently something was wrong. When I started the printer connection and changed the filament (heating the extruder) there was no problem, then I tried the axes and the x-y-z movement and there were no problems either. When I downloaded a test file from the internet and placed it in the software it allowed me to generate the respective slicer to laminate the object and it came out that it would take almost 3 minutes, until then everything was fine. Finally I clicked on print and the bed began to rise, when it was located at the correct height the extruder did not make any movement, 😢 I waited a few minutes and it did not move either. In the end I cancelled the print and checked the printer settings.


- The reason why the printing was not working was basically due to the non-response of the order to start moving in the defined axes. That is to say that the extruder did not respond to the order sent by the software, according to the investigations that I managed to do with my team may be for various reasons, extruder motor issue, the G Code, some configuration of the printer, etc. I did the respective tests but given the short time to solve the assignment I was supported by sending me a new printer. I was lucky to get it! :star2:

- And well, my first test with this printer was so bad 😅 that when I tried about three files, they didn't come out well. Unlike the compact, this machine did print without problems, it has another operation process since it does not need a cable to connect it to my computer but a MicroSD where the laminated designs are saved from the CURA software. This printer has a different appearance, it does not have a cover like the compact and is a little bigger, here are some of its features.

- Modeling Technology: FDM（Fused Deposition Modeling）
- Printing Size: 220*220*250mm
- Printing Speed: ≤180mm/s, normal 30-60mm/s
- Filament: 1.75mm PLA, ABS, Wood, TPU, Gradient color, carbon fiber, etc.
- Working Mode: Online or SD card offline
- File Format: STL, OBJ, AMF
- Slice Software: Cura, Repetier-Host, Simplify3D

- As you can tell, the calibration of the machine was very spotty, it took me a while to dedicate myself to understanding everything from how to turn it on to calibrating the bed. Thanks to some tutorials I was able to get a good result, after several attempts of course. Here is the evidence. 💪

First experience

- After following this vídeo tutorial, it became much easier to manipulate the machine, I think that at the beginning of everything it is always a little scary to move the settings but it is necessary to lose the fear little by little to get familiar with the machines. In this video you can see how to calibrate a bed just with a sheet of paper and a couple of files that they share with us, it worked for me, I recommend it. 🤩

When I got the calibration I did the test with the following models downloaded from thingiverse



- After those small tests I wanted to try the tests that we have in the academy page, the first one went very well, it made me think and reconfirm that the machine was ready for any 3D design. 😃



- The funny thing about the learning process is that not everything will go right, the second test I sent was a disaster, this happened because I did not realize the form and the need to give the indication to the machine to have elements flying. Here I show the reality vs. the expectation. 😭



- Well, it was clear, it was necessary to place the support, I did not realize this or the importance of what it means to configure the support until this exercise, it is good to learn by making mistakes. To correct this mistake I made the configurations in CURA which is the software I am using now and automatically the necessary supports appear. 💪





- Finally I managed to do one more test from academy and one that I found on thingiverse, there are several files that you can use for testing so I recommend exploring a lot to have a variety of possibilities and analysis of your 3D printer.


- Thanks to all these explorations I have learned the handling of a 3D printer and its capabilities to perform the work in detail, I am sure that the more you practice the better the results will be. 🤩

My explorations

As an initial step in my exploration, I had the opportunity to find a design that really caught my attention. This is a kind of magic sphere as it fulfills an interesting projection on a paper. What happens is that this sphere is defined by lines of different thicknesses and curved that when you put a light on it vertically this is projected as a perfect grid, here I show you the result! 😍











I really liked this experimentation 😍 and I think that if you have the opportunity to build it and generate it yourselves it will be great. Now that I played a little with the machine I did two tests that the Fab Academy gives us, I liked both of them because I learned the sense of the supports. Number 1 was simple, the machine I work with showed me that I could do that test. The second test had an error in the first shipment, it happens that by not putting support the disaster was disastrous, then when you put the support you can see the difference, now I share the images.

My designs

This week I ventured to explore two software for the designs, first I wanted to use Fusion 360, it is the first time I design to print in this program and I found it very good, the default meshes make it easier and faster prototyping, here I show some examples.


I chose these first meshes to test the printing from Fusion 360 and I really liked the result, the printer did a good job and quite clean, then I ventured to generate something different from FreeCAD, this program also for the first time has served me to print in 3D, unlike the previous design I wanted to start generating movement at some point in the design, I thought of starting from a concept of articulation, here the result.


Finally I decided to use Fusion 360 for this week's final non-subtractive proposal, with the base of a sphere and some planes that made me cut some parts of the surface I ended up having a curious proposal with another sphere inside, the process took me time because I could not find the way to use the least amount of support by default, CURA always gives you the option to put support or not to put anything and you assume the consequences, I assumed the consequences in several tests and my designs ended very badly but with practice I achieved the following result.





This experience has been great, I had not explored a 3D printer this much or designed something that challenged the material conditions and printer settings. My recommendation is to give considerable time to testing, for any design you want to create, in my case I have had many previous tests and I still want to continue doing it, no doubt I will buy my own printer this year. Here I show you the total final results.

Bonus

I want to share that I also used for the first time Blender for 3d printing. This allowed me to make much more organic things, it definitely depends a lot on what kind of shapes or figures you want to design to choose the right software, here I share some of my explorations, I really enjoyed learning it!


This step by step was the basic one to start getting organic shapes, you can do the same from a cylinder, a square, a torus, etc. In my case I used the beginning of a sphere and I was able to get layers with two PLA filaments, red and green. I recommend exploring it.

Steps

- I will start by showing the application that I used from my sister's Iphone, this is called Qlone, I recommend it because I found it complete, simple to understand and easy to install. In the same application they explain you the steps to follow to get your object scanned, here I show you some parts and my first test. Qlone link


- To do the job well this app asks you to download a PDF sheet of graphics that will serve as a basis for the recognition of the object, it is a kind of mat where you will place the object to be scanned. The important thing is to keep in mind that the object can not pass certain measures in the z-axis or else it will happen to you what happened to me with this first prototype.


- This process is like a photo sweep, as you move the camera, the blue sections of the half sphere created by the application disappear. An important factor is the light, try to have the best lighting around to get a good resolution. My object was a Peruvian brand milk jar that I had on hand, as it complied with the standard measurements to put it inside the mat, I used it and look how it turned out.



I didn't get the result 100% but it was a good first try, then I made other tests with the help of better lighting and I could realize the differences, the heights and the size in general will make your result optimal or not, also the sweep mode, you have to be careful with that process.


The best scan I had was the alcohol gel scan, this object came out perfectly, the difference was the size, the shape and the light it was exposed to, anyway I recommend Qlone because it is a very accessible and easy to handle application.

Download the files here

Blender
FreeCAD 1
FreeCAD 2
FreeCAD 3
Fusion 360 1
Fusion 360 2
Fusion 360 3