WEEK 5

This week I tested the capabilities of our 3D printer me and my friends of our fablab. And finally, I 3d printed a printing model to see, as I said the capabilities of our 3D printer. I also continue to planify my final project Idea.

3D scanning and printing

Group assignment :

To see our group assignment click here

Individual assignment :

3D Printing

3D printing is a process of creating physical objects from digital designs using a machine called a 3D printer. The 3D printer builds the object layer by layer, following the instructions of the digital design.

Large industrial 3D printers, using the same additive approach can print with a broad range of metals and alloys, even titanium, however some of the more common materials are:

My Work

First we’ll design our 3D object

3D design

We will use Autodesk fusion 360.

open fusion 360 and create new design.

Then click on create sketch as shown below

Now watch the following video

by following the above video you should be able to obtain this result

Now extrude with revolve extrusion tool shown below :

If all goes well you should have this 3d render

You can see on the image below the space we made between the two parts to create a movement.

Now we will generate gcode by exporting an STL file to do so :

click on file then choose Export as shown below. Make sure you save your job on cloud before exporting.

Preparing the 3D printing

we’ll go to the prusa slicer with our STL file.

  1. Open your slicing software which is in my case prusa slicer. This is the software that will convert my STL file into G-code that the 3D printer can read. There are many free and paid slicing software options available, including Cura, Ultimaker, and Simplify3D. I decided to use prusa Slicer because it is appropriate option for our prusa printer. To open your file in prusa go to file>import> then select your STL file you want to print.

We can also click on this icon below

Now choose your printer model

make sure the filament selected is prusament PLA if you use PLA filament.

We changed settings of print settings and we set generate support.

We choose an infill at 20%

When all is set we click on slice

Now we have a gcode file to export and get into our printer

We export our g-code file that is generated by slicing and then go to printer with our file.

opposite are images showing our printed model

3D scanning

I receive help from my mentor to do scanning. I cannot do this part the works alone because my phone don’t support scanning feature. I needed help cause I did’nt know anything about scanning object.

overview

** What is 3D scanning**

A 3D scanner collects data on the surface of an object to create a three-dimensional representation.

Our 3D scanner**

** what we use for scanning**

To do scanning, you can use a 3D Scanner, camera, drone, smartphone and software.

We will use KIRI Engine application with Iphone.

Scan an object with KIRI Engine app

In this part, I explained how to scan an object with a mobile app KIRI Engine. It’s Very easy to do it. try to follow all steps below.

Here is the objects I tried to scan.

If you are an Iphone, open Apple Store or playstore if you use Android then write KIRI Engine in your search bar. After you find the app, install it. if you can’t find the app on playstore use this link to download .APK

After Installation open the app.

Once you’ve registered you’ll see page to start tutorial After that you’ll on a new page where you have plus button click on it and choose take photo.

Now take at least 20 pictures that can be enough according to your smartphone efficiency. You can only 70 pictures and 200 as pro.

After you took pictures click on the small arrow at the right

I know that in the tutorial gave at the first use of the app it is adviced to check AI Object Masking tool. But it was not good experience . So you should uncheked it.

When All is set click on Upload to upload your file.

Wait until uploading complete and so the object is scanned. We now need to download the STL file and move on to 3D printing.

Import your STL file in your favorite slicer software. Prusa I used in my case.

(Optional) correct the STL file with Autodesk Meshmixer

**Slice your stl file ** Then save yourgcode to start printing.

Hero shot

Files

download

Group work : My printing test

Just above you can see a STL model of my 3D printed test model openned in a sclicer software in my case prusa slicer because our 3D printer is a prusa i3 MK3S.

Steps to 3d print the 3d design

  1. Prepare your 3D model in STL format. You can create your own model by using 3D modeling software or download a pre-made model from an online repository ie Thingiverse or go to site like solidworks sitevisit the library section - Click to View what option I choosed.

  2. Open your slicing software which in my case is prusa above. This is the software that will convert my STL file into G-code that the 3D printer can read. There are many free and paid slicing software options available, including Cura, Ultimaker, and Simplify3D. I choose to use prusa Slicer because it’s appropriate option for our prusa printer.

  3. When you open prusa go to file>import> then select your STL file you want to print. when you imported your STL model you can now edit settings before printing. when you finish to edit click on slice now and it’s over. save your g-code file that is generated by slicing then go to printer with your file.

Note

Normally when you open prusa slicer for the first time you should see the configuration wizard window where you need to set all configuration according to your printer specification

opposite are images showing my process. importing STL files

We can also click on this icon below

model to print is ready

Now choose your printer model

make sure the filament selected is prusament PLA

We kept the default settings for print settings )

We choose an infill at 20%

When all is set we click on slice

Now we have a gcode file to export and get into our printer

Hero shots

files : download files here