Week5. 3D Scanning and printing¶
Group assignment:
Test the design rules for your 3D printer(s) Document your work on the group work page and reflect on your individual page what you learned about characteristics of your printer(s)
Individual assignment:
Design and 3D print an object (small, few cm3, limited by printer time) that could not be easily made subtractively 3D scan an object (and optionally print it)
Group assignment:¶
test the design rules for your 3D printer(s)
Group assignment can be viewed at this link. - week5 Group assignment
This is what we have in our lab
This machine is a relatively unfamiliar brand, but the operating steps are similar to ordinary 3D printers. Below I record the printing process:
1. Pre-press preparation requires preheating equipment
- Model slice
I simply built a model of clock hands and tried to use this model for test printing.
Export the stl format file and send it to the slicing software for slicing
Copy to 3D printer using SD card，then press start button to start pringting
Done
here is the clock hands file week05_hand - Part 1.stl
Individual assignment:¶
01. Design and 3D print an object¶
(small, few cm3, limited by printer time) that could not be made subtractively
What is Subtractive Manufacturing?
Subtractive manufacturing is a part processing method relative to additive manufacturing. They have different characteristics and applications.
Additive Manufacturing:
Builds objects by successively adding layers of material. Common additive manufacturing techniques include 3D printing, Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), etc. Capable of creating complex geometric shapes without the constraints typical of traditional manufacturing processes. High material utilization rate since only the necessary material is added. Typically generates less waste because there is no need to cut or mill out from larger blocks of material. Manufacturing speed can be slower, which makes it suitable for low-volume production and rapid prototyping. Subtractive Manufacturing:
Forms the final parts by cutting away material from an original material block. Common subtractive manufacturing techniques include CNC milling, turning, drilling, Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM), etc. Can produce parts with high precision and good surface finishes. May generate more waste during production, especially for components with complex shapes. Faster processing speed, suited for high-volume production and workpieces made of harder materials. In summary, additive manufacturing has advantages in design freedom and effective use of materials, while subtractive manufacturing is favored for its processing accuracy and speed. Each method has its strengths, and they are often chosen based on production needs, part complexity, material used, cost considerations, and other factors in practical applications.
Content above come from GPT4
Before the start¶
My final project has a structural part that holds a stepper motor. I hope it can be manufactured by 3D printing, so it is logical to design this model for this assignment.
Because this part is a relatively thin shell-shaped part, it is more suitable to be completed by additive manufacturing (3D printing is used here). If it is manufactured by subtractive manufacturing, a lot of material will be wasted.
3D modeling¶
First, draw a rectangular draft based on the position of the fixed screws. This rectangle needs to be 2cm larger than the length and width of the motor. It is enough to arrange 4 screw ports.
Use the drilling tool to create a new circular hole with a diameter of 4mm
Make 4 screw holes in the same way
Then you need to make a cavity to fix the motor. First measure the size of the motor.
Make a sketch according to the size of the motor and then extrude it
According to the height of the motor 39.4mm, the extrusion distance is set to 40mm, leaving a little margin.
Make another hole at the top to expose the rotating shaft of the motor.
The top needs to be fixed with screws and 4 holes are opened (all 3mm screws are used here, so the openings are set to 4mm)
Finally, there is one thing I almost forgot, which is the motor interface.
Same processing steps, slice, import into 3D printer, start printing
I don’t know the reason, but the printing was in a chaotic state at the end. Later, I asked the administrator and he said that it might be caused by the temperature of the discharge port not being high enough,
so I tried again. The temperature was the same the second time, but the temperature was the same the second time. It worked the second time. As shown below
Maybe this problem is like a computer, sometimes restarting can solve the problem：）
By the way, this model only took 40 minutes to print.
After learning 3D printing technology, I modeled some IP characters and tried to print them.
Because I usually use iPad to model, so the following are all using the software in iPad-nowmad
02. 3D scan an object (and optionally print it)¶
At first I tried this software called polycam, but the effect was not very good.
Later, my classmates told me that there is a more useful tool called LUMA AI. This software is much more powerful than polycam. In addition to 3D scanning, it also has many other AI functions. You can go to this website for details.
This tool provides 2 solutions, one is image generation and the other is video scanning generation.
Attached are the precautions for both methods.
This is the toy scanned this time
Remember to compress all the files once. Without heat processing, the speed will take a long time. Speaking from experience.
I have tried both video and image generation methods. Here are the different effects generated by the two methods.
this is using image generation
this is using video generation
How to post on our website?¶
click the image, click the share icon
then click iframe code
pase into VScode, the final effect is as shown below
Useful link
It seems that it can be printed directly, but the precision is not high. I will try to upload more pictures next time to see if I can scan a more detailed model.