3D Printing and Scanning

3D Printing
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a revolutionary technology that has transformed the landscape of design, prototyping, and manufacturing. This innovative process involves creating three-dimensional objects layer by layer from a digital model, offering unprecedented flexibility and customization.

3D printing machines
Often referred to as 3D printers, these sophisticated manufacturing tools allow digital models to be converted into tangible products. These devices work on the additive manufacturing principle, which builds products by depositing or fusing together successive layers of material.

There are various types of 3D printing technologies, each with its own set of advantages and applications. Common methods include fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), and digital light processing (DLP).

We used the FDM types of printers for our 3d activities, some common types of such printers are Prusa i3 MK3, Ultimaker S3, Creality Ender 3, MakerBot Replicator+, LulzBot TAZ 6 are examples of FDM 3D printers.
the printer i used is the creality ender 3 and ender 3 pro.

3D Scanning
3D scanning is a game-changing technique that digitally captures the geometry and look of the real environment. In this procedure, the shape, texture, and color of actual items or settings are captured using specialist equipment like laser scanners or structured light scanners.

Examples of such devices used for 3d scanning are the shinning 3d and creality scanner. I worked with the creality scanner.

Group Assignment

The Kannai team as usual was divided into two and i worked with Ahmad Tijjani Ishaq he used the prusa mk3i while i used the ender 3 pro. we were able to test print different 3D models without support. we did the bridge test, the over hang test and the angle test. and the results are as follows

we were able to print the bridge test from 0 to 50mm without any significant fault in the printout

after that range we observed some downward bolging of fillament from 50+ upwards

The angular test was fine from 0 degrees to 90 degrees

The overhang test was carried out from 0 to 10mm and was fine

Detailed Explanation can be found on our Group assignment site

Individual Assignment

All source files can be found Here at the side bar.

for the weeks assignment, each student is tasked to:

print an object that is impossible to make by milling
scan an object and provide the scan data

3D Printing

In order to achive the goal of this weeks assignment, i made up my mind to design a temperature and humidity sensor holder i which we use in Abuja for farming purposes. i follow the following processes.

I designed the 3D model on fusion 360, the object has openings arounds its cylindrical shape and the purpose is to let water pass to the sensor, The initial idea was to have circular opennings but i decided to make a test pad to see which opening is better.

I exported the file as stl
Then i used cura slicer to generate my printing gcode and i used the following settings
- Infil 40%
- profile 0.2
- hot end temperature 205 celcius
- bed temperatuer 60 degree celcius
- material PLA fillament

Then i used the data from cura slicing to 3D print

looking at the printout i obseverd that the hexagon with flat sides and pointy top is better, hence i used it in my design
I made the 3D model of my assignment in a similar fashion as i did with the test sample pad which involve:
- 3D design with fusion
- exportation of model as stl
- Slicing with cura but having an infil of 20 %
- 3D printing with ender pro 3D printer

I beleive my 3D model can not be easily made subtractively because:

It is narrow in width and has sufficent depth that exceeds most milling bits incase one wants to use a cnc machine
It has small interrior cylindrical futures as seen in pictures above That makes it even more difficult to make subtractively
The overall outer cylindrical shape couple with perfectly surface aligned hexagonal faces also poses a level of difficulty to make subtractively.

I also designed and printed a casing for my final project electronics, more on this can be found in my Final Project page

3D Scanning

I have worked previously with shinning 3d scanner in Abuja, but being in japan during this weeks activities i worked withe the available creality 3D scanner in our kannai Lab.

I tried scanning with the application "creality scan" using my android phone and i wasnt satisfied with the results. this ,is the process when using mobile phone.

Download the app "creality scan"
Launch the app
connect the scanner/camera to the mobile phone using usb connector
keep the 3D oject in a cleasr space
click on new scan
point the scanner to the object and move towards it untill the app says it has enters optimal possition/distant
move around the object (scan) until all parts of the object is completely green by taking many frames as possible
click complete when done and the app will run meshing and optimization .
review your result/scan

I tried and failed as i said earlier. then i follow the following process for scanning with pc

I started by installing the desktop app software from The creality website
Then i connected the scanner to my laptop as appropriate via the usb cable and placed my 3d object on a plate

I Then started a new project with the configurations as shown below

I moved the object relative to the scanner untill the app says minimal object is in optimal distance (best distance for scanning)

I started the scan and rotated my object by turning the plate i placed it on untill all sides are completely green, therefore i clicked complete.

I then started the processing by clicking the processing icon

The object was then optimized utomatically as the default setting is auto processing

Followed by meshing.

Then color mapping.

The reult can now be seen

While trying to scan both the top and bottom sides of the 3d object, i paused the scanning and placed the object on its sides. but due to the symmetric nature the app couldnt understand where to place the cover (top). Thats why i restarted the scan by attaching pices of tapes on the sides.