5. 3D Scanning and Printing¶
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)
3D Printing¶
Designing 3D Print¶
For the individual portion of this week, we had to create somethign that could not be made subtractively, which is essentially something inside of something else. ChatGPT helped me come up with this brief description: Additive manufacturing builds objects layer by layer by adding material, like 3D printing. Subtractive manufacturing removes material from a solid block using cutting, drilling, or milling, like CNC machining.
The most basic example of subtractive manufacturing is a cube with a ball inside of it. I wanted to be a little but more creative, so I was going to try to make a octagonal prism with a ball in it, but when I was working on that in Fusion 360, it ended up evolving into a shape that resembles a cylinder-shaped jail cell with a ball inside. I thout this was cool and a bit more creative, so I decided to go with it.
First, I made an octagon shape as a sketch. I used a parameter for this dimension.
Then, I extruded the shape and used the Pipe tool for one of the vertical lines. I was not really following this tutorial, but when I skimed through it, looking for somethjing helpful, it recommended using the Pipe tool, so tried it and was pleased with the results.
Then, I wanted to add the Pipe effect to all of the edges of the extruded hexagon, so I tried to use the Circular Pattern tool as a shortcut. It did not work as expected, but it was still cool. To make the Circular Pattern, I had to create an axis. I made an Axis Perpendicular to Face at Point and made the point the center of my hexagon sketch and selected that as the axis for my Circular pattern.
Looking back on it now, I should have done something to smooth over the edges between the rectangles and the vertical pillar so that it would look less chunky, but it still functioned how I was aiming for it to, so it is okay.
Then, to make the sphere, I cosidered making a different component, but it did not work how I wanted it to, so I ended up just including it in the same component because it was such a quick and simple design. If the design had more features and was more complicated, I would have made another component, but for this assignment, it was okay.
When I first made the sphere, it appeared in the middle of the bottom of my “jail cell”, so I used the Move tool to raise the sphere up. The height did not really matter, because my final product would have the ball freely moving around inside the “jail cell”.
Preparing 3D Print¶
I followed this tutorial because I am not very experienced with Bambu Studio. I had to use supports for this print because the ball was able to move around the cage and I needed something to hold it up while it printed.
These are the settings I used:
Performing 3D Print¶
Here is my final printed product:
3D Scanning¶
I tried out two 3D scanning apps: Polycam and Qlone.
Polycam¶
This scanning app was good, but it took a long time and several pictures to make it work.
This is a pair of scissors that I scanned:
This is the scan:
It turned out pretty well, but it caught some of the table in the scan.
Qlone¶
This software recommended for a mat to be placed under the object being scanned. I scanned the same pair of scissors and found that Polycam worked much better.
This is the step in the app tutorial that recommended a mat:
These are the scissors on the mat:
This is a scan of the scissors:
Group Assignment¶
My group this week was Cooper Cumbus and Jenna Chebaro. This is a link to our group page for this week.
Infill Test¶
First, in Fusion 360, I made a extruded a square and then exported it as an stl file.
I then imported it into Bambu Studio and ended up changing it to be a 25 mm x 25 mm x 25 mm cube using the scale tool.
Initially, I was planning on 3D printing the cube three seperate times with the normal pattern and only changing the infill density, but once I realized there are different pattern options as well, I decided to test three different patterns each at three different densities, creating nine squares total. I used ChatGPT to see if there was an more efficient way to change the settings for each individual object than just 3D printing them all individually. I had to turn on advanced settings, and copy and paste the cube eight more times, resulting in nine cubes. Then, I went to the strength tab, scrolled to the bottom, and changed the pattern and the density for each object separately. I made cubes with the Grid, Archimedean Cords, and Honeycomb patterns and made each type of pattern print three times, each with densities of 15%, 30%, and 50%.
This was my initial sliced cube with the Grid infill pattern and a infill density of 15%, the default settings:
This is a video of me clicking on each cube and displaying the infill settings in the bottom left corner:
This was my updated design after copying the cube and changing the settings:
I checked how the cubes would look halfway through the print under the Preview tab because my plan was to stop the print about halfway through so that the infill would be visible.
This is how the cubes would look from the side around halfway through according to the Bambu preview:
This is how the cubes would look from the top around halfway through according to the Bambu preview:
When the print was around 10% finished, I decided to time one layer of the print to see how the times compared for each of the patterns and densities.
It may not be completely error-free because I did my timing using the time stamps on a video I took of a full layer of the cubes printing, but this is a table of how long it took for each pattern and density to print:
| Infill Pattern | Infill Density | Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|
| Grid | 15 | 3.32 |
| Grid | 30 | 4.69 |
| Grid | 50 | 6.90 |
| Archimedean Cords | 15 | 3.57 |
| Archimedean Cords | 30 | 4.83 |
| Archimedean Cords | 50 | 6.52 |
| Honeycomb | 15 | 5.98 |
| Honeycomb | 30 | 12.26 |
| Honeycomb | 50 | 21.46 |
The Honeycomb pattern took the longest by far compared to the Grid and Archimedean Cords patterns. In addition, as the density increased, the time for each pattern also increased, which makes sense because if there are more lines, it will take longer to 3D print and increasing the density adds more lines.
I ended up stopping the test when it was around 30% finished because the infill lines were very clear, and I did not feel that I needed to let it keep printing. I stopped the print halfway through a layer, which I should not have done because not all the cubes are exactly even, and the layer stopped halfway through one cube, so it looks a little bit weird.
Here is the printed test:
Benchy¶
On the Bambu Lab A1 3D printer, we printed a Benchy, a small boat designed to test the capabilities of 3D printers. It is often used as a first print to ensure the printer is working properly.
ChatGPT helped me come up with specific things that the Benchy print tests:
Overhangs – Tests how well the printer handles unsupported angles.
Bridging – Evaluates how well the printer can print horizontal spans without support.
Layer Adhesion – Assesses the strength and consistency of layer bonding.
Dimensional Accuracy – Checks if the printed dimensions match the intended design.
Surface Finish – Reveals issues like ringing, ghosting, or Z-banding.
Cooling – Tests how well the printer handles cooling for sharp edges and small details.
Extrusion and Flow Control – Detects under- or over-extrusion problems.
Bed Adhesion – Ensures the first layer sticks well to prevent warping.
This is the Benchy print I made:
As you can see, the boat printed very successfully and passed all the tests except for slight stringiness that can easily be removed.
Reflection¶
This week was not very difficult because I have been 3D printing for several years. I enjoyed the creative element of designing our individual project and looking at the different infill patterns in the group project. If I need to 3D something for my final project, I will probably use Fusion 360 to design the print and then use Bambu software for setting up the 3D print since i have a Bambu 3D printer at home. I will most likely not 3D scan anything for my final project. Overall, this was a pretty fun week and one of my favorites so far.
Useful Links¶
I looked at several previous Fab Academy documentations for ideas on what to 3D print, but I did not end up following any of them. I wanted to create something a little more unique.
AI Help¶
Here are all my ChatGPT searches from Week 5: PDF
Files¶
Here is the file I used for my individual project: Ball in Cage stl File
Here is the file for the infill test I did for the group project: Infill Test stl File