5. 3D Scanning and Printing¶
Files¶
Here are my files for the week, it consists of my Fusion design for an object that cant be made using subtractive manufacutring and my 3D scanned keys
Overview¶
This week I learned more about 3D desgin and learned about 3D printing and scanning. For 3D design I learned about how its diffrent compared to a subtractive design. For printing I learned about the settings in my group work and how to use a 3D printer for individual work. With scanning I scan objects around my house with polycam.
Group Work¶
This week for group work we had to test the settings of the 3D printers in our lab using the 3D Printer Test and how we print. For testing the printer it showed its capabilities in overhang, holes, bridges and diameter. From the test I learned the capabilites of what the Bambu could do in certain areas without supports, which could be usefule when making something like a vase to save some material. What I worked on was the work flow and some of the terms commonly used with the laser cutter.
Workflow¶
Bambu Studio¶
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Open up Bambu Studio and click on create a new project
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To bring the STL file that youve downloaded into the slicer you click on the cube with a plus sign at the top of the screen. Once this is added and its not to the scale you desire then you can click on the square with an arrow to resize the object
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Most likely your print will require supports. To activate them click on the support tab on the lefthand side of the screen. From thier press enable supports and then chosse the type of supports you want on the tab bellow.
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Once that is done you can press slice plate. This will cause the supports to apper and a window to show up that tells you the amount of materials and time it will take to print the object.
Bambu Printer¶
- Before you print, make sure that the print plate is clear of any old parts of anty past print. Also make sure the print plate is connect firmly and coreeclty to the print bed
- Afterwards you can press print file on the computer.
- Make sure you watch the first layer or 2. This is to make sure nothing goes wrong from the beginning and lots of filamnent and time is wasted.
Cleanup¶
- Once the print is finished, wait a moment for the print plate to cool down since its pretty hot right after the print
- Once the plate is cooled down, you can remvoe the plate from the bed with the help from of the tab on the front of it.
- To remove the print from the plate you can do one of three things. Number one is to just try and remove it from the bed with your hands (Do not reccomend). The second option is to bend the plate to have the print pop off the plate (Highly effective and dont worry the plate is flexible). The final option is to get or print a scrapper which can be used to push the print off the plate.
- To remove the supports you can do one of two things. Either you can use your hands, which is difficult and tedious or you can use tweezers to remove them.
- Finally rember to clean up the excess from the print by throwing it away and put the print plater back onto the bed afterwards.
Terms and Definitions¶
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Overhang | Any shape that extends outward, above the previous layer, and doesnt have a support holding it up |
| Bridges | Material that needs to be extruded horizontally between two points without any support from bellow |
| Clearance | Clearance refers to the dimensions that ensure two components fit well together; may vary based on material and geoemtry |
| Infill | Refers to the internal structre of the print; Infill can be optimized based of weight, strength and printing time |
| Dimensions | The working area of the print in the x, y, and z axis |
| Wall Thickness | Thickness of the design; affects the durability of the print |
| Surface Finish | A post-processing technique that converts a raw 3D printed design into a finished product |
Design¶
Diffrence between a CNC Machine and a 3D printer¶
In my understanding of the diffrence between the two machines was that the 3D printer is additve manufacturing while the CNC machine is subtractive manufacturing. I recently learned though that the CNC machine is able to make lots of designs the can be made with a 3D printer. For example, while it would take a long time, a cube can be shaped into a sphere through an stl design. The first assignment of the week was to design an object that couldnt be made using subtractive manufactoring. To understand what the CNC machine couldnt do that the 3D printer could I asked ChatGPT to tell me the diffrences in what the CNC Machine could do when it came to making 3D models that the 3D printer could. One line that stood out to me in what chat said was that the CNC Machine couldnt make complex designs.
Designing my 3D printer only object¶
With the new found knowledge on what the diffrences were in designs for a CNC and a 3D printer I began making my design. To start with I made a cube.
This cube was then given small holes in the middle of them on all sides by making to center sketches and extruding them all they way on the sides of the cube.
After that I shelled the cube so that I would have somewhere to make my complex part of the design.
To add the ring I made a plane based off three points and chose two that were diagonal to each other and the last one as the other end of the side. With this new plane I made two cicrles in the middle with one slightly bigger then the other. This allowed me to make a ring with the extrude tool around the cross made from the small extruded holes. This is how I made an overly complicated design that could only could be made using a 3D printer. This is becuase the ring is made in place and the design is to complex for something like a CNC Machine since the supports have to easily removed and the CNC machine is unable to make the supports that hold it up.
For a final level of complexity I added a cross over the shell for athstetic reasons and I didnt know if it was enough.
I ran into one problem when trying to remove the supports so I had to remove the cross with wire cutters to remove all the supports.
Scanning¶
Scanning is a tricky process, for starters using a phone to scan something is not easy. I first used was Qlone, in which I tried to scan my lego gonzo. To do it I had to print out a qr code like design and put the object in the middle, then i had to slowly circle around the design multiple times. Afterwards it came out with less then desierable results and thier was also no way for me to make it into a printable file
For my second and more successful attempt I used Polycam, and tried scanning my keys. To scan the keys, Polycam had me take around 40 photos (You can go up to 150) of my keys from diffrent angles, afterwards it formed a desgin based off them after rendering for a while (4-6 minutes, I wasnt paying attention). The design itself while not perfect was better then the tedious and fruitless efforts of using Qlone. It was also much better since I was able to download the file and while it wasnt an STL file, I was able to convert it into one using Aspose and thats how I was able to have a file for this week.
