The process
I have been using 3D printers for over 6 years. I learned many things from YouTube and trial and error. I was comfortable going through this week's assignment.
Group assignment
Musaed AlKout is the one who had the full process documented in detail; I will cover some highlights on my page.
01: 3D printer's design rules
01| From the MakerWorld website I searched for the test prints of the Bambu A1 3D printer
02| The outcome was satisfying
03| The A1 is able to print angles up to 60 degrees. The design looks messy above 75 degrees
04| And hanging bridges up to 24 mm can be built nicely without support
- Feedback: The outputs of the Bambu A1 and PLA filaments are not bad.
- Challenge: The rules change for different filaments and printers
Individual assignment:
For this assignment, I will be designing and printing an object that I need for WRO — particularly a prototype of a trophy that I will be giving to our partners and sponsors as a gift and a token of appreciation.
01: Previous 3D designs
01 | 3D design of a sponsor black
02| 3D print of a sponsor black
01 | 3D design of a building unit
02| 3D print of a building unit
01 | 3D design of a gears for conveing prototype
02| 3D print of a gears for conveing prototype
01: Design 3D object and print
As I'm progressing in the projects, the design is getting simpler. After my experience creating a shoulder pad from cardboard, I thought of making it even simpler — a clip-on device that can be connected to anything we wear, either with a clip or a magnet. This is how I designed it.
01| I designed a box and a cover with an attempt at a clip — which, looking at it now, I see how illogical it was :p — with small pockets for the magnet.
02| Bambu Studio recommended a print at 45 degrees to use less support
03| By mistake, while I was taking this picture, I hit the pause button on the screen.
04| I resumed the print immediately but the box was not printed correctly.
05| The shape of the box had been distorted.
06| The shape of the box had been distorted.
07| The shape of the box had been distorted.
08| The shape of the box had been distorted.
09| The shape of the box had been distorted.
10| The size is generally good, but I might change the depth of the box and align the pieces inside in a better way.
- Feedback: It feels good to see my idea come to life, and even though I need to work more on the design, I feel I'm on the right track.
- Challenge: The magnet should be strong enough to carry the weight of the box with all the parts in it
03: 3D scan an object
01| I used Revo Point camera for this assignment
02| I first connected the cables to the camera, turn table and the PC
03| Then I open Revo Studio App to start the process
04| I selected Benchy Boat as an item to be scanned
05| I fixed the distance between the turntable and camera as well as the angle of the camera
06| My target is to reach an indicator of good to excellent distance and object clarity
07| I turned on color scanning to make sure the color of the object is taken into consideration, and the camera started to flash
08| Then I started the scanning process and the camera started to build up rendering frames as the turntable kept rotating the object.
09| While I was doing this assignment, my daughter came into the room and accidentally hit the table, moving the object and camera, and the rendered 3D shape was compromised after nearly 6000 rendered frames
10| As a second trial, I chose one of her toys as the object, since it also had fewer cavities and would be easier to render.
11| First I fixed the distance between the object on the turntable and the camera angle
12| turned on the color scanning
13| And after 1900 rendered frames, when I saw the object complete, I stopped the scan
14| As I turned the shape, I saw some holes
15| before filling them, I meshed the shape to create clearer surfaces
16| Here I started to fill in the holes by first selecting them as I kept turning the object in all directions
17| I then exported the file as an STL file to import it to Bambu Studio and prepare it for printing
17| I then exported the file as an OBJ file to import it to Bambu Studio and prepare it for printing while keeping the colors. An STL file would not keep the colors of the object.
18| We fixed the layout of the object
19| After slicing and preparing the object to be printed, the duration of 12 days was unreasonable and only justified by the need to change filament and multi-color print
- Feedback: It was an interesting process and can be very useful for reproducing spare parts
- Challenge: The angle of the object, color, and surroundings will affect the results. When meshing, we do not have the same control over the object as when designing it