Week 5 - Additive manufacturing
Working together with Desiree
For this week's assignment, we are working with with 3D printers. I am working together with Desiree. The idea is to make three different prints; one solid print, one press mold, and one regular mold for a shape.
In addition to this, we are writing a zine about the texts we've read for this week.
Zine Design
Assignment 0 - with the entire group
Produce a class zine on the RISO printer together, 2 people will be editors this week. Individual contributions in the form of zine spreads (minimum 150 words + original imagery).
Reflect on what your responsibilities are as a maker/designer for making objects and the impact they have on people, society and the environment. Create your own maker manifesto. Discuss how you used this in your making process this week, and how it’s (an aspect of) this week’s work.
Assignment 1 - individual
Document the in-class assignment on your gitbook documentation page, include the tips and tricks that helped you understand Fushion 360, Cura and the 3D-printer.
Write for each mold a tutorial with instructions. Include useful images with annotations to show each step of the design and print process. Another person should be able to follow your steps and reproduce your design.
Assignment 2 - in pairs
Make 3 molds
Documentation
In order to start with designing 3D objects, we needed to learn the instructions of new software. Sander and Micky showed us the ins- and outs of the software we need to use : Fusion 360; to make 3D shapes, and Cura; to convert STL 3D files to G-Code.
The 3D printers read the G-Code, and they produce the 3D shape with filament.
3D model: monkey
For my 3D model, I wanted to make monkey's face. To make it, I used 3D spheres and connected them to each other. For the eyes and nose I added spheres as well. To make the nose holes, I used the 'cut' function to excavate in the bigger sphere.
Additionaly, I made a mouth and eyebrows with lines. I added a sweep on them, so they appear as 3D tubes. I've made the ears with toruses.
Mold 2 - Zig Zag Surface
Desiree made the second mold that was an mold within an mold for the plasic assignment in two weeks. This was about making an structure in the plastic. So she made an round design with zig zags, when the first zig would be on top and then the next was under the surface. This goes back and forth.
On Desiree's page is a more detailed explaination.
Tips and tricks
Don't make sharp angles, but always give it an degree. This way it's easier to get the mold out.
I made al the zig zags one by one. I was told that if you make it a body, you can copy it.
Mold 3 - Star
For the third mold we wanted to make an star. And on that star we wanted to make some icons/ structures to make it look beautiful and intersting. Sadly the program quit a couple of times but eventually we made it work.
First we watched a video on how to make an star. You'll have to make two polygons, one big (6cm) and one small (3cm) in the middle of that. Than you connect the two polygons with lines and delete the outer lines. Select everything and join them. Select everything and extrude it (3cm) with an degree (40 degrees). Than you have an nice star. We decorated it with little roundings on the side. You make these by putting a circle on the surface and extrude it by 1mm with an degree. When you're finished with your design you can mirror it.
Then we wanted a box around the star with two holes for the air and fluid and a couple of markers so you can click it together. We asked Sander and watched a video to figure this out. To put the box around the star you first have to make an square in te middle of the star and extrude it both ways, make it a body. Than add a mid plane in the centre of the box to cut the box in half. Make the top invisible and make 4 spheres, one at each corner (join). Make the top visible again and cut the spheres out of the top. Than make the holes by selecting one half of the box and press H, then click on the screen where you want the hole and adjust the settings to your liking.
Tips and tricks
Watch video's while making this. It will save you a lot of time.
Make sure you leave one or two surfaces black so you can make the holes there.
Bronnen: https://youtu.be/vKZx9eHEL6o, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SobgJgljn8
Cura
To upload our designs to the 3D printers, we have to export our GCode file (3D model) to Cura. Cura is software specificly made for the Ultimaker 3D printers we have in our lab.
In Cura you can adjust your design in size, infill and quality. Also the parameters from the 3D printer can be adjusted.
3D Printer
When using the 3D printer, you have to consider a few parameters.
Filament / material (2,85mm)
There are different kinds of materials you can choose from. The most common are:
PLA
ABS
PVC
PET
Printing speed
When adjusting the printing speed, you can manipulate the duration of your print. Keep in mind that a faster printing speed has a lower print quality.
Infill
To save material and to make a design more rigid, the inside of your print consists of infill. This infill is a polygonal pattern with a lot of empty space in the middle. You can adjust the pattern and percentage of infill in cura.
Nozzle temperature
Depending on the filament you are using, the nozzle can heat up to the temperature that fits the filament the best.
Plate temperature
The plate where you're printing on is heated as well. When the plate is heated, your print will stick to it, granting stability during the printing process.
Fan speed
Above the nozzle are two tiny fans whose speed can be adjusted. The fans cool your print, providing it more stability.
These settings can be selected when you start printing, but also when the printing already has begun. When you select 'tune' on the Ultimaker display, you can tweak the different parameters. For example, for our second set of molds, we cranked up the fan speed because the filament on the plate didn't solidify. What we didn't expect was that our filament was blown away by the fans. We had to stop the print and start over.
The following collages are on courtesy of Desiree.
Vacuum forming
Reflection
During this week, we learned how to use 3D printers and how to make 3D models. I was looking forward the most to this week, because I am fascinated by 3D printers. The posibilites are endless and they are very modern. For my project, I want to involve 3D printers and design an nifty application with them.
I discovered that 3D printing can be an unpredictable proces. Many of our prints failed because of unforeseen errors. To begin, the material is critical for the quality of your print. In our experience, PLA was the best material. PVC worked the worst, it failed 3 times. The PVC dried slowly, resulting in a failed print because the nozzle was dragging the previous layer with it. After we recalibrated the machine, the same error occured. With PLA we had no problems.
Also the printing speed is critical. When printing too quickly, the machine will vibrate, resulting in mis-printed lines.
The next time when I will be 3D printing, I will consider errors in my time schedule. Also I would prefer quality of quantity. The machine will operate for a long time anyway, so it's better to sacrifice time for a better print.
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