My experiences while starting up using 3D printer
3D printing as must have skill
To be continued
Discovering something really fascinating!
After getting started in the field of 3D additive printing I decided to write something on this topic! Actually my goal is to simply describe these two things:
- How to get started in this field e.g.: Hardware, Materials, Software
- What engineering capabilities would be added to the Curriculum…
Hardware and Software
3D printer
There are quite a few choices on the market. I started with a simplest AnetA8 printer. However there are quite some more nice things like Ultimaker
Materials to melt
3d printers usually works by melting a plastic filament. It can be made usually from PLA or ABS polymers.
Where to place 3d printer?
The best is to place this device somewhere far from living rooms:
- noise as it may be printing during night
- plastic smell probably not really healthy to breath…
Where to get inspiration?
To get things or even post things everyone seems to use thingiverse
Software to create 3D models
Blender… this is a free software that can make a very powerful things but at the same time it can be really annoying… My recommendation is to check out some videos and tutorials from Olav3D:
- Python and Blender (tutorials on Youtube from Olav) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD0GTet7PkOuVH26nrfeNfA
- Documentation to the Functions API https://docs.blender.org/api/2.81/bpy.ops.mesh.html
They would teach how to create 3D models using Python code. For example, I did use blender to create a 3D model of the shaft… feel free to check out this github repo for code: https://github.com/vladdsm/3dpart-blender-python
At the end of modeling the output is usually a file in the format *.stl
Software to prepare instructions for printing
Once we have a model in a *.stl format we can use so called ‘Slicer software’. This software will be able to process model and create a sets of instructions for 3D printer. Every little detail including temperature, movements, internal grids, etc
The most popular one seems to be Ultimaker Cura
Typical
Obtain/refresh these Engineering Skills
- 3D modelling in Blender
- Scripting in python
- Additive Manufacturing
Conclusion
Another way to make computers to do the job…