================================
Some objects I printed
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:CreationDate: 2009-09-07 15:32:20
:Id: HW/makerbot/printed-objects
:tags: - hardware
- 3dPrint
The round 12-sided die
======================
A friend of mine, member of my D&D group, asked me, as soon as he
discovered that I would get a 3-D printer: «can you print me the
intersection of three cylinders?»
New, the resulting object is not exactly easy to visualize, but it's a
12-sided solid, where each side would be a square, were it flat; in
fact, the sides are curved.
Obviously there is no way to print an object similar to a sphere on
the CupCake: we would need some support material. What we can do,
instead, is to print a half-sphere; we print it twice, we glue the
halves together, and we get a sphere.
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0980' alt="half-die, from an edge" %]
Half of the die, seen from an edge
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0981' alt="half-die, from above" %]
Half of the die, seen from above
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0982' alt="half-die, from the side" %]
Half of the die, seen from the side
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0983' alt="half-die, from the side and
edge" %]
Half of the die, seen from the side, looking at an edge
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0984' alt="half-die, upside-down" %]
Half of the die, upside-down. It rolls well enough, after a little sanding
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0985' alt="half-die, from the top" %]
Half of the die, seen from the top: it's a very good approximation of
a circle
[% END %]
Sadly, the two halves have warped a bit during printing, and it will
not be easy to glue them in such a way as to keep them "round".
The benchmark piece
===================
Just to try it out, I printed `the RepRap benchmark piece
<http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:968>`_.
First problem: the raft wasn't sticking to the build base; solved by
keeping the extruder nearer to the base.
I discovered immediately afterwards that the build base was not
precisely horizontal; I don't know whether the plastic build base is
distorted, or the translation axes are somehow misaligned (hard to
believe).
After about forty minutes of printing, I notice that the model is
distorted; it happens quite often, but this time it's warping the
build base! In fact, I soon had to abort the print: the base had
detached from the wooden support that holds it to the Y stage, and the
extruded filaments were going every which way.
Results:
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0992' alt="half the benchmark piece" %]
This is all I could print before having to abort.
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0993' alt="warped piece" %]
See how bent it is.
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0995' alt="warped piece, from the side" %]
From the side it's even more noticeable.
[% END %]
[% WRAPPER 'figure.tt' pic='img_0997' alt="warped base, from the side" %]
And this is how much my build base has bent…
[% END %]
To do for next time:
* check the orthogonality of the base
* use the bolted build base, instead of the one held with double-sided tape
