February 22nd 2023 : 3D Scanning and Printing¶
Reflection
In the early 1980s, the technology of 3D printing emerged as an additive manufacturing method with minimal waste, fast and easy production, and a high degree of design flexibility. This differs from subtractive manufacturing methods like CNC. One example of 3D printing is Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), which extrudes thermoplastic material in thin lines to create objects. Materials such as Pla, Abs, Nylon, Petg, Tpu-filaflex and hips can be used in FDM printing. Another technique is Stereolithography (SLA), which is the oldest patented additive manufacturing process that builds a workpiece layer by layer using freely materializing points in space. No support is needed for SLA printing, unlike FDM. For metal parts, there is a technique called “3DP”, which uses lasers to sint thin layers of powdered material, and can print in liquids like resins or in the air. Programs like Ultimaker and Netfab Autocad can be used to create slices of the 3D file for printing. The thinner the slices, the more accurate the printing will be, but the longer it will take. The shell thickness and filling density can also be adjusted. Different shapes of fillings, such as rectangular, triangular, wiggle or honeycomb, can be used.
Photogrammetry is a tool that can be used to scan pictures to create 3D models for printing, while 3D shapes can be scanned using a laser like “Lidar 3d scanning” to create accurate models of objects, rooms, and buildings. Paste printers, such as the Wasp clay printer, Stoneflower 3D paste printer and Luthum, can print different kinds of liquids, such as clay or food. It is important to avoid using too much pressure and to eliminate air when using paste printers.
Different types of printers, including those with air pressure or screw pressure, are available. To print a 3D shape, it is designed and then sliced using programs like Grasshopper.
There are various open-source platforms where 3D models can be downloaded, such as “food4rhino” and “Thingiverse”.
Assignment: 3D Print then Scan an Object.
For this assignment I chose to 3D Print an object which a collaborator Jonathan Torres is proposing for my Electroc Skin project. It’s a small module that can embed the skin and connect it to other identical module. This way in the future, we could connect various circuits and drive up the power output.
The file is in three parts that need to be stacked together. Aidai helped me choose the right settings:
We had to relaunch the job two or thress times because the filament was not adhering properly to the base, but after the third try everything went smoothly:
I then tried to scan the piece with my phone and various apps several times but the best I got was this:
After that, I decided it would be interesting to scan a rock I have, and used the fablab’s revo point scanner which was much more succesful:
