03 MakerBot

OCT 5, 2015 ||| Skills: Rhino, MakerBot ||| Material: PLA Filament

This week we focused on designing and 3D printing an object using a desktop commercial printer. I have learned that even though 3D printers are able to articulate down to 100 microns of resolution, the material property of the filament often renders the product messy and rough. Also, because it's an additive process that's prints in layers, it's hard to design a truly three dimensional objects without supports, which are difficult to remove in the end. After a couple of tries, I decided to make a toothpaste roller, which is made up of two parts that have cutouts in the middle. The biggest thing to watch out especially using the Makerbot is that the filament can be tangled occasionally which stops the job from running and ruins the print. So generally it's good to check on the spool every once in a while and rotate to loosen it to prevent tangling. The settings in the Makerbot software is pretty intuitive the only thing I would recommend is always print with a raft layer. This evens out any uneveness on the base layer and secures the print tighter at the bottom.

STL File