Week 4: 3D Scanning and Printing

Assignments

This week’s individual assignment was to design and 3D print an object, as well as to 3D scan. I chose to design a nameplate illusion, as I needed one for other classes, and also because I wanted to build up my CAD skills. For the second component, I chose to make a 3D print of my head after 3D scanning it, which has many aspects that can’t be made subtractively, such as my chin, nose, and ears which bridge off of my head.

Nameplate

Designing

I want the nameplate to show my first name at one angle, and then my last name in another. I designed the nameplate by making a 2D sketch with my name, and then extruded it long enough to fit my last name on the adjacent plane. I then wrote my last name, and then spent the next hour trying to figure out how to extrude the negative space around it so that it could cut my last name out through this angle.

After finally struggling through this part, I finally was able to see the illusion, but it was still a large square. I cut out a diagonal portion of this by making a sketch directly underneath the print, and then extruded it upwards to cut out the unnecessary parts.

I cut out a diagonal portion of this by making a sketch directly underneath the print, and then extruded it upwards to cut out the unnecessary parts.

Troubleshooting

Because I cut it at a diagonal, there were many floating pieces and sharp leftovers that needed to be removed because they weren’t printable. I removed these extra parts by cutting/extruding them away. This started to take forever, so I removed the floating pieces and learned the split body function to cut away any sharp/thin edges that were bridging off of the main components. Eventually, I was left with a printable nameplate that I could slice. Before sending it off to Prusa, however, I added a base plate to hold the letters together.

Because I cut it at a diagonal, there were many floating pieces and sharp leftovers that needed to be removed because they weren’t printable. I removed these extra parts by cutting/extruding them away. This started to take forever, so I removed the floating pieces and learned the split body function to cut away any sharp/thin edges that were bridging off of the main components. Eventually, I was left with a printable nameplate that I could slice. Before sending it off to Prusa, however, I added a base plate to hold the letters together.

Slicing

I sliced the nameplate and realized I needed a lot more support in order to print it, so I added supports and then sent the file to the printer.

Printing

I underestimated the amount of support that was needed, and spent 2 HOURS trying to rip it off, and even broke part of the plate and had to melt the pieces back together. In the future, I should try using water soluble supports.

Here is the final result.

3D Scanned and Printed Bust

Scanning and patching

I used the sense scanner to be able to scan my head in, with the assistance of a friend. Because of my marvelous, silky, curly hair, I had to cover up my head with several masks so that the scanner could pick them up(yes I look like George Washington). The scanner had a lot of issues in terms of resolution despite several attempts, and instead of giving up, I chose to work with the low quality scan I got and tweak it in Rhino to fix it. The original scan was missing my right ear and also was not filled, so there was no base to print it off of.

The scan did not have very good definition, as my lips, nose, and eyes were all distorted. My hair was also not scanned at all, so though frustrated, I kept chugging along.

Fixing holes and adding an ear

I opened up Rhino and added a surface onto the bottom with the outline of my body, and then converted it into a mesh before joining it with the rest of the figurine. I then created a line across the center of my head, which became a surface to divide my head into two halves vertically. I mesh trimmed the side of the head without an ear, and then mirrored the correct half to the other side to create a full bust.

This was the original mesh before tweaking.

The mesh looked great after I was able to add in the other ear, but I'm not sure if my face is this symmetric in real life.

Slicing/Printing

After saving the file as an stl, I opened up Prusa Slicer and scaled it down to 15%. I set the print settings to .3 mm, and also lowered the Infill from 20 to 15% to save print time. I saved the G-code and exported it to the SD card on Printer #4. I then turned on the printer and waited for the base to print properly before moving onto another task.

Adjusting the printer/slice settings

I don’t have a goatee, but my jawline could have been scanned in improperly which made it difficult to print.

The final result was stunningly accurate, but in the future I hope to rescan to get a more precise print.