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When 3D Printing is (and is not) the Right Solution

This morning after walking the dogs I got a random call from a guy who wanted a 3d-printed “pebble” in clear plastic. I suggested instead he go to the glass works on granville island and get a bead of actual glass, and explained what 3d printing is good for.

To me, 3D printing is great when you have to prototype something in many iterations. Take my work, for example. Just this morning I made four different computer models of the Makelangelo 2 box because I kept making mistakes refining and improving it. See what I did there? That’s where it comes in really handy. The first time I printed the end effector for the four-armed delta robot I discovered that the bolts couldn’t be put in without overlapping in space. 20 minutes later I had a new one printed with the correction. If I had done that in metal I would be out several hundred dollars.

Of course I’m still willing to print anything in off-white ABS plastic. All you have to provide is an STL file of your model. Parts for my kits, stuff you want to prototype, or even parts from Thingiverse. Send me an email with your part and I’ll be happy to give you an estimate.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go use my other favorite prototyping tool – the laser cutter at the Vancouver Hack Space.

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Makelangelo 2 laser cut box v1 process and notes

Here is v1 of the box for the Makelangelo 2. You’ll be able to get the Makelangelo 2 in two delicious flavours: fully assembled and DIY. Until the March 8 release date they are up to 14% off.

I sketched out the box and all the parts in my huge sketchbook, then used Google search to find NEMA 17 dimensions and Arduino holes to make sure I knew the dimensions. The Birch I used is 2.8mm thick so I plugged in all those numbers to Rahulbotic’s Box Maker. That produced a PDF which I converted to DXF in Inkscape, brought into my CAD program, and then added the holes for the wiring and mounting. Here’s the result.

I’m very pleased with how it turned out. It’s nearly perfect! The only places I guessed at I guessed wrong – there are three tabs with slots that are supposed to hold the power plug in place. I guessed how far apart they should be and I guessed how big the slot should be. The thing I forgot was to put holes on the front cover to make a hinge – I assumed it would be glued shut and, on later reflection, that seems really silly. The next version will have these corrections and then – fingers crossed – it will be perfect.

It worked perfectly when it was mounted. I’m editing video now of Makelangelo 2 drawing a dragon for Chinese New Year (should I say spring festival?). I guess next week I should draw a snake since it’s going to be the year of the snake. Gung Hey Fa Choi, everyone!

Speaking of important dates, I’ll be giving a talk at the Railway club Monday, February 11 at 7:00 on 3D printing and it’s effect (affect?) on liberties. Come on by and watch me convulse for 20 minutes as I commune with the spirits.

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Three Secrets to Better Results on a Redsail Laser Cutter

The Redsail laser cutter at the Vancouver Hack Space is a terrific 80w cutting machine. It’s fast, precise, and makes prototyping so very, very easy. Unfortunately the software is a bit dumb. If I load a complex design it will spend half the work time traveling between random cuts. It would be much faster if the travel time was minimized, especially if you have to cut a lot of similar parts. Fortunately, there’s a way to do just that.

In the picture here I’ve loaded part of the box for the Makelangelo 2. Every yellow dot is the start of a cut. Red arrows show which way the cut will be made. It might look like some make sense – one cut ends where another starts – but that doesn’t mean the machine will cut them in that order. The secret is to select all the lines and use Tools > Unite lines.

In the example above I used a second trick to reduce waste.  First I united all the lines in the part on the left (in black).  Then I moved the red part so that the black and red part edges lined up as close as I could get them.   You can drag any selection by clicking on either the blue X or on the yellow dot at the start of any line segment.  I zoom in really far and try to match up a corner to get a good fit in both directions.  Once I have a nice fit I select all the smal red line segments that overlap the black part and I delete them.  Then I select the remaining red line segments and unite them.  Now I have two cuts with minimal travel and no wasted material.

It may not seem like uniting means much if you’re cutting a single small piece but if you start to cut large quantities the time and material savings really start to add up.

“Wait!” you say.  “What’s the third secret?”  That would be the one that you know and I don’t.  Have you got a tip for getting more out of the laser cutter?  Can you tell me how to pan instead of zoom out/zoom in?  Comment below so everyone can benefit.

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See a Makelangelo Live in New York

Are you in NY state? Do you want to check out a Makelangelo? From 12:00 to 17:00 EST Andrew from 3DHacker.com will be running a Makelangelo 1 at the Albany County Legislature. Google says 112 New York 5, Albany, NY 12207. If you go, tell him I said hi!

Update! “Legislator office building, north parking lot entrance. Across from the capital building.” I hope that makes sense to you when you get there.

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We Love Feedback

This morning I checked my messages to find that Jerom had contacted us through our Facebook page to ask about our international shipping policies.  The short answer is: we ship fast, we ship with tracking, and we love you all.  I updated our shipping & return policies just for you, Jerom.  Thank you!

If you have a question or ideas to make this experience better, please let us know.  We’re very open to feedback.