Category Archives: Uncategorized

Using Blender’s Curve Modifier for 3D Printing

In this video, we discuss Blender’s Curve Modifier. I do a quick overview of its usage then I share a variety of projects I have used it in to give you an idea of the capabilities. A lot of my Curve Modifier progress was the product of “brute force”. I end the video with some tips to hopefully help your journey go a bit smoother. 🙂



00:39 – Overview of Curve Modifier

Example Projects
02:05 – Maker Coin – Curving Horizontal Text
02:24 – Custom Gazebo – Curving Vertical Text
02:40 – I Ching Coffee Cup – Curves Can Have Sharp Edges Like Hexagons 03:00 – Standing Cancer Ribbon – 3D Curves
03:33 – “Dial-O-Lantern” – Curving Faces to Carve Out of a Pumpkin
04:14 – Soda Can Cuff Bracelets – Modeling Flat and Curving at the End
04:40 – Cthulhu Air Plant Holder – Real-Time Design Changes ‘

Tips
06:01 – Curves Have Direction
07:08 – Watch Out for Negative Scales
08:00 – Impact of Object Origins
10:51 – More Vertices are Better

New to Blender?
If you are looking for a good video-based introductory course to Blender, I recommend the online courses by JWall at Print That Thing. https://www.community.ptt.live/

Photo Credit
Pond by Kaveh https://www.flickr.com/photos/kavehkh…

Thank you for watching. Happy Modeling and Printing!

Multiple Processes in Simplify3D…with a Raft

This video goes over an obscure scenario — a situation where you are using multi-processes in Simplify3D (as separate prints) and you want to use a raft.



02:25 – The challenge with rafts and multi-processes as separate prints
04:00 – Determining the height of your raft
07:07 – Raising the object to accommodate the raft
09:28 – Optional spot checking

If this rare situation applies to you, I hope this video helps. Thank you for watching!

3D Printed Ornaments – Strategies for Hanging and Balancing

Tis the season for 3D Printed Ornaments! In this video, I’ll go over some techniques and approaches I have used in my ornaments to hang and balance them.



Hanging
0:43 – Poke a Hole in the Piece for a Ribbon or Hook
1:18 – Glue Two Mirrored Pieces Together
2:31 – Include Your Own 3D Printed Clasp into the Design
3:35 – Embed Split/Jump Rings into your Design
Balancing
5:14 – Using Blender for Guidance on the Center of Gravity
6:54 – Adding a Symmetrical Base
7:16 – Adding a Hidden Counterweight


If you are interested in my Etsy shop, that can be found at https://www.etsy.com/shop/vickytgaw Thanks for watching! Have a great day!

Wine Cork Turkeys

My latest upcycling 3D Printing project is a Turkey Centerpiece feature 24 of my mother’s wine corks. This is my first model uploaded to Prusa Printers! https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/…



3:53 – Slicing Snippet (with Cura) – Don’t forget the hypotenuse of a triangle is greater than its parts. Practical application – try rotate for fitting larger parts.
4:57 – Blender Bit – By default Blender rotates around an object’s origin (usually the center of mass). You can change either your object’s origin or the pivot point to better control your rotations.

When printing the head, this is where I do my color switches:
0 – 25mm – Brown (in 0.25 mm layers)
25 – 25.40 – White (in 0.10mm layers)
25.40 – 25.80 – Black (in 0.10 mm layers)
25.80 – 26.20 – Orange (in 0.10 layers)
26.20 – End – Burgundy (in 0.10 layers)

Happy Thanksgiving! P.S. Speaking of the holidays, my 3D Printing Etsy store is at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/vickytgaw

P.S.S. If you are curious about my husband’s computer science/board game channel, that is at   
Ryan Somma – YouTube

Some of the Things I Did Not Make a Video On in 2019

Greetings All! Had some free time so here is a video of some of the things I did not make videos on in 2019. 🙂

Events

Maker Faire Nova http://makerfairenova.com
ERRF http://eastcoastreprapfestival.com

Trainings

Slicing Troubleshooting with Cura https://www.slideshare.net/VickyTGAW/… Machine Maintenance and Troubleshooting https://www.slideshare.net/VickyTGAW/…
3D Modeling Tour https://www.slideshare.net/VickyTGAW/…

Things I Learned

TinkerCad Code Blocks – LOVE IT http://www.tinkercad.com

Blender 2.8 Big thanks to Print That Thing’s Blender 2.8 Bootcamp! You can learn more about his Boot Camp at https://www.ptt.live/courses/4-week-3… and you can use the coupon code “tgaw75” to save 75%. Sometimes he runs promotions where you can save more! Designing for Dual Extrusion

Flattering Things

Women in 3D Printing Profile https://womenin3dprinting.com/vicky-s… TriMech’s 10 Most Influential Women in 3D Printing https://blog.trimech.com/10-most-infl…

TGAW 3D on InsideNova

For 50 years, the town I grew up in has been having a large craft show each September. We always attended as children, but I never expected I would have a craft worthy enough to be in the show. But five years ago, I brought the show’s very first 3D Printing booth. I continued to represent 3D Printing again this year for the show’s 50th Anniversary. I managed to sneak into coverage of the show by InsideNova.

Occoquan Draws Large Crowd for 50th Fall Arts and Craft Show

Upcycling Keurig K-Cups into Daisies

I published a new video today going over how to upcycle Keurig K-Cups into daisies.

Although I do use 3D Printing, this project does not necessarily need to require 3D Printing.

NOTE – There is no slicing or modeling footage in this video. Instead, you’ll have a lot of footage of processing K-Cups. A lot of footage. 🙂

COMPOSTING (Starts at 1:30)
With removing the grounds from the K-Cups, you do have some options:
1) 3D Printed K-Cup Compost Tool from Shapeways (One of my earliest designs) https://www.shapeways.com/product/3SH…
2) 3D Printed Coffee Monsta Designed by Derek Bibeau https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:711329
3) Non 3D Printing Option – -A Fork (which is what I most commonly use now-a-days.

CUTTING DAISIES (Starts at 3:35)
With just a couple of deviations, my process mirrors the one documented in the Make It Easy Crafts blog post on making a Patriotic Wreath: http://www.makeiteasycrafts.com/2012/… Eventually, I sped up and improved the accuracy of the project with a 3D Printed template. That template is available on Thingiverse at: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:370…

MAKING CENTERS (Starts at 6:05)
I use 3D Printed Centers for my daisies which can be downloaded from Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:370…) or purchased at Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/listing/715459369/) BUT– you don’t have to use 3D Printed centers. The Make It Easy Blog used embossed felt.

For the Virginia Tech Maker Festival last fall, we used a 1 1/2″ Circle Punch and yellow paper to help kids make their own flowers at the show.

FINAL ASSEMBLY (Starts at 7:42)
I used Goop to affix the centers to the K-Cups. For the pendant lamp shade, I used the Regolit shade from IKEA (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/pr…) and affixed the daisies via a Glue Gun.

You can also double up and paint the daisies for a different look. If you do paint them, I recommend covering a spot on the center with painters or masking tape. That way, your center is glued directly to the K-Cup and not a layer of paint.

Please do share any K-Cup projects you tackle. I would love to see them. As always, thank you for watching!

3D Printed / Plastic Canvas Heron

This year for my fifth Maker Faire Nova, I wanted to combine crafting and 3D Printing. I decided to make a giant 3 foot wide Great Blue Heron. The blank panels are 12 3D Printed pieces and all the colors were comprised of 130 hand-stitched Plastic Canvas panels. I am so in love with the final result and look forward to sharing it in June!

The 3D Modeling was done in Blender. I’m still working in Blender 2.78. I really do need to check out the beta version.

Most of the design work was done with Bezier Curves. Bezier curves are discussed in detail in the second chapter of “Blender 3D Printed by Example”*. I also did a talk on this topic at Northern Virginia Community College. The slides with step by step screenshots are at: https://www.slideshare.net/VickyTGAW/…

*If you do want to buy my book, please consider supporting another member of our 3D Printing community by using their Amazon Affiliate Link.

I translated my Heron design to 3D Printed outlines by using Blender’s Inset feature. Heads up– when you type in specific dimensions for Inset, those dimensions are for your object when it is at the 1:1:1 scale. The best practice is to first go to Object-Apply-Scale to tell Blender your object’s current dimensions are that 1:1:1 scale and THEN do your insets. For my outlines, I went with a thickness of 2mm. However, if you are hoping your piece supports itself, you’ll want to go thicker.

For printing, I split my outlines into 12 pieces with a maximum dimension of 280mm x 280mm. I believe We The Builders uses NetFabb to break up their community builds. In my case, I used the Boolean Intersection modifier in Blender.

The 3D Printed pieces also served as my templates for cutting the plastic canvas.

Tip– use colored Sharpies to help identify the pieces. Corollary tip – Invest in a white Sharpie for white pieces. When I used pink, it bleed all over my beautiful heron white.

Stitching was a THREE generation effort. Thank you to my Mom, my oldest son (and his classmate Gio!), and my husband for each tackling a panel.

Assembly was made MUCH easier thanks to a purchase of a custom frame from American Frame. I went with a frame with a 3/4″ rabbet height to accomodate the thickness of the 3D print, the plastic canvas, and the stitching. The outlines were attached by a Gorilla Super Glue Gel and black electrical tape. The needlework panels were attached with a glue gun. I spent a lot of time on the floor with this project. 🙂

I hope to see some of you at Maker Faire Nova. If not, perhaps the East Coast Rep Rap Festival which is October 12th-13th, 2019 in Bel Air, Maryland. Thanks for watching!