3D Printing, Slicing

Wishing You Many Fails in 2017!

Leave a comment

When we are pushing the limits, we are going to encounter fails. But through failure comes knowledge and at times, it even brings about extra creativity. On that note, I hope 2017 brings you many fails!

In December, I did a last minute contribution to the A Pyro Design Maker Coin Holiday Tree. In my coin, I wanted to celebrate the failures that comes along with learning 3D Printing. I call it, “From Failure Comes Knowledge“. This video details the inspirations behind the coin, a little taste of the modeling in Blender, and the [embarrassing] two fails I had printing it.

The From Failure Comes Knowledge Coin on Thingiverse:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1936616/

Check the makers who have already made the coin!

Jim at Another 3D Printing Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgXpTIrI0KK8_wXMcHLA1fw

Matt at How I Do It https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJTkCgyQbUU2kpiwhrbLK_A

And of course, Travis and Heather at A Pyro Design
https://www.youtube.com/c/Apyrodesign

Other Models Mentioned in the Video:
The famous 3D Benchy
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:763622

Drooloop Flowers http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:240158
Furry Vase http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1800503
Furry Christmas Tree http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1941557

Thank you so much for watching. Have a fantastic 2017!

Press, Uncategorized

Washington Post Highlights the Rockledge Ornament!

Leave a comment

WashPostScreenshot

I had the honor of 3D Modeling and 3D Printing another ornament to represent the Town of Occoquan for the holidays at the Virginia Executive Mansion.

An article about the ornament appeared in the Prince William section of the Washington Post today.  You can read the full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/occoquan-artist-trims-the-governors-tree-with-a-little-festive-3-d-history/2016/12/02/04ebb97c-b80c-11e6-a677-b608fbb3aaf6_story.html

3D Modeling, 3D Printing

Slides for 3D Printing and Crafts Presentation

Leave a comment

Last Thursday night, I had the delight of participating in a Meetup with the Delaware 3D Printing Group. The event was hosted by Printed Solid. The group was kind enough to let me yammer on about my 3D Printed Crafts. 🙂 I very much enjoyed chatting with other printing enthusiasts and left the event invigorated. I should make it a point to do an event like this every November when the fatigue that accompanies Cyber Week looms in my brain. 🙂

For those who missed it, I do have all my slides up on SlideShare.

3D Modeling, 3D Printing, Slicing

Using Inkscape and Tinkercad to Customize Halloween Pendants

Leave a comment
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My very first Thingiverse upload was glowing pumpkin pendants/pins for kids.  This video hits briefly on how I print these via Multi-processes in Simplify3D (Spoiler alert – they are three separate prints).  It will also show you how you can import in the pendant template into TinkerCAD and quickly make your own customizations.  Finally, have a drawing you want to use?  I’ll go over using Inkscape to make a SVG file from a black and white image/photo/scan that you can also pull into TinkerCAD to “carve” your pumpkin.
All the pumpkin models, including the template are up on Thingiverse at:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1074202
Need help with Simplify3D Multiple Processes?  I learned from THIS Joel Telling video:
https://youtu.be/ZHe2_h1nQG4
TinkerCAD is free with nothing to install– http://www.tinkercad.com
Finally, Inkscape is also free and can be downloaded at http://www.inkscape.org.
The Starting and Stopping Points of My Processes
0 – 1.5mm – Black or Green
1.5 – 2mm – GlowFill
2mm – rest – Orange
Models in Action

A Companion Piece for the Spinning PokeStop

Leave a comment

Yeah, yeah.  I’m slow at making my own videos.  Luckily there are content creators out there who are on their A-game.  Such is the case of Michael Phelps.  He not only printed my Spinning PokeStop.  He not only made a video on the model… but he also modeled and printed a companion piece for it.  He designed a stand to make my PokeStop ornament into an actual PokeStop.  Please check out his video!

3D Printing

Z Endstop Hack for the MakerGear M2

2 Comments

As some background information, the way the MakerGear M2 Homes its Z axis is it has a bolt on the platform that raises and lowers your bed.

Above it, just beneath the X-axis rail, is a switch that triggers when there is contact.

When the printer is homing its Z axis, it raises the bed until the bolt triggers that switch. At that point, the printer considers itself a Z-Home.

MakerGear has some great videos for the maintenance and setup of your machine, including how to do your Z Endstop calibration! Basically you raise your bed until a business card can just fit under the nozzle and then you raise the bolt to ensure it trips the switch at that exact height.

Disclaimer– I love my MakerGear M2 profusely and I will continue to love it profusely. That said, I find the bolt awkward and tough to raise.

One day I needed to update my Z Endstop application and I struggled getting that bolt to do my bidding.

“If only…if only I had something to stick on top of this bolt to make it taller.” I thought.

It turns out I did have something, something that was already a part of my 3D Printing arsensal– Painter’s Tape!

I cut out little squares of painters tape, made a tower, put it on top of my bolt. I fine tuned the tower’s height until my nozzle was a business card height above my bed. BAM! ZEndstop calibration!

Honestly, I never expected this solution to have the staying power it has, but I continue to use it to this day! I was worried about the repeatability of the Z-Home, that there would be variances in run to run in how the painter’s tape compresses, but it has proven to be consistent and reliable. I have also been shocked (SHOCKED) that it weathers travel well.

I have found this painter’s tape hack to help speed up my process of switching nozzles. When I switch to my 0.5mm nozzle for woodFill, I just have to add or remove squares of painter’s tape and I am ready to print.

Not For You?
If my painter’s tape hack is not for you, there are other options in calibration your Z Endstop for the MakerGear M2. This video by MakerGear shows you how to do it the “right” way. In addition, you can print a tool to make that bolt adjustment less awkward.

Uncategorized

Fun with Gyro Cubes!

Leave a comment

I recently uploaded my remix Gyro Cube to Thingiverse! That’s up at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1722631 It includes three files:

  1. A “Print in Place” version where all the spheres print in position and work as soon as you remove support material.
  2. A “Snap in Place” version where all the spheres print directly on the bed and you snap them into position after printing.
  3. All the OpenSCAD code for future remixes.

My version is a remix of smorloc’s Big Nippled Parametric Gyro Cube (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40760) which in turn is a remix of whosawhatsis’s Parametric Gyro Cube (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19304). A remix of a remix!This video hits on a bunch of things:
1) Using Simplify3D’s Mesh-Separate Connected Surfaces to preview and get a feel for the connections of the existing Gyro Cube models.

  1. My modifications to the Big Nippled Gyro Cube , my thought process behind my new connections, and printing the spheres in place.
  2. Using Simplify3D’s Cross Section View to determine good stopping points for embedding the spheres within each other and
    using Multiple Processes to achieve a five color Gyro Cube on my single extruder machine.
  3. Since my family is completely in love with Pokémon Go, I also go over using Multiple Processes and the Print-in-Place version of in Simplify3D to make a Pokeball Gyro Cube.
  4. Passing on a tip from TimeFramed from the Big Thick Gyro Cube V2 (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:165424) and incorporating a vertical lift to my retractions.

Custom GCode Scripts for Embedded Spheres
=====================================
Ending
G91; relative mode
G1 Z100; lift 100mm

Starting
G90; absolute mode

Processes for Embedded Spheres
(From smallest to largest)
===================================
Sphere 1
-One process for the whole thing

Sphere 2
-0 – 40 mms
-Insert Sphere 1
-40mms on

Sphere 3
-0 – 50 mms
-Insert Sphere 2
-50mms on

Sphere 4
-0 – 60 mms
-Insert Sphere 3
-60mms on

Sphere 5
– 0 – 71 mms
– Insert Sphere 4
– 71 mms on

Custom GCode Scripts for Pokémon Go
=====================================
(When starting I add calls to purge the nozzle due to color changes)

Ending
G91; relative mode
G1 Z100; lift 100mm

Starting
G90 ; absolute mode
G92 E0 ; zero extruder
G1 E25 F225 ; purge nozzle
G92 E0 ; zero extruder

Processes for Pokémon Go
=====================================
– 0 – 35mm – White
– 35mm – 45mm – Black
– 45mm – 80mm – Red

3D Modeling, 3D Printing

What in the World Has Vicky Been Up To?!!?

Leave a comment

I’m back with 3D Printings after a bit of a hiatus and I have a lot to catch you up on!

Printed Solid Grand Opening!
A freaking wonderful, invigorating event. Joel Telling’s overview of the event can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZqMnokjpw

What does TGAW stand for? That is answered in Joel’s interview with me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REvIWbER_Gc

Anglerfish
Blog post with more details on the creation of my bronzeFill/GlowFill Anglerfish. I do have one more if you happen to covet one. 😉
http://tgaw.com/wp/?p=307

Bow Ties!
I’ll work on a video about their design in Blender and the attachment design in OpenSCAD. It’ll use words like “Texture”, “Baking”, “Displacement Maps” and “Boolean Intersection”. In the meantime, I do have some listed on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/VickyTGAW

Land’s End Gazebo
The real live gazebo in Sayville, NY can be found here http://www.landsendweddings.com/

Geocoin
Check out the AMAZING family I am designing for. You couldn’t get better inspiration than that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnSSlJF79w

Make Your Empty Filament Spools into a Shelf
As promised, the model is up on Thingiverse as well as the original OpenSCAD code.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1677024

Print in Place Gyro Cube!
Wanna beta test my version of the Gyro Cube on YOUR printer? Lemme know!

Thanks for watching! Happy Printing!

Blogging the trials and successes of 3D Modeling, 3D Printing…and trying to make a business out of the whole thing. : )