pixelplucker Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Few years ago I designed some kitchen chairs, had made models in AM to see how the would look. Found the old prj file and saved the model out and printed it out on my Form1+ at 25 micron layers. Tricky part is cleaning off the supports. Though you guys might get a kick out of it so I thought I would share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 1, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 1, 2014 I like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsjustme Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnl3d Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 You need a sitting character to use that.....nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 Make the character and I'll print it out hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Ken, Here is an .stl of TAR that I just hollowed-out. Do you want to print it and post a picture? https://www.dropbox.com/s/pjgskbhuzp9ounn/TAR-hollow.stl?dl=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted November 4, 2014 Admin Share Posted November 4, 2014 Wow, Will. Very impressive modeling. It'll be interesting to see how that prints out! I couldn't resist lighting and rendering with ssao... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 How big? Came in really tiny. 50mm tall work for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bigboote Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 That is way-cool! Even printing the bumpies on his tunic? WOW! How did you hollow him out, Will? We'll need photos when printed...! please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 5, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 5, 2014 That looks painful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsjustme Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 5, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 5, 2014 I presume all those supports are automatically calculated? Does it choose the rotation of the original model also or is that something you experiment with to get the most optimal situation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted November 5, 2014 Admin Share Posted November 5, 2014 I was wondering how some of those areas could be printed without supports... now that I see how the supports were inserted that satisfies that curiosity. Thanks for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Typically people have been printing figures out in parts to get the best optimization on supports then they use a 405nm laser pointer and raw resin and weld the parts together seemlessly. I use the laser pointer to touch up. Model looks like it came through 3dCoat. Has the trademark stray faces of voxels. Anyways majority of the supports are generated automatically but you have to define the orientation. In this case (hopefully it works) I had the head towards the supports (support base is actually the top) so that the raw resin drains out. This also helped because there was a lot of dangling edges that I manually added supports to. In the software there is a slider that shows the build layer by layer and as you scroll through you can see any stray builds that wouldn't be attached to the base that need supports. This can cause havoc since you would have loose cured resin floating around that could mess up the rest of the print. Sounds more complex than it really is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Ken, Whatever size you would like to have on your shelf .We have an Objet at the public library that is part of a business accelerator that I am going to print one on--so I will print as big as I can get away with... Hollowed in ZBrush using Dynamesh, then Decimated, then exported as .stl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Thought you wanted a copy, model looks good, what caught my eye was there where some portions that had some odd faceting where faces were dangling, something I see a lot with voxel models. I pop out a print at 50µ layers, 25µ probably won't show any difference on a piece like this. I'll post some pics if it works out. Looks like the wall thickness is a little too thin so I broke apart. If you beef it up it should print fine. Can sorta see with my blury photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bigboote Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 What a process... very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 7, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 7, 2014 It looks like a Gothic cathedral after a dirigible has crashed on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Looked like I missed a couple of spots for support. Ones outside the body I can fix but not sure about inside the head. See jpgs. You will see spots that don't have supports below them. Where supports are cross sections they are orange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 8, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 8, 2014 I think this is all still too complicated to be a general consumer product like a paper printer is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Not really, the poly jets might be able to print it but at that size will probably still have some trouble with the wall thickness. If I get a support inside the head then I could. Most print the figurines in sections then assemble them back together for this type of printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agep Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Is it really necessary to hollow out the model? My makerbot prints the model with a honeycomb pattern in the inside, so no need to hollow it out. I can define the wall thickness and amount of honeycomb. The honeycomb patter makes the print very strong yet saves a lot of build material Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Stian, Here is a solid model of it from Thingiverse. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:247146 The reason I tried making a hollow version was because the resin is so much more expensive than the PLA filament Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 10, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 10, 2014 Stian, Here is a solid model of it from Thingiverse. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:247146 I presume it's the grey photo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Hollowing it out save quite a bit of money if you send it out. Formlabs resin and tank run $.21 per ml or cm³, 3rd party resins run $.18 including tank. I think the price is pretty much the same on other similar systems. That sounds like a lot compared to what Shapeways charges being the lower end of bureaus but a similar part from them after glitzy packaging, set up fees cost me around $12 with a 2 week turnaround vs about $1.50 in material for me doing it myself in less than an hour and half. Kind of wish these systems had an infill pattern to beef up parts and save some resin but because you would need some way of draining out the uncured material it isn't possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 10, 2014 Hash Fellow Share Posted November 10, 2014 How DO they drain out the unused resin from within an enclosed perimeter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bigboote Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 I think this is all still too complicated to be a general consumer product like a paper printer is. Yup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Can't if it's enclosed, why I oriented the Tar so the hole in the feet where facing down. Here is a model that was hollowed out, not nearly as complex as the TAR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Was the Tar ever printed on a MakerBot? Interested on how they handled the overhangs. Would be easy on an Objet because it prints the support at the same time on the same layers as one unified blob similar to SolidScapes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 I was going to print out a mini TAR but found the solid model has some really thin spots on the cloth. Wondering if that was caused by the decimation from ZBrush. I had similar problems coming out of 3dCoat with stuff and usually try to keep the decimation no more than 50% Was going to run the model out at it's highest resolution and just tall enough to fit on your thumb maybe 30mm tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 I think it is thin because I didn't make it thicker--I'm still learning the program. In A:M the cloak was single surface, so I had to make it thick (but not enough--however, that is easy to change).... I'm very interested in 3D printing and the ability to take an idea from design to physical object. I agree with Robert about the difficulty--I think that the things that you have to understand make it hard for a novice. I've been doing CAD design for 15 years and I'm still struggling to learn what I'm doing... Seeing the errors in the TAR stl are still helpful in seeing what I could/should do differently. I will probably redo to incorporate what I've learned since I worked on it. I did something recently that was a lot simpler: Yoda-Buddha which was hollow. I printed it on a Makerbot at our library and Im waiting on a bronze from Shapeways: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 ZBrush is a really powerful but overwhelming program. I am a little hesitant about it because the gui is overly done and I had some stability issues with it in previous versions when beating up the trial version. Though the crashes I had might have been from an aging quadro card the price tag on the program for something that may end up in my trash can made me back off on the idea. I opted for 3dCoat because it is much simpler and has fewer restrictions being voxels but the artifacts that you have and ones I had coming from 3dCoat are so similar. Honestly I do most of my modeling if it has booleans in MOI and if there are no booleans I use AM. I have been shying away from the sculpting software because of unpredictable results in faceting. Nice to have textures but so far when you get to the really tiny stuff The Yoda should print really well on an sla or polyjet, not so sure on the Makerbots. As an alternative to the bronze from Shapeways try giving cold casting a whirl. Materials are probably a fraction the cost of one print from Shapeways. You might be able to do the Yoda in one shot without partlines. Basically use a removable adhesive and glue Yoda down inside a plastic container (polypropylene). make sure there are no gaps below that would allow mold rubber to seep under. Mix the silicone rubber from Smooth-On, they have an easy rtv that doesn't require a degassing chamber and mixes 1:1. Once the rubber is solid, carefully work the model out of the mold. One trick I found out is to take the metal powder and dump it in the mold cavity and tilt it around until the inside is covered then dump the extra out on a piece of cardboard or paper to dump back in the container. Next fill the mold with the resin and let it cure. Remove the Yoda casting and with 0000 steel wool lightly buff out the highlights. I'm thinking you will like the finish on the casting much better than the sintered bronze which has a kind of beaded crappy finish to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have done many castings using bronze powder & resin and a silicon mold. But I love that I can skip the mold-making process and go straight to the finished part! Here is a sculpture of O'Sensei the founder of Aikido that I sculpted in Sculpy and molded and cast in the traditional manner that you described. After I posted today, I went to the mail box and had my package from Shapeways Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Not bad, you can see the build lines on the Shapeways one. I think the extra steps gives a better more convincing product. Laser sintering uses a plastic carrier that is the bonding agent for the metal. There is a newer process out that actually melts the metal called cusing that gives a superior finish but no idea what a model would cost. One of my suppliers sells the machines: http://romanoff.com/store/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=448&option=com_virtuemart&vmcchk=1&Itemid=102 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Here is a tutorial that I just made on finishing 3D printed bronze (using ColorFabb's copperfill). I printed on my Printrbot Simple Metal: https://zandoria.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/diy-3d-printing-in-bronze/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpendleton77 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 These are cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 That's pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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