Lessons (Take 2) for a Beginner in 3D Printing (from a Beginner in 3D Printing)

My venture into the world of 3D printing has continued with more learnings.

The top surface will almost always look the best, so "put your best foot forward" by putting your most important surface on top whenever possible.

Curves on the top can be weak, it is a good idea to thicken then whenever possible, or rotate the object so that the round part is not on the top surface.

Tool path matters, and can make an ugly trace that is hard to file off.

Rafts and supports pretty much suck. This may just be my opinion, or maybe I'm just too inexperienced to appreciate them. But when I first learned of this feature, I was under the assumption that they would be easy to remove, like a quick snap off, and was really impressed and excited to use them. After using them pretty extensively for some designs, I've designed that not only are they a pain to get off, they leave impressions on the piece that would take forever to sand off, and can damage the piece itself. Also, the software that I'm using doesn't give an options around them, they are either on or off. So if I need supports for a part of the object that starts a little ways off the table, that means that EVERYTHING gets supports whether or not I want them. The lesson here is do everything possible to design your piece in such a way that it needs neither rafts nor supports.

Switching filaments during a print job is awesome! The printer I was using had just started a sexy 8-bit bow tie when I realized it was printing in silver and not in white, like I had planned. Whoops! Luckily, it had only laid a layer or two, and I thought, hey why not, could be cool with some silver on the back. I paused it and changed to a white filament and continued the print job, which all went very smoothly. Then as it started building the raised section of the bow tie, I realized it would be swell to make that a different color too, like black. I paused it again, switched out the filaments, and voila! I even had a young admirer look in awe as my printer seemingly printed with two colors! When I brought the piece home, I was asked if I had painted it. All I can say is, it looked good, and I'm so happy I decided to do the black, because all white wouldn't have been nearly as cool. A hint to anyone trying this: The printer doesn't pause immediately when you tell it to, it finishes out the layer or section that it's on, so make sure to pause it earlier rather than later. I came up with the idea after a couple layers had already gone on, but one would have to look really closely to see the white in the mostly-black section, so it doesn't have to be terribly precise (unless your piece requires more precision). Also, the silver is barely noticeable unless you actually turn the piece around in your hand.

Expanding on this idea, I feel like it might be possible to actually have two (or more) separate jobs. As long as the pieces fit together on the software, in theory, you should be able to tell the printer to print the bottom part, then switch the filament, then print the other sections before removing the first piece(s). I can't imagine I'm the first one to think this, I guess I just don't see a lot of material on 3D printing techniques, but this should be one of them.

I think that's about all for now, but I'm sure there will be more to come as I continue to push the limits of 3D printing with my untamed imagination!

Lessons for a Beginner in 3D Printing (from a Beginner in 3D Printing)

They say that the hardest part is getting started.  I couldn't disagree more.  The hardest part, of accomplishing anything, is perseverance.  When things break, when something goes wrong, when the outcome is not a desirable result, it is disappointing.  And disappointment defeats the energy and motivation we had at the start.  It can be so difficult to pick up the pieces (quite literally in the case of 3D printing), and start over.  So yes, the first step is to get started, but there are bigger challenges to face than that.  

I recently spent some time at my local TechShop giving 3D printing a whirl for the first time.  I am happy to say that I did complete two small projects, but it was not without trials and errors.  I had taken their mandatory class a couple months before, so I was a little foggy.  As I got started, I successfully fed the plastic into the machine based on my experience in the class; we all had to practice doing that and I was comfortable with the steps.  What I was not comfortable with was creating a design from scratch (for us un-savvy creatures, this may require a different class), and the "how to make it go" part.  A lot of time in the class was spent on the software, moving the object, turning it, etc., and there wasn't a lot of time spent on the printing aspect.  Even still, I would recommend taking a class at TechShop or similar before trying to 3D print somewhere or at home, even if its not required in your circumstance.  It may be well worth a trip to one of the cities that has a TechShop, just to get a foundation in the use of 3D printers before setting out on your own.  Here are some tips to prevent silly missteps and issues for a first-timer trying out 3D printing.  

1 - Use an SD card that is formatted for the 3D printer.  

Unfortunately I learned this lesson the hard way.  My print job was about a fifth of the way through when the machine pulled down the table and retracted the printer head, with an error on the screen referencing a problem with the SD card.  So the strange thing was that it had started printing just fine, but stopped while working.  The error did say that if this was the first time it had occurred, to try again, but I didn't want to take my chances.  I used the SD card provided in the kit, and it worked seamlessly from then on.

2 - Make sure you know which file format the 3D printer uses.  

I had notes referring to an older model which said to use .s3g file format.  For the model I was facing (MakerBot Replicator 2), I needed to use .x3g.  What was frustrating about this seemingly easy problem to fix was that, assuming I had the design in the right format, I started troubleshooting other things like maybe the machine wasn't ready yet, or maybe it wasn't feeding properly.  Maybe, I thought, it just needed to process the design for a while.  I wasted so much time on this!  Then, when I looked at the SD card in the kit, I saw that all the files from previous users were .x3g, and quickly resolved that issue.  

3 - Feedback is pretty much immediate.

This is one thing I was unsure about, and I wish someone had just told me straight up, if the machine doesn't appear to be working, then its not.  When you click "Build from SD Card" and there's no designs listed, it means it doesn't recognize any files.  When you identify a file to print, it starts doing something right away (parts move and the screen indicates its warming up).  When the plastic isn't sticking to the table, the design starts coming apart.  There is very little user wait time involved in 3D printing; it is either working or waiting on you 98% of the time.  

4 - Don't try to do too much at once.

The first design I tried to tackle had four pieces to it, so I thought I was very clever to combine the pieces onto one file and arrange them so that they wouldn't touch or overlap.  But to my dismay, I had a number of issues during the print, and that meant that all four of the pieces had to be started over again each time I had an issue.  It would have been much smarter for me to start with one piece, deal with the issue, start it again, deal with that issue, and so on, then to have several broken, unfinished pieces because of just a couple problems.

5 - Prying completed objects off the table is tough.

I think I suffer from an unusually weak level of strength in my fingers and hands.  As such, I may have used the tools more than most.  But there are tools to aid in this endeavor, and I've learned time and time again that the right tool for the job makes the job much easier.  The plastic is pretty durable (depending on the design, of course), too, so I didn't stretch or hurt any of my designs as I pried them off.  I think this is another "good to know" point, because first-timers might be worried about breaking things.  

6 - The plastic coming out of the nozzle is not always easy to see.

I had a small panic attack during one of my earlier attempts to print, because I didn't see any plastic really coming out.  When I went to the back of the machine, the reel didn't appear to be spinning.  I got worried that the printer head was just going through the motions and not actually producing layers of plastic.  As it turned out, it was working just fine, I just couldn't really see it until it was done.  This technology is working at such a small scale that it's not always going to be clear to the naked eye that progress is being made, especially for flatter designs.  The first layer of plastic is generally pretty obvious, because its so different from the table below it.  But as layers get poured on, it becomes difficult to see the difference between a fresh layer and the layer below it, and thus, looks like nothing is happening in the short term.  So my advice is to trust the machine and let it do its job.  

7 - Use previews before printing.

I think this is especially important for beginners because it allows us to solidify our understanding of shells, fill, supports and rafts.  Being able to see what the design will actually print before printing it, and playing with the different settings to see how that changes the preview, is very advantageous for tactile-style learners like myself.  It also allows for a time estimation, so you know how long you can expect the machine to spend printing.  

8 - Ask questions.

This may go without saying in a lot of learning experiences, but I think it is especially important when working with a machine.  If something is going wrong, ask a staff member to help.  The TechShop staff were very helpful in solving some of the earlier problems I had in which the machine itself was acting up. 

9 - Keep trying.

It can be frustrating, especially if the problems you're having are because of the machine or something outside of your control.  But I truly believe that 3D printing is going to be really important in the future, and chances are, if you're reading this or trying it out for yourself, you probably agree.  So it is worth it to persevere and don't give up.  Take a break if you need to, or walk away for a little while (not while its printing of course), or call a friend to stand by you.  Do whatever it takes to keep going until you have a success under your belt.  It gets much easier once you know you can do it!  

And with that, here are my successes!  

Designs from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:49080 and http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27739.