3D Printing Files
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3D Printing
The learning curve on this is pretty steep. I bought a Prusa 3D Mk 3S+ printer kit for several reasons which include toys for Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland, items for our model railroads, and items for my wife's and daughter's classrooms.
I sent out a video about my very first efforts in 3D printing and got several questions. Questions very similar to the ones I had before I attended the San Diego Fine Woodworker's introduction class presented by Travis Good, their current, August 13, 2021, president and one of their lead instructors. I left the course with the warm feeling that this was a worthy investment.
Rex's 40 minute 3D printing intro video. This link takes you to YouTube.
First element in the learning curve, is that this printing process is SLOW. In this image is a Deathly Hallows charm from Harry Potter. Its print time is in excess of two hours. Kind of cool in that the center hoop spins, as designed into the print. Darth Vader's head, part of the total Darth Vader printing, is honeycombed for strength and is a two hour plus print. His body is a twenty-one hour print. The quarter is in the image for scaling. These items are not real big.
Here is the Prusa 3D Mk 3S+ printer in action, printing Darth Vader's body, which will be about 6" high. At the time the video was shot it had been printing, non-stop, for about eleven hours. Only about ten hours to go - TO FINISH THE BODY FROM FOOT TO SHOULDERS.
This is a short video of the Prusa 3D Mk 3S+ printing Darth Vader's body and a few other items.
As the time ran out, I recorded the completion. The timing was something like 20 hours, 54 minutes for the body and cape, about 2 hours and 50 minutes for the head, in the video, I say the cape, and about 8 minutes for the "spine" to hold the head on. A total of almost 24 hours for a figure just over 5" tall. Not fast, but fun. Now time to let it cool a bit. The mesh bed is heated to 60 degree Celsius, 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Completing the Darth Vader print. This link takes you to YouTube.
It has cooled, and now the Brim needs to be removed. The Brim increases adhesion to the mesh bed, it is heated, as stated earlier, to 60 degree Celsius, 140 degrees Fahrenheit. It cools pretty quick. Now the three pieces are put together to put Darth together. Kind of like the emperor did in a galaxy far far away in a time long long ago. Star Wars.
Cleaning up the Darth Vader print. This link takes you to YouTube.
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Smoke Alarm and Shutdown Relay for Printer
Date: August 2021
There is an issue with 3D printing, Learning Curve Element #1 - 3D PRINTING TAKES TIME. And you are working with electricity, heat, and flammables in an oxygen rich environment. Are you willing to remain by your printer for 21, 27, or 32 hours while your printer prints? I AM NOT. And numerous others are not either. At the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Shop there is a smoke alarm rigged to shut down the printer if smoke is detected. The design paperwork is from Henry Arnold. And I built my system based on his video, provided here.
This is the hyperlink to Henry Arnold's YouTube video on the Smoke Alarm & Shutdown System
This is the hyperlink to my PDF document, based on Henry's document and presentation.
This is the hyperlink to my YouTube video on the construction of the smoke alarm & shutdown system.
The last page of my document explains the system. The BRK 3120B Smoke Alarm sends a signal to the power relay when its smoke tolerance is violated. At that point the power to the "Normally On" receptacle is stopped and power is provided to the "Normally Off" receptacle. That shuts the controlled device, the 3D printer, down cold. The "Normally Off" receptacle. now powered, the signal from its power cube keeps the relay energized to the No Power to the "Normally On" receptacle. mode and power to the "Normally Off" receptacle. until you change things be stopping the power power from "Normally Off" power cube. Pretty cool.
Recommendations I learned along the way.
1) Build your enclosure first ensuring that you can place the smoke alarm inside the enclosure and the IoT Relay outside the enclosure.
2) Place the smoke alarm mounting rink and the control relay.
3) Determine the wire runs and cut the wire lengths leaving a bit of slop before starting your soldering. And,
4) Make sure you insulate all your connections.
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Printing Failures
Not everything we started worked out. Here are some of our failures. While the instructions to adjust the bead height / width are clear. And the guidance for cleaning the mesh bed to increase adhesion is good, sometimes you need to clean the mesh bed with acetone. Which is one of the notes a bit farther down in the list.
Date: August 2021
Frustrating. After something like 55 minutes of printing the Harry Potter / Hogwarts Deathly Hallows charm for my wife the item begins to peal from the bed and then is grabbed by the nozzle and pulled off the bed. I have something like six printing attempts, all failures. Some very early - 10 minutes into the printing.
I tried the Prusa 3DHubs_Marvin_variable_PLA_MK3S_52m.gcode file twice and the same results both times, shown here. It seems to be that Brim issue. I can print a good item before this, print a good item after this. However, by my guess, because the base is so small, the nozzle pulls the item off the mesh bed as it gets higher. Several failures all at about the same point.
One of the notes in the manual talks about cleaning the Mesh Bed with acetone. After several issues with the filament not adhering well, I cleaned the almost new, less than two weeks old, Mesh Bed with acetone. While it did not fully solve the problem, it definitely helped.
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Size Relations in My Photos
Date: August 2021
Darth Vader's head and the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Charm. For sizing, that is a U.S. Quarter. I usually use a ruler. The tan ruler you often see is about 6" long.
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Prusa Research / 3D Test Pattern
Date: August 2021
The most successful Prusa test pattern. The final setting was the Z measurement of -1.640. I think this took four or five runs and adjustments of the PINDA probe. The Prusa piece was nicely adhered to the printing bed, as was the outline.
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Prusa Research / 3D Batman Test File
Date: August 2021
The batman charm / piece is one of the Prusa test files. You cannot modify it as it comes in gcode. I got one batman item out of several attempts. I learned to put Brims on my items. Brims are an added border to your pieces which increase adhesion to the mesh bed, the heating bed. This band around the batman symbol is not a brim. The print time was about 35 minutes.
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Wipe Towers and Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland
When a 3D printer changes the color of the filament, it has to flush or purge the nozzle of the previous color. There are several ways to do this. One is to create a "Wipe Tower" off on the side. Due to the structure of the print head, it must maintain level continuity with the print. They were kind of cool so I kept them. Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland found them and we played with them for over an hour building and destroying structure after structure. One of the things is that I removed "the brim" on some. She asked about the difference and I explained that I had removed the brim. Her response was "Grandpa, don't do that." (They are easier to stack with the brim still attached. I am trainable.)
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Projects We Have Made or Printed Along the Way
Most of our early work is downloads from www.thingiverse.com, free downloads. Credit is given where I have it available.
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Disney Themed Prints
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Hitchhiking Ghosts from The Haunted Mansion
Date: August 2021
The hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion are available on www.thingiverse.com. The file was made by TJJohn12. The print time is about 4 hours and 12 minutes.
The Haunted Mansion Ghosts by TJJohn12 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Jack Skellington Bookmarks
Date: August 2021
I have made a bunch of these. Joyce is giving them away, as I am. I have seven in one file for convenience. Each one takes about 30 minutes.
The Haunted Mansion Ghosts by Cibonacci Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Nightmare Before Christmas Zero
Date: August 2021
The Nightmare Before Christmas is just one of those fun movies. The Bean likes it and giggles at numerous parts. This print is printed in pieces - the head, the nose, the ears, the collars, and the body, and takes about 5 hours and 15 minutes to print. Joyce hand painted the details. Thinking later, in three different prints, I could have printed the head, ears, and body in white filament, the nose in orange filament, and the collar in red filament. Print time would have been slightly longer but not significantly.
Minion Bob by Mag-net Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Light up Jack Skellington Pumpkin Tower - Nightmare Before Christmas
Date: September 2021
Joyce found this item and liked it. It is designed to take one of those tea light things in its base. It measures right as 6" tall. This print is 22 hours even.
Light up Jack Skellington Pumpkin Tower by dave1584 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Mickey Mouse Bookmarks
Date: August 2021
Mickey Mouse Bookmarks are a bit thinner than the Jack Skellington bookmarks and a bit less detailed. They take about 25 minutes each and you can put multiple copies in each print.
Mickey Mouse Bookmarks by ScrapPrinting Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Darth Vader from Star Wars
Date: August 2021
Darth Vader took about 21 hours for the cape and body, one piece, about 2 1/2 hours for the head, which is honeycombed, and about 8 minutes for the spine to hold the head on the body. He stands about 5 1/4" tall. Total print time, about 24 hours.
Darth Vader with a Cape by Jace1969 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Star Wars Jedi / Sith Light Switch Plate
Date: August 2021
This Jedi / Sith light switch plate was one of the first prints using the MMU2S upgrade. MMU2S is the "Multi-Material Unit 2S." What this does is preloads up to five different filaments into the printer. Then, through commands, the filament color is changed automatically during printing. The presentation is much better than painting the raised or highlighted portions. It does have limitations. The print time was about 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Star Wars Jedi / Sith Light Switch Plate by MakerKJS Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
This is a single color print which Joyce painted the raised letters with acrylic paint. Just a bit rougher, not bad. To fully explain this, the filament is the Prusa provided silver / grey. After printing we spray painted it with Rust-Oleum Red. Then Joyce hand painted the letter faces.
Slightly out of place here, provided for comparison.
Harry Potter / Hogwarts Light Switch Plate by lsmith8660Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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The Mandalorian
Date: August 2021
Disney expanded the Star Wars saga into The Mandalorian and it ended up on www.thingiverse.com and Joyce found it. The print time was about 2 hours and 48 minutes.
Star Wars Mandalorian by edsept7 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Mickey Mouse Tealight Pumpkins
Date: August 2021
These guys get those little battery powered lights inside them and they look cool as they glow. The stand the right one is sitting on is a failed print. Print time was over 7 hours.
Mickey Mouse Tealight Pumpkins by Nicholas Lopez Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Mickey Mouse Jack-o'-lantern
Date: August 2021
Another Mickey Halloween related file. With Halloween coming, kind of a focus. Print time is about 1 hour and 30 minutes each.
Mickey Jack-o'-lantern by Invictuscosplay Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Haunted Mansion's Welcome Foolish Mortals
Date: August 2021
Using the blue filament as a base and then using black for the balance, this plaque took almost 12 hours to print.
Haunted Mansion's Welcome Foolish Mortals Plaque by dansftown Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Big Thunder Railroad - First Attempt
Date: August 2021
I printed the Big Thunder Railroad train as one set of items, one locomotive and two cars in one printing. This print demonstrates, again, the precision available in 3D printing. The roof supports are so thin that they break as soon as touched. However, look at the detail of the wheels and drive system. Again, damaged due to size / thickness. The wheels on the passenger cars broke off with the supports. This printing, three pieces, took about 3 hours and 20 minutes to print.
One of the capabilities of Prusa Slicer is to change the size of this print. That may be the answer.
Big Thunder Railroad in HOn30 scale by lykos_gen Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Big Thunder Railroad - Second Attempt
Date: August 2021
The "out of the box" Big Thunder Railroad is a bit too small and breaks easily. So, using PrusaSlicer's capability, printed at 200% of the default size. MUCH BETTER. Still some basic design issues. Things like the axles are probably relational to real life and are very thin in scale. The supports are intense, as seen in the first photos. The detail is super - retaining bars from the original ride. Print time for this was 10 hours and 41 minutes. Then it took about 2 hours to clean it up.
Big Thunder Railroad in HOn30 scale by lykos_gen Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
I really like lykos_gen's detail on the smoke box and drive chain.
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Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast
Date: September 2021
Beauty and the Beast, from Disney, is just one of those really good movies. Super characterization of people into items found around the house. Joyce found this one. It prints in three files, eight pieces. Total print time is just over twenty hours. After metallic gold spray paint, Joyce hand painted the balance. The finished Lumiere is right at 12" high.
Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast by sitts314 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Universal Studios Despicable Me, Harry Potter, and Hogwarts Related Prints
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Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Charm
Date: August 2021
This Deathly Hallows Charm from Harry Potter actually shows the power of 3D printing. The hole the chain is through is "printed" there and the circle spins on its axis. This really neat pendant by "ecken" only took 1 hour and 30 minutes to print.
Deathly Hallows Rotating Pendant by ecken Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Harry Potter / Hogwarts Golden Snitch
Date: August 2021
Another Joyce find on www.thingiverse.com This was printed with yellow filament and then hand painted golden and blue. Mistake, the stand should have been printed with blue filament. Maybe the wings should have been "flipped" or "mirrored" to have the same texture on both sides. Oh well. Print time for the six pieces was about 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Harry Potter Golden Snitch by Jim248 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
Jim248 added the "HP" as additional letters to the base. Really nice touch.
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Harry Potter / Hogwarts Light Switch Plate
Date: August 2021
This Harry Potter / Hogwarts Light Switch Plate was printed in the Prusa Research / 3D provided silver / grey filament. Then spray painted red with Rust-Oleum spray paint. Joyce used acrylic hobby paint to finish the letters. The Prusa Mk3S+ does have the option to manually change the filament during printing. The Prusa MMU2S option changes the filament from any of five colors through the software. That is an option I bought into early in the game. This is a 7 hour and 56 minute print.
Harry Potter / Hogwarts Light Switch Plage by lsmith8660 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Harry Potter / Elder Wand
Date: September 2021
This is the Elder Wand from the Harry Potter / Hogwarts series. Now it needs to be painted. Just over 11" long and nicely balanced. This is a 3 hour and 36 minute print. The option is a two piece print of a larger wand with a print time of over 7 hours.
Harry Potter / Hogwarts series Elder Wand by jakereeves Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Minion Bob from Despicable Me
Date: August 2021
We, collectively, really enjoy the Despicable Me series. Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland is often referred to as Minion by Grandma Joyce and Aunt Becki. There are TONS of Minion files for downloading. Using yellow filament, this print of Minion Bob by Kogry only took 5 hours and 44 minutes. Lesson learned, while extra hands were provided and printed, simply consuming time and materials, there is no way to change Bob's "printed in place" hands, so they are a waste.
Minion Bob by Kogry Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Minion Bookmarks - Try #1
Date: August 2021
This is the first run of Minion Bookmarks. A bit thin and just a bit small. PrusaSlicer will increase the size & thickness relationly. This run was also done with a single color filament. Going to try adding black as the face details in the second run. Print time is about 22 minutes each at this size.
Minion Bob by baronblenda Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Minion Cellphone Holder from Despicable Me
Date: September 2021
Grandma and Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland found this on www.thingiverse.com. So three of them were printed. Joyce did the painting. Which kind of annoyed The Bean. Oh well. This is a 4 hour and 23 minute print and is a three part CA glue together item.
Minion cellphone holder by boyke929 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Non-Categorized Printings
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U.S. Navy Naval Aviator Wings of Gold
Date: August 2021
Due to a lot of training and a career in the U.S. Navy, I am authorized to wear Naval Aviator Wings of Gold. I printed these first with one color - blue, from top-to-bottom. Then tried it again switching to yellow for the Wings. I later painted both prints with Glitter Gold acrylic hobby paint. Good detail. This is a 2 hour and 11 minute print.
U.S. Naval Aviator Wings of Gold by seadraggin Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
The two color filament print in raw yellow.
The finished product with both prints painted Glitter Gold.
If you are interested, these are the real thing. I received mine at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas in 1976.
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Cubistand Pencil Pen Brush Holder Stand
Date: August 2021
This is actually a four part assembly. The base took more than 18 hours to print. The top took over 13 hours. The riser post, which is vertical in the provided files, needs to be laid on its side,took almost 3 hours to print. The cap took about 21 minutes. Total time is in excess of 34 hours. Pretty cool.
Cubistand Pencil Pen Brush Holder Stand by sdmc Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Chicago White Sox Symbol
Date: August 2021
Joyce is a BIG White Sox fan. In grammar school she got free tickets for perfect attendance. (Yes, they buy their fans.) This printing took about 5 hours and 40 minutes. It was worth it. She smiled.
Chicago White Sox Symbol by patrickdevens1 Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
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Filament Color Tag Stand
Date: September 2021
Using the Prusa Mk 3S+ with the MMU2S (Multi-Material Unit) gets to be fun. We have seven different colors of filaments and any five can be loaded into the printer in any order at one time. How do you keep it straight? (PRINTED NOTES ON POST-ITS ARE TOO SIMPLE, TOO EFFECTIVE, AND NOT AS MUCH FUN.) The printer does not know "colors." It knows "Feed from Supply #1, feed from Supply #4" type commands. I already had a few surprises where design and print were not in full harmony. I expect more to come.
Just for fun, and trying to learn Fusion 360, I decided to make tags and a stand to hold them. A rough guess at creating the stand in 3D printing is more than 18 hours. So, off to the workshop. The pins have an upward angle of about 5 degrees. The tags are 1" wide, 3 1/2" high, with a thickness of 1/8", the letters are printed in their color, and raised 1/8". The holes are printed in with a diameter of 0.30". The pins are 3/16" diameter, 0.1875". Print time was about 55 minutes per tag. A few spare tags just in case - like getting green and glow-in-the-dark (Halloween is next month) filament.
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The Bean's Turkey
Date: September 2021
Joyce found this somewhere and wanted it printed. Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland wanted to paint it. So, turned her loose. She had fun. This is a 2 hour and 59 minute print.
Thanksgiving Turkey by icefreez Hyperlink to www.thingiverse.com
