It all started a month ago when I was at a medical device make-a-thon at A&M and designed this anchor that was supposed to go into a person’s heart to deal with some kind of heart failure. We weren’t able to print out the device back then but here is the chance to make up for that.

The original design is a spiral pattern circular anchor, which is illustrated below

But apparently, this isn’t possible to print, so I modified the numbers in the Solidworks design to make the design aesthetically pleasing, and I printed it out using the night-glowing PLA filament (just for fun)

I printed it out and noticed that even though it succeeded, it had a lot of flaws and needed further adjustment.  The sharp end itself cannot stand well even with the support, and there is a large chance that the top of the print will fail due to the slight movement.

To fix the problem, I made the end flat so that it can stand on itself even if there isn’t support.

I added support and printed it out, and the results turned out well.

But to make it look better, I compressed Z axis again and make it more of a sphere

After printing it out, I am pleased with how the print turned out.

So I printed three more and moved on to SLA printing.

For SLA printing, there isn’t much to adjust, I moved on to the OEDK’s slicer, adjusted the supports, printed out, cleaned it, and cured it.

But the result isn’t smooth at all. There are remnants from the support. I have to do post-processing with the power tools and sandpaper to remove all the unwanted stuff.

The results turned out pretty well.

And then, I have all my five pieces ready.

Overall, as I have lived with 3D printing for more than five years, the project is not a big challenge for me, and I am glad I had the opportunity to make something I designed before using material I like.

Cost estimate

PLA print: 4* $0.15=$0.6

SLA print: 4mL * $200 per L = $0.8

Labor: 1 hour designing +1 hour post-processing=2 hours ($20)

Sum: $21.4