For this assignment, I got started by looking on Thingiverse for interesting impossible objects. I liked the idea of making a little animal, so I picked out some options of articulated animals with joints that made it impossible to manufacture other ways.
The first thing I tried was an articulated shark, but when I tried to print it out on the scale needed for it to fit in the gumball capsule, the joints fused together and the print failed. I decided to use a design with fewer joints in close proximity, so I opted for an articulated seal made by user BluePolygon.
failed shark
articulated seal on thingiverse
For my first print of the seal, I printed it at a scale too large to fit in the gumball to see if the joints would work. Only two of the four joints printed correctly, but I decided to give it another chance.
file to be sliced and printed
Scaling the file down to 70% and adding a raft around the bottom seemed to solve the issue. I proceeded to print out 4 of the seals on the Prusa FDM printers.
seal with raft
more seals with supports
Once removing the supports with needlenose pliers, I had my finished seal!
friends 🙂
in the capsule
I was so excited about all my creatures that I took this selfie.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After this, I attempted to print out one more seal on the SLA printer. The first couple times I tried both of the printers were either busy or broken, but I ended up finding a group to print with last minute.
finished SLA printer
Unfortunately, only the supports and one foot printed out.
FAILED PRINT 🙁 (bottom left)
I put all my (successful) seals in their gumball capsules with a label and sent them on their way!
cost estimate
- material- $21.56
- SLA- $8/cubic in x 2 cubic in + $5 base charge
- FDM- .$14/print x 4 prints
- labor- $45
- 3 hrs x $15/hr
- total- $66.56
