The 3D printing technology makes the manufacturing of impossible objects possible. For my impossible object, I chose a flexible T-Rex from the website Thingiverse.

To produce this flexi rex, I choose to use two different 3-D printing techniques: the first one is the traditional FDM printer Bambu X1-Carbon, and the second one is the Freeform SLA resin printer.

I downloaded the file and imported it to the Bambu slicer. I adjusted the size of the print to 50mm x 41mm and made four prints. The result is really good! Now I have four flexi rex that can fit into the capsule.

Then, I imported the STL file into the PreForm slicer and made it ready for the SLA printing. I sent the printing job to the printer and watched the machine slowly add materials layer by layer. After the printing, I took out the part and placed it inside the part washer to clean the excess amount of resin on the surface. After cleaning, I sent the print inside the UV chamber for the resin to harden and cure.

The final product looks awesome! However, there’s one downside to using an SLA printer on this project – the flexi rex isn’t flexi anymore! This is because all the interlocking structures are completely blocked by the supporting structures and they are impossible to be removed. In the future, I would know that if I want a moving part, the SLA resin print will not be the best choice.

 

Cost:

Printing materials: too little that the price I will ignore

Labor: 2hr x $15/hr = $30