To start, I decided I wanted to print an articulating capybara that I found on Thingiverse. I thought the design looked really nice, and I am personally a huge fan of capybaras!
The design from Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6511881 User: NeonGraveStoneArt
After I got the files from Thingiverse, I uploaded them to the printing software on the OEDK computers and printed them using the PLA Bambu printers. On my first attempt at printing them out of PLA, the capybaras ended up coming out a little too small for my liking, so I printed them again.
The prints on the OEDK Computer
Printing the first of the Capybaras!
The first attempt!
The final PLA Capybara!
After making the PLA capybaras, I decided to make the other two out of resin. I had never used the resin printer before, but I was eventually able to print out some good capybaras using the tough resin. I ran into some trouble though as my first resin capybara ended up breaking as I was removing the supports!
The capybaras in the OEDK printing software!
The first broken Capybara!
In terms of cost, a kg roll of PLA costs approximately $25 on Amazon and each capybara weighs roughly two grams, leaving a total cost of PLA capybaras to be $.15. For the resin prints, one liter of the tough 1500 resin costs around $200 and each resin capybara ended up using about 12 mL of resin leaving a cost of around $5. In all, I would expect this project to cost around $5.15.
Overall, this project ended up taking me a lot more time than I thought it would. Every time I tried to use the resin printer, my print ended up not working out well. After trying so many times, I finally realized how different printers might be useful for different things. For my print specifically, I would probably not use a resin printer in the future. In the end though, my prints ended up coming out okay, and I was able to use them for my final product.
