For the 3D printing project, I opted for the beginners instructions because I have only ever printed with one style of 3D printers (FDM). After looking at Thingiverse for an impossible object, I first chose a basket with a complex weave as my first design. I also measured out the dimensions of the capsules with a caliper and got the dimensions of about a diameter of 47mm and a height of 50.6mm.

I started off by using the Bambu x1 carbon printers (FDM) because I was told that they were the fastest printers. After giving a couple of iterations of the print and talking to the TAs, I realize that parts of the design is simply too thin for the Bambu and it would typically slice away some of the edges.

I had to move on from this design and look for another impossible object and came across this interlocking fox. My initial fox was very flawed because I set the X at 22mm and printed it with the layer height to 0.15mm, wall thickness of 1mm and the infill density to 15%. I printed the fox with supports and it came back very rigid because the program had sliced internal supports. I overcame this by only selecting supports on build plate.

Next I was told that I could print a multicolor design with the help of the lab assistants. I scaled the design down to 40mm in the x dimension so it would fit in the dimensions of  the capsule. I then kept the other variables constant and added supports. However after 10 hours of printing, it was too big.

Upon reflection I realize that the 10 hour prints were very expensive in time and the printer I was using had some problems so I opted to print 3 FDM foxes with white PLA with the dimensions of 28mm in the X dimension which turned out to be the right size. I also did one multicolor print with 4 different colors which gave the fox a really nice look.

The next printer I chose to use was the SLA printers with resin. I had some concerns with the print since I was told objects that move won’t work too well with this style of 3D printers. I uploaded my file to Preform and had a tough time trying to scale the object and to auto generate my supports because the size would change every time I general the supports. I used the tough 1500 resin and checked the resin tank. It took me a little bit of time to realize that the changed size is because it includes the dimensions of the support. I kept the fox at the 28mm dimension so it would be consistent with the rest of my prints. After it was printed, I placed the build plate into the washing machine for 20 minutes before heating up the curing machine.

After the fox was cured for an hour at 70 degrees, I noticed that the supports were a lot more difficult to pick apart compared to FDM. I had to use cutters to cut around the fox to get rid of the supports. I had to carefully cut as I was really worried that I would accidentally cut part of my print. After the fox was cut, it had a lot of ridges and sharp ends which I used an extractor knife to smooth over.

Overall, I would say that this project was a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be considering that we would just be printing premade designs. However, the constant back and forth to the OEDK and broken prints definitely taught me a lesson. It was a good experience with using different kinds of printers and I look forward to utilizing them more.

Clean working space:

Cost Analysis:

PLA filament *4 = 0.87 *4 = $3.48

SLA tough 1500 resin = $2.12

3D printer rentals = $75

Labour $20/hr = $100

Total: $180.6