For the 3D printing assignment, I chose to print a part of the human anatomy model because I had no understanding of 3D printing before this class, and I did not want to challenge myself too much by doing something too different. I chose the eye, because I am a perception researcher, so it seemed quite appropriate.

First, I downloaded the .stl file from the Thingiverse repository. When I opened the file in the Bambu Studio Slicer, I immediately felt something was wrong. The model had the shape of an anatomically accurate eye, and not the eye we normally see in textbooks. This threw me off to the point where I thought that something must be wrong with the file, and I downloaded the file again to view it again the Bambu Slicer. When the weirdly deformed shape of the eye remained constant, I checked the reference photos of the model and noted that the eye was indeed shaped like that. I was a bit apprehensive about how painting it would look, but I went ahead and printed it. I made both the prints in the Bambu printer using the white PLA filament. I reviewed object attributes such as layer height, wall thickness, and infill density. They seemed appropriate, so I did not change it. The Slicer told me that printing the eye would take approximately 20 minutes.

When the objects were being printed, I was nervous cause I did not really know what it would look like if there was a failure in the printing process. But soon, the 20 minutes were up, and I was back to pick up the prints. Here once again, I was a bit lost because I did not know if it was okay to just open the printer without clicking a button or something (quite silly in retrospect, I know). A student noticed that I looked confused and offered to help me, they were quite kind and knowledgeable. They told me how the plate is magnetic and how you have to put a bit of force to remove it. They explained how to pop out the prints and how to slot back the plate. They also told me about what side should face up when printing using PLA. All in all, a very helpful lesson. Now I had my 3D print!

I noticed the layers were less visible at the bottom of the model, rather than at the top. So, I decided to sand the top a little (really just a little) to smooth out the peak. I used the 280-grit paper, followed by the 320-grit. The model was quite delicate, so I did not want to accidentally take off too much.

I decided to use the filler spray paint (Rust-oleum, automotive primer) to make the layer lines less visible.

Once dry, I spray painted the eye white, and then I went in with the acrylics. Initially, I wanted to make it look like the anatomical pictures in a textbook, but I soon realized that it would not work out. So, I leaned into the realistic/creepy rendering. After this, I went in with a gloss top coat (Rust-oleum, 2x ultra cover, gloss clear) because I wanted the eye to have the gloss finish.

And then it was done!

This assignment was a super fun challenge to use machinery I had no familiarity with; I truly appreciate the confidence it gave me to approach unknown machines with less fear.

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Clean picture of the workspace –