Hello everyone!!! If you’ve made it to this blog post, you must be ready for a fun and chaotic journey through the making of our cervical cancer models. Buckle up, because this process involved a lot of trial and error, some happy little accidents (Bob Ross would be proud), and a whole lot of learning.
To start, we took a two-pronged approach: 3D printing and molding/casting. Why? Because variety is the spice of life, and also because we wanted to compare techniques to get the most realistic and durable models possible. Let’s break it down:
Method 1: 3D Printing – The “Oops, That Didn’t Work” Chronicles
Step 1: Import STL Files We brought in our STL files onto the 3D printing software (Canvas) and transferred them to the Bambu printers. Simple, right? Well…
Step 2: Printing Optimization (or, The First Failure) Our first print attempt had the layer thickness set too high, which made the top surface of the cervix look like a bad case of pixelation. We adjusted the layer thickness from 0.16 inches to 0.10 inches, which finally gave us that smooth, lovely curvature we were aiming for.
0.16 layer thickness failure
Step 3: Painting – The Color Matching Struggle Once we had our beautiful, smooth cervixes (never thought I’d type that sentence), we painted them with acrylic paint to get them as close as possible to the LUCIA models. This involved some back-and-forth because getting the exact shade was a bit of a game of “does this look right in this lighting?”
Step 4: Gloss Coating – More is More Turns out, one or two coats of clear gloss spray paint didn’t give us that nice, shiny finish we needed. So we went full send and did three to four coats. Now they glisten like they just walked off a red carpet.
Method 2: Molding & Casting – The “Why Are There So Many Bubbles?!” Saga
Step 1: Creating a Positive Mold We combined the four cervix STL files with a box into a single CAD model and 3D printed it to use as our positive mold. Thankfully, this part went smoothly (shoutout to the layer thickness correction from earlier).
Step 2: Creating a Negative Mold – We poured silicone over our 3D-printed positive mold to create a negative mold. The first iteration went well—minimal bubbles! We did have to use a Philips flathead screwdriver to pry the mold out, but hey, whatever works.
–> after curing –>
Step 3: Casting a Polyurethane Positive Mold – The Bubble Debacle The first cast had a lot of air bubbles, which made the superior cervical region look a bit… lumpy. To fix this, we introduced vibration into the process (cue us awkwardly placing the mold on a sanding belt machine mid-pour). This actually worked wonders! Only a few minor cavities remained, which we filled with fast-dry filler.
–>w/o vibration–> 
—> w/ vibration–> 
Step 4: Final Touches – Sanding, Painting, and Glossing We sanded down the base of the models for uniformity, painted them to match the 3D-printed versions, and—of course—sealed them with three to four layers of gloss spray paint. The colors were slightly off, but after some heated debates, we decided that the difference was small enough to let it slide (perfectionists, look away).
sanding
left = lucia, middle = 3D print, right = cast mold
Final Thoughts – The Cervix Diaries After many iterations, some mishaps, and a lot of “let’s try this again,” we finally ended up with cervical cancer models that we are super proud of! They’re smooth, shiny, and as close to the real thing as we could get.
Thanks for sticking around for this wild ride! Catch ya at the next blog post.
Yours truly, Your Friendly Neighborhood Cervix Model Maker
| Cost Type | Cost | Price | Source | Quantity | Total |
| Materials | Silicone | $75/2lbs | link | 250mL | $41.33 |
| PLA Filament | $0.51 / Ounce | amazon link | 190.36 g | $3.42 | |
| Polyurethane Part A + Part B | $108.22/gal | link | 40ml each | $9.55 | |
| Acrylic Paint (24 colors) | $6.99 | link | 1 | $6.99 | |
| Paint Brushes | $6.99 | link | 1 | $6.99 | |
| Gloss Spray Paint | $5.98 | link | 1 | $5.98 | |
| Fast Dry Filler | $32/half gallon | 3M link | 1 gram | $0.01 | |
| Mold release lubricant | $7.79/can | link | 1 can | $7.79 | |
| Plastic Cups | $22.99/36-pack | link | 6 cups | $3.83 | |
| Popsicle sticks | $0.97/50 pack | link | 4 sticks | $0.78 | |
| Sand Paper | $13.99/pack | link | 1 | $13.99 | |
| Labor | Prototyping Engineer (You!) | $36/hr | link | 8 | $288 |
| Overhead | Facility Cost (Machine Time) – vacuum chamber | $132.99/machine | link | 1 | $132.99 |
| Design | Engineering and Development | $32/hr | link | 1 | $32 |
| 3d print Iterations (PLA material) | $0.51 / Ounce | amazon link | 41.63 g | $0.75 |
Total $421.41
clean work bench
