PICAXEPIC East Coast Large Scale Train Show Dave Bodnar March 21, 2013 York, PA 3D Printers Designing with SketchUp, Finding “Things” to Print & Printing Them This presentation is available on-line at: or Revised

PICAXEPIC 2 Objectives Provide an overview of 3D printers & printing Explore on-line sources of things to print Introduce SketchUp, a 3D design program Create some simple 3D objects in SketchUp Transfer the object’s design to the printer Set up the printer and print the design

PICAXEPIC 3 Why Are 3D Printers Becoming Common? 3D printing has been around for 30+ years Many patents have expired opening up the hobbyist & home markets Prices have dropped (commercial units can be $50,000 +) Software has become more useable

PICAXEPIC 4 Vendors Are Highly Motivated to Innovate… Why? They want to gain market share before…. … the big boys HP and Canon enter the market and ship consumer machines

PICAXEPIC 5 Printers Very much like a computer controlled hot- melt glue gun building up layers of material one drop at a time Most print in ABS plastic (same as Legos) … or PLA plastic Other printers use liquid resin, metal, chocolate, etc.

PICAXEPIC 6 Printers Simple units are well under $500 Mid range units are $1200-$2500 Higher end units can go to $10,000 or more

PICAXEPIC 7 Printers Most have four computer controlled stepper motors –One to extrude the filament –One for each of the three axes that define a 3 dimensional space X (left to right) Y (front to back) Z (up & down)

PICAXEPIC 8 Printers Most have two heaters –One to heat the filament (≈ 450° F) –One to heat the platform (≈ 200° F) ABS needs a heated platform, PLA does not

PICAXEPIC 9 Make Magazine Reviews Make Magazine publishes an annual 3D printer review Good resource & overview of the current crop of printers

PICAXEPIC 10 Plastics: ABS vs PLA ABS –Requires a heated print platform (more expensive) –Gives off an odor when printing –Can warp on platform if not prepared properly –Strong, somewhat flexible

PICAXEPIC 11 ABS vs PLA PLA –Biodegradable (made from sugar) –Little odor –More brittle than ABS –Strong –Inexpensive printers available ($500 or less… $369 on eBay - MCM for $399 – $299 3ders.com)

PICAXEPIC 12 On-Line Things to Print Thingiverse.com has thousands of printable files (> 100,000 in June 2013) Search for “model train” or “trains” or whatever interests you!

PICAXEPIC 13 Thingiverse Many cool & unusual things

PICAXEPIC 14 Shapeways has high quality things to download for a feewww.shapeways.com They will also print and ship things to you Materials include plastics and metal

PICAXEPIC 15 Design Your Own - SketchUp Once owned by Google - Sold in 2012 Originally for house plans / room design Expanded & enhanced to be a first class 3D design program Huge user community with on-line resources The price is right  FREE!

PICAXEPIC 16 SketchUp SketchUp has its own 3D Warehouse of things! Also Free!

PICAXEPIC 17 SketchUp – Getting Started Download SketchUP Make (the free version) from Install on Mac or Windows computer Best to use a wheel mouse –Wheel zooms –Pressing wheel “orbits” –Pressing wheel & shift key moves

PICAXEPIC 18 SketchUp - Navigation Add toolbars Load in a sample file and experiment with: –Orbit –Move –Zoom extents –Views

PICAXEPIC 19 SketchUp – 3D Signs Remove guy Draw a rectangle from the origin (6”, 2”) Zoom extents Pull to ¼” thickness (1/4”) View from top Draw another rectangle inside of the first one

PICAXEPIC 20 SketchUp – 3D Signs Use push / pull tool to recess 2 nd rectangle by 1/8” View all from top Select text tool & type text & change height and extruded items Use scale to fill frame

PICAXEPIC 21 Signs - a Neat Trick! The Afinia printer will allow you to pause a print and change filament colors Pause after the base (first 1/8”) has been printed Withdraw the base color and extrude with the 2 nd color

PICAXEPIC 22 Signs – Another Neat Trick! Add “marquee” flashing lights!

PICAXEPIC 23 SketchUp - Steps Delete guy Draw a rectangle from origin (type 8’, 3’) Pull to 3’ high (type 3’) Mark for 6” steps with 9” tread using tape Draw & pull rectangles starting at top Lengthen platform by 2’

PICAXEPIC 24 SketchUp - Steps Draw guide for 4” platform & 4” posts Draw rectangle for space under steps Push to remove Draw triangle under treads for space Remove Guides (Edit / Delete Guides) Complete posts

PICAXEPIC 25 SketchUp – Smoke Stack Much easier than I thought! Remove guy Draw circle at origin (4’ radius) Remove circle interior Draw rectangle up from origin Use pencil tool to draw ½ of smokestack profile

PICAXEPIC 26 SketchUp – Smoke Stack Remove all but profile outline Use “offset” to provide thickness to outline … or draw inside wall to give thickness Complete top and bottom to fill outline Select circle Select “follow me” & click profile

PICAXEPIC 27 SketchUp – Trace Smoke Stack Import image of stack Trace the outline Give it thickness Move & place by circle Follow the circle

PICAXEPIC 28 SketchUp – Export STL STL files are commonly used with 3D printers (STereo Lithography) SketchUp can export STL with a free plug- in

PICAXEPIC 29 3D Printer Program 3D printers need software to “slice” STL files for printing and to “talk” to the printer These programs allow simple manipulation of the drawings but usually no editing You can change: –Scale –Position –Orientation

PICAXEPIC 30 Print Table Options Afinia supplies perforated fiberglass Other options include blue painter’s tape Kapton (high temperature) tape And glass

PICAXEPIC 31 Horizontal Pieces Must Be Supported Any part that is horizontal (< about 45°) must be supported to avoid distortion Plan during design for where support material falls Supports can be hard to remove

PICAXEPIC 32 Minimize & Optimize Raft & Support Material Programs generally print a “raft” of extra plastic to securely bond an object to the table If the object starts to lift it will warp the print

PICAXEPIC 33 Experiment with Orientation Extra support material can be minimized by flipping an object Bad Better Best

PICAXEPIC 34 Printing Keep watch for the first few minutes as rafts may not bond to the table Most printers give an estimate of printing time (can be 9+ hours for large, complex items, 1 hour for simpler objects) Some require a PC to be connected while printing Some download file to the printer or an SD card in the printer

PICAXEPIC 35 Removing Items from Table Use a putty knife to remove the raft from the table – wear gloves! Carefully remove the raft and support material Trim as needed

PICAXEPIC 36 Printing Tips Pre-heat the table with ABS Use high quality filament Wear gloves when removing raft & support material Level the table before printing Clean table with acetone frequently You can vary the density of the print to change its rigidity & strength & weight

PICAXEPIC 37 My Favorites Bezels for project boxes –It can be a challenge to cut a neat, rectangular hole in a project box A 1/8” thick & 1/8” wide bezel covers up lots of rough edges

PICAXEPIC 38 My Favorites A small rectangular hole for an RJ11 is even harder to cut –A printed adapter fits the RJ11 and a 1” hole

PICAXEPIC 39 My Favorites Spiral Ball Gizmo from Now part of the display at Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital Great fun to watch!

PICAXEPIC 40 My Favorites Flashing LED bike light box –Houses 7 individually addressable 10mm BRIGHT red LEDs –Clips onto a rear bike bag

PICAXEPIC 41 My Favorites Traffic light –Found on Thingiverse –Wired for red, amber and green LEDs

PICAXEPIC 42 My Favorites School house bell tower

PICAXEPIC 43 My Favorites

PICAXEPIC 44 My Favorites Tapered Bell Tower

PICAXEPIC 45 Involute Gears SketchUp 8, an older version, can be used with a plugin to make involute gears Search for “download SketchUp 8” Search for “sketchup gear involute”

PICAXEPIC 46 Your Ideas? Questions?

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