Day 23 - Menger coasters

It's hard to 3D-print a Level 3 Menger sponge.  But it isn't hard to print a slice of one, and it makes for a decent coaster.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day23_mengercoaster.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/kETD0Hz44gY-day-23-menger-coaster
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:153046

Settings:  Afinia MakerWare at .3mm resolution, fast setting, with a raft, in about 34 minutes.

Technical notes:  With the Afinia and settings as above, this model prints a raft in layers 1-7, the green base in layers 8-10, and the white Menger slice in rows 11-13.  You can pause the Afinia 3D software and switch the filament color at the start of row 11.  In the picture only the closest coaster was printed that way; the other two coasters were thinner with less rows in both the Menger and base layers.  It looks a lot better with more layers.

Stuff you might want to change: You can print these without the colored backgrounds, if you don't really care much about your table and just want coasters for fun.

Day 22 - 3D Stars

Although this blog is for stuff I make at home, if you are a teacher then you know that home and work are essentially the same thing, especially when you are grading exams.  It's the season for that first calculus exam, and to reward the students with B or higher grades I made some 3D stars.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day22_3dstar.stl

Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/9F4HBo22TMx-day-22-3d-star

Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:152528

Settings: The clear ones were made with a Replicator 2 on MakerWare "low" setting, with 10 stars taking just 34 minutes.  The blue ones were made with an Afinia H-Series on their 3D sofware's .2mm setting, and otherwise default settings and "normal" speed, with 9 stars taking 56 minutes.  To be fair, MakerWare's "low" setting is a .3 mm setting and comparable to Afinia's "fast" on that resolution.

Technical notes:  I did not have good luck printing full stellated dodecahera at this size, which is why I cut off the top and bottom.  This allows much better adherence to the build platform.  In the end I think this is actually better because they look much more like stars.   The stellated dodecahedra came from Mathematica's PolyhedronData command. Teacher note: alas, the picture above overestimates the number of B-and-above grades on my first calculus exam by 200 percent.  

Day 21: Tri-Koch box

Today I wanted to test out the "shell" setting on the Afinia, so we printed the bottom half of the "trikoch" file from hakalan's Scripted Vases collection on Thingiverse.  It is even more beautiful in person than in this picture, although it is very sharp at the top corners!

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day21_trikochbox.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/8SEc1Gjr3bt-day-21-tri-koch-box
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:47563

Settings: Afinia "normal" speed with .2mm resolution, <10% for external supports, and "shell" setting checked.  I stopped the print before it finished so it would not make the roof layers.

Technical notes: When I imported hakalan's trikoch.stl file into the Afinia 3D software it had unfixable normals on the inside of the vase.  Autofix did not repair, and printing with "unsolid model" checked led to it printing a solid model.  I didn't try printing with "unsolid model" unchecked, though - perhaps that would have worked.  Instead I imported into Tinkercad, which made the model solid.  I don't know why that happens but in this case it actually helped me!  Now exporting from Tinkercad and into the Afinia 3D software worked fine, and I printed using the "shell" setting, stopping before the end to leave the print open.   Math note: The original file name has "koch" in it because its shape is based on the famous Koch snowflake curve (although we stopped the print before it took on its usual hexagonal shape, to keep a more triangular theme).

Day 20 - Lattice box

Okay, because of yesterday we now have a hundred thin rings to keep track of, so today we built BozarthPrime's Dice Box, with the top and the lip for the top removed.

Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/exMLHD7DgC6-day-20-lattice-box
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:47445

Settings: MakerWare "low" with no raft and no supports.  Very nice to have a print with an open lattice that needs no support material at all!

Technical note: As you can see in the picture, there is some threading between the diagonal rungs of the lattice as printed on the Replicator 2.  We also tried printing this on the Afinia (with "helper disks" at the corners) but couldn't keep it from using supports (even with "<10 degrees" selected, for some reason).

Day 19 - 100 point counters

My son wants to save up for something with his allowance and chore money, which we do on a point system.  When he saves up 100 points he will have enough saved up, so we made 100 thin rings so he can visually track how close he is to his goal.  This is the real reason we printed the rocket yesterday; the rings are sized to fit around the rocket and so that 100 rings fill up the rocket length entirely.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day19_100points.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/bIfs8dXczdz-day-19-100-point-counters
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:151036

Settings:  MakerBot "low" can print 15 of these rings in 30 minutes.

Technical notes: The vertical space we wanted to fill on the rocket was 170 mm, so we needed each ring to take up 1.7 mm of space.  Making them each 1.7 mm tall did *not* do this.  Surprisingly, due to the resolution we were printing with and the fact that the rings don't sit exactly flush with each other, we had to cut these rings all the way down to 1.1 mm tall in order to get 100 of them to fill up 170 mm of vertical space.

Day 18 - Tricolor rocket

Today we made a copy of landru's Modular Model Rocket from Thingiverse.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day18_tricolorrocket.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/aehFzYKKjoC-day-18-tricolor-rocket
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:47216

Settings: Standard "low" MakerWare setting, with a raft. Printed the three pieces separately in about two hours total.

Technical notes: I had to fiddle with the diameters of the pieces to get landru's model to fit together properly when printed on my MakerBot (on "low" setting, at least), as well as combine the top piece of the rocket with a cylinder piece. With the size and settings I used, the walls of the rocket are two filament paths thick. Since the pieces snap together, you can print something larger than the MakerBot would normally allow; as printed here it is about 260 mm tall.

Day 17 - Strainer funnel

To make a base for cold hibiscus tea, boil water and add to a handful of dried hibiscus flowers in a Mason jar. Once it has cooled to room temperature, strain into a second Mason jar. You can keep the base in the fridge for a pretty long time; at least a week. When you are ready for cold hibiscus tea, put a small amount of the base over ice and add plenty of water or club soda and lemon.  The only tricky part is straining and funneling at the same time when making the base - but not anymore!

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day17_strainerfunnel.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/inSoOIFFYjj-day-17-strainer-funnel
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:150109

Settings: Afinia at .4mm resolution, no supports (<10% setting), fast, with raft.  Printing takes about 37 minutes.

UPDATE: This print was "thing of the week" on the www.3dgeni.us blog.  With an action photo!

Day 16 - Ms. PacMan letter opener

On Thingiverse, peterpur's round Letter Opener is just one step away from being Pac-Man.  Or Ms. PacMan, maybe?

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day16_mspacmanletter.stl

Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/0PNt6adQbRB-day-16-ms-pacman-letter-opener

Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:149657

Settings:  Afinia H-Series on .2mm default normal, with a raft, in 21 minutes.

Technical notes: This model was made in Tinkercad, starting with mardenz's silhouette of Ms. PacMan.  So that the raft separates well from the thin "blade" of the model, make sure that the Afinia's build platform is not set too high.  More space between the nozzle and the platform helps the raft stay separate from the model.

Stuff you might want to change: This isn't the sharpest, best letter opener in the world, but it is better than getting a paper cut.  It is also safe for little kids to handle.

Day 15 - Toast pliers

Sometimes you work all night to make a letter opener and then the files won't download.  And then you make some Toast Pliers, designed by r4ph on Thingiverse.

Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:46903

Settings: Afinia at .25mm on "fast", with the model scaled to 80%; printing took about 27 minutes.

Technical notes:  ABS plastic isn't technically FDA food-safe, but that isn't really the same as being food-UN-safe. Plus this is just for briefly picking up hot toast so I think we will all be fine.

Day 14 - Dodecabubbles

Inspired by JMP's Bubble Frames on Thingiverse, today we have a dodecahedron frame for dipping into bubble solution to make a minimal surface.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day14_dodecabubbles.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/lq8dAbpz4GI-day-14-dodecabubbles

Settings: MakerWare "Low" with raft and supports, with a model at 80% of original size taking just over an hour.

Technical notes:  The vertex and edge data for the frame of the dodecahedron was taken from Mathematica using PolyhedronData["Dodecahedron", "Edges"]. Since I couldn't figure out how to get a tubular wireframe directly, I cobbled the vertex and edge data together manually as shown below the fold, and then exported to .stl. Unfortunately this made a non-watertight model with ragged holes in the joins, which didn't print correctly. Luckily all it took was using "Close Holes" in MeshLab to close up the model and make it suitable for printing. Both versions of the model looked the same in MakerWare, but Tinkercad could see the difference.

Stuff you might want to change:  The edges of the model are a bit too thick, so next time I print I'll redesign them to be thinner.  In addition there are divots at each vertex that would be better if smoothed out.  In the long run it would be nice to see how five Platonic solids behave as bubble frames.

Day 13 - LEGO marble run (chapter 3)

Picking up from where we left off on Day 8, we made some curved LEGO marble run pieces (the translucent blue pieces in the picture).

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day13_legomarble.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/jl0We2P6DvM-day-13-lego-marble-run-chapter-3
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:148232

Settings: MakerWare special slicing profile described in Day 8 of this blog, about 23 minutes per curved piece.

Technical notes: These curved models have two base pieces that have to fit into an existing LEGO structure, so there is a lot less room for error.  Depending on your printer you may want to rescale this piece a bit.

Day 12 - Videogame dice

Today we made a videogame die, with the number on each face represented by some classic game.  In the picture you see 6 Minecraft creepers, 2 Space Invaders, and 3 Pac-Man dots; the other three number faces are 1 companion cube from Portal, 4 Super Mario Brothers mushrooms, and the 5 Tetris pieces.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day12_videogamedice.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/9c61CWEFvus-day-12-videogame-dice
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:147829

Settings: Today's build was made with the Afinia H-Series we have on loan at the house this month. With .2 mm and default settings at "normal" it took just under an hour to print this die.

Technical notes: This die was made in Minecraft with a little help from WorldEdit and then exported to .stl with Mineways.  The paint is nail polish applied after printing, guided by the raised designs in the model.  Nail polish seems to dissolve PLA a bit, but the Afinia can print with ABS, which is nail-polish-paintable.  Finally, if you are part of the grammar police force and want to complain that the title of this post should reference a "die" instead of "dice" then you can just go print two of them to solve the problem.

Stuff you might want to change: This print is kind of large for a die, about 25 mm on a side, so you might want it smaller.  But the symbols on each side are about as small as they could get; a redesign in Minecraft might be worth it.  Note you can export from Tinkercad to Minecraft and do just that if you like!

Day 11 - Giant knot

Two days ago we printed some mini knots; today we go to the opposite extreme and print a GIANT knot!  It was really fun seeing the looks on people's faces when they saw this giant thing.  It looks even better in person than it does in the picture.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day11_giantknot.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/ahLpQr52ysR-day-11-giant-knot
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:147361

Settings: MakerWare custom knot-slicing profile as used in Day 9 of this blog.  It took 10 hours and 2 minutes to print.

Technical notes: This is close to the largest knot that I could have printed in the MakerBot. Mathematically this is the knot 10_125, in a minimal "Cantarella configuaration" as described in the Day 9 technical notes.

Stuff you might want to change: The fill settings on the slicing profile were pretty dense, which was good for the transparent filament (large hexagon fill tends to show through oddly), but I think for an opaque filament I would use a much sparser fill; this should decrease the print time significantly.

Day 10 - Going fishing

Up until now I tried to design a completely new object or at least modify/remix an existing design each day, but today my design time was spent learning OpenSCAD so today's print is just a set of things that are good to give as a small gift for someone who likes to fish: two Fishing Lures from sirmakesalot on Thingiverse and a Holey Coin-Op Bottle Opener from Day 7 of this blog.  Big bonus when you're out on the water: The bottle opener *floats* !!

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day10_goingfishing.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/4m9AaqvCEXV-day-10-going-fishing
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:46365

Settings: The lures printed well "mouth down".  The three-piece lure printed without support or raft, but the popper lure needed a raft and supports at the base because it lay at an angle.

Day 9 - Mini knots

Even at home, eight days is a lot of time to pass without printing something mathematical.  So today, miniature knots!  We can use them around the house as game tokens or poker chips, or just to look pretty.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day9_miniknots.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/bkRWjdhEUA6-day-9-mini-knots
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:146468

Settings: Makerware custom profile based on the "high PLA" slicer, primarily to make the supports as light as possible under the knots (file is listed below the fold).  On the Replicator 2 it takes about an hour and 15 minutes to print six of these tiny knots.  The white knots in the picture were printed with an Afinia we have on loan in the house for a couple of weeks, and took much longer.

Technical notes: These knots were created by taking data provided by mathematician Jason Cantarella of the University of Georgia and using Mathematica to "tube" the data into a format that could be output as an STL file. Each of the knots in the file is a knot with 8 or fewer crossings from the standard knot table; can you tell which ones?

Day 8 - LEGO marble run (chapter 2)

Following up from Day 4 we have some new-and-improved LEGO marble run pieces:

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day8_legomarble.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/31fZLaKI5PM-day-8-lego-marble-run-chapter-2
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:145842

Settings: MakerWare "low" with no raft and custom supports as described below, with two pieces printing in 37 minutes.

Technical notes:  To make the supports easier to remove, with enough support to hold up the ramps but no support inside the "LEGO" part, I made a new slicing profile based on the "MakerBot Slicer Low PLA Template" where I changed the lines that initially appear as:

"bridgeAnchorMinimumLength": 0.8,
"bridgeAnchorWidth": 0.8,
"raftBaseDensity": 0.7,
"doSupport": false,
"supportDensity": 0.2,
"supportExtraDistance": 0.5,
"supportAngle": 68.0, 

to each of the following, respectively:

"bridgeAnchorMinimumLength": 0.3,
"bridgeAnchorWidth": 0.3,
"raftBaseDensity": 0.4,
"doSupport": true,
"supportDensity": 0.15,
"supportExtraDistance": 0,
"supportAngle": 80.0, 

Still to come:  More types of pieces - curves and corners, holes and spirals... ??

Day 7 - Holey coin-op bottle opener

Today something very simple:  a minor remix of hoeken's lovely minimalist Coin-op Bottle Opener on Thingiverse, with holes added for style and so you can see the penny better.

STL file: http://geekhaus.com/makerhome/day7_holeycoinop.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/lK2qWk01MUY-day-7-holey-coin-op-bottle-opener
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:145254

Settings: On MakerWare "low" with no raft or supports this takes about 30 minutes to print.

Technical notes:  The boundaries of the holes that I added actually *increase* the print time and plastic used, compared to the sparse honeycomb fill that would have been printed inside if the model had been solid.  Also,  I couldn't fit a US penny into hoeken's design when printed on our MakerBot on "low", so I made the coin slot larger in these designs.

Day 6 - Hinged butterfly

Inspired by the hinge in someandy's Embossing Stamp, today we make a hinged butterfly. The image came from a screenshot of butterfly on wugange.com and was converted to .svg format by online-convert.com and then imported into Tinkercad. Most of the fiddling was testing and retesting the hinge and figuring out how to attach it to the butterfly.

STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day6_hingedbutterfly.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/jWirRGdisJv-day-6-hinged-butterfly
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:144645

Settings:  Makerware "standard" without supports, which took about 35 minutes to print. This turned out to be a Goldilocks situation - on "low" the model was too coarse and striped and the nozzle moved too fast to lay down the start of the model correctly, and on "high" some of the butterfly details came out too small and fragile.

Technical notes:  If the hinge doesn't work correctly for you, try printing with supports - they will support the post that goes through the middle of the hinge. The supports should then break the first time you bend the model (this worked for me on the "low" setting).

Stuff you might want to change:  The antennae are very fragile, so they could maybe be larger. The thin translucent part of the model could be thinner; I made it to be one layer on "low" but on "high" and "standard" it is two layers deep.

UPDATE: This design was "featured" on Thingiverse today!

Day 5 - Fractal LED

Most of today's design time was spent tweaking the LEGO marble run piece from yesterday, but that's not done yet so here we will do an easy mashup of two great things: the "2032 button cell holder "by sphynx on Thingiverse and the "Fractal" community shape script by Petr Broz on Tinkercad.

STL file: http://geekhaus.com/makerhome/day5_fractalled.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/ePGqlvSTDxj-day-5-fractal-led
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:143915

Settings:  The STL file consists of two pieces that must be printed separately. The small square 2032 batter holder was done on MakerWare "low" with no raft and no support in 8 minutes.  The model for the tall fractal part is a solid figure but you can set up slicing that turns it into a hollow shell (print time about 45 minutes).  See below for the details on setting up a custom profile to do this.  After printing, set up an LED with a 2032 battery in the holder and push into the bottom of the shell.  It should fit snugly so that it does not fall out even if the piece is turned upside-down.

Technical notes:  To print the tall fractal shell, make a new "MakerBot Slicer Low PLA Template" and change the following settings (in various places in the profile document):

"numberOfShells": 2,
"roofLayerCount_disabled": 4,
"floorLayerCount_disabled": 4,
"infillDensity": 0.1,
"bridgeAnchorMinimumLength": 0.8,
"bridgeAnchorWidth": 0.8,
"doRaft": true, 

to these settings:

"numberOfShells": 1,
"roofLayerCount": 0,
"floorLayerCount": 1,
"infillDensity": 0,
"bridgeAnchorMinimumLength": 0.3,
"bridgeAnchorWidth": 0.3,
"doRaft": false, 

Day 4 - LEGO marble run (chapter 1)

Today our 8-year-old jumped into the print-a-day game with a sample piece for a marble run to be built on top of LEGO pieces. Using Tinkercad he combined a short piece of marble track with a LEGO brick in Tinkercad's public files (credit to Kerry Todyruik).

STL file: http://geekhaus.com/makerhome/day4_legomarble.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/0lpAoWY6CRT-day-4-lego-marble-run-chapter-1
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:143296

Settings: Standard MakerWare "high" with raft but without supports.  Supports mess up the inside of the LEGO part, and without a raft we ended up printing a lot of fuzz.  On "low" setting (about 30 minutes to print) the marble track would not fit on the LEGO bricks, so we had to change to "high" (about an hour to print).

Technical notes: Our marbles looked about 16 mm across so we made a run with a 20 mm cylinder track.  This part seems perfect; the marble rolls very nicely in the track.

Stuff you might want to change: This is a work-in-progress.  The fit on the LEGO bricks is very tight so some fiddling with the design is in order.  Also we'll have to design more interesting bits of track than just small straight bits, and some modifications in design are needed to make the printing go faster.  Stay tuned.

Day 3 - Pickaxe hangers

Today we printed hangers for our Minecraft foam pickaxe and sword. Each of these nails into the wall in two places and has a small post that sticks out. By placing the hangers in strategic locations the foam pickaxe and sword will balance on the posts and we will be able to take them on or off the wall as we please.  At least that is the plan.

STL file: http://geekhaus.com/makerhome/day3_pickaxehanger.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/fszwlQr2Cmx-day-3-pickaxe-hanger
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:142682

Settings: Standard MakerWare "low" with no raft and no supports, on the bare platform.  Printed 12 at once in 23 minutes.

Technical notes: Don't use blue painter's tape - for some reason the model does not adhere well to the tape on the first layer and everything gets gummed up.  Sticks to the bare platform nicely and is easy to remove.

Stuff you might want to change: If you don't want to nail these into the walls you can use velcro stickies instead.

UPDATE: It turns out that nails were not necessary; poster tack worked just fine.  The nail holes in the hangers helped grip the poster tack so I would keep the holes even if you aren't going to use nails.

Day 2 - Voronoi box

One of the new Community Shape Scripts on Tinkercad is a very nice Voronoi diagram maker by Brandon Cole (including the code!). As a sort of random test of what sorts of angles we can get away with when printing without supports, here is a trinkets box with Voronoi sides made from Cole's shape script.

STL file: http://geekhaus.com/makerhome/day2_voronoibox.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/hvi2X7DGbgI-day-2-voronoi-box
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:142100

Settings: Standard MakerWare "low" setting with no raft and no supports, on blue painter's tape. Print time 48 minutes.

Technical notes: The Replicator 2 did a good job printing without supports on all but the most extreme overhangs, and an especially nice job of bridging along the top border. The model is a good sample set of what the printer can and cannot handle well. Obviously if you want to make a nice copy of this model then you should use some supports. The edge thickness is 2mm everywhere and fairly sturdy.

Day 1 - Coin traps

For the first day, a simple coin trap for nickels or quarters which we designed in Tinkercad.

STL file: http://geekhaus.com/makerhome/day1_cointrap.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/bJOfGp1qKt7-day-1-coin-trap
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:142078

Settings: We printed these on the MakerWare "low" setting with no raft and no supports on blue painter's tape. Halfway through the print you can pause and drop in the coin, which then gets trapped by the rest of the print. Each one took 20 minutes to print with these settings.

Technical notes: Use "pause" rather than "cold pause", and drop in the coin as quickly as you can. The PLA will continue to extrude out a bit during the pause. In "cold pause" this results in some filament being missing from the next layer of the print, and an unstable print. In "pause" this makes a small bump on the model but that helps to keep the filament inside the extruder.

Stuff you might want to change: The trap is larger than needed for nickels but a little bit too small for completely free movement of quarters. Suggest scaling down/up accordingly for better fits.