Friday, September 27, 2013

Day 32 - Icosahedron jawbreaker trap

The problem with Day 29's Icosahedron Failure Bowl wasn't with the model, it was with the machine. Turned out that the Replicator 2 needed a new xyz motor wire harness. So now let's try it again:

This year's prize at the SUMS Conference is a lot of jawbreakers trapped inside a 3D-printed icosahedron (symbol for the Mathematical Association of America).


STL file: http://www.geekhaus.com/makerhome/day32_icosahedrontrap.stl
Tinkercad link: https://tinkercad.com/things/aZINVrmLL51-day-32-icosahedron-jawbreaker-trap
Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:157372

Settings: MakerWare custom profile in about an hour an a half. We snuck in the jawbreakers while printing. Settings as used in Day 5 except with shell thickness and roof count of 2:
"numberOfShells": 2,
"roofLayerCount": 2,
"floorLayerCount": 1,
"infillDensity": 0,
"bridgeAnchorMinimumLength": 0.3,
"bridgeAnchorWidth": 0.3,
"doRaft": false,  
Technical notes: This is the second Replicator 2 that I've worked with that needed a replacement xyz motor wire harness within the first few months of use. If your Replicator 2 starts shifting inches to the left or right in the middle of prints, and/or if it makes a loud stuck sort of noise when you do a "home axes", then you too may have this problem. MakerBot technical support took me through a diagnostic routine and then send me a new cable for free in both cases, so call up tech support if this happens to you!

Stuff you might want to change: The model had to be rotated to be flat-side-down, which made the top and bottom be not quite flat. I repaired the bottom but not the top, and this caused some problems when the top part of the model printed by bridging across. If I were to do this again I would get a model from Mathematica and make sure it was rotated correctly before importing into Tinkercad.