3-D Printer Project Update

We have successfully put our Printrbot Simple Metal 3-D printer through its paces with some initial test prints. After doing the first-time set-up and calibration with the printer, the manufacturer recommends printing the fan shroud as your first project. They even give you the link to the shroud design that you can download from Thingiverse.com. (More about the Thingiverse website a bit further along.) This allows you to print something useful as your very first test print. Depending on the printer filament you are using, you may need to adjust the temperature settings of your extruder, as well as the heated bed if you purchased your printer with that option. (I recommend that you do. It helps your printed object stick to the print bed and not slip when being printed. If your object slips on the bed, it is a failed print and you have to start over.) After printing the fan shroud, you install it on the printer as an upgrade to make the printer more efficient.

This upgrade got me interested in other possible upgrades for the printer. One great thing about 3-D printing is that you can print many upgrade or replacement parts for your printer, using the printer you already have. Since I am still learning the CAD design process for printing, I opted to look for printer enhancement projects others have already designed and published. I did a search on Thingiverse as "printrbot simple metal" to see what designs were available. A great assortment of printable improvement parts for the printer showed up. After looking through the possibilities I settled on three initial projects: an extruder handle (makes it easier to change filament in the extruder), a spool guide for the spool holder (keeps the spool from getting caught on a few screw heads on the spool holder), and a set of wide feet to make the printer base more stable.

Over a number of days I had two students help download and initiate the printing of each part, as a way of getting them started with the basic printing process after you have a design you want to print. The printing time for each object varied based upon its size, from a little over a half hour to up to two hours. Yes there is a trade-off when you purchase a less-expensive 3-D Printer, one of them being print speed. However, the final quality of the prints was excellent. All three prints succeeded on their first attempt! Pictures of the printed parts already installed on the printer appear below. All of these parts have fit perfectly and serve their intended purpose very well.

Regarding Thingiverse, it is a free website published and maintained by Makerbot, another 3-D printer manufacturer. Makerbot encourages the public to upload their own their 3-D print designs, and Thingiverse makes them available to the public for free download. You don't have to set up a free user account to download designs, but an account allows you to upload your own designs, as well as provide feedback and suggestions to designs already posted on the site.

The Thingiverse website is a great example of the open-source, free-access mindset that permeates much of the 3-D printing community. Many of the available design files are specific for certain printer models, but most can be modified to print on most printers in public use. If you are new to 3-D printing like me, I recommend starting on Thingiverse by searching their database, listing your printer model as part of the search. That should get you to files that have been created to print on your specific printer, giving a greater likelihood that your print will be successful without modification or setting adjustments.

You can spend days or weeks just finding and printing objects from designs submitted by others. If you exhaust the ever-growing list of designs on Thingiverse, here is a link to a post at hongkiat.com that lists 25 websites to download free STL models for 3-D printers:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/download-free-stl-3d-models/

However, to truly get into full "3-D print mode," I recommend moving on to creating and printing your own designs. I am beginning with Tinkercad from Autodesk Coproration. This is the program we will be using, starting next week, in our Maker classroom. Read on about the Design and Fabrication part of our evolving curriculum to found out more about Tinkercad.