Experimental Digital Fabrication
For the final project, our group wanted to play around with the intersection between 2D and 3D art.
Initially, we planned on experimenting with 3D printing on fibre—particularly on crinoline—and attaching it onto a 2D figure. The idea was to render the clothing textures of the 2D figure using 3D printed materials to mimic a paper dress up doll.
However, after our group continued to refine our concept, we realized that the process of 3D printing onto fibre at the size we wanted would take a little longer than anticipated. So, we ended up experimenting with different ways of 3D printing to work towards the idea we had. Although it didn't quite end up a finished project, we did learn a lot from the experience. Primarily that 3D printing takes a lot of time.
Personally, I might have found a process I particularly enjoyed and might pursue over the summer, which is 3D printing with a 3D printing pen.
FDM
3D printing used to mystify me. From the (multitude of) software used to the actual printer itself, it all seemed so complex and tedious to understand. For the longest time, I resigned myself to accepting that it would always be out of my knowledge wheelhouse. I guessed it was just something only engineers and people in STEM would be knowledgable in, and that I'd be wasting my time trying to pick apart jargon and technical terms.
But after taking both OBDF210 and ODBF 310, I was surprised to realize that 3D printing turned out to be within my grasp after all. Using everything I've learned from both classes, it was a lot easier for me to connect the processes of creating a design in Rhino, using Grasshopper to convert it into gcode, and using pronterface for the actual 3D printing. Terms like feed rate and toolpaths stopped sounding like a different language, and I even understood it enough to contribute to the troubleshooting process for this project.
Although the shape of the toolpath is fairly simple, it helped me understand better how things like the extrusion of filament is affected by scaling, layer height, and the shape of the toolpath. Initially, the filament around the whiskers and nose of the rabbit was creating a mess because of how small my design was. Scaling it up solved the issue somewhat. But I might revisit this design again on my own printer and implement the suggestion I received of playing around with layer height and possibly excluding certain curves in my design to prevent the filament from bunching up in the center.
Robotic Drawing (Large Scale)
Using the CNC machine to print out a drawing was intimidating at first. The machine was huge and normally used with sharp blades. It actually reminded me of the first time I learned how to use a dough roller back at SAIT.
But after using it on my own for the first time, I realized it wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be.
Despite the overwhelming interface of the Mach4 software, it was a fairly intuitive machine to handle and truly was just like a larger 3D printer. I did run into a few problems, like my drawing coming out very small during the first run, but they were problems I managed to solve on my own using what I've learned about gcode from class.
Overall, I'm really looking forward to future projects that make use of the CNC machine again because of all the cool unconventional possibilities it holds.
Robotic Drawing Part 2
Over the weekend, I ended up buying a secondhand 3D printer. After setting it up, I began fiddling with the print head to see where I can possibly attach a pen to it.
I ended up using a chip clip, and one half of a compass to act as my makeshift penholder, to the printhead using one of the pre-existing screws attaching the printhead to the x-axis motor.
Printing using a different model from the ones we’ve used in class was a bit of a challenge. Though the gcode was the same, I ran into a few problems. Primarily, my file wasn’t centered even though it looked like it was when looking at it on Pronterface. I did manage to center my drawing after numerous trials, but I still need to find a more permanent fix for that.
Another problem I ran into, which I’m assuming is either from the bed not being level or the angle of the pen, is that the ink in the middle of my drawing becomes too light. At first, I thought it was my pen running out of ink, but after both swapping out the pen and manually testing the initial pen, the drawing still doesn’t have enough ink towards the center.
But other than that, the gcode worked perfectly, and the drawing came out pretty much how I wanted it to (aside from the ink part). I did decide to run the file twice to see if it would darken the areas in the middle, but unfortunately, it only does minor improvements. :(
Robotic Drawing Part 1
Fun with Definitions
For this assignment, I decided to do a drawing of my favorite pokemon--Scorbunny.
Scorbunny has a simple color palette of red, orange, and yellow on a predominantly white coat, which works perfectly since it doesn't require me to hatch him completely.
I used the definitions we made in class to fill out sections of his ears, nose, eyes, and collar. To differentiate each color, I used a different fill definition for each, or, in the case of orange, layered the same definition on top of each other. For red, I used the sine fill definition, and the hatch definition for orange (crosshatch) and yellow.
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My First GH Definition
Tinkering with Grasshopper
Grasshopper is such an interesting part of Rhino to me for so many reasons, ranging from the cool things you can do with it down to its UI/UX design, and watching the tutorials made by David Rutten has only reinforced that.
Using the definitions from the tutorials, I experimented with a few shapes to see what they'd loft into and I ended up lofting two octagons, which created a neat shape that reminded me of a gramophone horn. So I ran with it and made a little toy gramophone, modelling it after a picture of one I found on Amazon.
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