My First 3D Print

I have always been fascinated by the world of 3d printing and to jump in I am very excited to be jumping in.

What to Print

The first question for any 3D Print project. Normally I will be using the printer for project work. This time though, it was just for learning and fun.

So I asked around, what would people want to see and someone said giraffe. I like giraffes so that is what I picked.

He looked lonely and hot so I gave him some shade..

I found both of these designs on Thingiverse and easily downloaded them.

They downloaded into .stl files and at the time I did not know that those could not be edited with Rhino even though Rhino opened them.

That didn’t matter so much however as my goal was not to open them, but to get the giraffe and the palm tree into the same file and on the same plane.

A few adjustments and…

I am ready to save the file as a .stl and import into Cura for printing.

Printing: Phase One

It took a couple tries to successfully print the model but a lot was learned the first time around.

I imagine that if this model was alive and could talk…

It would beg for death.

I began to review what could have gone wrong. It looked like it just kind of collapsed under its own weight. I had a suspicion I needed to check the box in Cura that said Generate Support.

I remembered seeing this option before and checking it then watching the print time go from a little over 3 hours to a little over 10. I panicked and unchecked then printed.

Before going ahead with a 10 hour print, I double checked with the professor who hardly blinked at the time the print would take.

I was ready to print again.

Printing: Phase Two

I started the printer off it went. Immediately it looked like it would be more stable as the very first layer was a layer of support material that would help the entire thing stick.

After watching the printer do its thing for a few minutes, I went home to sleep. When I returned the next morning, I was very excited about what I saw.

A tiny palm tree and giraffe, barely visible, encased in a latticed support structure.

Now the task of removing all that support.

Removing the Support

So I thought this would be something I can just peel off with my hands. This was not the case. I struggled several minutes trying to peel it apart that way.

Removing Support by Hand from Jim Murphy on Vimeo.

Finally, I gave up. I would have to take it home and soak it in water…

Dissolving Support Material from Jim Murphy on Vimeo.

And there we go, my first successful 3D print.

What I learned

• Support material - when to use and when not to
• Manipulating .stl files in Cura
• Removing support material - not to be done with hands.