3D Printing Merit Badge

thingiverse

A 3D printing badge and charm, ideal for recognizing involvement in workshops and seminars, serves as an excellent take-home item. It can be printed with various colors and granted at different skill levels. White indicates an introduction/awareness of 3D printing; blue and green denote printing of existing designs; purple and brown represent customization, design, or self-generated ideas; black symbolizes the publication of original designs online. The badge's profile is curved due to the intersection of letters with a half-sphere, reflecting the 3D printing process' stepped layers. It includes an alternative version without a loop for creating a captivating refrigerator magnet. Created using TinkerCad, letter/number/half-sphere primitives were exported and imported into Netfabb Studio trial edition for Boolean intersection followed by union with thin tubes. Nonetheless, boolean operations in TinkerCad may leave behind bits of thin shell; refer to this tutorial for assistance: https://tinkercad.com/things/7nCLroBsvOe. Additionally, here's a helpful video (http://youtu.be/X_0CoMoIPKI) and website (designmaketeach.com) with related resources, including Twitter updates at @designmaketeach.