Formlabs Coaster

pinshape

Want to play around with a resin 3D printer? Can afford the $5,000 price tag (including accessories)? Who can't right? If my administration would let me do these things, I'd probably buy one today. Why? Because it's an amazing piece of technology if you ask me. These SLA (stereolithography) 3D printers print faster and with higher resolution. But does the company really offer strong materials to build mechanical parts? I don't know. Maybe one day I'll get my hands on that SL1 3D printer from Prusa Research if they offer it. That printer with all the accessories will set you back a stunning $2,200. A lot of money for a hobbyist like me. If you own a business involving 3D printing, buying these printers makes perfect sense. Or do we have to buy a Stratasys or even an EOS 3D printer? Maybe it's a good idea for my next project. This is a standard size coaster (100 by 100 by 5 mm), to fit in my coaster holder: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3130397 I printed this model in Ultimaker white PLA, with a 0.4mm nozzle. My resolution was 0.15mm and I used 10% infill to speed up the printing time. I also set my print speed at 70mm/s. The extruder temperature was 210 degrees Celsius, and the heated bed was 60 degrees Celsius. Design process I picked a logo from my browser and converted it to SVG format in Inkscape. Then I opened the SVG file in Blender and made it a 3D object. In Meshmixer, I repaired the file and erased some aspects. I also added a coaster to the model and merged it with the picture after scaling it up. I saved it as a STL file and sliced it for printing. The model still had some issues even after repairing it in Meshmixer, so I decided to export it into Netfabb Online Service. This is an app I discovered recently after using MakePrintable. Cause MakePrintable only gives us 3 procedures of fixing an STL file, with Netfabb Online Service the frequency of STL fix procedures is unlimited, my choice was clear. It worked well for me and I could slice the model without any problems. If you want to know how I design a 2D picture into a 3D model, use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6cmClwLhz8 (video is under 6 minutes). Use these links to download Blender and Inkscape for free: * https://www.blender.org/download/ * https://inkscape.org/nl/download/ Best, Raimon Elctrncs