Nanotubes and Nanocups

thingiverse

Nanotubes, related to Buckyballs, offer intriguing properties and are popular among material scientists for their unique characteristics. They can also be used as decorative items like bracelets, showcased in the image. To print these models, one can use TubeASP by R. G. A. Veiga and David Tomanek, a site that generates atomic coordinates for carbon nanotubes. These tubes can be thought of as rolled-up sheets of graphite, described with three integers - n, m, and the number of repeating units. For instance, to create the middle bracelet in the picture (nanotube-15-15-3), input n=15, m=15, and number of units = 3 into TubeASP. Smaller bracelets are made from nanotubes 40-0-2 and 36-0-2. The program openSCAD can be used to print these models, which are sturdy and print quickly due to their mostly empty space interiors. By aligning the hexagons along the z-axis, printing becomes more reliable. To create a bracelet, use the TubeASP output in nanoread.f, a fortran program that generates openSCAD module calls. These calls can be inserted into a union statement in an openSCAD file, like makenano15-15-3.scad. Print the bracelet on a raft with 100% infill to ensure sturdiness. Cups, such as nanocup16-4-4, can also be printed directly or with a raft for a unique design element.