Swimming Challenge Coin

thingiverse

To create this challenge coin, several skills were incorporated. First, digital calipers were used to measure the diameter and features of a government-issued challenge coin; the actual printer part was upsized slightly. Next, a blank coin was created in Tinkercad. The same design was also created in Fusion360 for comparison purposes. For the circular text, Inkscape was utilized. Skills learned included applying text to a selected path and effectively converting the text image into an SVG file by converting the Object to Path. The SVG was then imported into Tinkercad and Fusion360 respectively for further comparison. Tinkcad was used to finalize the design. The file was exported from Tinkercad and brought into Cura. Within Cura, a script was added to pause the print height at 14 layers. At layer 14, the X & Y coordinates were moved to 20:20, PLA was retracted 25mm at 50mm/s, and the nozzle temperature was set to standby at 25 degrees Celsius. This setup allows for the changing of filament from purple to yellow. Once the print is enabled again, the nozzle reheats (set at 205). Watching the temperature, as soon as the nozzle reached 185, PLA was manually fed to purge the excess purple from the nozzle. The printed result needs further refinement. The text requires at least two more layers to adequately "pop" off the print. The build plate also got bumped out of level during the filament change. For the next rendition, modified Cura settings will be used to start the second color at layer 13 (and repeat layer 13) to hopefully fix the lettering. Additionally, I will keep my bear paw hands off the build plate during the filament color swap to ensure it stays level.