I am a huge fan of 3D printing and I noticed that there are not so many articles in Steemit that tell about 3D printing. Now I will introduce you to how you can utilize 3D printing in daily life. CASE is pretty simple and you don’t have to do much yourself. For this you have to own a computer, a plastic 3D printer and an open mind. Later I will write more detailed articles from different 3D techniques and how they are working, but this will be a short introduction.
Let’s get started. Normally there is a couple of steps inside the workflow, but now we are skipping some of those because we are utilizing free CAD models from Internet and using simple parameters. For example, Thingiverse is a good source of different types of free 3D CAD models and 3D STL-files. Next, we are going to decide what we want to print.
CASE: Orange peeler
Step 1. Download STL-file
Step 2. Open STL-file using slicing program. Now we are using CURA which is free and very friendly to use. The most parameters are already there and you don’t really have to do anything.
Step 3. Send the data to the 3D printer and start the job.
Step 4. Wait until the job is ready.
Step 5. Take the part and start using it.
Conclusion
Printing the orange peeler took just over an hour and the workflow was pretty much automated. Internet is full of predesigned parts and most of these parts are free to use. It is also possible to design some tools by yourself but you must have some design skills and CAD programs.
The printer that I’m using is Ultimaker 2+ and the price level is roughly 2000€. That printer is capable to print multiple different plastics and it is very reliable and easy to use. Depending on the geometry, you can also choose different nozzles to get best printing results. The max printing volume is 223 x 223 x 205mm.
-Marko