Blog Post 15

We rub Buddha’s belly for good luck before every print. The volunteers over at python support still haven’t responded to my request for help. At this point I feel the proper thing to do is contact the Kwiateks (I am positive I am murdering the proper spelling) and seek their advice as to what I should do next. Two of the printers are operating absolutely wonderfully and efficiently. It is just that one printer that has given us problems since day one. I simply don’t know…It is out of my realm of knowledge.

            I have compiled a pretty comprehensive list of important dates and explanations pertaining to the history of the 3D printer. It all began in 1986 with the invention of STL (stereolithography), and the field has just been booming since. I have been exploring the stock values of several of the key 3D printer manufacturers, particularly 3D Systems and Stratasys. Each of their stock values has been growing exponentially since their entering of the stock market, particularly Stratasys. Stratasys’s stock was a little over $11 December 3, 2012. The very next day, the stock rose to over $70 and peaked at roughly $90 before the week closed. The stock value has remained consistent since this peak. The reason for this absolutely massive increase is the fact that Stratasys merged with Objet. “The combined company will trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange as Stratasys Ltd. ("Stratasys") under the symbol SSYS beginning December 3, 2012. Based on the closing price of Stratasys, Inc. stock on November 30, 2012, the market capitalization of the new company will be approximately $3.0 billion.” I am definitely investing in 3D printing technology in the future because as far as I can tell the technology is simply going to expand. 

Blog Post 14

A little bit of a slow day today as far as printing goes. We are creating more pieces of increased intricacy and are having a ball with it, but there isn’t all too much to do while they print. Chris is creating a manual that clearly displays the process of using the 3D printer from the beginning, Jacob is making a video dealing with a similar topic, and I am creating a display that explains the past, present, and future of 3D printing. Interesting stuff.    

We have been having a debate about the sex of the 3D printer. This is my take on the whole deal. The 3D printer is clearly A-sexual because it is capable of reproducing on its own. This may sound confusing at first but stay with me. The kind of printer we have is capable of building other printers. Several of the major parts including the base of the printer are made by other 3D printers. This was in fact one of the selling points of this kind of printer. You make the initial payment to order the printer and then you are capable of printing the majority of other 3D printers for your friends. All you have to do is buy the other components such as the electrical wires and motherboard…and I have just had the realization that I may be wrong and the 3D printer is in fact heterosexual. The printer can only supply half of the necessary parts to create another 3D printer. It needs the rest from a donor. A donor…of course! Now I have it. The 3D printer is of course a woman needing a donor because it does not have a partner and is incapable of reproducing on its own. Additionally, she doesn’t want to get into a committed relationship in order to produce offspring. She isn’t looking to be loved but to love, specifically her offspring.

Blog Post 13

Now the plan is to go to CVS, find the nail polish section, and search for the product with the highest concentration of acetone. So there are these two men, Austin Wilson and Neil Underwood, from North Carolina that invented a process for smoothing out the 3D prints. The kind of 3D printer we have prints horizontal layer by horizontal layer, and it leaves a bumpy finish when completed. What they do is place acetone and the object into a jar and heat it up to 90 degrees Celsius. The evaporation point of acetone is rather low. Evaporating the chemical creates a small cloud around the model, and it slowly melts the surface to a “mirror finish”. It then takes a couple hours for the piece to solidify again to the point where it may be removed from the jar.

            We made Buddha with his big lucky belly, bald head, and classy robe. This is my new favorite piece. So much so that I actually brought him home, gave him to my mother because she wanted it so much, and now we are printing another Buddha in the printer room. Again, I am just blown away by the detail in the piece. I have been working with these printers for the last 5 weeks and I am still surprised by what they are capable of doing. The only minor thing that could be better with the model is the underside of his arm sleeves because they are a little droopy, but that is a very minor complaint indeed. 

Blog Post 12

Kevin Cellucci joined the project, and with his joining the group’s ambition has grown exponentially. We are now printing the craziest objects that were previously thought unprintable with our model printer. It turns out we were wrong. The group is constantly pushing the boundaries of these machines and I am absolutely thoroughly impressed. Our centerpiece is a ten centimeter tall weeping angel from the television show Doctor Who. This piece is absolutely astonishing to look at, and I find it hard to believe it was simply a few feet of plastic filament hours earlier. If you have time, come down to the printer room and take a look at it.

            After the weeping angel, a Stephen Colbert piggy bank was then created. We used a scaffold to support the vertical pig body because otherwise there would be too much overhang for the printer to handle. Also, printing the model vertically allows for the face to be printed on the horizontal plane, meaning that there would be zero overhangs and no droopiness in Stephen Colbert’s features. I must say that his face came out gloriously. The scaffold took a little time and effort to take off, and the scaffold left its mark on the piece. Quite a bit of the plastic was scraped and mangled upon taking the scaffold off, but the shape left is more or less correct. I plan on experimenting with Acetone, which apparently nail polish remover is roughly 40% acetone, and dipping the back half of the Stephen Colbert piggy bank into the solution. Acetone reacts with the plastic, in effect melting it. If the acetone is wiped off, what is left is a perfectly smooth surface. This is basically the same process that was used with the Liberator handgun to smooth the barrel, reducing the friction, and making the weapon capable of consistent firing. 

Blog Post 11

Possible solution found. I spent another few hours searching the internet in hopes to find a fix and I may have stumbled upon something. The error reads “UnicodeDecodeError: ‘charmap’ codec can’t decode byte 0X81 in position 277: character maps to <undefined>.” I am 95% certain that the bye and position are irrelevant to the problem. I believe that these values pertain to the object that it is creating. I skeinforged several objects and it always pauses at the same spot in the same fashion, and yet the values are different.  

I stumbled upon a conversation between python technical support and a customer with a very similar issue. Now, the solution the customer was given involved changing code in the server and client of the python program. Normally, finding a solution would be a fantastic thing; however, it is only fantastic if you understand how to implement it. I spent another few hours scouring the internet and trying to learn the python program in hopes that I will be able to fix the program. The deeper I delved into the program, the less confident I became with the program. It seems very complex, but then again, I have zero experience working with the code of any program. I sent an email to the volunteers over at python describing my problem, which isn’t that I do not have a solution but that I cannot implement the solution because I lack the technical knowledge required. I am starting to wish I took the AP programming class that my friends took.

Blog Post 10

I just spent four hours today searching the internet and attempting to apply fixes to the first printer. This printer has given us trouble since day one with faulty power connections in the back, and now the printer stops responding after thirty seconds of printing. In the python window it reads “UnicodeDecodeError: ‘charmap” code can’t decode byte 0X81 in position 277: character maps to <undefined>”. Now, I have very little knowledge of code; therefore, I have very little knowledge of how to respond to this statement. I scoured the internet for several hours and found several possible fixes. I made sure the connection between the computer and the 3D printer was secure by replacing the wire used to connect the two entities. Afterwards, I reinstalled all of the printer’s drivers on the computer. None of this worked. Then I reinstalled every piece of software in regards to the 3D printer. Solidoodle, Python, and Arduino were all removed from the computer and reinstalled in rather quick time. And the error persists. Sometimes the decode byte and position are different; however, I am under the impression that these are relative to the object that is being (in this case attempted to be) printed. I attempted several other fixes, but as I write this, my later attempts merge into a blur of complex code and system directories. I wish I had any technical knowledge of these programs. Learning from experience is effective but time consuming. After several straight hours of research I had to take a quick break and throw a Frisbee. 

Blog 9

As of today, a fully functional 3D printable gun has been created. The designers of the gun have been working on prototypes for the past year. They say that the blue prints will be uploaded in the near future for those with 3D printers to create. The 3D printer that the group used cost about $8000 dollars. However, after that initial expenditure, the cost per unit greatly decreases. Say you print one object. That object cost you $8000 dollars and the few dollars it cost in plastic. Then you print another. Now those two objects cost you $4000 dollars and some change each. Multiply this by a couple hundred or thousand and the amount of money per object turns out to be very cost effective. This concept would work with the printing of 3D guns, and it is a little scary how cheap and easy it would be for anyone to get their hands on one of these guns. The thing is, it is perfectly legal for anyone to print and assemble this gun. In fact, if I am correct, anyone may create a firearm for their personal use. The only conditions are that the firearm cannot be automatic, and it may not be sold. Again, it must be for personal use. I am fairly certain that there will be attempts to regulate the flow of 3D printable guns in politics; however, the thing is that there is very little way to actually catch and charge those that print them if it ever does become illegal. The government could search the internet and track websites that provide the blueprints for these guns, and then track who downloads these weapons. However, is this really feasible? 

Blog 8

So to export the designs from Google Sketchup, you first need to select all the parts of the model you wish to export. After, go to Tools, and select export to DFX or STL. A window pops up and you need to select the export units. There are several options; however, millimeters seem to be the only one that works with the size of our printer. Yet another window pops up, and this one says export to DXF options. Here, you need to select STL or it simply will not work. Then you are able to save the file in a location of your choosing, but you must type “.stl” at the end of the file name. After saving the file, go to skeinforge and slice it up, load the file in Pronterface, and print the model.

Now that I have a pretty good grasp on the operating of the 3D printers, it is about time I tackle a little side project that Mr. Logsdon wants me to create. Mr. Logsdon wants me to create a display that exhibits the past, present, and future of 3D printing. I did a little preliminary research before tackling the project and it turns out 3D printing is roughly 30 years old. The STL format, short for stereolithography, was created in 1986. The stage 3D printing is in presently is often compared to computer users in the 1990s. Smaller groups of people with good technical skills, ready to develop new technologies because they can. I need to do some more research and the display should be up this week.          

Blog 7

Jake is going wild with Google Sketchup. He is recreating well known Greek monuments, creating a few of his own, and exporting them in the STL format and then printing the models. The earlier models are in rougher shape than the newest creations. However, this is because of the sharp angles that were incorporated in the initial designs. Overhangs are still incredibly difficult for our 3D printers to cope with. Although, I feel progress with overhangs will be made in the coming days. Skeinforge, the program used to slice and dice the 3d models so the printer may create it, has a plethora of options to play around with in order to print the best model possible. Under the raft option, there is something I believe to be called support cross. Theoretically, enabling this option should create a support structure similar to a scaffold to aid in the printing of overhangs. The second of Jake’s monuments turned out significantly better because the angles were not quite as severe. Instead of having to create a horizontal ceiling with no support but the air it hovers, the ceiling consists of two flat slabs of plastic placed together to create a 45 degree angle where they meet. Basically, think of your stereotypical square house with a triangle on top of it. That was the second design if you ignore all the flare Jake put into it. Yes, this design is easier for the printer to handle, but I do not think this is the route we should go. We need to learn to manipulate all aspects of printing. The printer should conform to our desires, not the other way around. 

Blog Post 6

All printers are up and operational. The problem with the third printer lied in the power supply. Brady was looking around behind the printer and noticed that some of the cables that provide the power to the printer may not be hooked on all the way, and may need some fiddling with. I took off the back cover that shields the electronics and simply removed and reattached the power supply. This rather quick procedure was the simply fix we were looking for. Once plugged in, the fans and light turned on, finally signaling life. However, then the printer ran into a problem and was unable to export the necessary drivers in order to operate it from a computer. After a few minutes online I found the drivers on some miscellaneous websites. Then, with some fiddling and surmising, I figured out where to place these drivers in the computer system. Now the printer runs absolutely flawlessly. Recently, I have installed Google Sketchup and the necessary plugin to allow the program to export its designs in the proper STL format. I am sure I have mentioned this in a prior blog, but the printers seem to only be able to read the designs if they are in the STL format.

            All printers are almost up and operational. The middle of the three printers is jammed. This is not anything major. This has happened before, and we know it can be fixed with some finesse and brute force. I am assuming the cause of the jam is simply overuse. The printers are constantly running which leads to excess plastic in the mechanisms. Perhaps if we clean the printers after several uses the jams may be avoided. 

Blog Post 5

The Jam was fixed pretty quickly. Since the nozzle was jammed, the two wheels that push the plastic through the heater ends up just shaving the plastic. These shavings then get stuck in the inner workings of the machine. So we undid a portion of the mechanism, cleaned out the motors, and bam. The machine is fixed. We are starting to find the boundaries of which the machines are able to print. Overhangs are absolutely, without question, the hardest for the printer to successfully create. There is a way to create scaffolds to support these overhangs; however, more research and fiddling around with the program is needed before we are able to do so. We printed a Tardis, which is basically a phone booth from the television show Doctor Who, and it came out very well except for the slight overhang it has near the top. Our thoughts about the cause of the failed overhangs are that the plastic takes too long to cool down and therefore are able to distort before finally drying. We attempted to make another Tardis, with a fan at the ready to help cool down the plastic; however, the problem still persists. We need to figure out how to create scaffolds.

            I am having some difficulty exporting files to the printer in the STL format from Google Sketchup. The steps seem simple enough. Select the object, go to tools, select export in STL format, choose the scale, and bam.  The model is now exported in an STL format. Now, the problem arrives when I skeinforge it. It takes far too long to skeinforge the simplest object, such as a cube 1 cm by 1 cm, and then the final product just doesn’t make sense. It isn’t what I asked for. I don’t know. We will just have to figure it out through research and trial and error. 

Blog Post 4

There was a setback today. We were printing a rocket ship because that is clearly one of the first things you create with a 3D printer, and halfway through the piece, the nozzle on the machine became clogged. At least, that is what we believe happened. The plastic is clearly hitting something on its way into the nozzle, preventing it from heating up and ejecting onto the printing platform. So the game plan is to replace the nozzle and its electrical components, each printer came with spare parts, and attempt to unclog said unattached piece. However, as I write this, it may be difficult to unclog the jam while the nozzle is disconnected. The plastic, I am assuming hardened plastic is the problem, will most likely need to be heated up to a semi-liquid state before we even attempt to clear it. Yet, if this were the only problem, all we would have to do is run the printer, heat up the nozzle to 200 degrees Celsius and all would be corrected. We can’t really reach the plastic while the printer is running because, well, 200 degrees Celsius.

            We had a glimmer of hope from the third printer. There seems to be a problem with the electrical in the back of the machine. Plugging it in, neither the light nor fan turn on as they are supposed to, it seems to spark a bit when touched. Chris found a loose wire, tightened it up, and it worked for a little while. However, now there is another problem. When we connect the printer to its accompanying computer, both systems instantly shut down. Perhaps there is a problem with the power supply now. My guess is too much power running through both systems trips a trigger that shuts them down to prevent damage. We are going to check up on it, see if the problem persists, and if the problem persists and we are unable to find a solution we will contact the manufacturer.

Blog 3

So far my SCORE project is pretty chill. We are beginning to experiment with the kinds of objects our printer can handle. The more complex the design, the longer it takes for skeinforge to slice and dice the model into a format the printer may utilize. As I write this, I am attempted to create a Ming Dynasty lion/dragon (the creators cannot agree exactly what it is). So far skeinforge has been at it for maybe 20-30 minutes, and the program is still trying to process the model. Check that. I just went to the program and I believe some went awry. I need to start the process over again. If it works out, what will be created will be a very intricate design. It would be a significant improvement over the hollow, five sided cube. Although, we have created a pawn chess piece as well today. The piece itself is significantly more complex than the cube; however, there are some bits and pieces on it that are rougher than the rest. What we plan on doing is locating a fan to help cool down the molten plastic sooner so that it doesn’t have time to warp or move about. This should help with the more complex designs, especially those with overhangs. Again, the project itself is very relaxed and rather enjoyable. In-between AP classes I come down to the second floor testing room where the printers are located, and I simply work on improving them and testing their limits. By the end of the week I hope to have all three of the printers up and running. 

Blog 2

Today we had our first substantial progress. It took a while to figure out how to convert some of the files into a format that the printer could utilize. The printer uses the file formal STL, which stands for stereolithography. After the conversion, we cleaned up the printer, and “sliced up” the file into strips that the printer could recreate. A program called skeinforge was used to help slice up the image. The computers take several minutes processing and slicing up the model. Once this has been accomplished, two windows pop up displaying the process/path the printer will take to create the three dimensional object. Then all that has to be done is heat up the printer’s nozzle, to two hundred degrees Celsius, and the board the object is printed on, to eighty degrees Celsius. Press print and the model is created.

            The quality of the object isn’t the greatest. Whether this is because the printer isn’t fine tuned yet to turn out high quality products, or it is the type of printer. The printer is rather expensive; however, as far as three dimensional printers go, it is on the lower range of the spectrum. Taking this into account, we are proud of our little, hollow, 5 sided cube. It took twenty or so minutes for the cube to be printed and part of the base curves up a little too far. The curve is most likely because we were running out of time to print it, and there was not enough time to completely heat up the base. If the base isn’t heated up to the right temperature, then the model doesn’t stick and it gets all messy. 

Blog 1

I arrived at the testing room on the second floor to find three 3D printers spread out on a table, each accompanied by a desktop computer. Chris, Jacob and I decided to work on one printer at a time so that we are always at the same step in the project, and so we have the same knowledge base. Each printer was accompanied by a green bag with an extra nozzle for the printer, a packet of information pertaining to websites that could be useful, and some extra wire.

            Overall, not all too much happened Monday. We needed to install all of the operating software necessary to operate the printer from the desktop computers. We went on the website listed in the information packet that came with the printer and followed the steps to installing the programs. This took quite a bit of time and wasn’t all that exciting. Through some trial and error, we managed to get one of the printers working. The printers are controlled through a program called solidoodle, and we were able to maneuver the plastic jet in three dimensions (X, Y, and Z), as well as the board on which the printer creates its models.

            This doesn’t seem like a very large achievement; however, we were so excited once we finally received some responses from the printer. By the time we were finally able to print a model, there simply wasn’t enough time in the day. Additionally, as we learned the next day, we didn’t have the model in the right format, so it was incompatible with the printer. 

Austin Waldsmith's Outline

SCORE Thesis & Outline

Thesis: 3D printers are in the runner to become one of the most prevalent and revolutionary technologies in the coming years. The emerging technology will have enormous impacts in the global economy, medicine, and domestic use. However, 3D printing may have adverse impacts, being capable of manufacturing products that are legally and morally questionable.

P1- Economy

·         Manufacturing

o   Additive manufacturing allows new usual shapes to be made

o   Rise of 3D printer shops open to the public

o   Prototypes made in a cost efficient manner

o   No wastage in regards to plastic and metal

·         Hewlett-Packard currently sells DesignJet Color 3D printer for $20K; however, laser printers used to cost $5000. As technology evolves and becomes more advanced, more affordable options will arrive

·         Suspected that 3D printing is a huge market

o   3D printing companies are sprouting up at a rapid rate

o   “CEO of 3D Systems Abraham N. Reichental reported his company has employed 1,000 workers already with nearly 1,000 patents underway as well”

o   Analysts say it is the next trillion dollar industry

o   “Manufacturing currently accounts for 17%, or $10.2 trillion of the $60 trillion global economy. That being said, if 3D printing is able to “capture” at least 10% of the manufacturing sector we'd easily have ourselves a $1 trillion (+) industry.”

·         Used in these industries (examples):

o   Jewelry

o   Medical

o   Education

o   Geographic information systems

o   Civil engineering

o   Dentistry

o   Aerospace

o   automotive

P2- Medicine

·         Synthetic organs are being printed (An ear was created and implanted in about a week)

o   Donors may be hard to come by, the donated tissue may not remain healthy, and sculpting cartilage (in the case of the ear) is difficult. 3D printing bypasses these problems.

·         Used to create replacement jaws, custom crowns

·         Models of bones created at a fraction of the cost to the conventional models

·         Not yet at the complexity of feeding “living ink” into printers to make working organs, but we will in the future

·         Micrometer-scale printing has shown promise for making medical and electronic devices

P3- Domestic

·         3D printers beginning to be more affordable, almost at the stage where home users will buy them, more software available for them

·         Designing own products/ prototypes in their own homes

·         Create your own Iphone cases, toys, cases, etc.

P4- The negative

·         Once in the hands of criminals and anarchists, implications may ensue

·         Printable guns- it is legal to create your own guns but not distribute them, it is in a gray area

·         “We now have 3-D printers that can manufacture firearms components in the basement,” said Representative Steve Israel, Democrat of New York. “It’s just a matter of time before a 3-D printer will produce a weapon capable of firing bullets.”

·          3D printers recently made keys that can open handcuffs (NY hackers conference)

·         Car keys, house keys, etc. may be replicated

·         “devices that fit over an ATM machine and steal the debit or credit card information of unsuspecting ATM users--were created on high-tech 3D printers to help make the skimmer overlays for the ATM machines look as realistic as possible”

Works Cited

"3D Printing." 3D Printing. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"3D Printing in the Home: Fad, Fantasy, or the Future?" TreeHugger. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"3D Printing Will Impact Business In A Big Way." Six Pixels of Separation. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"Criminals Find New Uses for 3D Printing." PCWorld. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

GCaptain. "Will 3D Printing Change The World?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 06 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"Human Ear Created With 3D Printer | Singularity Hub." Singularity Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"Investing in 3D Printing." Investing in 3D Printing. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"Jay LenoÂ’s 3D Printer Replaces Rusty Old Parts." Print. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

N.p., n.d. Web.

"Origins: A 3D Vision Spawns Stratasys, Inc. | Todays Machining World." Todays Machining World. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"Pushing the Boundaries : 3-D Printing." Indian Young Scientist Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Stein, Andrea. "Disadvantages of 3D Printers." EHow. Demand Media, 16 Dec. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

"Subtractive Plus Additive Equals More Than." : Modern Machine Shop. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. 

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