Chouwz
Introduction Knight Chess Piece Printing process
Computer Graphics

EP 1000 3D Printing

Introduction to 3D Printing

Also known as additive manufacturing, is a method of creating a three dimensional object layer-by-layer using a computer created design.

Advantages

  1. anyone can manufacture
  2. print on demand
  3. strong and lightweight parts
  4. ease of access, printing on demand

Disadvantages

  1. limited materials
  2. restricted build size
  3. not sustainable - as 3d printers use plastic filament
  4. depending on printer size and quality, it can take several hours to days to print

3D Printing Knight Chess Piece

Design a Knight chess piece:

  • Base: 30mm
  • Height: 50mm
  • Head thickness: 5mm
  • Use a template for the head
  • The base should be hollow

    • knight

    1) Choose a knight chess piece

    Download and put into Illustrator, trace, and export to a .svg

    2) Offset thickness

    Offset dist about 2mm. Make sure to close of the shape also.

    put in fusion

    3) Revolve

    Can create a midline (to revolve around), select the base sketch as the profile and revolve around the z-axis, angle - 360

    revolve

    4) Extrude knight's head

    Create sketch on the front plane, insert the .svg file of the knight's head, extrude symmetrically ~4mm

    open ps

    5) Check model specifications

    I needed to edit the thickness of the chess piece to 5mm. Press'E' to extrude, Extrude > Directions >Symmetric > Distance > 5mm Operation >Join

    6) Output to .stl file to 3d print

    Go to Tools > Make > 3D print

    oops

    7) Download and open Cura

    Oops!

    Initially the print was 1hr 25mins, I changed the profile from Fine -0.1mm to Normal - 0.15 mm.

    polygonal

    8) Slice and extract to Gcode

    Click 'Slice' at the bottom right, and save to the SD card as a Gcode. Then just insesrt into the Ultimaker bottom left SD card reader and click print and choose your file.

    Here is a summary of my print settings i used

  • Material: Generic PLA (grey)
  • Size: 29.8 by 29.8 by 50mm : 0.2 mm
  • Layer height: 0.15 mm
  • Wall Thickness: 0.7 mm
  • Infill: 10%
  • Print Speed: 60 nm/s
  • Temperature: Default
  • Supports > generate supports
  • Base Adhesion: Brim

    • 3D Printing process

    Tbh I had no idea about 3d printing, but by asking around, and trial and error, it was a fun process. One thing i didnot expect was the supports were actually quite tedious to remove. One thing no note is that I could modify future prints so that it will use less support as possible.

    lecture

    1)10 mins crash course on how to operate the Ultimaker

    How to export to a gcode from the slicer, and also to operate the machine.

    2) Plate heating up to prepare for print

    A heated bed allows a user to control the temperature of the printing process and the cooling phase.

    chess

    3) Halfway printing the layers

    It takes about 45mins - 1hr to print.

    4) After the print is ready

    We have to remove the supports using pliers, and using needle file for round corners.

    5) Touchups

    Then I went home to continue filing and sanding using sandpaper.

    6) Filing...

    I tried to use scissors to remove the unwanted supports, and sandpaper.

    7) and sanding...

    This process was quite tedious as it requires time and effort.

    8) Done!

    Done!

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