3D printed flexible filament robot hand

Each month, we are excited to see what new filament comes in our Maker Box. This month, we received some NinjaTek Cheetah flexible filament, which is pretty exciting.

Next, we had to decide what to print with it! Lat time we got a sample of flexible filament, we re-printed the rubber feet of the 3D printers that somehow always seem to get lost in a middle school classroom....

Since we were experimenting, we went on Thingiverse to find something cool. We downloaded the file Miniature Robotic Hand for NinjaFlex by Open Bionics - it prints in one piece!

As you can see in the video below, the final product is pretty cool!

Of course, what's the next step?  Print a BIGGER one. This print used the same type of filament, but was significantly bigger.

We learned something surprising!  When it is this big, it is too floppy to function in the same way, so the final product was rather dull.

3D Model of the Advanced Light Source

This summer, I returned to the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs to continue my work from last summer.  (Who would have guessed that a simple 2013 summer internship would have led to a successful student field experience, ribbons at the Maker Faire, and an invitation to the White House?!)

Anyway, last year we noticed that visitors to the ALS had the option of building their own model of the building:

Build your own ALS by constructing a papercraft version of the ALS. The 3-D model of the ALS can be made quickly with only Scotch tape and scissors, and when completed, the top tilts off to reveal the beamlines and accelerator under the dome. The model and instructions can be downloaded here; heavier paper (i.e., #80 or #100 paper) is needed to print pages 3-6 (the actual building parts).

While the BPC Maker Club certainly appreciates the power of tape, cardboard and duct tape, we also love 3D printing! We wondered if any other light source had a 3D model.  We found one,  based on the Diamond Light Source near Oxford in the UK.  It is pictured below and the stl file can be downloaded here.

But that wasn't enough for us.  So, recently-graduated BPC alumnus Cole C took on the challenge of creating a 3D model of the ALS.   (It's worth checking out his other designs on Thingiverse, too!)  You can download the most recent file here.

v.1 pictured - download links to v.2

You should feel free to download your own synchrotron model! :)

Re-blogged by Formlabs!

Well, this is exciting.  Earlier this spring, Sam blogged about his "3D Printing Test" at the San Mateo Maker Faire. Armed with a flashdrive containing an STL of our eggshell scan, he and his comrades visited a number of 3D printing companies, and persuaded them to do prints for comparison.

While Formlabs admits they are not in the K - 12 educational space yet, they were excited about what our kids were doing.  (You can see Sam fits right in with the Formlabs staff in his ever-present orange shirt.)

Well, Formlabs apparently enjoyed the post and wrote that they "think your post is really great, and wanted to feature it on our own blog."  We were, as you might imagine, very happy to agree!

Impact of BPC in 3D: A 3D Printed Graduation Project

(NOTE: As teachers and parents know, the end of the school year is a very busy time.  Here is a snapshot and a more detailed post is forthcoming!)

This year we implemented our first grade-level wide 3D printing project.  Graduating 8th graders were asked to reflect on "What's something you will take from your time here at BPC with you for the rest of your life?"  In English class, students wrote reflective passages and in science, they created CAD models which were 3D printed and displayed at our graduation ceremonies.  

Student models included:  a guitar, a key, camp fire, piano keys, 3d printer in water (?),  hourglass, drama mask, 3D Printer (Cube), another key, an arrow pointing up, music notes, an anchor, a ring, a lock and key, a rock. 3D Printer (Makerbot), bamboo, laptop computer, chair, egg, boat, footprints, butterfly, tree coming out of a book, a heart book thing with rings, hourglass, rose, Inception spinning top, running man, cracked egg , skull, book, nubby pencil, tree, tongue, bench, brain, space ship and planet, speech bubble, lightning bolt, light bulb, megaphone, another megaphone, cloud, microphone, light bulb, another rose.

Here are just a few models with their respective writing pieces:

I choose the seat of shame/honor to represent my time at BPC. When I got to Ms. Mytko’s class in 7th Grade I was very disruptive and was quickly given a seat at the front of the class labeled the seat of shame. However, slowly and kind-of surely, my behavior started to improve. The seat of shame was no longer entirely necessary and had become something that I enjoyed. When I came back in 8th Grade Ms. Mytko asked me which seat I wanted and I responded by saying the seat of honor. I think that this is very representative of my change at BPC. When I came in I would often get thrown out of classes and was a pain to deal with. Now I can’t even remember the last time I was thrown out of a class and I think that most of my teachers like me at least a little bit. I’m proud of the change I have made in my time at BPC.

I chose to make a rose as my 3D model. The rose represents my growth as a person as a student at Black Pine Circle. During my three years at BPC I have learned new ways to ask questions and how to speak out during class. I have become more sure of myself as a student and a person. When I first started school at BPC I was pretty shy and quiet, but classes like drama and music helped me find my voice. I chose to use a rose to represent what I’ll take with me after graduation because when I go to high school, I will always take with me what I’ve learned at BPC. The leaves represent my friends and memories I’ll take with me when I leave. 

I chose a 3D printer to symbolize the many experiences, skills and memories I have taken with me from BPC. I chose a 3D printer because it has changed my life over the last three years. When I was in sixth grade, Ms. Mytko got her first 3D printer, an original Printrbot. My friends and I worked on it for almost a year after everyone else lost interest. Persisting on projects like that was one skill working with 3D printers helped me a lot with. Another instance that I may not have persisted in a few years ago but did was a time I designed an iPad stand and after many design, software and printing failures, it still hasn’t worked but I haven’t given up.*  Also 3D printing has given me many opportunities over the last year or so, like visiting 3D printing conferences and going to the 3D System’s monthly meetups in San Francisco. I have no idea what I would be doing now without 3D printing. 

*Revision June 2: Since writing this paragraph I have finished the iPad stand.

(flowers were a popular choice) :)

The day of the ceremony, we set up the models / writing samples near the entrance to the school yard. 

The prep (post in progress...)  

Printing 48 models under a very tight deadline gave me plenty of practice implementing Kacie Hultgren's design tips for 3D printing! 

3D Printer Test

The recent Maker Faire provided our Maker Club an opportunity to meet and collaborate with the leading 3D Printer manufacturers in the world. We saw this as an opportunity to test their print quality on a hard challenge.

When we were at the ALS (read about it here), we scanned an eggshell and created an STL file with the data.  We asked several 3D-printer manufacturers to print the eggshell blown up about a thousand times.

The companies were excited to help out.  We had the eggshells printed on, from left to right (starting with the top row): the UP Plus 2, Cube 2, Afinia, Ultimaker 2, Printr Bot Simple Metal (using Microsoft's new slicer), RoBo 3D, MakerBot Dual, Form 1, and a Printr Bot Simple Metal (using Slic3r).

We were very impressed by the results -- they were far better than we could obtain from our old printers.

The Printrbot Simple metal has the best value for it's price. I recommend using the Microsoft slicer with it because Slic3r isn't the best at closing holes in the data. The Printrbot also has the standard 100 micron resolution.

For the best quality that isn't SLA, I would rank the Afinia and the UP Plus 2 at the top. They both have outstanding XY quality and have no excess bridges like the Cube 2. They are very similar in price, with each costing about $1,600. If you want a mid-ranged consumer 3-D printer, I would definitely recommend one of these.

The Type A machine is almost as good as the Afinia but it creates more bridges. I don' think the bridges would be a problem for less complicated prints, but for something in our experiments, it produced a lesser quality print than similar printers.

The Form 1 has the best quality. You can only barely see the layers because SLA printer's levels bond more closely together.  One downside to the Form 1 is that its post processing takes an extra 30 minutes to finish the job. The post-processing includes dipping it in rubbing alcohol, so it isn't the best for schools (at least yet). The other downsides are its cost ($3299) and supports. The supports leave marks on the bottom of your print but you can scrape them off very easily.  Bottom line: if you are looking for stunning quality, it is hard to beat on the consumer market.

Of course, our experiment was not perfect. We did not always control for slicing software, type of filament, etc. but we think it gave us some pretty interesting results anyway.

On the whole, we were grateful to the manufacturers and very happy with the results of this challenging test. If you are a printer manufacture and would like a full review of your product, email us.

Printed Scan Data: Eggshell

Today, we finally printed more data from our trip to the Advanced Light Source earlier this year using only open source software.  We ended up with an approximately 5 cm model of an eggshell printed from scan data from an original sample that was a few millimeters long.

reconstructed data on computer

Why an eggshell?  Well, here is the abstract from the student group whose experiment involved the eggshell:

We at the Black Pine Circle Scientific Studies Division, want to scan an eggshell. Pores on the surface of the shell allow air and moisture to go through. A larger, 3D-model will provide tactile information. Designs may be made to create new housing materials, for hot, humid places. We will be beaming hard X-rays through the sample from various angles, giving us a computer model, which can be 3D-printed. This information can be studied for housing materials, to create a new type of ultra-modern house that literally breathes in places with moisture buildup.

Besides, eggshells are pretty fascinating!  Scientists have known for a long time that the chicken eggshell is 95-97% calcium carbonate crystals, but it wasn't until the electron microscope came around that they discovered, "Rather than simple layers of crystals of calcium carbonate, the shell was shown to consist of a very complex type of mineral formation, with a protein matrix as its foundation."  (journal article, and perhaps way more detail than you will ever need about eggshells!)

The Exploratorium states succinctly, "Bumpy and grainy in texture, an eggshell is covered with as many as 17,000 tiny pores. Eggshell is made almost entirely of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) crystals. It is a semipermeable membrane, which means that air and moisture can pass through its pores. The shell also has a thin outermost coating called the bloom or cuticle that helps keep out bacteria and dust."

Another site explains, "The outer cover of the egg, the shell comprises 10-11% of total egg weight. On an average the eggshell weighs 5-6g, with remarkable mechanical properties of breaking strength (>30N) and is 300-350 micrometer thick. This structure plays a crucial role in protecting the contents of the egg from the microbial and physical environment and in controlling the exchange of water and gases.

More research uncovered these two diagrams, which makes me think that we actually printed the eggshell "upside down" or more-accurately "inside up," revealing those mammillary layer structures that touch the inner, organic membrane! Interesting to consider.

If you are still hankering for more egg formation information, check out these videos:

Definitely check out 0:34 - 0:50 in the video below

Our printed inventory now totals:

• v.1 beetle bean scan
• v.1 eggshell scan

UPDATE 6.23.14:  OUr eggshell scan has been cleaned up and made available on Thingiverse, if you'd like to download and print your own!

Converting .tiff data to .stl file

In December we went to the Advanced Light Source as a field trip. We scanned many items at the synchrotron. One item we scanned was an egg shell. While the image we can see on the screen is cool (right), a model we could touch is better!  We just got multi-image TIFF files as a stack back and, in order to make a model, we needed to turn the stack of 2D images into an STL file to 3D print. We did this using Fiji, and image processing package.


Here are the steps we took:

1.You start out by going to FILE >> OPEN. and opening the tiff stack.











2. Then you create a binary from the tiff stack by going to PROCESS >> BINARY >> MAKE BINARY

It turns into this

3. If your model has holes in it that you want to fill you can go to PROCESS >> BINARY >> FILL HOLES.  If your model still has holes then repeat step 3.

4. If you want to make your file smaller then go to PROCESS >> BINARY >> DILATE it will condense 4 pixels to 1 pixels. If you want it super small keep repeating step 4.

5. If their are stray pixels then go to PROCESS >> BINARY >> ERODE. If there are still pixels repeat step 5.

6. Once you complete steps 3-5 you go to PLUGINS >> 3D VIEWER. Don't worry if your computer freezes; this is a complicated process. A new window should come up.

7. To create the 3D surface you go to EDIT on the new window >> DISPLAY >> SURFACE Don't worry if your computer freezes; this is a complicated process. You should now have a 3D model!

8. To export you go to FILE >> EXPORT SURFACES >> STL(BINARYorASCII)

That is how you take an TIFF stack and covert it to an STL. I took the STL file and put into the Cube software but you can do what ever you want. NOTE: MOST PRINTERS CAN ONLY HANDLE FILES LESS THAN 50 MB.  (If your file is too big, you can simplify / decimate it in MeshLab.)

Finally, here is a print of our first converted data (below): half of a bean that was previously home to a Bean weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus).  That's actual data!  Though this is not a picture of the exact bean we scanned, the image to the right will give you an idea of what the original looked like.  (We are claiming Fair Use on the use of this image!)  We are excited to print more, including the eggshell described above.

(screenshot of reconstructed data from a different, not open-source software)

"You can just print one!"

(1) Kid #1 looses tooth in science class. When she went to the office, the secretary had run out of little plastic treasure chests, so she got a ziploc bag. 

(2) A little disappointed, Kid #1 returns to class. I build her a tooth box out of foil & duct tape (jokingly) as a consolation prize.

(3) Another kid quips, "You can just 3D print one!" [we all look at each other as the possibility sinks in]

(4) Kid #2 is so excited, she goes to the bathroom and pulls out HER loose tooth.

(5) We print two "molar boxes" in glow-in-the-dark filament (so "the tooth fairy can find it")!

Custom Thank You Pickle - TinkerCAD

Well, I made my first object in TinkerCAD. I have been so busy facilitating the kids, I have never actually sat down and created a project start to finish myself.  Last week, my students and I took a field trip over to The Cultured Pickle Shop and we wanted to make them something to show our appreciation.  The kids came up with the idea to 3D print a pickle, but were a little slow on the execution, so I picked up the slack.

TinkerCAD is so easy.  The kids had hopped over to Thingiverse and downloaded a pickle STL to import into TinkerCAD, then I added a base and some letters.  "Download for 3D Printing" >> STL and that's it!  It doesn't even need to be cleaned up in netfabb or "healed" in the Cubify software!  

The only green filament we had was our Cube's neon green.  This is one intense pickle.  I added it to Thingiverse, just in case anyone else will need a thank you pickle.... yep.

The gear works!

Who would have guessed?  A while back, a student printed this gear off of Thingiverse. When it printed, we all assumed it didn't work.  In theory, it should have worked, but we couldn't get the gears to move.

Fast forward a few weeks, and one of the kids was playing around with the 3D printed stuff and stuck an Allen wrench into the center of the gear and voilà - it worked!  Seems we just needed a little more torque than we were providing by hand.

The Epic iPad Stand Journey

There once was a student named Cole, who wanted to design and print an iPad stand. Little did he know just how epic his journey would be...

Definition of ITERATION
1:  the action or a process of iterating or repeating; as in a procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result

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Here is a summary of our progress so far:

ATTEMPT #1:  iPad stand design using SketchUp (late September)

PROBLEM #1: Those non-manifold edges will get you every time.  Despite his best efforts (and those of the netfabb repair), he could not produce a closed surface model.

SOLUTION #1:  Cole redesigned the entire thing on TinkerCAD, which we've found very closed-surface friendly.  In fact, the students almost entirely use TinkerCAD for their models, just because it produces such reliable stl files.  Despite there being a hold up with TinkerCAD student accounts....

OUTCOME #1: The model was closed, watertight, and ready to go!

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ATTEMPT #2: Redesigned on TinkerCAD.  Printed on the Makerbot (Oct 6) after a lengthy gcode generation.  At 25% fill, this will be an estimated 17 hour 22 minute print job. I started it early (like 5 am early) in the morning.  It seemed to be working quite well.  Cole has really pushed our Makerbot to its limits... literally.  Since the build took up the entire build plate, part of the raft even hung off the edge of the heated bed.

PROBLEM #2: By 11 am, the filament must have gotten pinched on the spool, since a student yelled out, "Ms. Mytko, something is WRONG with the PRINTER!  It is just printing AIR!"  Ends up, the feed tube is loose (since the plastic clamps that are supposed to hold it down were broken on day 1 ... I prefer to say they were "over-loved" by the middle school kids).  In any case, with the motion of the nozzles, the tube was slipping down until it caused the filament to get caught in the spool.  While our temporary solution of rubber bands had apparently been working for short-term prints, it appears this long-term print was going to be an issue. The tube seemed to slip down every couple of hours, causing the filament to pinch.

SOLUTION #2: Cole suggested various solutions (duct tape, print a new clamp, use the other tube, etc), finally settling on the idea of using a binder clip (see diagram below) - it worked!  (I liked the diagram me sent to me.)

OUTCOME #2:  The tube held, but the filament pinched.  It failed after about 8 hours of printing.

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ATTEMPT #3: Printed on the Makerbot.  Again.  (October 8)   The feed tube was no longer slipping. 

PROBLEM #3:   The build plate did not seem to be heating evenly, and one of the back corners was peeling up from the heated bed (the part that said "IPAD"). Plus, 17 hours was a ridiculous amount of time to watch a print job.

SOLUTION #3: For his next print, Cole turned the model around, so that the "IPAD" front was in the opposite corner of the heating platform.  He also re-ran the gcode with a 15% fill, to speed up the printing time and allow for reasonable supervision.  Now, it will only take 13 hours to print, which is doable considering the number of hours I typically spend in my classroom each day.

OUTCOME #3:  Even though this print didn't work either (the filament got pinched again overnight), it was exciting to see the potential.

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ATTEMPT #4: Printed on the Makerbot.  Again.  (October)

PROBLEM #4: Now, the filament kept pinching itself on the roll.  If I didn't check on it constantly, even this 13 hours print would fail.

SOLUTION #4: Our other 3D printer, the Printrbot Jr. v2 came with a spool coaster, which we borrowed and used to mount the filament spool off the back of the printer.  This way, from most angles in the room, you could keep an eye on the white sticker, to check that the filment was, indeed, rotating and not stuck.

OUTCOME #4:  The spool coaster worked great!  Every once in a while, either I or a student would look over and realize the coaster has moved.  That indicated that it was beginning to pinch, and we had time to fix it before the filament caught in the nozzle and started "printing air."  However, it got to be 10pm and night and I was tired of being at school.  So I wished the print well and went home.  The next morning, the kids and I arrived at school, to find (second picture) that the filament had caught, dragged the spool coaster over, and printed air the last 40% of the stand.

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ATTEMPT #5: Printed on the Makerbot.  Again.  (October 15)  This time, we had it.  We had fixed the feeding tube slippage issue, found a way to use the spool coaster to keep an eye on the print, and reduced the fill percentage to shorten the print time so that the print wouldn't have to be left unattended overnight.  We were ready!

PROBLEM #5: Many hours into the print, it was clear that we did not have enough black filament to finish the print.  ARGGGHGH!

ATTEMPTED SOLUTION #5:  We thought that maybe we could load new filament of a different color while it was printing.  This was not a brilliant idea, but this guy's blog post made it sound easy!

OUTCOME #5: Yeah, it didn't quite work out.  The filament broke off in the extruder, and I had to clear the filament jam, which wasn't pretty.  To clear the jam, the platform had been moved, and afterwards, I tried to return the platform right where it left off.  Then I deleted the previous gcode to run what I thought was just the code from where it left off.  Ends up you just can't delete the header like that.  So, I put the header back and deleted just what I thought was the lines of code for the layers that had already need printed.  That was an imperfect adventure.  After much experimentation with adding and subtracting lines of gcode, resuming the print was, at best, like trying to ice a cake wearing a blindfold.  I learned a lot in the process, but unfortunately did not make a successful print.

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ATTEMPT #6: Printed on the Makerbot.  Again.  (early November)  We have a solid feeder tube, reduced fill gcode, rotated design, spool coaster and a recently-received new roll of black filament.  Here we go!

PROBLEM #6: With all of the moving around (Mini-Maker Faire & Discovery Days) where we took the Makerbot on the road, our printer bed was not quite level.  Therefore, the plastic was not sticking effectively to the heated bed.  

SOLUTION #6: I tried to level the print bed on the fly while it was printing.  Not so effective.  Especially when I was distracted by students before the raft made it to the right side, and therefore it was only really partially leveled. 

OUTCOME #6:  Print job cancelled early in the print due to excessive peeling.

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CURRENT STATUS:

We will try it again, since I am curious to see how far we can push our printer.  Overall, we've all learned a lot in the process.  We also have a revised, much cleaner, school-mascot inspired solution for our broken feeder tube clamps.

Plus a set of really sweet business card holders?

More to come.  Stay tuned.