Blog.

Restoring BuildTak Surface!

I love using BuildTak, I would go through almost 2 sheets every year due to scraping of the BuildTak Spatula. I try to be as gentle as possible, but that spatula is pretty sharp, and scrapes the bottom very easily.
Before I print, I clean the surface with 99% IPA using a microfiber cloth. That usually works, lately I noticed nothing would stick.. I knew it was that time for a replacement..

I went to order more but got an idea “hey, what if I sand it down?” I looked around the house for fine sandpaper and found a box of 3M Extra Fine 3D Sanding Sponges

Went to the printer and with light pressure, scrubbed all around the build plate. I saw scuffs and the pad showed signs of plastic residue.

I cleaned the build plate again with 99% IPA and started a difficult print. and my surprise it was restored!!! I swear it’s like new! I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I attempted a my new design, Star Trek Ready Room Sign
IT STUCK SO WELL!!!

So scrub your buildtak with Extra fine sanding sponges!

Creating the Scepter From Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland.

This scepter was a fun project! Can’t wait to start 3D Printing them!

First I started with the shaft and worked my way up.
The whole thing literally started with a  hexagon.. and built up the staff. I didn’t know the exact size of the staff seeing it differs from person to person. When the king is holding it, it literally looks like a wand, but when Nemo holds it, its a HUGE staff. Anyhow. .. Yes.. Extruded the hexagon and scaled it to match a similar scepter size.

Now that I had that part semi-done, now for what would seem to be the easiest part was actually quite difficult for me. Creating this part of the scepter.

going from a hexagon to a cylinder and to a diamond shape to a round sphere. I can make it work with a ton of vertices, but I wanted to use as little as possible for clean 3D Printable mesh. It does sound easy, but I had a ton of issues exporting the model as an STL. each time it would break the geometry. Making it un-printable. But that was not the case. I ended up creating something that looks similar but not exact which was what I was going for. Maybe someday ill attempt it again. But for now this will do. Once I created the shape, I used the Multiresolution Modifier to make it right, and threw it in Sculpt, to get somewhat of a better look.

I moved on to the base of the sphere. Which was easier than I thought. again I used the extra Add Mesh tools Diamond. added a 4 facet diamond and selecting the top vertices and ripped it each one to create what looks of a flower. I sub divided multiple times and turned on proportional editing and grabbed the for corners, moving them down the Z axis. Selected the Base of the model with SHIFT+ALT to select and create a circle. Extruded down and filled it in, last I used the solidify modifier to create thickness. used multi res until it was smooth, grabbed a sphere and place it on top and used the Boolean tool to subtract it from the base to make a nice resting stop.


that out lining is circled with what looks like rubies, I took the circle path and had a sphere array on circle.

With that part complete, I can now focus on the bottom of the shaft and the rings.

For the rings I used the Torus and scaled it to fit the shaft. Duplicated a few time. for the end of the staff, I subdivided a UV Sphere and with proportional editing on, i set my view to the front and scaled the sphere to look like the shape of the end.

With it now all complete, I can multi res it scale it a decent size. This was the outcome!

I added textures, made a small animation. Used some Dragon Ball Z sound affect which turned out awesome!

This was designed so that I can purchase some marbles and glue them to the top! First batch has been 3D printed! I can print 8 on one plate with the Elegoo Mars. I let them cure for 24 hours in UV light before I applied Gold Leaf paint. Used a red enamel paint pent for the gems. Now I wait for the marble!







Power Demonstrations.

CNC

I’ve always wanted to get into CNC’ing, I figured what better time! something to do during quarantine? Sure! I purchased the Sainsmart 4030 a few weeks ago, and wow. Has my dimension of create-ability exploded!

I started off learning about the Machine’s Zero, and the Zero of the job. Something different in 3D Printing you really don’t have to pay attention to. with 3D printing, you can just create an STL and print, with the CNC, you have a BUNCH of factors, bits, wood, speeds, etc.

It came semi-pre-assembled. Which is fine. Took me about an hour taking my time to put together.

Overall as a first time CNC, I really enjoy it.

A new Category has been added for CNC!