The Creative World of 3D Printing

Limited ONLY by your imagination

Early on I thought 3D printing was origami created on your Epson. WRONG! 3D printing, as it turns out, is a fascinating hobby creating things in moldable foldable plastic or filament if you will, called fused deposition modeling (FDM). There are literally millions of designs, most free, to create most anything. CAD programs are available to roll your own. Fusion 360 and Tinkdercad, to name a couple. Randy, W4LKS, has created some great HT Stands. A nice addition to any shack.

So where do you find designs? One of the largest repositories of crafter designed work is Thingieverse.com. Thingiverse is a thriving design community for discovering making and sharing 3D printable things. There are many other sites to explore.

John KD7AAT and myself purchased Creality Ender 5s, a great starter machine that will get you totally involved. John has far exceeded my printing capacity and has experimented, adjusted, discovered many things in the operation of this machine. Appreciate the Elmering John. See John’s 3D Site, link below Moving on up. I upgraded my printing to Prusa’s Mrk3S and Mini and recently added the New Prusa Mrk4. More gizmos, convenience and print fun. See some of the creations below.uu

Impending DOOM!

Growing up in Chicago, Saturdays were an exciting time tuning the 17″ Black and White TV with rabbit ears to catch the latest adventures of Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, Dr. Zarkov and the Merciless Ming.

A rogue planet is ‘rushing madly toward the earth.’ Impending doom creates worldwide pandemonium. But maverick scientist Dr. Zarkov hopes to stay disaster by travelling to the new planet in his experimental rocket. Two chance-met strangers, athletic Flash Gordon and damsel in distress Dale Arden, go with him. Arrived, the trio find Mongo to be a planet of wonders, warring factions, and deadly perils, its orbit controlled by Emperor Ming who has his own sinister plans for earth. Can our heroes, armed only with science and sex appeal, stop him?

This 1936 serial was the base for many a backyard adventure complete with “ray” guns and other sinister weapons made out of stolen untensils from my mother’s kitchen.

Such a treat to find Dr Zarkov’s rocket ship as a print model.

Amazing

Another Great TV Series Print

About 18 hours total print. Another fun one to do. Challenges of fitting the three sections together. Total size about 18″.

USOS Seaview

The USOS Seaview from the 60’s TV Series and Motion Picture, Voyage to the Bottom of The Sea.

Some of the projects - more to come

Printers currently in use

Click below to See The Mrk4S In Action

A Fun Place to explore

The KD7AAT Fun Site

John, KD7AAT, has taken 3d printing to the next level. With 100s of fun prints, maybe thousands, you just never know what he’ll come up with next. If you’re just starting out, John probably has an answer for you .

To see what’s currently printing hit the Cam Links.

Be sure to visit his site, it’s indeed a fun place.

More Places to Explore

HueForge!

Shari At that Grooming Place Spokane

Shari started doing HueForge for Dog Portraits. Contact her if your interested.

A friend introduced me to a rather interesting, creative software application program called HueForge.

HueForge is software which allows you to create detailed multi-color 3D Prints using only Swap-by-Layer through a process called Filament Painting. Hueforge allows you to create from 2d pictures a stunning 3d painted picture. The Layers are only a few millimeters thick with colors created by stacking on top untill you get a blend of colors.

Explore HueForge