M.P. Update #3 – Oops! I did it again…

I am crazy late getting this post together, because it has been two of those weeks. You know the ones – where life and work and exhaustion all collide, and it’s a beautiful disaster. Between parent-teacher interviews, the marking rush before parent-teacher interviews, dealing with everyone in our house being sick, and just trying to stay on top of things, my 3D printing took a backseat.

And holy man, did I ever underestimate how particular and time-consuming creating your own files actually is!

The wins from the last couple of weeks:

I have been continuing to print, and I’ve started to play with a few different settings. I’ve tried some different brands of filament (still sticking with the trusty old PLA), and I’ve ventured out to PLA+ (which is supposed to be a little stronger – I have stuck to the basic PLA, and PLA matte thus far [as well as the colour-shifting PLA, obviously]). I haven’t run into any issues with filament just yet, which is a blessing.

I have also started some bigger prints, and multi-part prints, as seen below. The pumpkin took 16+ hours to print, which is the longest print I’ve done yet. And it’s funny – it’s not like I have to do anything but wait longer for the print to finish. But I hesitated on printing anything “too intense” until I felt a little more comfortable with the whole process, even if the printer itself is doing all of the heavy lifting…or…printing. Whichever. It all turned out beautifully, and I am still enjoying the process!

I also ventured into the world of prints that require supports (the little dragon and dino did as well, though they were quite minimal in comparison to the images below). My husband is a huge Star Wars fan – myself as well – and we recently purchased some orchids to try again.

I have a terrible past with orchids. Mainly, I buy them, they aren’t happy, and they die. It’s very tragic. I don’t like to talk about it.

Anyway, I haven’t tried them since we moved into our house, and I decided to give them another go. I have some grow lights I can throw them under as it gets darker, so why not?! My husband (while giving me daily updates on their continued health, and how it can’t last much longer) found this print on MakerWorld, and I couldn’t resist. It turned out really well, too! I’ll have to update a picture of the happy orchid (once I take one). Next week. But anyway, anytime you have an overhang (the current layer being printed is larger than the previous layer, so over a gap, expanding, where a chin appears on a dino, or wings on a dragon, etc.), the 3D printer needs support for the new layer, or it sags/falls, and will turn into a giant chaotic mess of filament. When a print has supports, you have to peel them off at the end, which isn’t too intense – they print much less dense than the actual piece, so they are easy to pull off – but this particular one had a LOT of supports, so it was quite the process to get all the little pieces out. Very satisfying, though.

And because I know you’re probably wondering, the answer is yes, my children are still treating the printer (and me) like their personal toy factory. Our most recent print were some Shin-kal (the daggers that Zoe uses in KPOP Demon Hunters). Yes, my children are currently obsessed. I had some tri-coloured filament (which I did not realize was different from colour shifting), and you can see by the black stripe about halfway up that the filament twisted, which is how this filament changes colour. I added the tassels from Amazon, and ta-da! Hours of weapon-wielding fun at the ready.

The only downside is that my husband and I are usually the ones called upon to play the demons, so…you know. Some days, that’s easier than others.

The Cons from the last couple of weeks:

I overcommitted. Overextended. And this is not a new issue of mine – thus the name of this week’s post. Yet again, I find myself diving in over my head, and then scrambling to try and backtrack.

I’m still backtracking over this week’s “oops”.

I’ve been playing with TinkerCAD a bit, and (mistakenly) though I might just jump to the next thing, which is supposed to be a little more powerful. I signed up for Autodesk Fusion 360, grossly overestimating my abilities!

I can already see some of the limitations with TinkerCAD. Though is it great for getting started – it’s very clean and visual, though a bit formulaic when it comes to using the shapes. So I wandered. Alas. I allowed my curiosity to overcome my good sense – what little remains – and dove into what tools the “serious” designers use.

Spoiler alert: I still have training wheels. I am not anywhere near ready for anything stronger!

Fusion 360 looks promising, and maybe someday I will gain the confidence to re-engage with it, but there are so many menus, functions, and shortcuts that I was immediately paralyzed. I had a vision in my mind for what I wanted to create (see below, and I’ve linked the image to the actual creator), and tried to skip too many steps in order to get to the actual printing.

Lesson learned.

Anyway, these lovely tavern-style signs for your bookshelf are kind of an end-goal now. These are laser-cut, and I wanted to see if I could recreate something similar using a 3D printer. Having learned my lesson, I have gone back to TinkerCAD, and am going through SLOWLY to ensure I know what the heck I am doing before trying to dip my toes into deeper water.

Most current lesson: how to connect two shapes into one piece. Yeah!!

So, in summary: a lot of learning, a few small victories, a couple of epic fails, and one humbling reminder that there can be a lot more to 3D design than just hitting “print.”