[KwartzLab] 3D printer progress - August 2nd and beyond

[doug moen]

You start with a 3D model, for which the standard representation is an
STL file.  You can download these from thingiverse, or scan an object
in a 3D scanner to create a model.  Two popular 3D model editors are
Google Sketchup and Blender (Sketchup relies on plugins to import and
export STL, and is not open source, but has a better UI).

Then you convert the 3D model to a "skein", which is the essentially
the path that the printhead takes moving through 3 dimensional space
to print the object.  This is represented by a GCODE file.  The
conversion from a 3D model (made of polygons) to a skein is
non-trivial, and there are lots of parameters you can tweak to improve
the quality of your print.  Again, there are a number of software
packages for this.  I'm planning to start out with Skeinforge, which
seems to be popular, even though the UI is horrendous.

Then you send your GCODE file to the printer.

Doug.

On 5 August 2011 17:26, Chris Bruner <cbruner at quadro.net> wrote:
> What software steps are needed in order to setup the correct gerber? files.
> If I have stl can they be used?
>
> On 8/5/2011 4:45 PM, Kevin Martin wrote:
>>
>> > From now on, I will be posting 3D printer information at the Kwartzlab
>> > blog http://www.kwartzlab.ca/category/blog/.
>> As Alex has already posted, we actually managed to get some things printed
>> this week!
>>
>> -Kevin Martin
>>  the Papertrail Handmade Paper&  Book Arts
>>  New Dundee, Ontario
>>  518-884-7123
>>  www.papertrail.ca
>>
>>
>>
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