3D Printing And Quarantine Boredom

When the first Covid-19 lockdown started I didn't know what to expect. Little did I know that what was ahead of me was endless boredom for 2 months. Since I don't have a gaming computer I didn't have a limitless time sink to just get absorbed into. So I was forced to find some creative way to spend my free time. After a some days my father brought me a relatively cheap 3D printer that he had purchased to assist him in his work in the army's Technical Corp. However he didn't know how to use it and suggested that I give it a try. After doing some research on the internet I found out how fun and easy it is to work with this unknown to me machine. What surprised the most me is how big the 3D printing online community is, with lots of designers and hobbyists creating 3D projects and freely sharing them with each other. This inspired me to try and learn 3D modeling to create my own 3D prints.

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How I Started And My Progress

First thing I had to do was to find a suitable slicer. Slicers are programs that convert a 3D object into layers which then the 3D printer reads as comamnds to create the object. The one that run the best on my cheap laptop and I personally liked the most was Cura by Ultimaker. The material I first used, and have been using ever since, is PLA (Polylactic acid) which is the most commonly used material in 3D printers because of its cheapness and ease of use. My first ever print was a small white ball. After I got more confident I started printing small decorations and trinkets from movies and videogames that I downloaded from the internet. At some point the printer had to fulfill the job it was purchased for, which was to assist in my father's projects. So it happened that my father needed an enclosure for a printed circuit board he had built which I had to design from scratch using the 3D design program Blender. After that I have created numerous more enclosures but my biggest achievement so far has to be my project for 2nd semester's Technical Writing, Presentation and Terminology of Foreign Language class. Even though it wasn't mandatory, I decided to design and create a Passive Signal Amplifier, which after extensive testing proved to be functional. Since the start of the second Covid-19 lockdown I have started working with the CAD program SolidWorks, which is more commonly used in the electronics industry than Blender.

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Websites And Programs That I Use

• WEBSITES: Thingiverse and Yeggi
• 3D DESIGN PROGRAMS: Solidworks and Blender
• SLICING PROGRAMS: Ultimaker Cura
• MY 3D PRINTER: Creality Ender 3 Pro

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>>If you want me to 3D print something for you there are ways to contact me below