Design for 3D printing
3D PRINTING, layers of fun. Literally
Welcome back to BLOG #3 of my Chemical Product Design Journey. And this time, as I promised a more entertaining and amusing BLOG#3 in BLOG#2, you can probably infer from my usual witty title I'll be sharing more about 3D printing and my thoughts on it as a whole as well as my experience with designing artifacts.
3D printing or additive manufacturing has been around since the 1980s with the earliest form of it being stereolithography commonly known as SLA. In this process, a curable resin is hardened with a precise UV laser building the desired object from top to bottom as the build platform slowly rises out of the resin bath. SLA printers boast a high degree of accuracy allowing for tighter tolerances and excellent resolution on the final print with smooth and highly detailed surface finishes. However, given that SLA printing resin can prove to be rather expensive and the brittle and weak nature of resin means that SLA prints are unsuitable for use cases that involve any mechanical stress or loads hence serving more as a good cosmetic prototype for presentation purposes rather than for actual in-field uses cases. Fortunately, there have been many breakthroughs since the 1980s, and 3D printing has only grown more accessible and cheaper with many consumer-grade fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers becoming available to interested hobbyists. Enabling many to experiment with new designs and create prototypes from the comfort of their own homes which in turn has given rise to online communities where these hobbyists share their creations and resources further fuelling the growth and popularity of 3D printing.
FDM 3D printers have a similar working principle to SLA printers but instead of precisely curing photosensitive resin. Thermoplastic, typically polylactic acid plastic (PLA) is melted and extruded through a nozzle onto a build platform layer by layer until the 3D shape is formed. The tough and impact-resistant nature of PLA means that prints are suitable to be deployed in practical applications as they can withstand substantial loads and stress. This property coupled with the fact that PLA is cheaper typically than photosensitive resin makes FDM 3D printing the choice for many hobbyists and professionals alike.
If designing your products and prototypes is something that appeals to you, maybe 3D printing is a hobby for you. With resources like Thingiverse where people share their unique designs and creations. It is more accessible than ever so do consider looking into it.
I was going to add a layer of humor to this section title, but I ran out of filament.
If reading that entire paragraph above had bored you half to death, you're probably not alone. So to further illustrate just how powerful 3D printing is I'll showcase some cool real-world applications of 3D printing and some new and upcoming developments in 3D printing that will hopefully prove to be more entertaining.
3D PRINTED HOUSES
Imagine one day being able to design your own house's layout and every other intricate detail about it and then having it built not in a matter of months but days. What if I told you that day happened a long time ago and this is an actual thing that is possible in today's era? Even more unbelievably, they're way cheaper than regular housing!
3D printed houses are houses that are built layer by layer using an industrial-grade 3D printer that looks like a giant robot arm that dispenses a blend of ingredients that are suitable for housing through a nozzle (sound familiar?), typically a blend of cement is utilized but it may range from special polymers and even bio-resins depending on the use case.
Check out this video by ART Insider if you wanna learn more about the process behind the creation of such housing. With the rate at which HDB prices are increasing, they're probably our best shot at ever owning a house.
3D PRINTED ORGANS
Picture this, you've been a bit of a slob for a decade or five and now you've ended up with a failing liver and your kidneys are a few sodas away from giving up. Truly tragic, but now imagine a future where we'll have had the required breakthroughs in bioprinting. instead of having to live on a prayer, we'll be able to cook up a new and bespoke set of organs just for you with virtually no chance of rejection.
Sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi novel, doesn't it? But it's actually on its way to becoming a reality. Bioprinting is a process where tissue and organs can be printed using Bioink which is made up of the patient's cells, alongside other support cells and proteins that mimic the function and structure of the natural organ or tissue that is being printed.
While it is in the process of becoming a reality with certain implantable tissues being available and implantable today, printing full internal organs is still more than 20 years away from clinical trials. Smaller organs are about 15 to 20 years away with some small trials being done currently. Until then, we'll have to maintain a healthy lifestyle to take care of our current set of organs. So next time you order your Kopi or Teh consider opting for Siew Dai
Here's a short video about 3D-printed organs being used in organ transplants by the BBC for those interested in learning more
3D PRINTED FOOD
We've all tried the horrible sandwich machine at a hospital before, you know which one I'm talking about. $2.50 for a sandwich that is less than mediocre. The audacity of this machine is something that will forever be etched into my memory. Hopefully, in the future, all of these can be replaced with food 3D printers capable of printing anything you desire. A5 Wagyu steak, McSpicy, Buddha jump over-the-wall soup, Nasi Padang, or anything to satiate the cravings of your soul. These food 3D printers are still like the other abovementioned applications very much in their infancy. However, they are also the most promising, making use of liquefied or powdered ingredients that are extruded layer by layer onto a plate (sound familiar?) to create any pre-programmed food options within the machine. These printers are interesting as they allow for seemingly unlimited food options fed the correct ingredients. However, in its current state 3D printed food is far from being a gastronomical delight, and only small-scale foods such as candies and chocolates have proven to be successful. Below is a video from Adam Savage's Tested showcasing a commercial food 3D printer. Do check it out if you're interested.
These are just some of the applications I found to be the most interesting. There are many more I haven't covered in this section such as medical devices, prosthetics, musical instruments, and even 3D Printed art. I do encourage those who are interested to check out more of the bleeding-edge technologies that are powered by 3D printing.
Why did the 3D printer fail its assignment? Because it PLA-giarised!
Finally, now that you guys are hopefully better acquainted with 3D printing and its general applications, use cases, and working principles, I can start to share about my pilgrimage to becoming the Michelangelo of 3D modeling.
My task was clear, to create a tag that can be easily installed onto the bottles of bottled water typically provided during events, to make the bottle stand out and be easily distinguishable when placed in an ocean of identical bottles. However, the path to completing this task was not so clear. The only dimensional constraint is that my tag must be flexible enough to fit bottles with a neck diameter of 28mm to 33mm. Not knowing where to start, I took to the interwebs to find inspiration and sample bottles to base my design on.
Based on my personal experience having attended many public events like open houses and ministerial talks, these are the most commonly provided type of bottles provided during such events and are why I chose to base my design on them.
Remember that website Thingiverse I mentioned earlier in that blog, being an amateur 3D modeler/designer it provided a crucial source of inspiration to show me what was possible and what sort of designs work for other people. I'll credit a few of them below here as they helped get me thinking with a designer's frame of mind.
Here's the first design that appealed to me and my use case as he's using a common soda bottle as a demonstration, which is relatively close to my use case of bottled water bottles.
The designer, Stibo uses his design to clip onto the bungee cord of his surfboard. Helping him stay hydrated while on the waves, pretty cool isn't it?
The second design that was interesting to me, was relatively similar to the first one with the mounting mechanism being a clip wrapping around the neck of the bottle. However, in addition to that, he's included a handle that may be used to hold onto the bottle or to be hung on the user's belt or waistband making stowing away the bottle much more convenient.
The designer responsible for this design is Ellipsis_Design, he's made many other cool designs like a charger holder and even a utility knife so do check him out.
After being sufficiently inspired and having a better comprehension of the dimensions I would be working with, I embarked on my journey to start designing my bespoke variant of this simple yet endlessly convenient tool. My design would combine the best ideas from both of my inspirations. The mounting mechanism is the same as snugly clipping onto the neck of the bottle with an extruded portion but instead of clipping onto a surfboard or hanging off the user's belt/waistband, it would serve as a place to attach a carabiner or lanyard, which are also typically provided during such events which is why it made the most sense to me to include as an addition.
Step 1: I started by sketching out the general shape of the clip itself and the additional protrusion for the carabiner/lanyard using simple circles and lines.
Step 2: I then used the trim tool to cut away excess portions so that it would be easier to extrude the shape I wanted.
Step 3: I extruded the final shape up by 5mm to get a look at my first full prototype and et voila. There it was
Technically I could have stopped here and called it a day. I'm pretty sure it would've functioned fine. Alas, how could I end my pilgrimage so early I have much more to see and do. So let's just call this one Prototype #1 and see what else we can do.
Back to the drawing board, I went back and examined the designs from my inspirations to see what else I could add. I decided to add those extra bumps around the clip to increase its security, as well as add a small recession so that the small extruded portion of the plastic bottle's neck may fit nicely.
Step 5: Adding to and redesigning the sketch. I once again did this by adding basic shapes such as circles and rectangles then using the trim tool to clean it up
Before and after adding shapes and cleaning up with the trim tool. The small rectangle allows the ring portion to be slightly more flexible to accommodate bottles with bigger neck sizes
Step 5: Extrude the Original shape out and include the recessed circle.
To do so, repeat step 3 but include a new sketched circle from the same centerpoint that is 33mm in diameter.
After repeating step 3 you should end up with something that looks like this
For the recessed circle. Click on the circle and press extrude. But ensure that the start is from the top layer of the clip and that it is going down into the clip by 2.5mm, also ensure that the operation is Cut so it cuts into the clip creating the desired recessed circle
And finally, you should end up with the finished product which I am proud to say is my final prototype. Seriously, I could not think of anything else to add to this thing. But then again this is simply part of my genius design philosophy inspired by Occam's Razor
Additional notes:
I had considered simply fileting the entire initial shape to create a better
finish on the product and remove the need for the recessed portion in the center but after putting it into Cura and slicing it I realised it would require a bunch of redundant supports that would be a pain to clean up post-print. Hence I opted for the flatter design to negate the need for support.
This experience highlighted the importance of keeping in mind the limitations of FDM 3D printing while designing your product. Knowing what parts of your design need will need support and then weighing whether it may be possible to eliminate the portion entire or redesign it in a manner that does not require support is a great way to optimise your print times without sacrificing print resolution or infill.
Here's the embed of my final design. If you so desire to have a look at it yourself. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
With that, we have finally come to the end of BLOG #3. Thank you for sticking by to the end, this one winded up being much longer than I anticipated it to be. Turns out I have a lot to yap about when it comes to 3D printing, I hope at least some small portion of my somewhat coherent rambling proved to be entertaining, made you laugh, or got you interested in 3D printing and modeling. Stay tuned for BLOG #4, I'm hoping it'll be even more entertaining than this one. Once again, much appreciation for reading and I hope to have you here again soon!
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