Lizzie Edwards Project 3 - 3D Printer

Process

To create our own 3D models we once again used Fusion 360, but this time we used the Sculpt workspace. In this mode we can push and pull things rather than inputting dimensions. The process of making this model was pretty simple because you really just work at the shape until it looks the way you want. I followed a video to make sure I was doing everything right, especially because I had to reset the pivot point basically every time I sculpted a section of my model. I had a complete model finished, but when I went to print, the whole thing broke. I tried everything I could to recover it, but I ended up having to go back to one of my previous saves and start over from there. Next we had to move our model from Fusion to the Bambu printers. This part was really easy because it is simply uploading the file in Bambu. I set a few parameters for scaling and then printed. After this all I had to do was make sure the printer was doing what it should and remove my model from the printer.

This is the shape I started with.

The base of the shark body. Honestly it is a little unsettling...

The (second, not broken) final version of the shark.

Uploading my model to be printed.

The start of the printing process.

Result

I knew I wanted to make some kind of animal or creature, so I spent a lot of time online trying to find the best animal. I wanted to do a cat but sculpting upward seemed more difficult to me. I decided on a whale shark because I think they are so cool and I did not think it would be that hard to sculpt since it is a long body, similar to the model car tutorial. There was a lot of trial and error trying to make the shape accurate but still printable. I had multiple photos from different angles of whale sharks so I could try to get the placement of all the fins correct. I am very happy with how it turned out, even if my final shark was not the original one I was going to print. I am actually glad I had to start from a previous save because I repositioned some fins and the eyes. 

My final whale shark.

Reflection

My failures during this project were very difficult to navigate. My final shark that I thought was ready to print was first folded in on itself. I thought I had fixed all the issues, but then I got a new error message that said the T-spline was broken somehow. We never were able to figure this out, but thankfully I had a previous version saved that was not too far behind my final model. I made sure that what I had for this version would not break when I said finish form. It worked, so I remembered the steps I took for the last shark model I made and started from that point. Since I already knew exactly what I was doing, it only took me about 20 minutes. I was super proud of this. If I use Fusion 360 for sculpting again, I know now to be more careful with what I am modifying and how I am doing it. The thing that might have made me fail was not setting the pivot point in later steps. I still do not think I could make any shape I want, but I have a very good starting place from hours spent on this project.