The lab just opened less than a month ago, and aside from open hours, they also will set up appointments to meet with people anytime during the day. They have two Makerbot Replicator +, machines which are fairly large, and faster than the older models at the other 3d lab in the library system. Both of the labs allow you to print without cost, although they do recommend that users donate filament if they are using the labs frequently.
After a bit of an adventure finding parking, I met with the assistant librarian in charge of the lab, and loaded up a model I created in TinkerCAD. This model is a building facade, designed to fit three buildings wide on a 8 inch frontage. In actual terrain building, I would probably cast these in plaster, and attach them to a carcass for strength. As the model is not very large, it printed in approximately three hours, most of which time I was absent reading a book.
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| First layers of the raft being laid out |
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| About an hour later |
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| Final product, still with raft |
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| Detached from raft, and compared to my usual test figure |
Time to print ~3 hours (and about 10 minutes to set up)
Material used (with raft) 43g
Material used (without raft) 26g
Cost of a 1kg spool of PLA ~$22
Cost to print this model (if I paid for material) $0.95
Actual cost: $20 for parking
Comparative Shapeways cost: $21.89
Now I want to finish this model with some sanding and filling, and ultimately see how well it casts. As I have another dozen or so models already finished in TinkerCAD, I am already trying to figure out when to go down to the library again...
1 comment:
Pretty cool. I'm a big fan of the creative and DIY aspects of the hobby.
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