3D printed "Elektro" coin

[haknslash 763]

A member from Reddit (u/IvanStroganov) was kind enough to provide me an STL file of the coin he had made and metalized. I wanted to see how my Formlabs 3D printer would handle the fine details in his model. Here is the result....

 

 

I ran into issues printing the other side of the coin due to how SLA printers rely on support structures to help support the part as the resin is solidified as opposed to FDM which uses a different support material altogether. I may have to make this in two pieces so I can print both sides in fine detail without support structures messing it up. But here is one side of the coin showing the Elektro sign (http://orcz.com/images/thumb/d/d8/Elektrozavodsksymboldayz.jpg/400px-Elektrozavodsksymboldayz.jpg). Pretty cool and a very nice model he made

 

Please go check out his post if you haven't seen it already.

Edited September 1, 2015 by haknslash

[CornProducts 315]

SLA?  That coin looks more like FDM to me.

 

You could try printing it suspended with tabs that you could break it out of?

 

I dunno. All my experience is with FDM printers, which would have both sides done with no problems in 2 hours. Is Ivan willing to share the .stl file more?

[haknslash 763]

SLA?  That coin looks more like FDM to me.

 

You could try printing it suspended with tabs that you could break it out of?

 

I dunno. All my experience is with FDM printers, which would have both sides done with no problems in 2 hours. Is Ivan willing to share the .stl file more?

All 3D printers will have "stair stepping".

 

I'm using a Formlabs SLA printer which took less than 2 hours to print at medium resolution (0.05 mm). Tabs I don't think would help as I'd still have to make a support structure to support the resin as it's solidifying. I'll have to get creative if I want to have a high resolution clean print on both sides but I'll try and figure something out. It can be done, I just need to change my orientation and method of approach.

 

You can get an idea how SLA printers use supports by watching this vid I made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dh4cYug5XI. It's completely different than FDM where you have a separate support material that gets washed or melted away in post. The end result of SLA is higher resolution and often stronger parts than FDM but the trade-off is more involved post processing and sometimes a limitation in detail on both sides like a coin, due to support structure leaving marks that need to be sanded away.

 

While FDM may be easier to print parts like this because they use a support material and a post process that is far less involved, they serve no use to me other than to make a desk ornament. They just don't have the strength or precision I need for my parts. I looked at many different printers and technologies and after having tested many prints, SLA just works best for me. Take the image below for example. The part on the far right is an FDM printed part while the black and clear are SLA printed parts. The FDM can't take any real-world stress loads or it will flake and break off in chunks whereas the SLA parts actually allow me to test for form, fit and function.

 

Edited September 1, 2015 by haknslash

[CornProducts 315]

I dig how SLA work. I should have said my hands on experience is only with the FDM. Also FDM models have some structural strength. They are ABS plastic after all. I've made functional wrenches for odd custom fasteners as well as structural supports for R/C planes. The flaky weak models are the ones that use binders to bind powder together. Those ones are the glorified paper weights.

 

I might boot up solidworks tonight and see if I can't figure out some snapping tabs, or maybe some rotary locking thingy like what you would see on your headlight lamps. I think your solution might be in making the coin assemble. No guarantees though. I'm pretty flaky too.   :P

[S3V3N 1402]

I'm really interested in the whole 3D printing thing, as I 3D-Model and keep thinking about tinkering with printing. However, the printers that seem reasonable are really expensive. The SLA quality looks awesome. Is there any forums you guys could recommend to get started with? I'd like to maybe find someone that's interested in printing some stuff that I model and going from there; I'd also model something they want to print. 3D printing is crazy stuff and definitely has tons of potential. 

[haknslash 763]

Just finished modeling the Elektro sign, well it's about 90% done, but you get the point ;). This will be a desktop convo piece I think. :)

 

Edited September 1, 2015 by haknslash

[CornProducts 315]

Is that Autocad 2015 I spy?

[haknslash 763]

Is that Autocad 2015 I spy?

Hell no!!! I hate AutoCAD with a passion!!   >:(  :lol:

 

I use Autodesk Inventor for this.  :thumbsup:

Edited September 2, 2015 by haknslash