Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
The desktop 3D printing community has a
lot to learn from the sculptors, model rail-
road builders, and tabletop gamers now
joining their ranks. And as my professors
pointed out, these extra steps aren't just cos-
metic. Your capacity to transform your mod-
els into “magical” replicas is a crucial means
of communicating your inventions.
enough to create a strong weld between two
pieces of plastic that was difficult to break
apart by hand. With the Spin Welder toy, chil-
dren assembled the frames of helicopters,
motorcycles, and other projects by fusing
together beams and struts, then used plastic
rivets to fasten the outer shell. Sure, it was
potentially one of the most dangerous toys
of all time, but I agree with Fran's conclusion:
why haven't tools like these joined the mak-
er's toolbox?
Tricks of the Trade
Desktop 3D printing has yet to spawn third-
party finishing services like commercial 3D
printing did a decade ago. So, without access
to acetone cloud chambers, multiaxis enam-
el jet robots, agitating chemical baths, and
industrial tumblers and polishers, makers
have rolled up their sleeves and discovered
a host of finishing solutions using inexpen-
sive tools and materials. These methods not
only affect a print in post-production, but
can often change the way we think about a
digital model back in the initial design
stages.
In researching my upcoming topic
Design for
3D Printing
(MAKE, 2013), I've interviewed a
wide range of members of the desktop 3D
printer community. I'd like to share some of
their promising tools and techniques. In
turn, I hope that those of you refining new
methods and sourcing better, safer, and
cheaper products and techniques will also
share.
Unlike adhesives or traditional welding, fric-
tion welding fuses metal or thermoplastic
objects together by quickly spinning or vi-
brating one piece against another. Mechan-
ical friction creates a melt zone shared by
both parts, fusing them into one solid piece.
In friction surfacing—a variant of friction
welding—a piece rotated at high speed is
moved across an edge or surface under gen-
tle pressure to weld seams, patch gaps, or
smooth surfaces.
These techniques are common for plastics
and aluminum in the automotive and aero-
space industries, but the tools are expensive.
Sophisticated spin welders can spin parts at
hundreds of thousands of RPMs for short
bursts of even single-digit rotations, parking
the fused part at a precise orientation. Where
are the cheap, hand-tool equivalents?
As it turns out, many of us already have the
equipment to experiment with friction weld-
ing. Dremels and similar high-speed rotary
tools spin fast enough to melt 3D printer
plastics, and printer filament can be used as
welding “rod” to solidly fuse parts or close
seams. These tools can also spin-weld 3D-
printed rivets. And while it takes them a sec-
ond or two to spin down again, the melting
points are comparatively low, allowing for
some manipulation after the fact to reposi-
tion the joined part.
Friction Welding
The world may have forgotten the Spin
Welder toy sold by Mattel in the mid-1970s,
but Fran Blanche of Frantone Electronics did
a great job of recreating the experience in
her 2012 video “Build Your Own Friction
Welder.” Using an inexpensive rotary tool,
Fran was able to spin a styrene rod fast
