Book Image

Blender 3D Printing Essentials

Book Image

Blender 3D Printing Essentials

Overview of this book

Like computing, 3D printing has been around for decades but it was expensive and was only used for making complex prototypes. Now, prices have dropped and third-party printing services such as Shapeways have become available, making the technology available to everyone.Blender is an open source modeling and animation program popular in the 3D printing community. 3D printing demands more of a modeler than animation or virtual reality. The model maker must engineer their model to work in the real world. They must keep in mind the particular needs of the materials and printers that they are planning to use to print their model. This practical guide gives Blender users all the information they need to design high-quality 3D printed objects. With a solid exploration of the 3D modeling process, design considerations for 3D printing, plus step-by-step exercises, you will soon be comfortable making 3D objects for real-world enjoyment. Starting with an overview of 3D printing, this guide moves onto to precision measurement, fixing problems in a 3D model, and how to make it light and strong enough for real-world use.You will learn how to scale, build, and detail a model for a 3D printer. You will learn to color and decorate it, as well as making parts precisely in the size you want them, so that multi-part objects fit together smoothly. You will also learn tips on saving money when you have printed your model.With the help of this guide, you will be able to complete your project and learn how to export the file so it is ready for a variety of 3D printers.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

The Peachy printer


Well, I said I wouldn't recommend any printers, and I won't. But, the Peachy printer deserves a special mention in this book for three reasons. One, it has no stepper motors. Two, it's the only 3D printer I have heard of that actually uses Blender as the printer driver. Three, it uses the Blender files as object files.

It is a vat photo polymerization system. Instead of stepper motors, the laser beam is controlled in the X and Y axes by a sound form generated in Blender that moves two mirrors. The Z axis is controlled by a salt water drip system. The dripping is monitored to tell Blender which Z depth the printer is working on and the salt water is used to float the resin so that the resin rises to surround the part of the object that is being formed at that moment. It should be on the market as of April 2014.