Dec 27, 2018 | By Cameron
Every maker’s 3D printer is working overtime around the holidays as family and friends request trinkets, figurines, and custom name tags. But arguably, the most popular Christmas-time objects to 3D print are ornaments. Some designers go to extremes by incorporating moving parts into their 3D printed ornaments; Sean Hodgins is one of those designers. He collaborated with Mark Rober on the Karma Glitter Bomb, so he’s not new to mechanical complexity in small packages. Sean took the 3D printed ornament to the next level by 3D printing an ornament that 3D prints other ornaments.
By salvaging the stepper motor and carriage of a DVD player, Sean was able to fashion together a tiny SLA (stereolithography) 3D printer that fits in what looks like a traditional globe ornament. UV LED-powered SLA printers cure entire layers of resin all at once by projecting a black and white image of each cross-section onto the bottom of the vat. As such, they have only one moving part (the Z axis) so they’re the optimal 3D printer to miniaturize.
The 3D printing ornament is controlled by an Adafruit Feather M0 and a custom PCB LCD driver. Considering that Sean put only two weeks into this project AND that he had never operated or even seen an SLA 3D printer in person before building the SLA ornament, I’d say the prints came out beautifully. Dentists won’t be using the ornament to 3D print crowns, but the snowflake and Youtube logo are easy enough to make out. Other makers can build their own 3D printing ornaments by following the instructions on Sean’s GitHub page, but first, watch the video.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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