Sep 21, 2014 | By Don Foley
Render of the Lantern project
This is part of Don's ongoing project to 3D print his backyard patio. Not all of it, of course, just the details. He built his beach side house about 3 years ago, but left his patio as a blank 16 foot x 30 foot concrete slap as a "project for the future. " The slab remains and has become 'this Fall's project.'
One of the key focal points to make the project a hit will be lighting. So on this project he'll create a lantern based on 18th century design. The goal won't be to provide the overall lighting, but ambient lighting accents. But it has to look good, so the REAL focus on this project is not simply building a cool lantern, but it will the challenge of making it LOOK like an old lantern, and also incorporating a real-world element (digital candle) that anyone can buy and put into the final build.
To that end, Don went to Amazon.com and looked up LED candles that would look natural, and then he'd build his lantern around it. Gotta love Amazon Prime, two days later, a set of candles arrived and they looked like they would be a perfect fit for the project.
Lantern build in Lightwave
Like all Don's models, he built this in Lightwave3D. The build wasn't too complex, but in terms of number of builds, it would be the most complex he's done to this point. Each lantern frame was designed to take up the maximum amount of space on the build plate to make the lantern large enough to hold the candles. So while it had six plate builds, only two of them (the top and the base) would take a long render. The design would be a base and top that would allow a slot-filling for the upper and lower portions, as well as a door that would fit into a pivoting hole. A ring would be mounted on the top, and each side would have an angled 'metal' bracket common for the period. These would normally enclose a glass rectangle, but for this project he'd just leave them empty.
Tool path in Simplify3D
After building the model in Lightwave, Don 'trippled' it to create triangle geometry, and then exported the file as an STL document. The resulting file was brought into Simplify3D, his go-to printer setup and slicing program. If the tool paths show a print will work, it will work. If they don't, they don't. This saves Don a lot of time in his production. The ability to set EVERY aspect of his printer is certainly a plus. For this print he is going a little looser. He set the print to go for a 0.20 mm layer height, and print at 3500 mm/minute. He usually prints at 0.10 and 2500 mm/minute, but this print is going to get a primer coat, and then a two final coats of metalic paint. With 6 panels to print, this doesn't hurt. After the base and the top print, the sides take just over an hour each. Since Don wants at least five of these lanterns printed, and none of them will be examined closely, this seems like a good call.
The top print, Don's original Wanhao Duplicator 4 printed the top and the base.
So the printing begins. Don, fortunately, has four 3D printers. For this print he'll use three of his printers to crank out the artwork, while using the 4th for daily work. It seemed like it would be a good test to see if all the printers could handle the same tight specs, but come out with equal results. One printer is an original Wanhao Duplicator 4 that has almost 2000 hours on it. He used his two new Duplicator 4S printers to do the sides. They had just proven themselves for the first part of the backyard patio project with the Block and Tackle builds. This would be their second print.
Don's Duplicator 4, where it all began
Don's first machine, his Duplicator 4 deserves a note of respect here. Don certainly abused this machine when he first bought it…and didn't exactly know how to keep it alive at first. One of the first things he did was to tear it apart and reassemble it so he could understand how it works. He had just gotten into the 3D printing world and felt very much out-of-the-water. Nine months later, his first machine is still producing fantastic prints. The only reason to add more printers to the studio is because 3D printing is NOT a speed sport. It is not unusual for Don to build a model in an hour that takes 20 hours to print. But this Duplicator 4 has done a great job, and continues to do so.
Assembled lantern
The top and base took about 8 hours to print each, but they were probably over-built to give them a little more mass. The sides and the door took less than 2 hours for each to print. The final build was assembled with Superglue. But the project isn't done yet! The two main tasks of this project is to incorporate a readily available part, and to alter the material so it doesn't look like plastic.
Candles
This lantern isn't designed to hold a real candle, the heat would probably warp the plastic and might even create a fire hazard. There are many candles that would fit this project, the candles Don bought from Amazon had a 3″ base and varied from 4 to 6 inches tall. Don bought the candles first so he could design the lantern to make sure the candles would fit. The pack of 3 candles, with a remote control, cost $19. They did not come with batteries. The candles are LED, and the reviews said that the batteries would last a long time. The remote has a timer feature that turns off the candles after 4 or 8 hours.
Primer coat applied
Time to paint! Don is using the Modern Masters Metal Effects paint for this project. He plans to paint it with the primer first, then the Bronze paint, the blue patina activator and then their final layer, Permacoat. The goal is to make the chunk of plastic look like an aged piece of bronze. Don always keeps a handful of bamboo skewers on hand when painting. Two of them on a painting surface makes a great platform when painting, and they are easy to 'roll' to keep the paint from drying solid. Above is the assembled print with the primer coat, which also helps fill in some of the 'layering' from printing.
Bronze paint
The next step is to put on a second coat of bronze paint, and before it dries, apply the blue (or green if you'd like) patina activator. You won't find in-between photos here, because Don doesn't want to put an item with wet paint into his photo booth. After applying the patina paint effect it's a matter of sitting back and watching the item slowly gain it's new color. When you're happy with it, you paint on the Permacolor coat. This stops the activation process and also seals the paint.
The final print with the blue patina on bronze
The final result, a nice bronze lantern. Technically, although it is mostly plastic, the outer layer is real bronze, so you just printed a bronze lantern! This will be a welcome addition to the backyard patio that Don is 3D printing!
The final print is available for at Don's 3D store here.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Fantastic work Don! I to love using Lightwave3D for most of my 3d print designs.
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