Blog Entry 4

Practical 5:

Hellooo!! Welcome back to my blog👋 Today I will be documenting my journey in creating an egg drop protector for the egg drop challenge My egg protector consists of two layers. One is the inner layer of the egg protector which is made by my teammate, Sook Yee (You can view her blog by clicking on this link for more information on the inner layer of the egg protector). In this blog, I will be sharing with you guys on how the outer layer of the egg protector is made which is created by me, and also the 3D printing workflow starting from creating a design using fusion 360, converting files to the files that are needed for 3D print, setting up the 3D printer and also shutting down the printer. I am also sharing some of the difficulties that I faced during the printing and also how I troubleshoot it. So here is how I did it!

This blog will be covering:

(a) How to create a design in fusion 360

(b) Save design to STL file

(c) Download and Set up cura. (you can skip this step if you have already downloaded cura)

(d) Import the STL file into cura

(e) Slicing the STL file into layers using cura

(f) Converting the layers into gcode file for the 3D printer

(g) Set up the 3D printer for printing

(h) Printing of 3D object

(i) Shutdown the 3D printer

(j) Egg drop

Before I start, let me show you how the outer layer of the egg protector looks like:

So yeah let's get started!👻

Part (a): How to create the outer layer of egg protector in fusion 360

Bottom part of the egg protector:

Step 1: Click "Create Sketch" on the first tab from the left of the top bar --> Click "2-point Rectangle" --> Select plane --> click on the center point and extend your mouse out. --> specify 55mm by 55mm dimension --> click enter --> click "finish sketch" on the top right hand corner.

Step 2: Click "extrude" on the second tab of the top bar --> Select the sketch --> put in 42.5mm for the distance --> click "ok" button

This is what it looks like after you extrude 42.5mm

Step 3: On the left side, there is a "browser" bar. Click the eye looking icon under bodies to hide it. --> Click "create sketch" --> Click "2-point rectangle" --> measure a 45mm by 45mm square in the middle of the 55mm by 55mm square. --> Click "Finish Sketch"

Step 4: "Click extrude" --> Select the 45mm by 45mm face --> Specify distance of -37.5mm--> Click "Ok" button 

This is what you should see after extruding -37.5mm

Step 5: Hide all the bodies but leave the sketches on. Watch the video below on how to sketch out the thin blocks

Step 6: Click "Extrude" --> Select the thin rectangular sketch --> specify -42.5mm to extrude --> click "ok"

This is what it should look like after you extrude -42.5 mm

Step 7: Repeat step 5 & 6 for the rest of the thin block. Surround the square blocks with these small thin blocks. It should look like the picture shown below after you finished sketching and extruding all the thin blocks.

❗The quantity of the thin blocks on each side doesn't matter. Just agar gar equal can already.

❗The gaps between each thin block should be roughly the same.

Copy paste the above design to another page for the top part of the egg protector.

Step 1: Hide all the bodies of your design. Make sure all your sketches are shown. --> highlight all the sketches --> Right click your mouse --> click "copy"

Step 2: open up a brand new page in fusion --> Click "create sketch" --> Right click on the center pivot --> Click "Paste"

👉After you are done with everything, from step 1 to 7 from the "bottom part of egg protector" section,  Watch the below video to view how the holes on 4 sides are made.

yayy we are done with the bottom part of the egg shell protector.👍

Let's move on to the top part of the egg shell protector:

Step 1: Click open the page where you copy pasted the bottom part of the design.

Step 2: Click "Extrude" --> Select everything --> Specify the distance to be -42.5mm --> click enter

Step 3: Click "create sketch" --> Select plane--> click "2-point rectangle"--> specify the dimensions to be 45mm by 45mm (make sure that the distance between the big square and small square is 5mm apart). --> Click enter.

Step 4: Click "Extrude" --> Select the smaller square--> Specify the distance to be -37.5mm --> Click enter.

It should look the same as the bottom part

Step 5: Watch the video below to learn how to draw the circle for all the corners 

Step 6: Click "extrude" --> Select the circle that you have created --> specify the distance to be 20mm.  --> Click enter

Step 7: repeat step 5 and 6 for the other 3 circles.

We are finally done with the top part of the egg protector and your final design of the top should look like this

After finish the designing part, let's move on to part (b) on how to export the design into STL file.

Part (b): How to save to STL file:

Step 1: Go to files on the top left-hand corner and click "Export"

Step 2: Select type --> Click STL Files (*.stl) --> Click Save

Part (c): Download and set up cura:

Step 1: Download CURA from google chrome.

Step 2: Select your operating system.

Step 3: Open Cura --> Click "Sign in" on the top right-hand corner --> Click "Create a Free Ultimaker account". (if you already had an account, just click "sign in" and fill in your details).

Step 4: Click the Top-left hand corner tab beside the file logo to add printer. --> click the "add printer" button.

Step 5: click the "add a non-networked printer".

Step 6: Select "Ultimaker S3" under Ultimaker B.V. and Select "Creality Ender-3" under Creality 3D

Step 7: Click on the "Add" button at the bottom right-hand corner.

Step 8: Click "Next" (DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THE SETTING)

Part (d): Import the STL file into cura

Step 1: Click the file logo on the top left-hand corner.

Step 2: Select the stl file that you export from Fusion 360 --> click "open"

Part (e) Slicing the STL file into layers using cura:

Step 1: Once the stl file imported, click the settings on the top left-hand corner 

Step 2: Adjust the setting of the infill density-->10%, infill pattern -->Tri-hexagon, Print speed --> 150mm/s, build plate adhesion --> skirt. (other setting just remain as it is)

Step 3: Ensure that the printer that you going to use is selected.

Step 4: Click the "slice" button at the bottom right-hand corner to view the estimated time needed to print 

Part (f): Converting the layers into gcode file for the 3D printer

Step 1: After slicing it, Click save the "save to disk" button

Step 2: Save the file to G-code file (*.gcode) --> click "Save".

Step 3: Insert SD card into your laptop and save the gcode file in the SD card.

Part (g): Set up the 3D printer (creality) for printing

Step 1: Find a roll of filament, and make sure that it is PLA filament. --> On switch of the heater for the filament. --> put the filament in the heater --> allow the filament to heat up for at least 30 mins. 

Step 2: While waiting for the filament to heat up, turn on the switch of the printer located at the back of the printer. 

Step 3: On the display screen of the printer, select control--> nozzle temperature: 200 degree celcius --> bed temperature: 70 degree celcius --> Fan speed: 225

Step 4: After heating the filament for 30mins, pull the filament through the hole that is pointed with an arrow sticker

Step 5: Press the lever and Feed the filament through the feed hole until you see filament coming out from the nozzle.

 👉

Step 6: Insert in the SD card where you saved your gcode file in.

Step 7: On the display screen of the printer, select "print" 

Step 8: Turn the knob to select the Gcode file that you saved in the SD card and press "print"

Step 9: Wait for the printer to print

Part (h):  Printing of 3D object

❗After the base is printed out and you think it is stable, you can navigate the knob on the printer to increase the printing speed. Select "tune" --> Printing speed. Increase the printing speed slowly. Eg: by 5mm/s. 

Here's a time-lapse of how my egg protector was made:

You should see the screen on the control panel that wrote 100% once it's complete.

❗Do the same thing for the other half of the egg protector.

(i) Shutdown the 3D printer:

Step 1: Off the switch of the heater for the filament.

Step 2: Allow the printer to cool down 

Step 3: Off the switch of the printer that is located at the back of the printer.

And TADA!! we are done with 3D printing✌ Below are some pictures, videos, and embedded files of the egg protector.

For more information on the inner layer of the egg protector, click the link here to visit my team member, Sook Yee's blog to have a more in-depth tutorial on the inner layer of the protector. 

Embedded files of the egg protector:

Embedded view of the egg protector

Pictures and videos of the egg protector:

Top view of the egg protector

Side view of the egg protector

Final product after assembling them together

Hero shot with object:

Finallyy!! We've reached the final stage of this practical which is the egg drop test 🥚

Let's watch a video on how we assemble our egg protectors together:

Following the assembly of our egg protectors, we measured 2 meters high from the ground

We now proceed to the drop

Watch the video below to see the whole process of the drop

Unfortunately, the egg cracked a bit and my outer layer of the egg protected was destroyed by quite a bit too😢

Reflection:

Hmm... I would say although our egg did crack a bit😅, overall I still find this whole journey of 3D printing quite fun and interesting. I get to learn how to design with fusion 360 and also how to use a 3D printer. I enjoyed this practical a lot although it can be quite tough sometimes, having to wake up early to get myself a printer, troubleshooting and reprint the whole egg protector again when things went wrong during the process of 3D printing. My printing failed quite a lot and I have to restart everything all over again. I remembered the reason why I failed was because, for the first time when we did our printing, we did not check the filament. Thus our filament wasn't sticking onto the surface of the printer. this was all because Sook Yee and I took the wrong filament. It was supposed to be PLA but instead, we took PETG filament which is obviously not right uh... After we change to the correct filament, everything was okay. 

The second time when I came for printing, the filament was tangled in the filament heater box and that causes the filament not able to feed out from the nozzle. Hence we have to untangle it. After I untangled the filament, I thought everything would be fine. however, the filament got tangled again. I was so frustrated to the point where I took out the roll of filament that was tangled and replace it with another roll of filament. After changing the filament, everything got back on track. in total we wasted 1h30mins restarting the whole print, untangling, and changing the filament. But I guess it's fine I'll just take it as a learning opportunity bah.. Overall, It was an enjoyable experience. It was fun working with Sook Yee too!

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it :) See you guys soon on my next blog! byeeee👋