…code, cg, electronics, 3d printing…

I used the code for my latest “hex” designs on a sphere: The result is a complex shape that still prints nicely with no supports on a FFF style machine. It’s just under 6″ across.  It’s also the first real print I’ve done since my upgrade to Sailfish firmware.

As designed, the hole in the base will fit a votive candle: I wouldn’t put a real votive in there, but LED votives work well. It will also lay flat on this base without rolling around.

It also looks good as a large ornament on your Christmas tree

For the illumination hardware, I purchased a “snap-in candelabra base socket” from Home Depot (picture included), and a 45w candelabra bulb: Note that the bulb hot, but as of yet I’ve not had any issues since the print itself is so open. If you want something more decorative, I’d go 25w.

Get more info and download the file for print over on Thingiverse.

I used the same technique for the “hex vases” to make a simple bowl.  This one took a little over seven hours on my Makerbot Replicator (1).

Get more info and download files over on Thingiverse.

Following up on my previous post of the “FFF Necklace“, I spent the day designing the “FHL” necklace design for my wife, based around the “Faith, Hope, & Love” verse found in 1 Corinthians 13:13. Designed in Autodesk Fusion 360.

Tried two different approaches: The larger one (01A) has the letters recessed into the volume, while the smaller one (02A) has the letters extruded from the volume.

Continuing my experiments with aluminum sand casting at a small scale, neither came out exactly how I wanted: The one with recessed text grabbed the sand too much, so the pattern didn’t remove properly, and for the one with extruded text, even though there were clean shapes, the molten aluminum didn’t fill the voids fully, leaving softened forms. But regardless, the end results are nice and rustic 😉

Download the files for print over on Thingiverse.