After a little adjustment to the Cerberus printer that the Grabers loaned me, I’m printing again. Steve and Joseph Graber, who build these open-source design printers, have been wonderful to work with.
I appreciate having the opportunity to get familiar with this delta style printer and the software, which is very different from that I use with my CubeX printer, especially because there’s a 3D art show coming up soon at the Shemer Art Center, and I want to submit several sculptures.
Accordingly, I have begun printing some of the designs I’ve created in CAD. It’s amazing to be able to see and handle these sculptures rather than just look at the drawings. Even though I can rotate the drawings in my CAD program, actually seeing them in their physical state is vastly different, even if the sculptures aren’t 9 feet tall, as I first conceived them.
The Cerberus printer that I’m using also prints taller pieces than my CubeX 3D printer, even if it’s not printing 5 feet tall like my new Cerberus printer will.
Besides, the CubeX is out of commission right now as I wait for a replacement board from Cubify (kudos to them for admitting the board was bad – they are replacing it at no cost).
So, using the Cerberus, I printed two versions of a twisted slab sculpture I designed some years ago:
They look similar in this photo, although the one on the left is actually smaller.
They also have another interesting difference – the holes in the black version don’t go all the way through. Here you can see some of the holes in each sculpture:
I printed the black one first. Puzzled about the holes, I went back to my CAD program, GeoMagic, and discovered I’d actually created two files. The holes did go through the sculpture in one file, but they didn’t in the other.
I have a crazy idea about what to do with the black version – time will tell if it works – but for now, I’m really enjoying the opportunity to create these sculptures that may well be maquettes (small models) for a 9-foot-tall version of this form.