When working with 3D prints almost 5 feet tall on my Cerberus 3D Gigante 3D printer there are plenty of potential pitfalls. You know that if you’ve been reading this blog for a while.
One pitfall is similar to what happens when enlarging an image without constraining the proportions. If you aren’t careful, you’ll distort the form. I’ve discovered that there are also other issues…
Recently I created a design (right) for the 2025 Camelback Studio Tour, which for me is a 3-day event (the tour is just 2 days, but I kick it off with a special event for patrons). I try to come up with a design that will print throughout all 3 days, which means one that takes about 48 straight hours, since the 3D printer must run 24/7 until it’s completed.
This was the sixth year I’ve done this event. Sometimes I use an existing design, but this time I created a new original one.
Things usually go close to my plans, although my host program, Duet 3D, provides at best a a rough estimate of how much time the print will take.
I also got some extra surprises this time around.
First, the time was way off. It was supposed to finish printing the last day of the show on Sunday, but it finished printing Friday night. Not even close!
The worst part, though, was that the form was very distorted. I knew I’d distorted it some to get it to fit on the bed and give it some height. What I didn’t take into account was that the “stretched” version would result in thin “arms” that were not stable. That caused the long sections to move during printing, resulting in a really ugly print.
I mean really ugly.
I rustled up another design for the rest of the show after definitely getting handed my rear on the planned one. I used it as a “teaching moment” during the show – people are always surprised how hard it is to 3D print – as I printed a new sculpture.
This is how we learn, whether it’s a group exercise or just little ole me….