Day 10 - Space urchin

Throughout the residency Corrie and me have attempted to print larger objects or a selection of smaller objects that fill the printing platform but we have discovered that the platform does not heat evenly and can lead to the objects warping if they are too close to the edge of the platform. The problem with this is that the objects lift from the platform in places and when they warp visibly the print head (nozzle) collides with the objects which results in malformed prints or the print becoming detached from the platform which requires that the job be stopped.

Due to the very small tolerances of the process the perfboard (pcb) that is clipped to the platform (that the objects are printed onto) has become coated in plastic and I believe it is interfering with the printing quality so we are investigating the best (easiest) wasy to clean the excess plastic from the perfboard.

Today I was able to print this space urchin object which I made in ZBrush and the results are quite nice. The scaffold material came off this print very easily and it looks as though it will only require a small amount of filing to remove a couple of stray strands of scaffolding/raft material so I'm declaring victory with this one. I will paint this object with enamel or acrylic paint when I have a bit of time to do so.