Some thoughts on rethinking a classic chainmail printed object from Thingiverse with some CAM-specific tuning to improve printing and success with resulting material from Ed Nisley:

This is a subtractive version of Zomboe’s Chainmail, built by removing chunks from a solid rectangle the size of one link, until what’s left is, indeed, a single link.

The pillars in the original model weren’t nearly large enough; Slic3r omitted them from the G-Code. They’re now as wide as the bars and √2 times that width long, which means they actually get a bit of fill.

Then a pair of nested loops replicates that link across the entire fabric.

That technique didn’t work with Skeinforge (because it sent the nozzle scampering all over each layer, knocking things loose) and it didn’t work with Slic3r 0.9.8 (because it had problems with bridges), but Slic3r 0.9.10, hot from github, produced good results. [See Above.]

Read more about his experiments and slicing tricks for this model per on his blog.

Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!