We invited a handful of members of the 3D printing community that we have been featuring for #3DThursday or on our weekly 3D Hangouts live show to share with us their thoughts about the past year, what they each shared, and what they are looking forward to for 2015.
We have gotten to know the talented industrial designer Mike Doell through a number of projects for Adafruit, from the iNecklace to a few recent injection molded enclosures for the Raspberry Pi. (And more to come!)
Through his efforts to find the best manufacturing routes to suit the designs he creates, he has learned quite a few things about producing objects in a professional manufacturing ecosystem that now involves 3D printing to a heavier degree than in previous decades, both on the prototyping and parts production side of the equation.
Q: TOP THREE PRINTING MOMENTS FROM 2014?
(a personal 2014 list)
- Several prints in excess of 35 hours each.
- Getting a MakerBot Mini to print. 😉 I think that was luck more than anything.
- I am one week away from making through 2014 without a single repair to my Rep 2. That’s exciting.
Q: WHAT’S A 3D PROJECT YOU SHARED THIS YEAR?
Most of what I worked on this year I can’t share, because they are projects with clients.
Here are a few images of things I am currently printing/ working on.
The first is a piggy bank (above). It’s an approximately ten hour build and completely hollow, printed without supports. I only have test prints in clear and red so far. I am still working on getting the build time down to something more reasonable.
The second is a light (below) that I have been working on for a few months. I am playing around with different materials, profiles etc. to get just the right projection of light. Right now its just some random LEDs but the next step is to put a neo pixel ring in it so I can have better control over the light and color.
Q: WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR 3D PRINTING IN 2015?
- Printing massive parts.
- Being able to print on on top of stuff. \
- Printing batteries (thats going to happen right?)
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! We also offer the LulzBot TAZ – Open source 3D Printer and the Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer in our store. 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!