This has been my biggest design project to date. It has required loads of research into Shoe design and construction. Asking friends to see their feet and explaining that I don’t have a foot fetish. lots of test prints. To determine everything from the strengths and traits of TPU and how infill and wall thickness affects those traits. Not to mention multiple design changes to modify everything from the assembly process to how well the shoe tread grips.
This is a work in progress! I will be performing real world testing of the shoes over the next few weeks. Everything needs to be evaluated. From tread wear patterns, strength of bonding materials and methods, to ease of use and comfort.
Why another shoe when theirs several models already out there? I have never owned a printer with a build area bigger than 230mm in any direction. Most of the models I have seen are all single prints. That’s one of the cooler benefits of 3D printing. You can make complex shapes like an entire shoe in a single print. But with my size 13 wide feet printing an entire shoe would require a machine that has a massive build plate. In fact, while looking into shoe sizing for this project I found that the average printer with a build plate of 200mm or 220mm wouldn’t be enough space to print even the smallest men’s sizes. A men’s 5.5 has a 24.5cm insole even with some 3D voodoo and angling the model you’re probably not printing that on most machines.
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!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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