[MUSIC] My name is Vishal Sachdev. I am a faculty at the College of Business here, and also director of the Illinois MakerLab. So today, we're going to talk about the process for going from a download on Thingiverse to a print on a printer. In some of the other videos, you have probably already seen Dr Alec Rindfleisch explaining to you the activity that you're doing on Thingiverse. But right now, we're going to actually demonstrate the process from a download to a print, and actually also show you how the print builds up. And we're going to use the same rhino model that you've been used to in the videos that you've seen already. You will see more of me in some of the other modules as well, and I will also be with you for the capstone course as I'm leading that. So I look forward to working with all of you over the specialization. So first of all, we are starting out with pulling up the Rhino 3D scan on Thingiverse. And you already seen that, but if you haven't, just do a search for the rhino, and you'll see a screenshot as well showing you how the process is actually working, as I'm doing it on my computer. So on Thingiverse, once you locate the file, we're just doing a download of the STL file, which is the format that allows any 3D model to be prepared for printing on most 3D printers. So the dot STL file format is what you're looking for when you're preparing files. Many of the printers will accept that format. So once you download that onto your computer, and of course, at the MakerLab, we're working with the MakerBot Replicator 2 printers, so we are using the software that MakerBot provides. It's called MakerBot Desktop, and I have that open on the screen right now. So once you open that software up, all you're doing is pulling the download into the software. And sometimes the scale is a bit of an issue, so there are easy-to-use menu options in the software itself where you can set your scale to whatever size you need. So it maintains the ratio. You don't have a problem in worrying about is it going to get stretched or distorted. As long as it maintains the ratio, your model will be fine. You can twist and turn the model to make sure it's aligned properly. You can lay it flat on the base that is going to build on. And also, you can adjust, of course, if you want to have a better look at the model, you can look around and make sure that it's sort of flat on the platform. Now, when you have a model like the rhino that we're using, which has a little bit of an overhang, you have to make sure that when the printer prints it, it's printing some supports with it. So before you start printing it, one of the things that you adjust on the software is under the Print Settings menu. And there's something called the raft, which as you see when the print actually starts, it builds a layer below the object that you're printing. And supports are useful when you have some model which has overhang. So if it's at an angle that cannot build up on, it builds some supports. And you're not really doing that, you're just saying hey, software, build me some supports, and the software takes care of that. We are going to stick with the standard resolution. We don't need to worry about a very fine print on this. If you do a final higher-resolution, the print takes longer, and sometimes that will add to the cost as well, depending on where you're printing it. The other settings at the bottom in what's called the MakerBot Slicer. Infill is essentially how much material you're filling in. So if you're saying a 10% infill, 90% of the space inside that model is just empty space and it builds a honeycomb structure. Again, you'll see that when the model prints. The number of shells tells you how many sort of layers in the outer wall that the printer is going to make. So default is two shells. And again, the layer height is when the printer is moving up and printing the model, what is the minimum thickness for each layer? So here, it is point 0.2mm, or a fifth of a millimeter, and that's the standard resolution that we print at. It can go up to an accuracy of one-tenth of a millimeter. But we recommend staying with 0.2. We've done our settings. We've used the raft and the supports in our model. And now, what we're doing is sending that file into a format that the printer can print. So it's called slicing, which effectively is converting that 3D model into a set of x, y, and z coordinates that the printer will sort of follow as a path and keep making layer by layer. Once you're doing that, it also gives you an estimate of the amount of material and the amount of time it will take. So this is based on the kind of printer you're using. So for example, for this print, it's saying it's about 51 minutes, 11.85 grams. And the other settings that we have set, rafts are on, supports are on, and we're using a resolution of 0.2mm. So when I say Export Now, it asks me to save it somewhere. So you can either have the computer connected to the printer or you can put it on an SD card. Some printers take USB drives, different printers will have different options. But for these printers, we are using SD cards. So I'm just going to save that file on the SD card, and then we can move over to the printer and see how the printer starts the process and the build actually happens. Depending on the model itself, it takes about a minute or two to process the file. If it's a complex model, it will take more time. So it's sort of creating the file, it's verifying it to make sure that it's removing any errors that are occurring. And finally, it saves it in a format called the dot x3g format, which is what the printer understands when it needs to move its extruder on the x, y, and z axis. So we have the file now ready on the SD card. And I'm going to move that out of my computer, and then we are now going to reset up on the printer and see how the print actually happens. [MUSIC]
