Think it, print it! Tænk det, print det!

3D printing has seen a wave of adopters over the last two years or so. I was part of that wave.

3D-printning har oplevet en stor tilstrømning over de seneste par år. Jeg var en del af den strøm.

The wave started when the price of printers came down sufficiently, combined with the quality of prints getting so good, that 3D printing became actually useful for common people.

Tilstrømningen startede da prisen på printere kom tilstrækkeligt langt ned, kombineret med at kvaliteten af prints blev så god, at 3D-printning faktisk blev nyttigt for almindelige mennesker.

It started tongue-in-cheek

Det startede som en spøg

The idea of 3D printing came up a long time ago. As far as it is known, when David Jones wrote about it in his amazing Daedalus column in New Scientist the 3rd of October 1974. The Daedalus columns were tongue-in-cheek, but always in a borderland between science and crazyness. Often weird, unrealistic or reckless, but never really in conflict with the laws of nature. David Jones is better known for being the first to describe graphene and Buckminsterfullerene, also in his Daedalus columns.

Idéen til 3D-printning opstod for lang tid siden. Så vidt vides dengang David Jones skrev om det i sin fantastiske Daedalus klumme i New Scientist den 3. oktober 1974. Daedalus klummerne var ment i spøg, men befandt sig altid et sted mellem videnskab og galskab. Ofte sære, urealistiske eller uansvarlige, men aldrig rigtigt i strid med naturlovene. David Jones er bedre kendt som den første der beskrev grafen og Buckminsterfulleren, osse i sine Daedalus klummer.

In the 1980s the first 3D print patents were issued, and in 1987 the first physical 3D printer was released. It was the "SLA-1" from Charles "Chuck" Hull and his company 3D Systems. Chuck also invented the STL file format, which is by far the most used format for describing 3D models today. SLA-1 was a stereolithography printer, so it was related to the one David Jones had thought up in 1974. The other of the two major printing technologies, FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), came from Scott Crump and his company Stratasys. They sold the first of their "3D Modeler" FDM printers in April 1992.

De første 3D-print patenter blev givet i 1980erne, og i 1987 kom den første fysiske 3D-printer på markedet. Det var "SLA-1" fra Charles "Chuck" Hull og hans virksomhed 3D Systems. Chuck opfandt osse STL filformatet, som er det klart mest brugte idag til at beskrive 3D-modeller. SLA-1 var en stereolithografi printer, så den mindede om den som David Jones havde fundet på i 1974. Den anden af de to store printteknologier, FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), kom fra Scott Crump og hans virksomhed Stratasys. De solgte deres første "3D Modeler" FDM printere i april 1992.

This was all well and exciting, but 3D printing was not affordable for normal human beings. It was like that until 2004-2005 when Dr. Adrian Bowyer of the University of Bath, started the RepRap movement. RepRap was an acronym for "replicating rapid prototyper". It was an open source printer, that had the goal of being able to print a copy of itself. Seen with todays eyes, the printers were crude, but they pretty much launched 3D printing for the masses. Much of the excitement was philosophical. If a machine prints a copy of itself, that prints a copy of itself, and so on; would we call it life? Evolution would be inevitable, would it run out of our hands? Others thought about 3D printers as the tool to rebuild civilization after a collapse, or to keep a moon base supplied with hardware and replacement parts. There were lots of exciting tangents.

Det var altsammen meget godt, men 3D-printning var for dyrt for almindelige mennesker. Sådan var det indtil 2004-2005 da Dr. Adrian Bowyer fra University of Bath, startede RepRap bevægelsen. RepRap stod for "replicating rapid prototyper" (hurtigt replikerende prototypebygger). Det var en open source printer, der havde som mål at kunne printe en kopi af sig selv. Set med nutidens øjne var den primitiv, men den gjorde stort set egenhændigt 3D-printning til en teknologi for masserne. Meget af spændingen omkring den var filosofisk. Hvis en maskine printer en kopi af sig selv, som printer en kopi af sig selv, og så videre; ville vi så kalde det for liv? Evolution ville være uundgåeligt, ville vi miste kontrollen? Andre tænkte på 3D-printere som værktøjet der kunne genopbygge civilisationen efter dens sammenbrud, eller kunne holde en månebase forsynet med isenkram og reservedele. Der var mange spændende tangenter.

Fast forward twenty years. We didnt get any moon bases, civilization didnt collapse and 3D printers didnt take over the World. But 3D printer technology became better and cheaper, baby step by baby step, and here we are today, when 3D printers have become a viable consumer product.

Spol tyve år frem. Vi fik ikke nogen månebase, civilisationen kollapsede ikke og 3D-printere overtog ikke verden. Men 3D-printer teknologien blev bedre og billigere, småskridt efter småskridt, og her er vi så idag, hvor 3D-printere er blevet et brugbart forbrugerprodukt.

3D printing

3D-printning

There are two major camps in 3D printing. One are those that print scale models and figurines, the other are those that print functional models. Im pretty much in the last camp. Then there is a spectrum of approaches to the models you print. At one end you download them from one of the many great repositories of 3D models. At the other end you design them yourself. Im mostly in the last end. There is also a middle ground where you modify models others made, which is quite common. I think as you get more experienced with 3D printing, you tend to move towards the self-designing end.

Der er to store lejre indenfor 3D-printning. I den ene printer man skalamodeller og figurer, i den anden printer man funktionelle modeller. Jeg er stort set i den sidste lejr. Derudover er der et spektrum af måder at få modellerne på. I den ene ende henter man dem fra et af de mange gode repositorier. I den anden ende designer man modellerne selv. Det er i den ende jeg hører hjemme. Der er osse en mellemvej hvor man modificerer modeller som andre har lavet, hvilket er ret almindeligt. Min fornemmelse er at jo mere erfaring man har med 3D-printning, jo mere bevæger man sig mod selvdesign enden.

3D printing is a unique way to manufacture thingamajigs. First you get an idea, then you design a model in a CAD program, then you run the result through a so-called slicer, then you print it. If it is not okay, go back to step two.

3D-printning er en helt speciel måde at producere dippedutter på. Først får man en idé, så designer man en model i et CAD program, så kører man resultatet gennem en såkaldt slicer, og så printer man det. Er det ikke godt nok, ryk tilbage til skridt to.

It is a one-man pipeline. You can do all the steps on your own, at home in your hobby room. It is totally fine to make production runs of 1 thingamajig, and to produce for a market of 1 consumer.

Det er en enkeltmands arbejdsgang. Man kan selv tage alle skridtene, hjemme i sit hobbyrum. Det er helt i orden at lave produktionskørsler med 1 dippedut, og at producere til et marked med 1 forbruger.

CAD programs are like three dimensional drawing programs. You define your models in them, and export them as .stl or .step files. I prefer free CAD programs that work offline. There are not that many to choose from. I have been fond of Solvespace, which was what I used when I started. It is a very simple, but also very powerful CAD program. It has a lot of potential, but unfortunately also very limited resources for development. Over time I have moved towards OpenSCAD. It is sort of a "Model as Code" concept (MaC, if that is even a term). You define your model in the OpenSCAD language of the program. That way it can take a little longer to make your initial model, but it is really easy to make variations of it. The OpenSCAD language is a bit quirky, but also very effective. It is what Im using exclusively now.

CAD programmer er en form for 3 dimensionelle tegneprogrammer. Man definerer sine modeller i dem, og eksporterer dem som .stl eller .step filer. Jeg foretrækker CAD programmer der er free og kan køre offline. Der er ikke så mange at vælge imellem. Jeg har været glad for SolveSpace, som var det jeg brugte i starten. Det er et meget simpelt, men osse meget kapabelt CAD program. Det har et kæmpe potentiale, men desværre meget få udvikler resurser. Jeg begyndte efter noget tid at kigge på OpenSCAD. Det bygger på en slags "Model as Code" koncept (MaC, hvis det overhovedet er en ting). Man definerer sin model i det indbyggede OpenSCAD sprog. På den måde tager det lidt længere tid at lave den første model, men det er virkelig nemt at at lave variationer af den. OpenSCAD sproget er en smule kejtet, men osse meget effektivt. Det er hvad jeg bruger udelukkende nu.

Slicers take an .stl or .step file and build instructions for your particular printer. They are exported as a gcode file, or sent directly to your printer (as gcode). You need to give the slicer input about what filament to use, about supports, about seams, about brims, about lots and lots of other things. I use the open source OrcaSlicer, which is probably the one most commonly used these days. If you want to download it, be careful to avoid all of the false download sites (you can just click on the icon in this paragraph).

Slicere tager en .stl eller .step fil og laver instruktioner specifikt til din printer. De bliver eksporteret som en gcode fil, eller sendes direkte til printeren (som gcode). Man skal fortælle sliceren hvilket filament der skal bruges, om supports, om sømme, om brims, og om masser af andre ting. Jeg bruger OrcaSlicer, som er open source. Den er nok den mest udbredte for tiden. Hvis du vil downloade den, så pas på du ikke bruger en af de mange falske download sider (du kan bare klikke på ikonet i dette afsnit).

The printer just takes the gcode and prints your model. For a smaller model the whole design, slice and print cycle takes less than one hour. This is a very fast turnround, and it allows you to quickly try out ideas, and make very advanced designs.

Printeren tager bare gcoden og printer din model. For en lille model tager hele design, slice, print cyklen mindre end én time. Det giver en meget kort udviklingstid, og det tillader dig hurtigt at prøve idéer af og at lave meget avancerede designs.

I recommend that, if you havent done so already, take a closer look at 3D printing. It is in some ways like wood working, both a hobby and a practical pursuit. It will likely also affect your view on things. You might start to see all those small annoyances in your daily life, as opportunities for prints. Would some thingamajig help me here? Couldnt this be avoided by a doohickey like this? Count on it to boost your creativity.

Hvis du ikke allerede har gjort det, vil jeg anbefale dig at tage et nærmere kig på 3D-printning. Det er på en måde som træsløjd, det er både en hobby og en praktisk beskæftigelse. Den vil sandsynligvis påvirke hvordan du ser ting. Istedet for dagligdagens mange små irritationer, kan det være du nu istedet ser muligheder for prints. Ville sådan en dippedut hjælpe her? Kunne dette ikke undgås med sådan en dingenot? Regn med at det vil øge din kreativitet.

The model in the illustrations, is a pistacie bowl that fits into a Teema bowl (15 cm). If it is useful to you, be my guest and print it. Or even better, design your own bowl, and print that.

Modellen i illustrationerne er en pistacieskål som passer ned i en Teema dyb tallerken (15 cm). Hvis du kan bruge den, er du velkommen til at printe den. Eller endnu bedre, til at designe din egen skål, og printe den.

Print time is between 90 and 120 minutes, depending on your printer, settings and filament.

Printtiden ligger mellem 90 og 120 minutter, afhængig af din printer, indstillinger og filament.