Tea Cup
For this week’s #ThingiThursday we decided to change-up repositories and not because I don’t like the thought of Stratasys taking over MakerBot like some well known designers, no I just fancied trying out the My Mini Factory service from iMakr.
As Personalize reported on its launch, myminifactory.com is a repository which boasts designs by their in-house designers, most of the launch models have been printed and insider knowledge tells me that they were printed on an UP! Plus which is the printer I use for ThingiThursday, a match made in heaven?!
Enough with the models of Joy Division, ball-bearings and pots it was time to print something practical, something I was actually going to use otherwise what is the point of the tech in the first place?
I picked out a very stylish coffee mug, being a big coffee drinker of which I keep my own stash of (coffee snob alert!), it appealed to my sensibilities;, nice design and nice size. A warning tells me, not to drink out of the cup if using PLA but we’re rocking ABS here so it should have been fine.
The UP! was being a temperamental so-and-so for Jim yesterday and it started its big day in the same way, cocking up the print thrice in the early stages of raft printing. The raft was coming off the bed and moving around, it was driving me mad in the process.
One of the great things you come across in the maker community is willingness to help others in need, Twitter and G+ were my friends, makers helped me realise my error. The hatch for the fan had opened meaning it was cooling the raft too quickly, which is why it was lifting off the bed.
Attempt number four had come two hours later than I wanted to start printing, this meant to get it done in time I had to scale down to 0.85 of the original size. Away it went, printed as recommended on a low setting, of all the ‘things’ printed over the past month I have to say this little fella got the most attention, it had colleagues in the office cooing over its sleek design at only half way through.
Three hours and 15 minutes after printing was commenced and we have a fully printed, if a bit small, mug. The raft came off like a dream and even on the lowest resolution setting it is a great looking item.
Now for the big test, will it hold water, or more importantly coffee? Having the foresight not to pour in boiling water in case I ended up scolding myself I opted for warm water… pours through like sieve. Hmmm bit of a fatal error design floor that, for a mug.
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Blaming the design however is perhaps a bit harsh, I think on a higher resolution print it would have held its water, for now the only good it will be for hot beverage drinking is perhaps a tea strainer.
Do you have any ideas for ThingiThursday? Let us know in the comments below.
