3D PRINTING WORKSHOP

In the second week we got a chance to try to print something in the fablab. I decided to try print a zipper, mainly just to see if it was possible. I went onto the Thingyverse website and downloaded an open-source file from there. Thank you to eligreen for making these files open for all to use!

My first attempt was too small, and very rigid. I decided that the size needed increasing and the printer was going too fast.

The next iteration I did I decided to try the flexible TPA instead of the usual PLA. I was pleased with the results once it was printed, however in retrospect the PLA would probably hold its structure better.

After this I had a go and reprinting the zipper carriage with PLA, and thought that it may print out cleaner if I added a skirt to the outer edge. What a terrible idea! It was such a tiny part that the skirt was as thick as the bottom layer of the piece, so it was nearly impossible to remove cleanly. I decided to bin this and print a third iteration. In this iteration I identified that the zipper was printing both parts at the same time, layer by layer. This was resulting in a terribly inaccurate print, as the nozzle was leaving dribbles of PLA that hardened all over the model.

I rectified the above issue by going to a machine that had a smaller nozzle (was previously on 0.6, moved to a 0.4) and also "enabled retraction" so this stopped the machine from moving the PLA through the nozzle when it wasn't officially printing anything. I also changed the print setting so that it only printed 1 piece at a time. I found this improved the accuracy of the resulting model, meaning that it snapped together and finally created a working piece!

As it is at the moment it is not able to be attached to fabric, as the zipper carriage covers all the teeth of the zipper, however it was an excellent exercise in seeing if the printers are capable of printing them. Given more time I would definitely look at producing my own file. Ideally you would want to print the zipper teeth onto some bias binding so you could attach it to some fabric, and testing would be required to see how strong it is after many uses.

The plus side of having a garment with a 3D printed zipper is that if it broke, the owner could possibly print another one, rather than discarding the garment. Also the PLA is able to be put into the compost and breaks down. As it stands with the current technology we have access to at university we are limited by the size of the 3D printing beds, but in the near future I imagine this wont be an issue.