My First 3D Print

The idea for my first print stemmed from a practical issue that I recently encountered, which was the failure of plastic threads in a commercial iPhone mount for tripods. I'll give Dan Tolle credit for remarking that we could "just make one" to replace it. That was the beginning of my understanding of the role that 3D printing can, will and DOES now play in the world of fabrication. Jean Luc Picard's replicator is not as far-fetched as many may believe!

By coincidence a handful of us had also been participating in a series of Sketchup exercises together, so during the period that TinkerCad was not available I put my new skills to work and designed the tripod mount there. Following the process through from 3D design to STL to MakerBot software was very instructional, as was watching the actual print. It was not until I watched the MakerBot "lay down" the material (and Dan Tolle encouraged me to feed in the filament as well, just for the experience) that I had a good understanding of the process, variables and perhaps limitations. I chose to print with the default "10% fill" (I didn't know until then that this was a variable) and I am already seeing that my piece may not be as strong as it needs to be. Regardless, it was a great first experience!