Hello
My name is Alexis Bieltz and I am currently a sophomore. I am a psychology major with a family studies minor and hope to go into child and teenage therapy, eventually opening my own business. I grew up in Arlington, Virginia, which is about a 10 minute drive from Washington D.C. Therefore, I love the fast-paced city lifestyle. I am a babysitter for many families in my area and genuinely enjoy working with kids. Besides that, I enjoy spending time with friends and traveling when possible. My favorite place I have ever been is Maui, Hawaii!
My experience in 3D printing is nonexistent, but I am definitely excited to try it out and get to learn more about the topic. My main goal is to make at least one successful piece on the first try. Although, making any successful piece will be satisfying to me.
https://www.thingiverse.com/Alexisbieltz/about
Thingiverse Model
Title: Sitting Elephant
Designer: Fpertl
Link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:744590
I chose this image because I saw it in class and found this elephant to be very cute. I also love elephants because I am interested in traveling to Thailand, where they are a prevalent attraction.
Thingiverse Print
This print was a complete failure because the elephant image needed to have supports enabled for a solid foundation to print on. Since it did not have this foundation, the plastic was only loosely attached to the hotplate. That made it easy for the machine to knock the print off its position and caused the failure. It was very cool to watch an image I chose print, and even though it was messed up, I learned from my mistakes. With my new knowledge, I will be able to better my skills and hopefully have success with future prints.
https://www.thingiverse.com/make:594642
20 Forms in Tinkercad
I created many of my designs using a lot of different features in thingiverse. I used the drag and drop option for many of my images. I also used the color changing option, size increase option with/without ruler setting, hole option and doodle tool. I used typing, rotating, and the duplicating (control D) options as well. Specifically, with the spiral image I added more spirals.
Tinkercad Print
This is my state of Virginia 3D print that I chose because obviously it is our home. This print was a success! I had no problems obtaining it.
Summary of Group Tinkercad Project
Psychology Decor by Alexis Bieltz and Kara Norman
This project was definitely an extremely challenging project. Considering Kara and I had to make some major changes to our original design idea, I feel extremely accomplished in the way our overall project turned out. This print achieved our desire for a psychology themed desk decoration, and specifically, the brain turned out to be a great addition. This project definitely took determination and effort but the end result was worth it.
20 Forms in Fusion 360
I made all of these images using a variety of the tools offered by Fusion 360. I used the individual shape options, such as rectangle, circle, sphere, etc. I also used the text tool, diameter tool, and obviously extrude to create all the objects. I changed the size and length of some of the images as well.
Fusion 360 Print
My print in Fusion 360 is intended to just be a sphere with a hole in the middle of it. As simple as this sounds, this assignment was extremely challenging. It was very difficult to navigate Fusion 360 for the first time, doing this project, and it took a lot of determination to get everything placed where I wanted it to be. I had multiple failed attempts, so I made an adjustment, decreasing the size of the hole, to try to make it this print work. In the end, my print was a success! I got the exact print I wanted.
Fusion 360 Vase Design
I chose a simple platform for my vase design to portray an elegance that I felt I could obtain. I chose a circle shape for my top and bottom piece of the vase, and a polygon shape for the middle part. I obviously used the loft feature to create the 3 platform figure, and twisted the placement of the dots on the vase, after it was lofted, in order to give an interesting look. My final design is twisted a little bit further than in the screen shot above. I decided to do a pink color for my final print because that is my favorite color. My vase overall is intended to be simply pretty.
Fusion 360 Vase Prints
Both my demo and large prints were a success! They turned out exactly as I had hoped and planned and were well done overall. I think this project/print was challenging because learning how to navigate the new software was difficult in and of itself. However, once I got the hang of it, it became much easier. With the help of some extra instructions and videos, this project as a whole was doable and even somewhat fun.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3410854
https://www.thingiverse.com/make:607741
20 Forms in OpenSCAD
Attempting to code for any of the pictured figures was incredibly difficult. However, I followed many youtube videos, the OpenSCAD cheat sheet, and the wiki help instructions to guide me in learning exactly how to write the codes. I obviously used the traditional shapes for most of my images, but added holes, additional images, rounded edges, etc. I also used different techniques such as the hull technique and the rotate technique. I added texture to many of my images by decreasing the smoothness numbers. I was unable to put all the images on two separate OpenSCAD sheets because the system would remove my current images for the majority of the attempts, so I chose to put any on their own individual sheet. As a whole, this was very challenging but clearly I was able to semi-grasp the concept.
OpenSCAD Print
Actually executing this print was not difficult once I had written the code and created it in OpenSCAD. I did not have to reprint this item at any point because the first attempt was a success! The code was extremely basic to create this sphere and give it texture. This print was definitely a good way to get my feet wet in the world of OpenSCAD.
Summary of Group OpenSCAD Project
My group OpenSCAD project is entitled, OpenSCAD Princess Castle Project, and was created by Kara Norman and I. This project was extremely challenging, as it was completely different than anything I had done previously, either in this class or my life in general. Composing code is an articulate process that requires very specific letter and symbol placement, and required a lot of skill that I was not accustom to. Nevertheless, as the process went on, we were able to gain comfort in navigating the OpenSCAD system, and writing and modifying code became easier. When we were finally able to finish our code and put it in Thingiverse Customizer, our prints were a success and we were extremely proud of our castles that took an immense amount of focus and patience.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3450723
Reflections and Future Projects
Throughout this course in 3D Printing, I have discovered that learning how to 3D print, and actually executing one’s designs are two very different things. This course was much more difficult than I ever expected it would be. Executing the objectives mentioned above made the skills obtained more practical than in a traditional classroom setting. I personally feel that throughout this course, I have made vast improvements on my skill level, as well as my ambition to succeed. I remember feeling defeated and discouraged during our first assignment, working with Thingiverse, as navigating the new system was challenging for me. Nevertheless, as time went by and the computer systems we used, along with the material we learned, became more challenging, I felt myself become more inspired to work towards understanding and improving on this content and my skills. Overall, I feel that I worked hard to become more comfortable in the lab and reflecting on my experience, am glad I had this unique opportunity to expand my horizons.
If I was to continue my adventures in 3D printing in the future, I would definitely fix some of my failed attempts from this previous semester. Specifically, I would re-print my first print, which was an elephant figure off of Thingiverse, so that it would finish completely without failing. I would also elaborate on some of the projects I have already done. For instance, I would still love to create the original disney castle that Kara and I modeled our Final print castle off of. That would take a lot of trial and error and probably more skill than I have in the coding department, but if I ever had the time to get the advanced skills for this project, I would love to complete it. If I was to do another 3D printing project outside of the work we had already, I would do something involving a jewelry holder, because that was always an appealing idea to me. I would probably use a pre-created code and an image off Thingiverse to make it, that had a customizer setting so I could make my own personal changes to it. If I ever am able to make time to do any of the projects above, I would love to see the creations I would design.