For this assignment, I altered a computer riser object, with the goal of minimizing material use and print time.

I used P7 (Prusa i3 MK3 3D Printer) in Nolop with the PLA provided there. The STL file was downloaded from printables.com, at this link. I chose this specific model based on the size constraints for this assignment, as well as the simplicity of the design.

While it was fine as is, I wanted to reduce the amount of material it would take to print 2 of these little laptop risers, as well as reduce the print time. As shown in the uploaded Gcode, it would have used 4.67 meters of filament with 20% infill and a brim to print a pair of these. To try to minimize the amount of material, I thought of adding holes to that go through the structure without reducing the stability of the overall structure. The scale was kept the same.

I exported the STL file into Solidworks, which was difficult because there’s several ways to do this to be able to best edit the object; I ended up importing it as a solid body after doing some research online. With the base oriented on the front plane, I drew 15 small squares (around 3 x 3 mm) on the front plane that became an extrude cut, creating holes that go through the body of the object. My reasoning was that the holes subtract from the total amount of material needed to fill and create the laptop riser. These Gcode parameters were with 17% infill with a brim – it would use 4.04 meters of material.

However, I felt as this was not a good enough reduction in material and time. So I went back to SolidWorks and made the cutouts even larger, around 8mm by 7 mm. This would in theory take away even more material needed to print the object. The third Gcode (what I ended up printing) used 3.98 meters of PLA, at 15% infill with a brim. This is not a significant improvement to the material used in the previous iteration, which is interesting because you would think bigger holes means less material. Also, the print time was lower in the first design at 50 minutes compared to the second and original design which were 1 hour. The infill definitely reduced the amount of material used, and is a surefire method compared to creating holes.

Overall, from the initial model found online to the second design, the material usage was reduced by around 15%. The holes do not reduce the stability of the structure, and are an effective way to reduce material usage while also preventing overheating in laptops. Some other notes on the original design are that the horizontal notch is meant to fit other types of laptop bottoms. Also, the angle of the riser doesn’t align with my Macbook but it still gives the laptop height.

Some examples of objects difficult to fabricate with traditional technologies are customized prosthetics and dynamic assemblies. Medical devices such as prosthetics are meant to specially fit one person and that can require free-form/organic shapes that are difficult to create with traditional machines like a saw/mill. Dynamic assemblies with moving parts, such as a chain or ball and socket joints requires assembly after processing through traditional technologies, while they can be 3D printed already assembled – simplifying the process. In general, 3D printing is much more customizable and allows users to fabricate what they’re thinking of without having to worry about technological limitations.