3D Printed Joint

For this assignment we were to create a 3D printed joint for blocks of wood of 30x30mm or rods of 20mm diameter. I chose to make a joint for the blocks of wood of 30x30mm (! my measurements for the joint in the model were incorrect, hence if you follow this model for 3D printing, make sure you get blocks of wood that are 34x34mm!!).

Beside the miscalculation, 3D printing was very fun and post processing very satisfying!

- 3D printer

- Rhino7

- wood blocks (34mm x 34mm)

Coming up with a good idea was as usual complicated and took the most time. When I found a general direction, that is, I knew I wanted to create something that would have sharp angles yet organic/ smoother looking connections, I moved to 3D modeling in Rhino.

Initially, I started my modeling process using SubD tools but since my main idea contained sharp, angular shapes, this was much harder to do. Everything I tried to create in SubD ended up being an extension to my sketching process.

Using Rhino's standard tools I made the model that served as the final 3D printed joint. To make the more organic looking connections I used the transform > twist tool. This took a number of trial and errors until I found a curve I was satisfied with.

After uploading the .stl file to the 3D printer, the printing process took about +3h20min. It was a slow process. When the piece was finished, I started by breaking off all the support structures and smoothing out the rough sides or left overs from the supports.

To bring the piece to a more polished and 'finished' look, I could have smoothed out all the sides so that the pattern of the 3D printer would not be visible + paint the piece, nevertheless I chose to leave it at a general cleaned up stage and sanded only the main unevenness off.

Unfortunately, this was also the stage where I noticed that I've miscalculated the sizing of the blocks of wood (which were 30x30mm) and the rectangles where too big. To hold the blocks of wood in place, I added extra bits of plywood which filled up the gaps.