Clay 3D Printed Planter

I 3d Printed a planter in clay using the PotterBot. My design was created by modifying parameters in CoilCam, a tool that generates gcode for the PotterBot directly based on a series of parameters and functions.

I installed CoilCam using the guide found here: Expressive Computation Lab (ucsb.edu) and used the template to start. The initial file contains both a base and toolpath unit generator component which are merged to generate the final code. I first experimented with the CoilCam functions, seeing how the geometry could be altered by chaining together different manipulations and playing around with the parameters.

I reduced the nbPointsInLayers to achieve a more geometric/less round shape, which I really liked as that's a style hard to achieve evenly with thrown pottery or coil building.

I altered the points in each layer parameter as described above, then played around with the radius scaling and rotational manipulations. I chained together the linear and sinusoidal functions to alter the scale shaping parameter, and experimented with different parameters. I then applied a linear function to the rotation shaping parameter to create more movement in the design.

I initially created two different cups with this pentagonal shape- a shorter + wider mug and a taller more elegant one. However, after seeing how thick the nozzle diameter (8mm) printed, I revised my design to a planter which I felt better suited the wall thickness.

My final planter design is shown above. When printing, I ran into several difficulties with fine tuning the potterbot settings: layer height, extrusion multiplier, nozzle diameter, and print speed. I was working with an 8mm nozzle that initially wasn't extruding enough, so I tried both increasing the given nozzle diameter and decreasing layer height (to compress more) and I ended up going with the latter. I also faced an issue with the gap between my base and side print, as I hadn't accounted for compression for the z-start of my side.

Using the settings shown I was able to successfully print my planter. I then removed it from the base, smoothed out the ridges with a sponge, and cut a hole in the bottom for drainage. I additionally attached feet to the base and a hand-modeled flower to hide the end of the top coil layer.