3d Printers and Me
I have made the decision to make a 3d printer. Great. Sounds expensive. For as long as I have known about them I have wanted one, yet have never had access to one. I’ve been a little bit of a maker for a while, but it’s mostly just little experiments to make sure I know basically how something works or to ensure I have the basic understanding should I need it in the future. It’s been a while since I have worked on a significant project. The last project I worked on was an animated LED mask for halloween in 2018. It turned out really well and although I was quite literally soldering down to the last minute, it was a blast to make. It was nice to take a break after that, but I have been eager to get into another big project. A printer is a beautiful
What’s the Reason
I have been wanting to get into interactive/experiential art and mechanical/digital sculpture for quite a while now. I believe that mechanical and electrical design deserve more recognition in art. Although it is definitely apparent in the art world, I think most artists want to use it, but lack the technical knowledge. There is something mesmerizing about a bundle of wires and mechanics that, simultaneously feels like pure magic and completely tangible and obtainable . It is an incredibly empowering medium that allows an artistic extrapolation that greatly represents not only our digital/mechanical time period, but is much more familiar and recognizable to general society than initially recognized.
What’s Needed
I want the ability to draft up parts and pieces, and prototype as I need. That freedom would allow me to further develop any ideas I may have and start to bring them into the tangible world where they can be physically realized. Also, 3d printers are cool and stuff and I want to goof off a little bit with them and print some fun stuff. But that comes second, I promise. I plan to keep this in my relatively small Brooklyn apartment room and would like to have something that is self contained, relatively quiet, and not too annoying to move. These would give me the freedoms to move, rearrange, and safely separate it from the surroundings in a robust and efficient package.
What to Expect
I’m super excited to get started making this project. Although I have the majority of parts ordered at the time I am typing this, there still is a lot to figure out and plenty of designs to be created and optimized. I hope to keep up with this build log as a place to describe my design choices and explain my problems and solutions as they come up. I hope it will be a place where by typing and explaining my ideas, I will be able to work through them. Nonetheless, I think process is extremely important and this is a great way just to organize my ideas and thoughts.
Next post will be going through design goals and 3d printer inspiration. I want to clearly set out a list of traits I want this printer to have and detail how I expect to do so.
