Iron Ant: the First Crossover (Crochet and 3D Printing).
Introduction: Iron Ant: the First Crossover (Crochet and 3D Printing).
Hi everybody!
This is a very special project to me and I wanted to share it with you because I think it has a lot of potential in different areas.
I am a Theory of knowledge teacher for the IB program in a school here in Colombia. So I am always encouraging my students to find those areas where knowledge cross but nobody has ever stood a foot on them.
This project has the same flavor. My wife just recently started with crochet and I have a few year working with 3D printing. So one day, checking instructables I saw a post for how to make a crochet ant: https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Crochet-Ant/ and I was hooked. (Please visit this instructable if you like crochet, its well explained and the final product is awesome. I was able to easily follow the procedure and the results I wanted). All the credits for my inspiration to https://www.instructables.com/member/zoerainbows/.
Continuing with the story, something exploded in my head, what if we mix crochet and 3D printing. My mind raged for two continuous days and I finally decided to ask my wife a crochet lesson.
This project has two objectives:
1) Take crochet to a new level, along with its creativity.
2) Connect groups of people that are not that need to be connected in our time (girls and STEM, and Classic mothers with current kids).
I would like to know if you think the same about this project too. I would love feedback.
I also need you to know the following:
1) Since this is a draft, I wont get in too much details. If you like this project, please let me know and next one would be as detailed as I can do it.
2) The materials are the ones that I had in hand, so they may not be the optimum ones for the job, but they work just fine.
So with everything clear lets move to the instructable, enjoy!
Supplies
- Everything you need to crochet (please visit the post of zoerainbows).
- Wires (enough to make a couple of connections for 3 LEDs).
- Any transparent PLA (with a 3D printer). 812
https://shop.fillamentum.com/products/pla-extrafil...
- 3 LED´s (any color you want or have available).
- 3 1K Ohms resistors.
- Paint (all that you need to do it).
- Electrical tape
- Switch
- Superglue (or UHU glue, or epoxy glue).
- A small log or branch.
- Drill
- A sharp knife or razor blade.
- Sand paper.
- A 9V jack female connector and the proper charger.
Step 1: Start Crocheting!
I just decided which part would be crochet and which other would be 3D printed. At the end I imagined the head, two legs, one arm and the abdomen. The chest, one arm and the other two legs would be 3D printed. taking advantage of the Crystal PLA, I could use LEDs to make it shine (Ironman style).
So please follow <PERSON> and her Instructables to crochet everything:
https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Crochet-Ant/
Step 2: 3D Printed Parts Design.
Next, I used Tinkecad to design the 3D parts. I find Tinkercad a very useful tool and robust enough to create powerfull designs.
I just used every option available to create the chest, the legs and the antenna. I leave you guys here the public design for you to check it:
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/f5Ewi5P2kX1.
The most important part here is that I made them hollow to be able to put an LED inside. Since the crystal PLA is transparent it will glow really nice. This is very cool for kids.
I used connectors from the connectors library in Tinkercad to give the arm a bit of mobility. This parts can be easily added to any project and they come with the right dimensions to fit effectively one with the other.
If you want me to explain the design process in a detail manner, please leave a comment below.
Step 3: Paint the 3D Printed Parts
First sand everything and be sure that all parts fit together
I used white as primer. Then aplied a second coat of light gray. Finally, I used dark gray and black to make the "movable parts" look like they are worn out due to the Ant´s hardwork.
The painting was very basic, and there are ways to do this better. 733