Personalised Pendants
Introduction: Personalised Pendants
In a previous Instructable (Coaster Making), I explained the process of making 3D printed coasters with an exposed infill pattern filed with epoxy resin to add both strength and colour.
In this Instructable using the same techniques I decided that I would make something that was functionally different, portable, and personalised.
The result was the Personalised Pendant.
This can be used as a keyring, necklace, zip-puller or luggage tag that can be personalised.
The personalisation would take the form of a single initial on the pendant indicative of a first name.
Supplies
BlocksCAD
Cura
3D Printer
Epoxy Resin and Mixing Pots
Sanding Paper (various grades) subject to the degree of the finish
Epoxy Resin Polish or Paint surface restorer.
Wire Wool
Cocktail sticks
Small drill subject to split ring diameter (~2.5-3mm)
Step 1: Design
The design was created using BlocksCAD.
The Blocks code illustrates the process described below.
First of all we have to decide on the shape of the pendant, I chose a circular shape.
The circular shape being a short cylinder with dimensions with 15mm radius and height of 5mm.
Having decided on the shape and dimensions we place a small hole towards the top the cylinder, this will serve as a location with which to hang the pendant. The hole has dimensions of 1mm radius with a height of 5mm at a location of X=0, Y=11mm, on the central vertical axis.
The personalisation will take the form of a single letter within the central area of the pendant creating a cut out.
The depth of the cut out letter will be 2mm.
By placing the code in a module and passing three parameters, the letter, x & y co-ordinates multiple letters may be produced on the design grid and thereby printing a collection of different letters.
Step 2: Slicing
Once you have finalised the pendant preparation for printing with a suitable slicer is required.
Using Cura I will use this to describe the process.
Open the OBJ file created with BlocksCAD design software.
This is were we will make adjustments to the slicer print setting.
In order to display the infill we will need to set the the Top Layers to 0. The top layer will therefore not be printed revealing the infill pattern.
Leave the Bottom Layers set to the defaults as we want to retain the fill within the confines of the printed pendant and around the letter and not have the epoxy resin escape out of the bottom.
For the infill pattern I have chosen Tri Hexagon in order to make filling the infill pattern post printing an easier task, do not set the percentage too large, I have chosen 60% the reason will become clear during the filling process.
Obviously you can change the infill pattern type and the infill density to suit different requirements.
Step 3: Post Print Preparation
You may use any number of colours for printing, although black will highlight a greater range of infill colours. 407
Once the pendant has been printed there is some preparation to be completed first.
The printing process is not without some imperfections and each cell my not be entirely isolated, small holes may exist within the structure of the walls.
A visual inspection may identify holes, cracks or layer separation which depending on severity can be filled in with Cyanoacrylate adhesive, putty, or tape. As the process will also identify any holes in the perimeter walls of the print.
If you create multi-coloured designs you will need to be aware of unintentional colour mixing from seepage between cells. Not an issue if you will be using one colour.
******* Sealing epoxy resin mix only required for multi coloured designs.**********
Prefilling action is required as a precaution for multi-coloured designs using a sealing epoxy mix.
Using a suitable epoxy resin mix having chosen a 2:1, two part mix with 12hr cure time.
Make sure the product has a useful working time and not to make too much unless you can make use of the excess elsewhere.
Following the manufacturers recommendation and wearing suitable protective equipment make a clear mix without adding any colour.
Pour into the infill cells up to a maximum of 75%, the thicker the object the more epoxy may be required to fill the bottom and side walls.
Although, wicking action will pull the resin up the wall to seal holes nearer the top hence filling up to 75%.
But also having enough of a pocket to accept your chosen colour and that some post cure sanding will be required to level the surface. 1013