So I have recently joined the 3D Hubs team as a Community Intern and immediately dived into the oceans of filament and started printing my first projects. Now my prior knowledge of 3D printing was purely theoretical and I was so happy to get my hands on these printers. Since what is in the books (and the videos) also stays there I had some trouble with the practical matters (like setting up the printer, putting the filament in and so on). However, there was one printer that was waiting for me. Our eyes met unexpectedly. I was just a shy little intern who wanted to print something nice and she(the printer) was this wonderful machine that was able fulfill my wildest fantasies. We were a perfect match, we clicked like we were meant to be together. Her name was “Bee the first” and after our heart-warming first dates she gave birth to many of our little Marvins.
So this is my family now. I hope it will grow over the years to come.
Let me just give you the overview of what I went through to get these babies.
So “Bee the first” has a nice overview on how should the printer be set up with all the instructions clearly provided on the computer screen. I managed to configure it in a very short time and started printing my Marvins. I used PLA filament . At first,I just wanted to check what kinds of settings can I choose from and apparently there were only a few important options that you could play around with : Density and Resolution.
What I wanted to achieve was to try all the options out and see which Marvin is going to be my favorite.
Naturally, I started with MAX on everything. So “high +” resolution and 42 on density. I must admit, I have failed to understand that density will not change the appearance of the Marvin so I tried one with low density as well. Here’s how they look:
So these were my first Marvins! I was pretty happy. They are obviously looking the same even though of a different density.The edges seemed alright, but from their faces they seemed to have had a pretty rough night. So I did not stop. I have tried the other extreme.
Everything on low:
So now instead of a sleepy Marvin, I have created a mummy Marvin. Mummies don’t fit in my family, it’s just the way it is.
The Perfect Marvin
This is it! This was the best one of them for sure. You know how close-up pictures makes you insecure about those little details in yourself. This Marvin is also a little shy about his “Lines” , but in real life he’s a pretty handsome fella. Also, in this resolution there seems to be something hanging between his legs, which can be considered both a flaw or an increased chance of reproducing.
Summary
- Printer: BeeTheFirst
- Filament: PLA true purple
- Resoliution: Medium
- Density value: 15%
- Print time: around 1 hour
- Download Marvin here
So here’s my first print story! I am very excited to print more. I am happy to have brought this Marvin to life and this one is going to be the leader of my uprising armies of future Marvins! Now, it’s time to get to know some other printers! (I will never forget you - my first love “Bee the first”)
However, I still don’t understand the whole world of filaments, but do you think that there would be a big difference depending on which plastic-based filament I use when printing with this printer?
