Tag: 3dprinting

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3D Printed Mould and Deckle

NOTE: STL files are now available. Scroll to the bottom of this post.

Back in May 2023 I 3D printed a mould and deckle in an attempt to make my own paper. It worked, but was not optimal. I tried again, and wanted a slightly larger mould and deckle to make larger paper. It worked, but I didn’t love it since I had to print it in two parts and glue it together. Design is about iteration, right? I think I’ve got a good one now…

For this version I got the model just right. I did a number of test prints to make sure the wall thickness for the inside grid was correct, and I spent some time getting the magnet holes right. Yes, the magnets. Lots of mould and deckles are just two wooden frames you hold together in your hands, but I figured since I was designing my own I would add in magnets that would tightly hold the mould and the deckle together with a piece of metal screen between them.

So I added magnet holes in the four corners of each part and press-fit magnets into place. This time I made the pockets deeper so the magnets press in further down, which means they have really good holding strength when put together. You’ll notice the holes aren’t just holes, but have some little ridges, or “crush ribs” as well. The idea being that with 3D printed parts it can be difficult to get a perfect hole, so instead you just make the hole a little wider than needed, and add in some ribs so the magnet (or other round thing) just needs to slide against those, and if needed, can crush them a bit.

Hey, I guess I’m not the only one who likes the magic of magnets! Check out this video of Stephanie Hare and the mould and deckles she made with… magnets! (Or see them on her site.)

Of course you can always just glue the magnets in place. Since I’m now on my third fourth mould and deckle I wanted a way to remove them easily if I ever retire one and want those 8 magnets back.

I’ve mentioned before that you can do much much more than a simple square or rectangle, and you can 3D print a mould and deckle in any shape. I still want to experiment with that, as well as some other neat stuff. I like a plastic mould and deckle because (besides being easy) you don’t have to worry about warping like you do with wood, or having to use spar varnish or polyurethane to waterproof the wood. (I’ve talked about 3D printing versus using wood before.)

Oh, I should note one more thing. The reason I use window screen material is because I have a bunch of it from our old windows that we’ll never use for anything else. But, using a flexible screen material also makes it easy to remove the paper from the mould and deckle during the couching process by just pulling the screen off (after removing excess water with a sponge). (BTW, it’s pronounced ‘coo-ching’ not ‘cow-ching’.) I’ve found this a simple method of couching, though there are other methods and some special tools to assist with it if you want to explore other routes.

3D printing is a good fit for papermaking because it’s one of those things where you may need to build your own tools, and being able to rapidly iterate through ideas is handy. Okay, time to go make more paper!

Update! Files are now available.
Grab the STL files to print your own at Printables.com – Mould and Deckle.

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Ampersand Framed Print

Recently I saw a physical therapist and she said “What do you do for fun?” and I panicked and said “I try to make art” which is weird and awkward (like me) because I do try to make art, but I also succeed every now and then. (I’ve even had my work in galleries.) Anyway, since I was not accepted to 30x30x30 I was probably feeling like I’m not good at making art but whatever… I don’t care if I’m good at it, I do it for fun, and because as Cometbus would say “I can’t not do it!” So here’s some art.

The print itself is on recycled homemade paper. I took the shreds from our paper shredder and any old newsprint we had around the house and made paper. I actually made a batch and then another batch and this piece is from the second batch.

So the frame is 3D printed, and there is a piece of clear acrylic in front of the artwork. Instead of laser cutting a new piece of acrylic I grabbed a bunch of acrylic sign holders from the trash at work. We use them for events but it seems like every time we ship them a few get broken. So as long as they have a section that is not broken or too scratched up, I can use them!

The frame is 3D printed. I know there are a lot of 3D printed frame designs out there, but I made my own, in OpenSCAD, and yes, it’s parametric. That means I can make more frames any size I want. I can easily change the size by typing some numbers. With the Bambu Lab P1S I can print frames just under 10″ x 10″ so that’s nice… And the textured printing surface looks awesome. I’m probably going to make a lot of frames!

Hey, it looks like an actual piece of art! Adding a frame really helps.

The print featues an ampersand, and it’s an open source typeface called Chunk Five Print. Chunk was originally designed by Meredith Mandel and then later Tyler Finck created Chunk Five Print, with some texture similar to what you would might see in a letterpress print.

I made a few edits to the ampersand, and actually remove the texture since my printing process might introduce some texture back into it. I’ll have to do another post about making the plates, because that’s a whole adventure on its own!

Here’s a quick look at the frame. I went with a big chunky frame, which seems appropriate, though I can also make thin or delicate frames since it’s all parametric and adjustable.

The back piece fits in with friction. There are small ridges on the side of the part that make it slide in tight (but not too tight!) against the outer part of the frame.

This was a really fun project, and I wanted to keep this post a reasonable length, but I’ll cover some of my other recent experiments in future posts. Probably. Stay Tuned!

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Gridfinity Organization (Part 1)

I mentioned Gridfinity a bit in my post about a custom box for hardware, but I’ve also been working on an organization system using Gridfinity for my soldering desk. I’ve got Version 1 done, but of course the beauty of Gridfinity is that it’s modular, and you can make it more modular depending on how you do it.

Usually when you see people print the baseplates for Gridfinity bins they are a large rectangle because they are putting them in a drawer or some other very rectangular area, but I have a weird non-rectangular thing going on, so I printed a bunch of smaller baseplates and bolted them together. The Gridfinity Rebuilt in OpenSCAD library adds some nice features, and one of them is these baseplates with holes, so that’s what I used. (As a bonus I used a bunch of #4-40 hardware I had lying around because I tend to use 3mm hardware for most things.)

As mentioned, it’s modular. So it’s easy to rearrange things, take bins out and move them around, and put them back in place… and they are held into the baseplate with magnets, so they (mostly) stay put. The larger gray one on the left side is my little trash bin. When soldering I put bits of insulation, wire, or any other tiny scrap in there, then dump it into the rubbish bin when it gets full. The rest of the bins are the things I use most often when soldering. I may still make a few tweaks but this is a huge improvement over the cut up cardboard box I was using. The “everything in its place” approach can definitely be a good one.

There’s one custom thing here, in the back row, which is inspired by The New Tool Holder but in Gridfinity form. I rushed that piece and didn’t have enough clearance on two of the holes so I ended up drilling them out a bit. It worked fine, but it does serve as a reminder to slow down and get it right.

(I didn’t get a photo of it actually on my soldering desk… if I’m honest it’s still a bit of a mess, just because there is so much on it. If I get it cleaned up I’ll grab a photo and add it here.)

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MatterHackers MH Build Series PLA Filament

In my post about Arcade Button Wrenches I mentioned the PolyMaker PolyTerra filament comes on cardboard spools, which is a bit more friendly to recycling and sustainability than so many of the filament manufacturers that use a plastic spool. My go-to filament for a few years now has been the MatterHackers MH Build Series PLA Filament which… comes on a plastic spool. But wait! MatterHackers also has a MH Build Series PLA Filament – Cardboard Spool that, well.. you guessed it! Comes on a cardboard spool.

Worth noting, I do not use an AMS unit on my Bambu Lab P1S printer. If you do, cardboard spools can be an issue. Though honestly you’re probably wasting a ton of filament if you’re using the AMS and doing multicolor prints so what’s one more spool in the landfill, right? (Or wait… reusable spools are a thing, right?)

Spools are of course, not standardized. If you remember my Hygrometer Filament Roll Holder you may remember this bit:

Note that every roll of filament from every manufacturer may have a different spool hole diameter. In fact, even the same damn roll of filament may have different diameter holes on each side!

But we’ll get into that topic (along with reusable spools) in another post…

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Arcade Button Wrenches

I use a lot of these Big Dome Pushbuttons in my line of work… and I also use the GoldLeaf Pushbuttons and sometimes you just want those things screwed in tight. So I made wrenches for both of them so you can screw them in tight.

You can get the STL and .scad files from Printables.com – Big Dome Pushbutton Wrench and also from Printables.com – GoldLeaf Pushbutton Wrench

One more word of advice, at least for the Big Dome, though it’s not a bad idea for the GoldLeafs as well… Once everything works and you’ve tightened the nut in place, add hot glue. Add a lot. Hot glue the shit out of that nut. Glue it to the panel it goes through, and glue it to the threads of the plastic housing. Why? Because I’ve seem both kids and adults in my time twist the button until it rips the wires off. It’s possible with the Big Dome if not glued down, and while I’ve never seen it on the GoldLeaf buttons, I still add glue just in case.

Oh, this is also the first time I’ve tried PolyMaker filament. I grabbed a roll of Polymaker PolyTerra “Army Light Green (HEX Code – ?A78403)” Matte PLA Filament. I like the color, but I realized this may be the first time I’ve used matte filament. It’s different than what I’m used to, but I don’t hate it. The PolyTerra PLA comes on cardboard spools, which should be more environmentally friendly than all those darn plastic spools. Supposedly for every Polymaker PolyTerra spool sold a tree is planted. I don’t know how to confirm that but if true, that’s a nice thing.

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