Today marks the start of our community shoutouts. There are so many truly amazing makers in our wonderful community and we want to give them their moment to shine by sharing their work with others.
Perhaps you've recently finished a 3D printing project that you're super proud of. Perhaps you want to nominate someone else for their work. We want to hear! Contact us at support@e3d-online.com and we'll discuss featuring you on the website.
Let's meet our first community maker who has plenty to share with you all!
Hello! Introduce yourself to the community
My name is Johan Gude, I'm 40 years old and from the Netherlands.
I‘m an Industrial Design Engineer, working in the telecom and 3D printing branch. At the moment I do some freelance work, but mostly I want to be there for my three adorable girls. Although I'll probably I will return to the 3D printing business at some stage because 3D printing for me is not only work, but a hobby and my passion. Besides the technical interest it also enables me to make things I like and need. I like to combine 3D printing with other techniques like woodworking or epoxy art. At the moment I’m learning to paint figurines and I hope some day to learn to 3D sculpt.
How did you start 3D printing?
My first experience with 3D printing was over 20 years ago when I was the operator of a Zcorp machine as a student (at the Twente University) for several years. After my education I used 3D printing often for work, but mostly through professional companies like Shapeways/iMaterialise as good quality desktop machines were not that widely accessible.
At some stage I got a cheap kit though Kickstarter. It was a mess and I changed pretty much everything on it, but cheap printers were still not available at that time so I made the decision to build my own machine (Jan 2016), using the only 32 bit board at the time, called RADDS with an Arduino Due. It also has 3 independent Z axes, core XY movement, the brand-new (at the time) Buildtak Flexplate, Raspberry Pi with Repetier Server and camera, linear rails etc. This was where I used E3D components for the first time. At first, 3 Lite 6 heatsinks/heatbreak combinations with a diamond HotEnd. E3D V6 followed as I switched to a single direct drive toolhead and now I have converted the toolhead to the Revo Micro, but at some stage would love to switch to a Hemera Lightweight with Revo Nozzles.
Tell us about your featured projects
1) The Velociraptor
When I was browsing on MyMiniFactory I came across this velociraptor modelled by the talented Rob Pauza. I'd just received the HeaterCore beta unit (Round 1), so it was the perfect project to test its endurance. I scaled the model to 180% so the biggest parts would just fit my 300x300x300 printer build volume. I printed all parts with White Unis3D PLA trying to minimize the amount of supports and standing mostly vertical to preserve all those beautiful textures on the model. The Revo HeaterCore did a perfect job, after printing it was time to slightly sand it, assemble it, fill the gaps and prime it. Assembled it is almost 1 meter wide! The model has so many great details and was a real joy to airbrush. There is also a awesome tutorial video on this project by Rob Pauza, watch and be amazed, this guys really deserves a big shoutout!
2) BIG 4kg cosplay rifle
I was commissioned to make a big cosplay rifle by cosplayer Vokunzul to make a pool party Caitlyn rifle. The 3D model was acquired on Etsy this time from CosplayRefashioned.
For this project a V6 HotEnd was used with a 0.8mm nozzle, making 0.96m perimeters and I used a layer height of 0.3mm to keep printing times down. This was a really big printing project as it took 4KG of PETG and is almost 1.5m long. I used PETG so it would not break easily, knowing that it was going to be used at conventions. To save on material and weight the parts were printed (almost) hollow. After all parts were printed, I assembled them and filled the gaps with polyester filler because it can be sanded down easily. The final smoothing and painting will be done by Vokunzul.
3) Topographic coffee table
This table was a LOT of work, but I think it was worth it. It combines woodworking, 3D printing and epoxy pouring in a really nice matter. First I used the online tool terrain2stl to capture the height data of a mountain range. I imported this into Meshmixer to make it into a round table and to split it an add some dowels, so it would fit my build volume and to make the assembly easier. I printed the four parts vertically to keep all the details and see less layer lines. It was printed with PLA as it will be covered with a lot of other materials/layers.
After assembly it was coated several times with putty spray and primer, then it was coated with a concrete look coating. To make the rivers a diamond clear epoxy from Dipon was mixed with blue ink. When the river was hardened the rest of the epoxy was poured onto the table (3L!) with only a few small parts of the mountains sticking out. The legs are made out of several printed parts combined with bamboo and were inspired by a tree pattern, the overall diameter is 450mm.
What skills did you develop when undertaking these projects
I really like to try new stuff and go all in when I do, I don't like doing the same thing over and over.
The Velociraptor
This project involved several things that I hadn't done before, for example using putty to fill the gaps between the several parts. It was also the first project that I was going to paint using an airbrush which I loved and will continue to do.
BIG 4kg cosplay rifle
To keep the print time down and to make a firm prop I used an 0.8mm nozzle. To save on material usage while keep the parts strong I used multiple wall perimeters but tried to minimize infill and supports. For this I experimented with using multiple processes within a single part.
Topographic coffee table
Epoxy pouring was new for me and didn’t go perfectly so it was definitely a big learning experience. Adding a thin epoxy layer on top of a printed part made it very smooth, so I probably will use it more often to postprocess printed parts.
What's your next big project?
The projects will keep coming, but at the moment I am painting a 50cm tall Star Lord figurine that was printed using FFF/MSLA and DLP machines. I also want to focus on making more 3D models of my own, from vases to more mechanical parts. And after 6 years my DIY 3D printer needs to be replaced, so I want to do a complete new 3D printer design too.
What's your dream printer set-up?
I always want it all so I don't think it can be limited to one machine. So, I think my dream setup (that would be within possibilities as I don't think I will ever own a MJF machine 😉) would consist of five machines:
- Mid/big sized ToolChanger FFF machine with a toolhead for engraving
- Small sized fully closed precise and high temp FFF 3D printer with two toolheads
- Belt FFF printer
- Big size MSLA machine
- Small but very high resolution DLP machine
What advances would you like to see in 3D printing over the next 3-5 years?
More sensors controlling and checking dimensional accuracy, closed loop motion control, and print failure recognition (camera etc.) I don't really care about the print time, but when I print something I want it to be perfect
You can follow Johan on LinkedIn and Instagram!
Send us your stories!
A huge thank you to Johan for spending the time to walk us through his very impressive 3D printing projects. If you've enjoyed reading his story and fancy sharing your own projects, drop us a message at support@e3d-online or via our Discord and we'll get the conversation rolling.