QuantumDesign

RSS feed

The Blog

  • Automatic Design?

    Automatic Design?

    My main enjoyment is in the design of a craft project. The next interest is how to make what I have designed. 

    Almost all of my projects involve the use of CNC (Computer Numeric Control) of machine tools. 

    I have a shop full of electrical powered machine tools. Both hand operated and CNC operated. Materials can be wood, metals, wax and plastics. 

    3D Plastic items can be formed using light cured resins and/or FDM extruded filament layered printing. (3D printing).

    Wax can be 100% hand shaped with hand held tools. (e.g. – saw, knife, rotary hand burr, files, scrapers.) Or shaped by using a 3 or 4 axis CNC milling process. Wax is then Lost Wax process cast into a metal part.

    Raw metal stock is either hand or CNC shaped by lathe turning and 3 or 4 axis milling.

    Wood items are formed with conventional hand and power (table and band) sawing. In my shop, wood planing is by hand.

    I do not produce super detailed mechanical drawings for any of my hand process made items. A semi-detailed hand drawn sketch with critical dimensions is totally sufficient in a one person craft shop. I know my Idea vision and sometimes like to just work with the small details “on the fly”.

    But CNC tools are a totally different environment. They demand absolute total instructional definitions. Some day the machine tool may incorporate the new FAD of AI (Artificial Intelligence) but that day will never be embraced by myself if it takes over the creative process.

    II don’t even want the CAD (drawing) process to do my design thinking. Assistance like “draw a chamfer on all 90 degrees edges 1 mm radius ” is OK. But don’t take away basic design thinking.

    Again, My main interest is in the designing process. I will not want a computer program to DO all my thinking. Just give me help with specific details when I ask for them. 

    I will be watching where this AI “thing” may be headed. It’s probably the “future” for some industrial applications. A true “craft-person” will always want to keep the “person” in the creative process.

    For me, no walking up to the “replicator” and asking for a three color 200mm tall vase with a handle. Wait 3 minutes (snap, crackle. pop), open door and remove newly designed and created vase.  No thank you. <G> 

  • Time and Material*

    Time and Material*

    I decided to open a new avenue for design in 3D printing. I intend to order a new Snapmaker U1 4 color FDM printer in a few days. Here is a link to the specifics. <Snapmaker U1>

    I already own a 4 color Creality K2PLUS  FDM printer. It can be connected to 16 colors if that is a need or desire. Excellent quality printer but it is a single nozzle filament swap system. 

    That means the color filament length is fully retracted back to the spool and a new color filament fed the same distance back into the extruder. Slow and cumbersome and a huge amount of melted in-extruder filament and new filament must be purged out before starting use of the new color. 

    It works fine but is very slow and wastes (called PooP) a whole lot of filament for the purge.

    It’s not bad when printing a few horizontal layer stripes of different color. But printing a design with say… four color changes per layer is horrendous waste of T&M*.

    The Snapmaker U1 uses four complete print heads that are swapped for a color change. No filament pull and feed and no color change purge. Just swap a fully loaded, heated, and ready print head and in a few seconds start printing the new color.

    The limitation is just four heads and four colors (or materials) rather than sixteen with the K2PLUS. 

    Not selling printers, but I do like to designs items with mixed color or materials. Vertical stripes are a PITA with the K2PLUS. No problem with the U1 except (again) the 4 color limit.

    What has happened is I do not design items with multiple color or filament changes per layer for the K2PLUS. It’s a creative limitation. I could create the design, but I know the huge T&M* production penalty with the K2PLUS 

    I own and use a Snapmaker J1S IDEX (two independent extruders) So I know what T&M* to expect with wipe towers etc, The U1 can’t run two heads in tandem for duplicates like the J1but adds two more colors.

    The U1 is a new design for Snapmaker. Will be perfect? I don’t know. But I like the idea of new designs I can create to utilize its abilities. Don’t buy a U1 for what I say here. I just want to point out the creative advantage such a printer will provide. More colors or materials per layer with good T&M* management.

    *Time and Material

  • Amus(e)ing Boredom

    Amus(e)ing Boredom

    Trying to define my creative muse. You know, that moment of inspiration to create something new. The Greeks had several goddess to do that. The 9 Muses. Today, the word muse can refer to anyone or thing which inspires creative inspiration and design.

    (more…)
  • WWW Design

    WWW Design

    Non-tangible Design

    I enjoy a design interest that has no tangible result. There IS a result, but one cannot physically sense it with a finger touch. One can read it as you are doing now. It is website design and publishing,

    (more…)
  • Extruder Design (Pushing Limits)

    Extruder Design (Pushing Limits)

    Extruder Design (Pushing Limits)

    There are many designs (variations) in FDM printer extruders. The basic concept is to feed a 1.75mm (or 2.8mm) round plastic filament to a melting device (hot end) and continuously deposit the resulting liquid flow of plastic in patterned layers on a build plate. One layer on top of the previous layer until a 3D item is produced. 

    (more…)