FPAN 3D modelling and printing Internship - Week 1

My name is Trevor Colaneri and I am in the start of my second year in the Public History MA program at UCF as well as being a current teacher for OCPS as 6th grade World History and 7th grade Civics teacher.

My internship with the East Central FPAN office focuses on the comparison of the two most popular 3D printing methods being FDM plastic printing and SLA resin printing. The project consists of the creation of five 3D models using low-cost photogrammetry as well as their subsequent printing and preparation. I will print and prepare those artifacts printed on the resin printer while Emily Dietrich will print those same models on FPAN’s FDM printer where then both sets of prints can be compared on their replication abilities. The culmination of this project with FPAN will be the presentation of a co-authored paper on our findings at the Society for Historical Archaeology 2021 conference.

FDM printing has, for the past few years, been the most common, cheapest, and readily available 3D printing method that is available recreationally and commercially. However, in the past 2-3 years resin printers have started to become more widely available recreationally while also becoming more economically feasible. Resin SLA printers excel in small objects with a lot of detail but generally struggle with larger objects for a variety of reason with the most important being the print bed’s size. FDM printers generally counter by being able to print much larger objects with the struggle of small detailed oriented objects.

The goal of this internship is to compare these two affordable printing methods using a small collection of artifacts and compare the results to evaluate any notable differences between the two as well as the printing process associated with each.

The skills I hope to gain from the internship would be the creation of 3D models using photogrammetry as well as developing and continuing my practice and understanding of 3D printing. These skills directly relate to my thesis and will assist me greatly in learning the process of photogrammetry, metashape, and printing which will save me time later on during the actual project portion for my thesis.