Progress on plastic comparisons and the modelling process

This past week I have been crafting the 3D models based off of each artifact as well as cleaning and comparing the resin and plastic test prints. Over the next week I’ll be finishing some of the models and begin the printing process.

                The digital side of things each model has brought its own difficulties but none have so far proved too difficult. Many of the models need the assistance of playdough to remain upright so I can capture both sides, however this means I am not capturing the piece placed into the playdough. I have two choices; my first option is to leave the blank hole there and solidify the model in another program which would just fill the hole in and make it smooth, or my second option is to flip the model and capture the bottom side and then merge both models together to fill the hole. The second option is preferable but learning how to do this took up a larger portion of my time but I feel it will be worth it due to its accuracy. Additionally the glare on the sharpening tool was not as much of a problem as I anticipated as I could just turn down the lighting in my apartment and use more diffused lighting which allowed me to capture it without having random holes in it due to reflections.

                The plastic to resin comparison is following what I anticipated but new points have been brought to light as I broke the plastic models from their supports. Breaking the supports off of the model caused support marring on the models as anticipated that needs to be cleaned up more accurately either through sanding or with a fine edge tool, however some of the models were difficult to remove from their supports and I actually tore the arrow head into two pieces as I cracked the model cleanly along the layer line as I was trying to move the supports. The supports were fused to the model in some places and those touch points were stronger than the actual model itself. Additional support issues come from the wax seal and lock as there are many small little strands of plastic obscuring the detail that are a slow process to remove as well as the quality of the lock. The lock was printed on resin and FDM using the same digital model yet the plastic version has tiny holes and layer lines that seemed frayed and pulled out of position creating more holes.

Notice that some layers seem pulled out of position and some gaps become visible

This photo is similar to the one displayed last week. Notice that amount of thin strands that need to be cut and pulled off of the model's face. Additionally, the depth of each letter presents a visible difference

Overall, I would rather deal with the resin post processing any day because it is so much easier to not damage the model, preserve its detail, and faster to process. The plastic models, while they printed in a quarter of the time it took to print the resin models, the post processing is rather labor intensive and create a higher risk for damaging the replica. I should note, however, that I have a lot more experience with printing resin models than I do with FDM, especially because I do not place the supports on FDM nor do I control any of the other printing options and there may be ways to adapt the printing process to make the post processing more viable, less damaging, and less labor intensive.