What Are You Printing Now? By Robert Nipper This month we are making a computer from scratch with a little help from a 3D printer. My good friend, a successful actress I will refer to as ‘Mila’, stopped in to the office when she was in town last week. She picked up a recently printed object and asked with a smile… “What are you printing now?” We were amused by her expression when we told her “It’s a computer case!” and his design turned out great! After the design was complete, Chris did the open- source, community-minded, cool thing to do, and posted the design on one of the discussion boards for others to use, free of charge. There was one small hiccup during the print process. The first version of the case curled during printing. This meant that at the very least, the case would have an unsightly bow in it. At the worst, some of the other elements would have been misshapen. A few adjustments to the printer were in order. After the temperature was changed, the second attempt turned out great. She was understandably confused, since a Jaguar The boards arrived, and they fit the cases board is not something that she and her husband, perfectly. ‘Ashton’, encounter on a regular basis. A Jaguar board is a small, but fully functional computer. It measures about 3 x 4 x 1”. When Chris and Steven ordered them, they immediately began searching the internet for a 3D printable case. Chris realized that no one had been industrious enough to create one, so he dove right in! He used Autodesk Fusion360 to design a two- piece case to protect his Jaguar board, while maintaining access to all the ports and connection points. We all went out to dinner that night, and Mila wouldn’t stop talking to Ashton about how cool it was, and how he should do a movie about 3D printing. Of course, functionality and economy were high priorities during the design process. He wanted the case to be easy to use, fit the Jaguar board perfectly, and not use too much material. Luckily, the dimensions of the board were readily available, Who knows? I might even get a small speaking role! Is it too much to hope that they might even name the movie… “What Are You Printing Now?” www.cadlearning.com 29