Perfect – just what I wanted!

Not a perfect loom – a perfect experiment

As I have noted before, everything that you need to learn 3D printing is available online and free. It can be a perfect home hobby even if you do not own a 3D printer since the actual printing can easily be outsourced. However, to get the knack of 3D printing, you need to print out a few trials just to see what happens, perhaps with new materials or different printers. Also it would be nice to find a few more experienced friends who would be able to help when you get stuck. What to do?

The Makerspace at Alderman Library is a perfect place to experiment and learn

Last week at the 3D Printing Basics hands-on workshop, I was able to search for printing looms and choose one for an experiment to see how the process works. I really did not want to print the full loom, because I want to design my own loom. I am so pleased with the result of the start of the printing of the loom ring! I can see why it is important to have enough “stickiness” on the plate and enough support to avoid the loose strings. I am so interested to be able to see the inner structure -that looks disordered to me, but must make sense to the computer.

Next steps

For my perfect loom, I would want the inside to be perfectly ordered even if it is invisible once the loom ring is complete. (I have been interested in crystal structure since my college days.) I would want the loom and especially the pegs to be a little flexible and smooth to the touch. As I said two years ago when I first started this project, “This may take a while!”