Preliminary Lamp Design - Questions before I continue to develop it...

Hello,

I decided to get my feet wet with 3d printing from an off-hand conversation the other night with my roommate. So I just started designing a pendant lamp that i'm looking to print in plastic. I've attached some renderings I've done of the preliminary design, as well as a wireframe model with some basic info on the design.

Note: The model is a 3d sketch at best, I realize the mesh needs refining and resolving before the print.



Basically, I want to print a lattice type structure for the lamp, that will include a series of slots in some selected struts to pass yarn through as the lampshade. So I have a number of questions regarding the feasibility of the print and material selection.

- How durable is the plastic? I'm using lightweight yarn so I don't imagine that being too much stress on the material, not to mention the amount of struts in the entire lattice. Does this design look stable?

- I'm trying to decide whether or not I should print the object as one piece or design it as a joint system that I can glue together. Part of this decision lies in the material selection (I'm debating matte vs polished white) The Matte white looks like it is a pretty rough finish, but can allow me to print the object entirely in one piece. Is it possible to polish/sand the matte white plastic after receiving it?

- Would a design such as this warp and deform terribly during the print?

I can't think of other questions at the moment, but I'm sure they will pop up. Thanks for any help in advance!

Nice renderings. And nice design too.

"How durable is the plastic?"
It sounds like you're asking about Strong & Flexible Plastic. Take a look at these two videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T Cl5lYy3Loo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c FrEYpArTmo

"Does this design look stable?"
It appears to me to be very stable. My only concern if any would be those three struts at the top that connect the light to to main superstructure. At the points where they connect I'd be somewhat worried. I'd radius the connections at the very least. Given the weight of the nylon and the weight of the yarn it would probably be fine, but recall that on a windy day, if a door or window were open and a gust of wind got to it, this might cause a failure.

"Is it possible to polish/sand the matte white plastic after receiving it? "
Yes it is possible, but the material is not a complete solid. It is porous and does not hold water. Consequently, no amount of sanding or polishing is going to result in a flawless finish. The pours can be filled in with a clear coat or a filler and then a flawless finish can be eventually achieved after multiple coatings and sanding.

"Would a design such as this warp and deform terribly during the print?"
No, not terribly. It will not be absolutely perfect, but the amount of distortion wouldn't be noticeable to the naked eye.

To save some time doing booleans you might run this through the Netfabb cloud and see what it can do. I often use the cloud when I'm doing polygonal modeling to do groups of booleans like this. Sometimes it works wonders, while other times it will choke and give a rejection message. But it's always worth a try.

James

At the size you want. I would really consider using 'hollow tubes', as the price would be extortionate.
I made a quick sketch of the top, approximate size
square solid 6mm = 33.15 cm3
tube solid 6mm = 28.05 cm3
tube hollow 6mm with 1mm walls = 14.36 cm3
By reducing the tube to 5mm with 1 mm wall = 11.58 cm3

And if you make hollowed tube you must give some 2 mm escape holes if you want it made from Stainless Stel