For this new year I had a goal of getting into making 3d models for 3d printing and painting. I wanted my first idea to be small so I decided on a holder for my drawing tablet pen. I came up with some sketches and picked the brush.
The main challenge I identified was how to model the brush. I’ve used TinkerCad for items that can be modeled based around simple shapes. However, it isn’t able to handle a curved and textured bristle pattern. Blender is a tool I used like once in college and it is free so I went with that as a trial. To begin with I wanted to see if I could export from Blender and print it out. I made a simple test. That I after learning more learned it shouldn’t have had internal overlapping, but it did work. It does feel fragile so I think the layering might have been messed up by the internal geometry.
Since most of the brush I could model in TinkerCad for V2 I made brush by sculpting in blender, exporting that stl, then importing into TinkerCad. I then made the base and holder. The import process brought on some weird artifacts that didn’t really mess with the final result.
After printing V2 I was mostly happy with the fit of the pen. It is hard to guesstimate tolerances in modeling so it is usually a good practice to print a little larger then take it down a bit after seeing IRL. I made the base a little thinner which was a mistake as the brush needs some counter weight or it tips easily. Next I wanted to try painting a 3d print. I used some primer and tried some of my acrylic paint. I should have don’t another 1 or 2 layers of primer as I could still see the filament color in the final result. I also don’t like the layer lines. I printed with a .5mm nozzle and .2mm layer height for V2 then .16mm layer for V3. Might need to sand it or use some filler product. Going to try a smaller layer height and nozzle for V4.
The acrylic paint was hard to apply accurately. I’m thinking I could print each part separately then glue together but that might make it weaker structurally.
Next steps:
For V4 I’m going to try to do all the modeling in Blender as I’ve gotten much more comfortable with it. I recommend this youtube tutorial for the basics of blender. This will make the final assembly less clunky with TinkerCad’s limited ability to scale the brush model and place it with the top and bottom.