3D printing: Shells and Infill (Part 2: Testing)

Before we begin: In our last post, namely "3D printing: Shells and Infill (Part 1: Introduction)" we gave a brief account on what shells and infills are in the context of 3D printing. We intend to use this knowledge to reduce the weight of our 3D printed hand.

In this post we tested the 'shell' and 'infill' function and had some fun with more 3D printing!

Test 1: Rectangular cuboid

Infill: NONE

Extra Shells: NONE

Test 1: We found that it was very easy to break. This was MINIMAL material. We thought that we needed extra shells. 

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Test 2: 3D finger

Infill: 1%
Extra Shells: 3 layers

Test 2: The extra shells made it much thicker. It was very tough. The 1% infill was negligible. We didn't complete the print.

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Test 3: Another 3D finger with external defects

Test 3: Broke in half to look inside

Infill: NONE
Extra Shells: NONE

Test 3: Easy to break. Some defects visible and will be a problem. Looks like we need more shells to improve its hardiness. 

Conclusion: To reduce the weight of our 3D models we can have ZERO infill and ONE extra shell. We will attempt to print the 3D hand model with these settings.