MakerGear Forum

My friend Rob (rsilvers, of S3D profile settings and filament drive fame) has been using his microscope adapter to take close up photos of a safety razor and model it precisely. I printed it in PLA at 0.10mm layer height:
Check out that printed M5 thread:
With handle and blade, ready for a test shave:

Jin,

Very nice! However, I've had my beard so long (since late 1980s) that I would hack my face to shreds with that (or any other razor!). Reminds me of an old comedy bit --- "Little --- tiny --- hairs! Growin' out my face!"

Dale

Is there any discussion of how he's using these photos to model the razor? Is he using the focus of the microscope to determine the Z dimension?

Just profile shots to get accurate dimension measurements. Hard to do that with calipers on a small object.

Some more playing around with finishing. Sanded, then brushed with IPA Weld-On #4. Smooth to the touch where the layers are more vertical, but as it rounds out it gets harder to smooth without pitting. Also, the sanding appears to have bleached out the PLA somehow.

Nice job!

Does anyone know why sanding would bleach the color? I thought the pigment was imbedded throughout the plastic.

jsc wrote:Does anyone know why sanding would bleach the color? I thought the pigment was imbedded throughout the plastic.

You're creating little air pockets when you sand. The air pockets scatter the light before the pigment can do its job. Sand with a finer sandpaper and re-smooth with IPS #4.

I went from 220 to 1000, that's not enough? I grew tired of sanding. Maybe I will try epoxy.

1000 should be plenty. Epoxy or IPS #4 should do the trick then. Maybe just try smoothing it again?