Printing pin badges on a Prusa i3 MK3S
This last week I was in Sheffield for a little bit of a
break, and while I was looking around I saw a huge number of these enamel pin
badges. Their popularity only seems to be increasing. So I was thinking, how
could you manufacture pin badges using a 3D printer?
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A finished printed pin. |
Of course you can simply buy the pin backs and adhere them
to a printed badge, but what if you wanted something that looked a little
cleaner? Something where it looked like the pin was part of the badge itself,
much like the enamel pins?
I found that using a raft that is taller than the pins you
are using, and printing the badges pin side towards the bed, you can
encapsulate the pin back in a printed badge, all you need to do is programme a
pause at the correct layer height, insert the pin back and resume the print.
I downloaded a simple badge from Thingiverse, The Star Trek Voyager Communicator from 4ndreas which can be found here, and modified it to accept a pin back, in Fusion 360 I simply sketched and extruded
a pocket on the back of the badge to be a little larger than the pin backs that I bought, of course leaving a hole for the pin to go through.
{if layer_num == 46}
M300 ;ACTIVATE BEEPER
G1 X10.000 Y200.000 E0; parking position
M1; user stop
G28 Y; Home Y axis
M105; return to current temp
{endif}
Just replace the number '46' with the layer number that you want to pause after.
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The pin file being sliced, notice the pocket where the pin will go. |
Then just slice and export that as you normally would, once printing wait for the print to pause and insert the pin, it can be a little bit challenging to get the pin in properly, just give it a very gentle tap with a small hammer or similar in order to seat the pin properly, you can also use a tiny dab of superglue in the pocket to help the pin stay seated. Then once it's finished printing carefully remove the supports and voilĂ one 3D printed pin badge.
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Print that has just come off the bed. |
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Print with the supports removed, prior to proper cleanup. |
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