Faux Barbed Wire 3D Printed Jewellery

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 21:46:14 GMT

The best feature of TPU is that it's flexible. Which makes it an ideal material for wearable 3D prints. If I can figure out how to handle it. To that end I gave this Faux Barbed Wire Choker and Bracelet Instructable a go.

Did I mention that TPU is stringy? Well, it is. The lower example in this photo is how they come off the bed. Then the work is trying to pull off most of the strings, snipping chunky pieces, and then melting messy bits. The Instructable mentions burning them off. This is how I learnt that TPU is flammable. The top example is what my attempts to clean up the prints results in. Each shiny, rounded blob is where fire happened.

I persevered, and had a few goes. I am under-whelmed by the results. Partly because of the burning, but also because of the very clearly visible layer lines. The ones in the Instructable came out much better. I've got a ways to go yet. TPU is tricky y'all.

The cleaned up, and straight off the bed, versions
Photo by chebe

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Purism Librem 5 phone case

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 18:58:19 GMT

Not too long ago I got my hands on a Purism Librem 5. I'm still trying to get to know this device, so I can't say much about it yet. Except that I love everything it's going for. I just don't know how to make it work for me. Mainly because, with a fully charged battery, and all the hardware switches in the off position, by morning there is hardly any charge left. *sad shrug*

But you know me; if it's a small piece of tech it needs a case! You cannot buy a case for this phone. You must make your own. Thankfully there is a whole case repo with options for you. I went with the slim phone case.

You might have noticed that these cases are meant to be printed in TPU. I've never tried TPU before, so let's give that a go! I ordered the TPU from my printer manufacturer in the hopes that it would work with less effort. I, um. Well, it's a case, that's for sure. But. This is stringy. When the print comes off the bed I had to pull/scrape away as much excess material as I could. I had to snip some blobs off. I tried to melt some problems away. But mostly that resulted in nearly creating holes. There are places where the layers didn't bond, and I had to cut some of them off. The inside corners of the case gathered a lot of extra material, and makes the case fit even tighter. But it does fit. So, mostly a success I guess. (If I try another print I'd pick a chonky case.) TPU is tricky y'all.

Librem5, in a black TPU case, front
Photo by chebe

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Busy hands | Disquiet mind

Faux Barbed Wire 3D Printed Jewellery

Purism Librem 5 phone case