The hair dress is printed in single color, white ABS plastic. But you are free to experiment with multiple colors. A great way to do that is to switch out your filament while printing objects that are higher than the hair dress base.

Ensure your artwork is flipped up-side-down so that it's printed right-side-up when it's removed from the heated build plate. If you forgot to flip it in your 3D app, you can rotate the STL in your slicing program. In MakerWare, you can select the object and click on the turn menu item. Press the +90 button until the hair dress is flipped.
Hair Dress
About 1 hr 15 minutes
21g
ABS @230/120
No Raft
No Support
20% infill / 2 shells
.20 Layer Height
80/120 mm/s

Printing Techniques

Build Plate Preparations

For ABS printing, it's recommenced to use a heated build plate with katon tape. For best quality, apply a fresh strip of katon tape. You can apply a clear-air-bubble sheet by laying the tape down when the build plate is heated (Be careful!). Use a plastic card to flatten the tape. When air-bubble arise, peel back the tape and reapply the tape in small chucks until it's clean and air bubble free.

Live Level

We recommend going raft-less for each piece because it will have the best quality result. Each piece will require a well leveled platform. We tend to "live level" our prints, meaning we adjust the build plates thumb screws while the print is laying down filament. This way we can make adjustments directly and improve the leveling by seeing how the extruders are laying down the first layer onto the build plate. We recommend watching the first layer so that you get a more successful print. If you see the layers aren't sticking or getting knocked off, you can always cancel print, peel it off and try again.

Gemma Enclosure

To defuse and soften the NeoPixel ring, we printed the Gemma enclosure in transparent PLA filament. Each piece can be printed separately or together. The lid cover should easily snap onto the case and tightly fit so the components don't fall out of the enclosure.

Build Plate Preparations

There's a great video tutorial by Dr. Henry Thomas who demonstrations a great technique for preparing acrylic build plates for awesome prints. Wipe down the plate with a paper towel lightly dabbed in acetone. Use another paper towel and apply a tiny dab of olive oil. Wipe down the plate so a small film of oil is applied, this will allow the parts to come off the plate easier.

Removing the pieces
The lid will be the most difficult to remove, use a circuit spatula. Try to avoid scratching your acrylic build plate. A good way to remove the covers is to position the spatula on the edge of the layer above the build plate. Apply pressure to the spatula, closely grip it upwards and pull up removing the piece from the build plate.
Gemma Enclosure
About 30 minutes
4g
PLA @230
No Raft
No Support
.20 Layer Hieght
90/150mm/s

This guide was first published on Nov 13, 2013. It was last updated on Mar 18, 2024.

This page (3D Printing) was last updated on Nov 03, 2013.

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