WISRD Research & Engineering Journal

Table 1. Specifications of clay used to make ceramic platforms.

Cone

6

Wet Color

Very Lt. Grey

Firing Color

Oxidation: White Reduction: N/A

Texture

Smooth

Consistency

Slightly Firm

Avg. Shrinkage

Shrinkage 2±%: 13.9%

Avg. Water Absorption

1±%: 0.12%

The clay was wrapped in wet towels for two days before inserting it into the printer tube as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Preparing clay before use by wrapping in wet towels. Amaco kiln shelves, Model EX-324 Max Fire Cone 1, were obtained from Blick Art Materials. They are a full octagon design, 15 ½” x 15” x ⅝”. 2.3 Potterbot 7 upgraded to 9 The ceramic 3D printer used in this research is the Potterbot 7, with a Potterbot 9 software upgrade, which is owned by WISRD. We were originally running on Potterbot 7 software; however, the print would often fail. For example, it would stop mid-print, print the wrong dimensions, and/or not print at all. After several calls with Potterbot, it was determined that the Potterbot was not intended to print in the way we were using it. The fix was to upgrade our software to that of a Potterbot 9, and we have had none of these issues since this upgrade.

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