Aesthetics Project Reflections

As previously mentioned, this project really started out as an aesthetics challenge: how can I make something that inherently has many wires, motors, rods, and fasteners look like it belongs in a living room? This was the first project that I’ve ever done which focused more on aesthetics than pure functionality, and I enjoyed making decisions for pure aesthetic reasons.

As I’m looking at my completed project, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. The stand certainly looks professional, and has aspects of modern, post-modern, and “retro-style” aesthetics. The universal white color makes the entire thing look clean and futuristic, while the large filleted corners evoke a 60’s retro vibe. For the printer itself, I’m really glad that I managed to hide most of the wiring and electronics from view. While this isn’t an aesthetic itself, it is certainly not the typical aesthetic of messy 3D printers and I’m very happy for that. While I originally had planned to make the whole thing neutral colors, I like the addition of the blue plastic pieces as it helps illustrate that those parts are dynamic. The color seems to prevent the entire assembly from blending in as a single clump of similarly-colored plastic, motors, and structural features.

At this point, I wouldn’t do anything different about the printer if I redid the whole project. I’m happy with how it has turned out so far and I look forward to continuing on.

Plans for the Printer

As mentioned in the final report, there is still considerable work to be completed (on the non-aesthetic side of things) in order to make the 3D printer functional. I plan to spend the next few weeks working on in, and am planning to spend about 20 hours on calibration and troubleshooting. I’ve already uploaded the code to the Arduino Mega controller, and have moved the motors via the control system, but I’m well aware of how much work still stands between me and my first prints.