Star Wars Pill Container

--Table of Contents--

1. Changes

2. Printing Process

3. Assembly Process

4. Recommendations / What I Did

--Changes--

• Font changed to Star Wars logo font - Font: Distant Galaxy

• Lids, Text, and Body scaled to fit Prusa Mini

• Text and Lids are designed for multicolor printing with the Prusa Mini

  • Text and Lids made for .1 mm layer height

  • Text is placed and designed to print as a first layer in a different color (text placed to avoid mesh bed levelling)

  • Lids designed to print after all the Text is done (make sure to have .2 mm z hop for the Lids)

  • Text enlarged to allow for .4 mm nozzle to print cleaner

  • Original Lid Mesh repaired

--Printing Process--

1. Print the body in the desired color.

2. Print the text first in your preferred color. (note: make sure text is set to .1mm layer height)

3. Change filament to the desired color.

4. Print the lids after all the text has been printed (note: make sure that the layer height is set to .1mm and set z-hop to .2mm)

5. Let the plate cool to room temp before carefully taking the lids off.

--Assembly Process--

1. Glue a thin sheet of plastic cut to fit the inside lip of the lids to ensure they close properly, or pour a thin layer of resin with any additives to make a custom window. Make sure the resin stays inside the lip.

2. Slightly bend the back of the lid, separating the ball joints enough to fit onto the corresponding joint on the body. Be careful, it can break pretty easily. Tolerances are tight to allow the lids to stay open on their own.

--Recommendations / What I Did--

• Recommendations:

  • I provided the SVG files for easy remodelling if you want to take the original lid design and emboss the lettering yourself

  • Use the .3mf files if you are not printing my bgcodes, I have already lined up the lids to the lettering, so do not move the positions of the lettering or lids. I have provided the stls, but their position data is not saved. You will have to align the text and lids

  • Print my bgcodes for the first layer with the texts separated into their days. If you are printing on a Prusa Mini and in a PLA that prints well around 220-230°C. You want your text to have no visible infill

  • If you do not plan to use my settings for the first layer, I recommend:

    • If you are using Prusaslicer and the stl for the text, import and right-click the model, then select split into objects

    • Set the extruder to squish slightly more than your normal live z

    • Set ironing at all solid surfaces and ironing spacing set to .1mm

    • Turn off fans

    • Increase flowrate very slightly, no more than .1

    • 100% infill

    • Slow Print Speed down significantly

    • Set XY Size Compensation to a small negative value. This setting is dependent on your filament and printer, so it may need trial and error

  • Recommendation for the lids:

    • Use the same type of filament for the text and lids to ensure differences in heat and material wont effect bonding

    • Set the first layer height to .1mm, the other layers can be whatever height

    • Infill doesn't matter, but I found 15% works well

    • No ironing, it can mess with the tolerances and is not needed for this print, the way the orientation is set

    • Use auto-generated Tree supports set to everywhere, with a light top interface and no bottom interface

    • Use 3 perimeters

    • Use a small positive value for XY Size Compensation (For example: if text XY Comp is set to -0.1, set lid XY Comp to 0.05)

    • Print a single lid first to test your settings

  • Recommendation for the body:

    • Tolerances are tight here, so if you are scaling the model, make sure you scale the text, lids, and body to the same degree

    • Supports are not needed here if you print in the orientation I have set

    • Ironing for all top layers helps with the look, but is not necessary

    • You should not need to use the XY Comp here unless your lids do not fit the body.

    • Since the body is designed in one piece and takes the longest to print, I recommend printing it first, then printing one lid, and testing the fit. This way, you can adjust the lid settings on one lid and reprint with less filament and time wasted. Instead of having to reprint the entire body. 

• What I did:

  • I printed the body first at .2mm layer height and 3 perimeters with Nebular Purple Flash Forge High Speed PLA

  • I printed the text in ESUN PLA+ White, with ironing and with a live z of -0.020 instead of my normal -0.017. Printed separately by day to ensure that if one letter day prints badly, I can remove its two letters without removing all the other days, and fine-tune the settings for that day

  • I printed the lids in the same Nebular Purple Flash Forge High Speed PLA, with an entire layer height of .1mm, no ironing, supports, and at a live z value of -0.017. I did slightly increase the line width for the first layer only to help create a smoother surface

  • I printed the Monday text first, then the lid for Monday. I tested its fit on the body. Then I adjusted the XY Comp and text settings until I got a look and fit I was happy with

  • I then printed the rest of the lids all in one print

  • For the windows:

    • I taped the lids face down onto the waxy side of parchment paper, poured a very thin layer of epoxy resin mixed with purple sparkles into each lid's opening, the pour did not go above the round section, set a long rectangle across all of the lids, and clamped down each end to put equal pressure on the lids without allowing the rectangle to touch the epoxy itself. 

    • I then let it cure, and sprayed the tops of the lids with a glossy, clear coat acrylic spray from Rust-Oleum