If you’re interested in how we powered up our 3d printer when Zombies are running through the earth, check Part 1 of this article.
Ok, so we’re prepared for our setup but haven’t we stated that in our scenario resources are thin world is inhabited by but not most pleasant brain eaters?
YUP.
Let’s say that you’ve stored a few spools of the 3D printing filament, some PLA, a bit of ASA maybe even some PA12 (nylon). But we’re not here to run a YouTube channel, we’re here to survive Zombie Apocalypse! We need to find a way to make new filaments for two reasons:
- Sustainability — our whole setup will be worth nothing if we lack material for printing
- Space — we’re moving, and free storage space is not something that will just “lay around”
There are at least two methods that we can use in our remote setup:
- Extrusion for PLA, ASA, PET-G and ABS
- Pulltrusion for PET
- Wildcard *
Extrusion
One of the safest and most versatile choices is a small setup that works on the same principle as normal filament manufacturing. There are setups that are professional, but they are expensive and not really compact in size. Thankfully — we also have sets like ARTME3D which can extrude filament ready to print from variety of materials that need to be shredded, dehumidifier, and put in the hopper for further processing. Devices like that enable us to recycle what we can find “in our journey” and reuse it as printing material.
Pulltrision
We also have “pultrusion” kits — and those are a really neat options, PET-G is quite a known 3d printing material, and PET is the same monomer but without glycol addition, which makes it a bit more brittle than PET-G. But it has a huge upside, pulltrusion kits take single-use bottles (made most of the time from PET), cut thin stripes, and transform them into hollow PET filament. It’s a very “single material” oriented solution, but the fact that you can use literal garbage to create printing material is comforting when Zombies have eaten all Amazon delivery guys.
* It’s not a 3rd method, but there is a very surprising source of very good material. Did you know that grass trimming line, one used in those:
Especially this part:
It’s most often nylon? And its diameter surprisingly fits most hobby-level 3D printers — check Stefan’s material on his page and YouTube channel.
Printing
Ok! We have a printer, we have power, we have filament. Our rig is rigged. We need two more things :
- Skills
- Actual things
Skills
We need to talk about skills — if you think “Hey mean bearded man! I can 3d print! I made 3d Benchy and a dragon!”, then you’re partially right — you have some skills needed, but remember that in time of EPZA — you will most probably lack access to Printables, Thingiverse and other platforms with ready to use STLs that you can print.
It means that Zombie Apocalypse pre-work is to gain mechanical design skills. I know, it’s a lot. Hardware is one part, being a proficient user of the tool is significantly more important.
Below you will find a listing of courses that will help you gain needed knowledge, but remember Engineer’s Perspective is a practical one — design things, solve problems, and put those skills to use.
Product Design Online — great channel with lots of knowledge from an experienced designer
Lars Christensen — very good “from zero to hero” material
USSA: woodworking +3d printing — great channel joining classic woodworking with 3d printing tools
What’s very important — of course you should learn software like Fusion360 or Solidworks, but take a good glance at FreeCAD. It’s cumbersome, and the learning curve is steeper — but it will work offline, always. And it will be Free. The apps above are far superior, but how will they work if they can’t connect to their servers? Fusion360 is basically an online program — not something that we can consider useful when Zombies are “picnicking” at your ISP’s office.
Things, we all need things
We’re at the summit. We made all this effort — just for this. To be able to make things. There is an obvious statement that we can use — what you can print?
E v e r y t h i n g.
But everything has insignificant educational value, so let’s dive in.
We can print spare parts for other devices — right away call yourself “Gear King”, as every time when someone needs spare gear like that :
He needs to find one (probably in the same type of device), make one (with heavy machinery normal or CNC lathe), or 3d print it. Of course, you can say that of course it’s not going to be the same durability as metal — but there is a world of devices that are not operating on heavy torques and lifting tons. Every time when you need more/less torque or more/less speed — a gearbox is needed. 3D printing them is easy, making a chassis for a gearbox without very specialized heavy machinery is … not easy.
Let’s not stop on gears, in general, it there is maintenance of something, spare parts are needed.
Chasis, boxes, enclosures
All of us did that, organizers, boxes, custom chassis. It’s something that your 3d printer will not even sweat about it.
Tools
One of the most important things that you can make, is a thing to make other things. A Tool!
Clamps
Printables
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Angle saw
Printables
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PPE
Personal Protective Equipment, is it possible to print HEPA filter? Not really. But duct-taping the HEPA filter to your face doesn’t make it a gas mask right?
When COVID-19 hit us, I printed and donated more than 500 sets of PPE for hospitals and first responders. It was robust, it was simple, and most importantly — there was tremendous demand for it.
Below you’ll find a list of great projects to inspire your own and of course to store them somewhere safe 😉
Printed mask
COVID-19 MASK (Easy-to-print, no support, filter required)
This model has not been approved by any regulatory agency. Use it at your own risk, and only as a last resort, if you…
Adapter for Decathlon Snorkeling Mask
Printables
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Misc and Adapters
Many completely Miscellaneous objects can be surprisingly useful, below list of those! BTW. Remember this scene? Do you know what would save them? 3D printer (well, maybe a space version of 3D printer). So you can think “adapters, phiew…”, but when resources are thin — you deal with what you have, and with what you can print!
Battery adapters
Printables
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Printables
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Sink Adapter for hose
Printables
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Prologue
Of course, this article has a satirical angle, put your tinfoil hat aside… What’s important is to create a set of skills that will be useful for a group greater than yourself. And to be prepared for things that are hard to overcome and hard to anticipate. It can be a Zombie Apocalypse, it can be a global pandemic it can be losing your job. Being prepared gives you comfort. Be prepared.
