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Wedding Cake Topper Design – Using Wood PLA

As mentioned in the previous entry, a colleague of mine asked me to create a cake topper for her daughter’s upcoming wedding.

She initially started working on the design using her Cricut Maker. She very quickly realized that medium wasn’t going to be appropriate for her project. Knowing that I have a 3D printer, and knowing that I can do some basic design work, she decided that having the object 3D printed would add more strength and durability to the part. Also, depending on the filament she chose, would open up more options for finishing the product.

We settled on working with a wood PLA filament. Specifically, Form Futura – Cedar – Purchased from Filaments.ca

What’s super cool about working with a wood based PLA is that the final product can be treated and finished like real wood. It can be sanded and stained to create a really unique finish to a 3D printed product.

The finished design in TinkerCad
The finished print – The process made some interesting designs in the top layer level. When it is sanded and stained it will look very unique!

It’s a really great accomplishment when you can take someone’s concept and bring it to life in a unique and creative way using 3D printing and design.

TinkerCad and Basic Designs

A colleague of mine asked if I could 3D printer her a cake topper for her daughter’s wedding. She had a concept in mind and thought that 3D printing could take it to a different level.

There are a lot of great programs out there to allow you to build 3D models that can be 3D printed. A program like TinkerCad is great for young children or beginners to begin “tinkering” with 3D modeling. The controls are intuitive and objects are built with basic shapes.

Something more advanced is software from Autodesk called Fusion 360. It is something that I have barely scratched the surface with and I’d love to explore more in the future when time allows. It is a much more advanced program and something that provides a lot of freedom. This freedom, however, does come with a pretty steep learning curve. There are a number of YouTube videos out and about that detail the Fusion 360 process.

For many of my designs, I ust TinkerCad. I try not to reach out beyond my safety level when I’m working on projects for others, and I’m honest with my skills. Each project I complete, I gain experience and am getting ready to take on Fusion 360 soon.