Home 3D Printing is a growing phenomenon, but it can still often feel completely inaccessible to normal people. In this episode, Erika Heidi, content creator and senior developer advocate at Sourcegraph, walks us through the basics of how 3D printing works and what you'll need to get started. We also discuss the importance of hobbies and not limiting yourself in your creative pursuits.
Matt Stauffer:
Hey, and welcome to Things Worth Learning. I'm your host, Matt Stauffer. And this is a show where a curious computer programmer, that's me, interviews fascinating people about their passions. My guest today is Erika Heidi, content creator and senior developer advocate at Sourcegraph. Erika, would you mind telling the audience a little bit about yourself, whether it's your personal or your professional life?
Erika Heidi:
Sure. I'm Erika. I am a developer of the PHP developer for many years, and I got involved with the PHP community, The Laravel community, but I also have many hobbies and very passionate about open source and content creation. Lately, in my previous job, I worked as a technical writer for Digital Ocean. So I use it to write many tutorials about PHP, Laravel. And nowadays I'm working at Sourcegraph as a developer advocate. And as I mentioned, I have many hobbies and lots of side projects and things like that. I think it's nice to have these and I stop at feeling guilty about having too many hobbies because it's just like I am. I just accepted that is fine and it's nice to be also a generalist. Sometimes I think it's good to have all these experiences. And so, 3D printing is one of these hobbies.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah. As we can see in the background. Anyone who's not tuned into the YouTube, there's a 3D printer literally behind her right now. I mean, I love what you're saying about the pressure to lock ourselves down. I know I have ADHD and I'm like, I just want to do all the things. Again, if you're watching on YouTube, anybody who looks behind me, there's a whole bunch of unread books. There's zillion different Funko Pops. Right here there's a type script book that I never finished. It's just, there's so many interesting things to do in the world. Why limit yourself just to the one that you can kind of focus yourself purely on?
Matt Stauffer:
We were just talking beforehand, I remember I've been kind of following your life over Instagram and stuff like that, or I don't know if it's Instagram or Twitter, but whenever, I see your pictures. And you're out here in the middle of the pandemic still finding ways to enjoy being outdoors and surfing and doing all these kind of things. And so it's been really fun and kind of inspiring for me to see the ways that you have stayed active in the midst of something that I think has shut a lot of us down. You know what I mean? So I love that.
Erika Heidi:
Yes, yes, definitely. It has been difficult of course for everyone. But yeah, you got to find something to give you joy, at least be able to go outside. Surfing was really important for me. It was very hard. It still is very difficult, but that's the challenge. That's exactly why it is so rewarding. I needed a lot of push from my husband, gently "Let's go. You can do this." Sometimes I would just start... I used to cry in the middle of the sea and like, "Oh my gosh, I can't do this." And he was, "Calm down. You can do it, just breathe."
Erika Heidi:
Sometimes it's just frustrating, like a code, a very hard piece of code that you just can't or a bug that you can't solve. And then I feel like crying a lot in my work as well sometimes. But yeah, it's just like, you got to breathe and just focus because you can do it. Well, if I could do it, then I feel like anyone can. So that's also another lesson that I learned with surfing.
Matt Stauffer:
That's cool. It's cool to be pushing and challenging yourself, but it's wild to me, how much in the midst of a pandemic, sometimes the challenge is just to get out and do the thing like just to get out of my house. I was telling you, I'm like, I consider success when I get my kids to the park and just go biking around. It's not even challenging. It's just a challenge to pick yourself up and figure out what things are we worried about right now. It's just like and probably part of that is just adulthood. Part of that is just life. But it does feel like in a lot of ways, certain things, especially as a lot of people I know are dealing with burnout, just doing anything feels like it's a challenge. So that's one of the reasons why I'm so impressed with you is you weren't just learning something very difficult. It was on top of a global pandemic where it feels like doing anything is difficult. So anyway, thank you for being inspirational. I appreciate you.
Erika Heidi:
Oh, thank you.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. So first question, every single time is, do you have any sort of life mantra or phrase or idea you try to live your life by?
Erika Heidi:
Well, not a phrase, nothing really concrete, but I have some general ideas that I live by, general concepts, I would say. I think most important to me is to use creativity, to try to be creative in everything that I do because that kind of keeps the spark. Just even in work sometimes can be boring, but you have to find a way to be a little bit creative, do a little bit different. And that's what makes me not get so bored of the things all the time that you have to repeat also. I use this in everything like cooking. I like to cook, do events. That's things that are not on the recipe. I don't like to follow recipes. I like to just get what I see what I have in the fridge and just do something. That's usually what makes me happier because that is this the challenge of limited resources and then turning into something.
Erika Heidi:
Also in coding I find it more interesting when there is a little bit of limitation or challenge that you have these elements, because I also feel overwhelmed by the amount of choices that you... Like ingredients for instance, on cooking. When you go to the supermarket and just overwhelming or when you have a project and there's just so many components, so many libraries, so many. That kind of makes me slightly overwhelmed. I like to try to, it's easier for me, if there's some limitation, like these are the components or these are the ingredients I have and then just do something with this. That's usually easier for me to deal with.
Matt Stauffer:
I love that. Do you know what a CSA is? That's a maybe an American acronym. Whatever I'll just try to explain. A CSA in the U.S. is where a farmer or a farm basically gets, like whatever they're making, they'll sell subscription, usually like a weekly subscription and they'll just deliver a box to you of whatever they have that's fresh right now. It's not always the stuff that you want because the stuff we want to cook with is not necessarily always in season. So when you get these CSAs, you're supporting small farmers and usually local farmers, you're not hurting the environment by the big trucks, taking stuff from a 1000 miles away. But the downside is you're getting some vegetable you've never heard of in your entire life. So it's kind of interesting about, I've found that same thing where I'm like, well, I have this constraint, how am I going to be creative with this constraint? So I love that idea that you're sharing there.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
All right. So you know this podcast is about one topic you're really passionate about, and I know you're passionate about a lot of topics, but we're going to pick one today.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
Can you tell me what we're going to talk about today?
Erika Heidi:
Sure. Today we are going to talk about 3D printing.
Matt Stauffer:
All right. I got to ask. Would that 3D printer have always been in the background or did you kind of set it up right where it happens to be in the background just for this?
Erika Heidi:
No, no, it usually is there.
Matt Stauffer:
It usually lives there. I love it.
Erika Heidi:
Yeah, it lives there.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. So I want to start with 3D printing from the concept of somebody who's never interacted with a 3D printer. I know a lot of us either have done it, or we've kind of connected with friends who've done it before, but imagining that there's probably quite a few people listening, who aren't programmers, who have never actually seen how 3D printing works. Can you just start from a baseline? Let's say, they're not watching on YouTube, so they can't see what that device back there looks like.
Erika Heidi:
Okay.
Matt Stauffer:
Can you talk us through what home 3D printing actually is?
Erika Heidi:
Sure. 3D printing general is a generic term that there are different technologies, but the 3D printing we usually talk about, especially when you talk about home 3D printing is technology called FDM printing which I forgot what it stands for, but I know that's kind of, it's a deposition. It's something deposition material, something like that. The idea is to just create thin layers of material, and then you create an object out of that. But there are other technologies nowadays.
Erika Heidi:
There is the other one, forgot the name also. I'm terrible with names, but there is another technology that makes it differently. It's better for details. It's kind of a walks kind of thing. I totally forgot the name. SLA, I remember now. SLA also don't know what it stands for, but yeah what you need to know is that usually the 3D printing, we talk about this FDM process, which is creating layers and layers of material.
Erika Heidi:
And then we can use different types of filaments for that. So what that 3D printing does, it's a very, I think I really admire the hardware, the work that it does because it's very precise. It's a very precise machine. It's very impressive down to millimeters. It's very sensitive. And so your project, what you do is usually you create a model or you can download a model that is ready. And then what you have to do with the model is slice it. So what is slice the model? Means what it kind of, you can imagine what it means. It means it's slicing it in very thin layers so that the printer can print it layer by layer.
Erika Heidi:
That's of course it's a slow process. Depending on the object, it can take six hours 8, 10, 12, 36 hours. Depends on the size of the object. The printer, there are different types of printers also. So usually there is an axis. So there is an axis X and Y and Z also, so three axes. And then the head of the printer, let's say, it will move on the plate to throw the material, let's say.
Matt Stauffer:
To deposit it, yeah.
Erika Heidi:
Yes. And the filament is melted like it's plastic usually. And then it goes through a high temperature equipment process so that will fill the areas that needs to be filled, sort of trying to explain it makes me think of making a cake and then you do the decoration with that thing. That I also don't know the name.
Matt Stauffer:
I don't know.
Erika Heidi:
Especially in English.
Matt Stauffer:
I was going to say, this is not your first language. You're doing an amazing job.
Erika Heidi:
No. Yes, thank you. So yeah, it's like the cake decoration thing. So you do it on thin layers and then also there are different types of extruders. Oh, I remember the word for the thing where the filament comes out.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. Extruder.
Erika Heidi:
The extruder. The extruder can have different sizes as well. Also, the filament can have different sizes, but there is a standard size, which is 015. I have one here. 015 millimeters is a standard size. And then when you do the slicing with the model, remember I say that you get the model and then you slice it. So yeah. Then you-
Matt Stauffer:
You slice it to that size?
Erika Heidi:
You actually, you choose the size that you want. It can be more thick because then you have thick layers will produce not so good quality. The more thin the layer is, the thinner the layer is, the better the quality of the printed object, but it will also take longer to print.
Matt Stauffer:
Right. So if you have a thinner layer, does that mean you do need a thinner filament or is there not a perfect parallel there?
Erika Heidi:
No. No.
Matt Stauffer:
Really?
Erika Heidi:
No.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
No, because the size of the filament, the filament is going to be melted.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh, right.
Erika Heidi:
Meaning it's going to be, yeah almost melted. It's not all that much, but it gets its consistency that it can actually stick.
Matt Stauffer:
Got it.
Erika Heidi:
With the other layer, right?
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah.
Erika Heidi:
So the extruder can change like more thinner. It can change a bit, but then if you want really a thick layer, then you will need special extruder and special filaments also size is thicker.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah. I want to retell this a little bit to make sure I'm hearing it correctly because I've never actually 3D. I have friends and family who do it, but I've never actually done it. So what I'm imagining is let's say I was making a cube, right? So it's got a bottom, it's got a top, it's got all the sides. And let's say that I happen to make a cube in a 3D program on my computer and I slice it and I end up basically let's say with 50 slices and each of those layers is basically 150 of the height of that cube would be and the 3D printer gets those layers one at a time. So it gets the first layer and the first layers basically going to be a filled in square because it's going to be the bottom of the cube. So the 3D printer, does it go back and forth like an inkjet?
Erika Heidi:
It goes, yeah.
Matt Stauffer:
Or does it kind of so follow whatever shape it wants?
Erika Heidi:
Well, the slice program generates a code. It's actually a code. It's a G-code. It's called G-code. The slice program, it will use the better paths to create-
Matt Stauffer:
It maps out directions basically.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly. So it will create some paths and optimize for, to print it quickest way possible. Also, it's usually not a 100% solid. The middle of the object usually you will have an infield that it's, you can configure if you want a 10% infill or for it be very thin, you can do a cross. Just create a structure. And then thin, very lightweight. And then this makes it faster. But it, the object is also more fragile.
Erika Heidi:
If you want a very resistant object and you need to increase the infill so that it's more solid and if you use a 100% infill, then it's going to be very solid.
Matt Stauffer:
Actually quite solid, yeah.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
So if I were to do a cube and the cube was, the sides were opaque, then there would be no reason other than to make it really solid to actually fill the whole thing. It would probably make just some sort of lattice of triangles to try and make the inside light, but support it really well. Is that kind of what you're saying with the infill?
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay, that makes sense.
Erika Heidi:
Yes, there are different types of infill that you can choose.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. So as I'm thinking about it, so it sends that first layer and then it stops. Does it immediately go and do the next layer or is it having to wait for it to cool down or something like that?
Erika Heidi:
No, it just goes nonstop.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. So if you send those 50 layers over, it's just going to be going and every time it's done with the layer, it'll raise up whatever.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
However many millimeters.
Erika Heidi:
Yes, but it's very thin.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah, it'll just keep doing that over and over and over again until it's like, oh, I've deposited everything. I'm good. Then what? Are you done or is there a curing process or anything that you have to do after that? Or is it just ready to go?
Erika Heidi:
No. With this process, with the FDM printer, it's good to go. It's already because the plastic gets solid quickly. As soon as it gets out of the extruder it solidifies and sticks together with the other layers. If everything goes right and there is no issues, there is no... There are many issues that can happen. But let's say that your print is successful, then it's just ready. You can just take it off and it's ready. But yeah, sometimes you might need support material for instance, depending on the angles of your object, you might need support material because then if you have an object that is like a 90 degree angle shape, and then there is nothing to support it on the bottom, then you need to add support material so that it sustains your part of your model.
Matt Stauffer:
Just during the printing process, right?
Erika Heidi:
You have to do it when you're slicing the object and you add the support material you need. But yeah, when you design the object, then you have also to be aware of that because sometimes because the support material, in addition to making the printer longer, you take a lot more time. It can leave residues and it makes not so nice the surface.
Matt Stauffer:
Very smooth.
Erika Heidi:
Yeah. So you'll need more work afterwards after work. It's called post work. I don't know. Post processing.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I'm imagining, and this is probably a terrible example, but having something where the top of the item was wider than the bottom of the item. And so you can't just deposit this 3D filament on air. It has to have something that gets deposited on.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
So that's where it's building something. You're in this cutting process, you're building something to hold it up. Do you then snap it off and sand it down later? Or how does that work?
Erika Heidi:
Well, how it works. If you are aware of this when you're designing, you try to make the angles not so right. But when you have the object and it has these angles and you have to, when you slice you add the support material, it's going to be printed, but it is kind of weaker. It's not like the model. The printer does a little, it builds, but it leaves some kind of spaces. It's kind of I had... Oh, I don't have it anymore, but I just printed something today. I had some, but I threw it away. It's kind of not very solid, so you can take it off easily.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. But like you said, where it attached will now be a little bumpy.
Erika Heidi:
Yeah. Just on the attachment.
Matt Stauffer:
Do you go back with drummer tool or sandpaper afterwards?
Erika Heidi:
Oh yes, yes.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
Then you have to go, if it's apparent then. Maybe it's in a place where you don't see anything like a lot of the object, but if it's visible, then you should probably do some processing.
Matt Stauffer:
So that's all a part of the planning is figuring out how to minimize the number of supports you need, even to the point where you might turn something at a 45 degree angle, so the supports aren't as long or something like that.
Erika Heidi:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
That makes sense. Yes. The way you print the object also on the plate, sometimes you may have to change this position like change a little bit so it can print. These RL things that when you start doing printing, because one thing that most people that don't never did it, never had experience. I have see it more like a normal, regular inject printer. Like you just send it and you just work. But it's not quite like that. It's a very sensitive machine. There is lots of calibration that you have to do and the filaments are different. Some filaments are better than others.
Erika Heidi:
It can clog. So there's a lot of little things that you get used it after some time. Also, it can, when it starts printing, it can sometimes it doesn't stick to the plate so it's printing. And then when you see the object just flies away and so the printer keeps printing on air.
Matt Stauffer:
Uh huh, and then it all just falls apart, yeah.
Erika Heidi:
If you are not there and see, then it's going like that for the whole night. Yeah, so it's lots of fun.
Matt Stauffer:
She goes, it's really terrible, but no, it's really great. So, okay. I think this is a perfect transition though, because I want to ask you, what is your favorite thing you've ever printed? Because I think one of the things I'm curious to hear is how much of is this is a functional thing? How much of this is a we're making things that are not functional, but are cute? And how much is this is, I just do this because I like it. I don't really actually care about the outcome. So what's your favorite thing you've ever done. And then could you dig in a little bit to, what do you actually like the most about this?
Erika Heidi:
Yeah, sure. It's hard to choose because-
Matt Stauffer:
They're your babies.
Erika Heidi:
Somethings I have a little... Yeah, my babies. Yeah, I have different categories of favorites. For instance, I have my favorites that I designed myself. So it is special for me. I also have the more functional ones, like the more cute ones. In the cute category, I have a Baby Yoda that I really like, and it's very cute. Although, I should do some post processing and paint it and glue the hat.
Matt Stauffer:
That's adorable. For those who can't see right now, it's a Baby Yoda that's probably like, I mean, was that eight inches? My video's pretty, pretty crappy right now too unfortunately so I can't see it fully. Probably like eight inches tall or something like that. Six inches, something like that.
Erika Heidi:
I don't understand this measurement, the English measurement.
Matt Stauffer:
Sorry I'm sitting here talking about. You're like centimeters?
Erika Heidi:
Centimeters. I don't know.
Matt Stauffer:
It's the size of my head.
Erika Heidi:
I don't know.
Matt Stauffer:
Here we go. There we go. It's the size of my head. There you go. It's smaller than the size of your head.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
That is so freaking cute. Okay. So I'm looking at this Baby Yoda and I see that you have a base and you have a head. I'm guessing there was a reason for the head to be printed separately because of what we were talking about earlier with the support.
Erika Heidi:
Yeah, exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
Is that right?
Erika Heidi:
Yes. So this was printed first and I printed the head. I needed some support for the ears here.
Matt Stauffer:
It's much easier to support those ears when the head is the base, versus when it's on top of a five inch body or a 15 centimeter body or whatever.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly. And the arms are also the arms also.
Matt Stauffer:
So again, so-
Erika Heidi:
These would also, could not be printed like this, so it was printed like this.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay. That makes a ton Of sense. So those who can't see, what she's showing is that even though the arms are sticking outwards, she actually printed them going up and then took them and then injected basically inserted them into the sides of the device. Okay.
Matt Stauffer:
So Baby Yoda, I mean that's freaking cute. Do you paint your stuff very often or is it just something kind of more aspirational?
Erika Heidi:
No.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
I wanted to, but I always say I'm going to paint the next one, but I never do. It's a lot of work. It's like, it's very specialized work. So I always say I'm going to research everything. I'm going to paint, but it's like a lot of materials and all things that you have to need to buy and need to keep and how often I'm going to use it. So I'm always like, oh, I don't know.
Matt Stauffer:
He's very cute as he is.
Erika Heidi:
Let's just print.
Matt Stauffer:
Exactly.
Erika Heidi:
Just print and it's good.
Matt Stauffer:
Awesome. All right, Baby Yoda's your cutest one that you didn't design. So what's your favorite one that you did design?
Erika Heidi:
Yes. So I really like this pencil holder. It's a simple model, but that's what makes me like it more like because I made a tutorial out of it and I learned how to just get a basic shape and import an SVG into a logo and put it like this. So it's really nice.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh cool.
Erika Heidi:
I also, I remember I made something else that it's not right here now. I made a walks scraper for surfboards. That was really cute also-
Matt Stauffer:
Oh cool.
Erika Heidi:
With a logo and there's you can use to take the walks out.
Matt Stauffer:
I don't actually know what wax scrapers look like, so I have to go Google that right now. Is it just like a little?
Erika Heidi:
It's like a little comb. It's like a little comb that you can because the wax starts to not get to work anymore and you have to kind of scrape it a little bit so it actually works.
Matt Stauffer:
So it's just a few little things-
Erika Heidi:
To keep you on the surfboard.
Matt Stauffer:
But you've got one that has your favorite logo on it or whatever?
Erika Heidi:
Yes. Yes, I made one with a logo. Yes, I think the ones I designed, these are my favorite. I also made a, I don't have it now, but I made a tooth brush holder with a lid. The lid was in addition to the basic shape I already learned to do this, then oh I'm going do a lid now.
Matt Stauffer:
That's awesome.
Erika Heidi:
So that was the progress.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah, that's awesome. It's very interesting to me because I've always imagined 3D printing to be more about cute little toys. My brother 3D printed an elephant for my son and it was one of his favorite toys for a while because he was able to do it somehow where the legs could be independent. I don't know if it was like they were a part of the original build and then he cut some supports or if they, but whatever it was, I was, I didn't know you could do that with 3D printing. It was very cool. So that was kind of my mindset.
Matt Stauffer:
But I have another friend who is very handy and he's always fixing old stuff and he'll often be like, oh, well there's a plastic angle bracket that I need to fix this thing I got at a garage sale. I think I can model it out and trace it or do it so-
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
The fact that you could do that is kind of mind blowing to me, because for me, when one of my kids' plastic toys breaks, it's the end of it. There's nothing I'm going to do about it. Have you found yourself doing more and more useful stuff as you become more aware of what your capabilities are?
Erika Heidi:
Yes, actually my husband did some more useful ones. When he got the printer, not longer after we got the printer, we needed one of those beds. I don't know how it's calling English. The thing to protect for the kids not to roll out of the bed.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah totally.
Erika Heidi:
So that thing didn't fit in the bed.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh, okay.
Erika Heidi:
So my husband made an adapter with the 3D printer-
Matt Stauffer:
That's awesome.
Erika Heidi:
And it worked for a long time.
Matt Stauffer:
So it was basically, it was a guardrail that goes on one side of the bed to keep the kid from rolling off. But the place, the guardrail attached into your bed didn't fit. So you were able to make an adapter.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
And what I would've had to do was just return the thing and give up and whatever and you're like, no, we can do this. That's amazing. That's really cool.
Matt Stauffer:
So if someone were to be curious, and this is their first time hearing about 3D printing or this is the time that finally tipped them over, how do you get started?
Erika Heidi:
Okay. So to get started, you'll need an investment of a printer, right? Buying a printer. It's difficult sometimes to choose because there are some different models. Nowadays there's a lot of different brands. Some are cheaper than others, but you have to be aware that with the cheaper brands, you might not have the same quality and it might be more difficult to calibrate.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
So you got to be aware that the calibration is very important. And if the printer doesn't do that for you, then you might be in trouble. It can be very difficult to calibrate manually. So if you have to look for a printer, if you can afford like a Prusa for instance, that has more... It is open hardware and many printers be out based on the Prusa because they are open hardware, but they also have a big community and everything works very well.
Erika Heidi:
I mean, I'm not saying that everything works like magic because you still have to assemble if you buy a kit that is cheaper. We chose the kit. I advise, if you have the time, it's better to get the kit then you assemble it. Then you will learn about the machine. It's important that you learn about the machine, how it works, the hardware, everything. Not like you are going to be an expert on the hardware suddenly, but if you assemble it, the manual is very detailed. You just have to follow it through. And then you will see, you will know if you have a problem, then you might think, oh, I think that could be this.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh because I remember putting that piece together so I know I could go wrong there.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
That's cool.
Erika Heidi:
That's important because there are lots of places where you can have a little problem that can affect the quality of the print, the alignment and things like that. So I'll say the first step is to research to find a printer that you want, that you can get, of course depends on your budget and then what you are getting... We had to wait, I don't know, four months or something or more even.
Matt Stauffer:
Wow.
Erika Heidi:
Because the printer was when we got this printer is an MK3S and was still pre-order and we didn't want to get the older model. So we said, oh, we're going to wait. It's okay. It's fine.
Matt Stauffer:
Wow.
Erika Heidi:
But then it was like, oh my gosh, it was hard. But we watched so many videos. We were every night on YouTube watching YouTube videos about 3D printing. So we learn some things before it arrived, at least. It was nice. Once you have your research and when you are waiting for it to arrive, you can watch also some videos. And just be patient because it's not just like a ink jack printer.
Matt Stauffer:
Right.
Erika Heidi:
Printing is already kind of a job. Like not a job, like I say, but it's already some work, that to print something it's work. It's not just a send it from your phone and just get it printed. No, you have to be aware of various things. It's lighting and choosing the way the layer height and configuring if you want. There are some special things you can do with the print to make it very smooth on top. So there are different things when you're slicing the object, you can choose, you have to make choices. Let's say you have to make many choices. And then that's why you have to kind of research a little bit beforehand, but ultimately you have to practice with everything.
Erika Heidi:
So you will fail a lot. You had a lot of failed prints. That's natural. I think that's nothing to be afraid of or embarrassed. I had so many failed prints. Also, if you can play with designing an object, it's really fun. I could definitely recommend FreeCAD. It's an open source, free software. It runs well on Linux.
Erika Heidi:
A CAD software is easier to model because it's more like parametric than you make a rectangle and then you just make it 3D. And then you make a hole. So the way you think about designing in a CAD software is different than when you use a software like ZBrush or just any old kind of model. You make actually figures and things like that. That's harder, in my opinion. But yeah, there's also OpenSCAD which you allows you to write code and create objects.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh, interesting.
Erika Heidi:
Purely out of code. So that's also very fun. Very fun.
Matt Stauffer:
Probably not where beginners would go. But very interesting if you're on your coder or yeah.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
That's cool.
Erika Heidi:
So you can, for instance, I did some name tags. It was the easiest thing. It's easier to make also cubes and tip objects. It's kind of like working with, I'm not sure if you work with ImageMagick before.
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Erika Heidi:
PHP magic. So it's kind of like that. The operations you make with the objects. So it's very fun.
Matt Stauffer:
That's cool. So if anyone hasn't worked with those, you're basically saying things like you're writing lines of code and one line of code says draw box upper left corner. Not exactly this, but upper left corner is the 0,0 position, lower left corner is the 100,100 position. And then it just draws a box. So you don't have to be writing machine code. You're writing these more expressive things with pre-made ideas around a curve and the curve's going to be curved in this particular angle.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
So it's interesting with the name tags, because now you got me thinking like what programmatic things can you do where you've got a CSV?
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
The people's names who work at your company, you build a shape and then it fits their names in this various spot order.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
You really got me going here. I'm sorry I interrupted you, but I wanted to share the ImageMagick part of it.
Erika Heidi:
Yeah. That's exactly. And exactly. So that's the potential of it is really, really interesting. You can generate also I thought of doing a kind of generator, but I was too busy to do that, but you can actually maybe create a front end, like to call a script and generate because it can also generate the preview image.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
You know?
Matt Stauffer:
Yeah. Of the 3D object. So you have a code-
Erika Heidi:
This is cool.
Matt Stauffer:
You replace the name or the wherever that you want to or you can also customize other objects. I also did once an elephant. Maybe it's even the same that you mentioned that you-
Erika Heidi:
My brother did.
Matt Stauffer:
Someone in your family.
Erika Heidi:
Yes. This was an articulated elephant in the legs would do like yes. So that one is printed laying down.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh, okay.
Erika Heidi:
On the next one. Single print. It's very interesting. There are lots of models like that. You can search for articulated. So there's articulate, all kinds of articulated models. You can find snakes and all sort of animals.
Matt Stauffer:
That's cool.
Erika Heidi:
I was able to get that model and put a name on it on the side of the elephant so we can do that with Opens CAD.
Matt Stauffer:
Cool. That's awesome. Wow. I did a talk at Laracon a few years ago for those who don't know that's the conference for Laravel and it was basically, it was about home automation. And so I had some lights behind me and halfway into the talk I revealed to people that there's a website where you can go and press a button and it would actually make the lights flash a certain color.
Erika Heidi:
Oh nice.
Matt Stauffer:
That type of stuff is really fascinating to me. And so when you're talking about this generator, I know what you were originally saying is the idea of a generator that just generates a 3D model for somebody to use on their own printer. I know that printers are way too slow and too expensive to have it. So where a random person on the internet could press a button and print something at your house or whatever. But it still makes me really curious whether there's some interactive kind of things where each person gets to do one link of a chain or whatever and they enter it and it prints it. And this chain is something like that. I don't know. It's just got my brain going lots of places. So this is really cool.
Erika Heidi:
People have done that actually. Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay.
Erika Heidi:
I think there are some fairs like Maker Fair. That's also some in the 3D printing world. As far as I remember, there was a time I was really Instagram I was really into it. Nowadays I'm not researching that much anymore, but I saw people doing this. Like they would print large pieces at home and lots of people from the community and then they assembled the object together.
Matt Stauffer:
That's so cool.
Erika Heidi:
The sculpture in the event.
Matt Stauffer:
That's awesome.
Erika Heidi:
That actually, yes, that's a thing.
Matt Stauffer:
You had mentioned the idea of a generator that generates a 3D model for other people, which I think is really interesting because you, as a coder are able to because I was... so I've been talking to one of my friends who's maintaining a WordPress website and he, and this will make sense in a second. He said, I'm trying to hire somebody to help me. I said, well, there's two different classes of WordPress programmer. There are the people who just know how to implement an existing WordPress theme and then there's people who actually know how to write plugins and write core stuff. It seems really interesting to me that this is probably, and that's true in home automation world as well. Seems that it's probably true here is there's some people who know how to plug an existing model into a thing. And then there's some people who actually know how to create models.
Matt Stauffer:
And so it's interesting that you, as a coder have the capacity to potentially do even more, which is build a tool that helps people create their own models. And so even within the 3D printing world, there's various levels of what complexity you can do that maybe more than other people. You may end up making a side hustle or a free website or whatever for that. So it's really fascinating to hear that.
Erika Heidi:
Yes. Yes. I remember what I was going to say is that there are also services that you can send the model and get it printed and sent to your home if you don't want a 3D printer.
Matt Stauffer:
That's really cool. Oh, okay cool because I was thinking you're going to say it the opposite direction. You can send them a 3D object and they'll make a model out of it. But if you have a model, whether you download it or you made it, you send it to them and they just charge you for printing and mailing.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
And they take the responsibility for learning how the machine works and sanding off the supports if it needs to. Oh, that sounds kind of nice.
Erika Heidi:
Yes, usually there are like kind of hubs and printing hubs and people like me or the people who have home 3D printers and they can get the service like join the service, the sites and then get orders.
Matt Stauffer:
Oh cool.
Erika Heidi:
Before we got our printer, my husband was designing a case for a ras therapy as far as I remember. And he sent you someone to print it in Amsterdam someone that lived kind of close by. Yeah. So yeah, it was actually our first 3D printed object that we got in our hands. It was not printed by our printer.
Matt Stauffer:
That's so interesting. When you said there was services, I imagine that it was going to be some corporation somewhere, but it's individual people who have 3D printers in their home, it's sort of like an Ebay or something or Etsy for 3D printer.
Erika Heidi:
Yes. There's a website and then you can get the orders from the websites. But yeah, basically the users, final users printing and sending and shipping them. Also, there are some services that brings in other materials. So maybe kind of can design jewelry like rings and you can print it in silver or-
Matt Stauffer:
Wow. I know that there's a-
Erika Heidi:
It's very cool.
Matt Stauffer:
That my friend Andy is doing something right now where they are making adaptive kitchen devices. And so they have to use a food safe plastic, which I know that like the normal stuff. So there's all this different. Okay. This is cool.
Matt Stauffer:
As always, I could talk to you forever, but we do need to start wrapping it up. So before I ask you the last question, is there anything else that you wish we had had a chance to cover today on this?
Erika Heidi:
One thing that is also important is that there are many different materials. That's what you mentioned right now. So yeah, there are different materials. Usually PLA is the material that most people going to use for everyday printing. It's easier to print, but there's materials that are more resistant because PLA is not very heat resistant. So it's not for outside, for instance.
Erika Heidi:
Then you have to go for other materials. There's PETG prints at a higher temperature, but it's a lot more resistant to heat and to be outside. And there are others also some more difficult to print, but PLA and PETG are the easiest to print. So that's just a less-
Matt Stauffer:
That's super helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Anything else you wish we had covered that we didn't?
Erika Heidi:
No, I think we're good.
Matt Stauffer:
Great. I think this was fantastic. I mean, you got me all excited now and I've been trying to hold out for years as my brothers really dug deep into this. I was a little nervous that when I talked to you, this was going to be the thing that finally tipped me over. I think it might have been.
Erika Heidi:
Wow.
Matt Stauffer:
So you did the job. All right. So our last question is what insight or support did you either receive or need when you were younger that you hope more people will give to others?
Erika Heidi:
Okay. So it's more like I had a privilege that I was in touch with art very young because my mom is involved with art, was an artist. She is still, but she's not working right now. I think that was very important in my formation years because even as I ended up in IT, but that gave me a base that made me believe more in creativity and using my imagination and believing that you can really also express yourself through codes and through everything you do actually.
Erika Heidi:
I wish that more people had the opportunity to really be in touch with arts from a very young age, but actually believe in creativity as an important thing, not just-
Matt Stauffer:
Frivolous.
Erika Heidi:
Yes, a frivolous thing. That's also very important.
Matt Stauffer:
That's awesome. I mean, you and I are both programmers and we have seen how creative programming is and people think of programming as this hard science. And it's like, yeah, it is a hard science and hard sciences require creativity.
Erika Heidi:
Exactly.
Matt Stauffer:
There's an art and there's a creativity that is in every single aspect of what people tend to think of as purely mathematical formulas. Even mathematical formulas still requires some creativity. So I love that. That's really cool.
Erika Heidi:
That's true. Some people say things like I am not creative or I, but that's not much like everyone is creative because that's human nature. You just sometimes need to... It doesn't come out of nothing like an inspiration or even the great, great artists they would never just come an idea just like easily. They would have to... You can have an inspiration, but that requires a lot of hard work to make it in reality to create that art to output it.
Matt Stauffer:
That's good.
Erika Heidi:
Yeah, everybody is creative.
Matt Stauffer:
I love that.
Erika Heidi:
You just need to find a way to exercise this because we typically it's taken out of us at school and everything is the same education. Everybody has the same education and we are often remove that creativity from us or just don't take it seriously. Don't want to, because it's not important, but it is important and you have it inside you. Just find a way to express it.
Matt Stauffer:
That's so good. I think everything you said was really good there, but I think the thing that stood out to me the most was it doesn't make you less creative if you need inspiration.
Erika Heidi:
Oh yeah.
Matt Stauffer:
I think that's something I've struggled with a lot is because I say, because I can't sit down with an empty canvas and do this thing, therefore I'm not creative. And so your point there is really helpful and meaningful to me because it's like the best of the best of the best still look to something else for inspiration.
Erika Heidi:
Yes.
Matt Stauffer:
And that doesn't make you any less creative.
Erika Heidi:
Yes, definitely.
Matt Stauffer:
Thank you. That's really good. I keep joking with people, but this podcast is therapy for me. I really appreciate all of my guests. If people have heard this and they think you're amazing, which I'm sure they do, how can they follow you? How can they support you?
Erika Heidi:
You can follow me on Twitter. I'm Erika Heidi there and on GitHub also. Yes, basically.
Matt Stauffer:
Okay, and we'll have links to that. We'll also get a link to your, you said you had made a tutorial for the pencil box. So we'll make sure get that.
Erika Heidi:
Oh yes.
Matt Stauffer:
We'll have we'll link to all these things in the show notes.
Erika Heidi:
All right, awesome.
Matt Stauffer:
And so if you all love Erika or want to learn more about 3D printing, you can check her out. Like we said, she's a developer or a developer advocate. Yes. So we've actually had a couple developer advocates on the show, just randomly. I think, I just know and like a lot of developer advocates. So I think if you've been listening to the show for a while, you know what that role is, so you know what kind of creative stuff she's doing in her day job. So if you're interested in learning more about that, you can also check her out on Twitter and see what she's doing there.
Erika Heidi:
Awesome.
Matt Stauffer:
Awesome. Erika.
Erika Heidi:
Thanks so much, man.
Matt Stauffer:
You're amazing. I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
Erika Heidi:
Oh, thank you. It was a pleasure.
Matt Stauffer:
All right. And for the rest of y'all, be good to each other. I'll see you next time.
Erika Heidi:
Bye.