I 3D-printed every bit of my wedding, including my bouquet | Hacker News Reader

I 3D-printed every bit of my wedding, including my bouquet

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53 pointsewinick35 comments

I designed our wedding rings and had them 3D printed by Shapeways (they use a lost wax casting process for precious metal objects). It's pretty cool having a one-of-a-kind piece, plus knowing that if anything ever does happen to the ring, it can be easily replaced.

Same. I was inspired by https://christian.gen.co/ring, and in fact worked with the same designer. I got to iterate over four or five designs and ended with a very nice design, and choose the stones separately.

(I didn't go with cubic zirconia, but that's a whole 'nother topic)

What software did you use to model the rings?

I used AutoCAD, but that's mainly because I was already moderately familiar with it, and thanks to my university affiliation it was free. Gotta respect the "hook 'em while they're young" business model.

I don't know squat about 3D printing. Is the plastic biodegradeable, otherwise you end up replace things (like the bouquet) with things that aren't recyclable / don't biodegrade ?

PLA Filament (The most common type in personal 3d printing) is technically compostable, but realistically will likely end up in a landfill due to inadequate disposal practices in most waste management systems.

https://serc.berkeley.edu/compostable-plastics-are-they-play...

Thanks for the info. When 3D printing started to blow up I brushed it off due to the plastic waste I would produce. I need to look into it again it seems.

Also, certain types of 3D printable materials are reusable, if you put in the effort.

https://3dprint.com/42595/extrusionbot-cruncher-recycle/

Another popular plastic (in addition to PLA) is ABS and that is definitely recyclable but not biodegradable-- it's the same kind of plastic Lego are made out of

This is interesting, though the environmentalist in me can't help but think about how much plastic that is...

PLA, the most common 3d printing material, is made from cornstarch and is biodegradable under the right conditions.

I love the idea. I know it's a bit far out for desktop printers, but there have been articles about people 3D printing dresses even. That would have been cool to print your own wedding dress.

That's what I expected. I printed "every part" of my wedding, except 90% of everything there...

That is a cool idea. That way you can save your flowers more easily. We had a nice floral bouquet, but I'll tell you 6 years later that the ones we saved show the effects of age!

I highly recommend others to do this if you have the time. Printers are dirt cheap nowadays (relatively). I designed and printed our cake topper. We painted each other's topper which was super fun. My wife crocheted all the boutineers and crosages. It was great since they were soft enough to be handled but sturdy enough to last probably our lifetime.

Cool story, but I'm still not totally sold on 3d printers. Could you not achieve the exact same effect with traditional arts and crafts like origami? I'm sure if you want to spend 75+hours building a bouquet, an origami one would probably be way more impressive and even biodegradable, no?

Presumably that 75 hours is mostly just setting things to print and leaving it. Fdm 3d printing is rather slow. But you just need to check on it periodically to make sure things haven't gone haywire.

Also, the most common 3d printing material, PLA, is biodegradable, at least with the right conditions, as it is made from bio materials like cornstarch.

This is actually a happy story, for a moment I was worried that the person got everything 3D-printed before they even got married.

Love everything but the landfill

I'm getting married next month and my fiancée and I have prepared all the decorations ourselves. I designed and 3D printed table number stands and the cake topper while she added the finishing touches with spray paint. Highly economical and a lot of fun!

I agree with lots of fun; though economical I'm not so sure about

* and good luck with the wedding!

> though economical I'm not so sure about

It probably is, if the alternative is trying to get something suitable without having sellers/providers realize you're shopping your wedding, to avoid immediate quadrupling of prices.

I would disagree due to the sheer amount of time it takes to print everything. 3D printers are still slow.

That matters only if you pay someone else for machine time. If you own a decent 3D printer, you just leave it on and occasionally fix whatever issue is messing up the ongoing print.

Except that requires you to babysit the printer. There isn't a "good" way of monitoring longer prints. Either you spend time just sitting next to the printer constantly, or you walk away and pray it works.

True, but that reduces the problem to "not possible for everyone". If you work remotely, and have a printer next to your computer, it's entirely doable. My coworker set up his printer at his parents' house, and built a system for remote control & monitoring, including a camera pointed at the print bed. He does remote prints this way.

once the first layer is done clean, you can leave (and most people who have long running prints have video cameras watching). I do overnights all the time and rarely have problems other than running out of filament

I 3D printed my bride.

This is pretty much the least interesting use of a 3D printer I can think of.

It's about as interesting as walking into some tourist trap souvenir shop and discovering that all the key chains and coffee mugs are 3D printed.

You want me to get excited about 3D printing?

Stop making me pay $1000 for cell phones.

Stop making me buy expensive new data cables every 3 years because the plugs are different all over again.

Stop charging $90 for $2 shoes at the factory outlet down the road and just let people print them for $10.

Stop printing action figures and chess pieces.

I don't need another paper weight or bottle opener.

Help me print an entire apartment full of livable furniture wouldn't be slightly embarrassing to reveal to people.

Put a roof over my head. Give me a car to drive. Let me quit my job and just print all the status symbols I'm supposed to be chasing.

To be fair, usb connectors don't change very often and the changes are genuine improvements. Even apple is moving towards usb-c on mobiles devices (see latest ipad)

I think my favorite feature of usb-c is the symmetric design. Not needing to check if I have the usb plug oriented correctly takes me from about a 50% success rate to 100% success rate on plugging things in correctly.

I feel like you're ascribing a lot of sci-fi dreams to a technology that lets you work with (mostly) plastic without molds. Like these things aren't replicators.

It's more like, hey wow, look at all these little trinkets that don't really change anyone's lives.

In the long run, 3D printing just seems like a niche, elitist version of hoarding.

Fill your house with arts and crafts that serve no practical use, other than to occupy space, break up a fear of the void.

F*&! impression management. Buy used clothing, shoes, and furniture. It takes "2,700 liters to produce the cotton needed to make a single t-shirt".

I support my local cobbler, new soles on my shoes, look great, function great. I support my local tailer by buying used clothing and getting tailored to fit me properly. These are real makers, sure they don't use fancy 3D printers, but they are masters at their craft.

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