ATTEMPT 1: I began to learn about 3-D printing recently. My main motivation is to try to print my own drop spindle. I love my wooden spindles, but ran into an issue of breaking one this summer. I had to pause my spinning for a while until I got hold of a new spindle at the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival. I got a beautiful hand-crafted wooden spindle that I love! I’m interested in using 3-D printed spindles when I present my work in galleries to show examples of fiber processing. I am also intrigued by the idea of creating my own designs to personalize and make the spindles more special since I spend a lot of time spinning.
Update: I made these files too small, and had issues with scaling them for printing. The main issue seemed to be in the measurement conversions from AutoDesk to Cura. I used inches in AutoDesk, but it seems like it would have been better to use millimeters, so I will stick to that!
ATTEMPT 2: I re-drew the files using millimeters and will try to print the spindle this week.
ATTEMPT 3: I had to make a few more adjustments to the files to get the right dimensions. This is a lot of trial-and-error!
I finally was able to print all the pieces and put them together. (No glue needed!) Special thanks to Camille Andrews from Mann Library, and David Arellanes. I am going to use the spindle in an upcoming Sustainable Fashion exhibit.
HELEN TREJO 