making a 3D mesh with tinkercad

We are going to make this starter mesh, the triangle interweaves with the hexagon and all parts can be moved around. Once you know how to make this starter it will be possible to extend the mesh further.

My over arching reference here is a wonderful article by Jose Antonio, How to Design and 3D Print Flexible Meshes, who explains in detail the conditions under which 3D printers can bridge, ie. print over thin air!

You can use Tinkercad Codeblocks and Tinkercad 3D designs to create flexible meshes

Open Tinkercad https://www.tinkercad.com/ and load Codeblocks

We are going to make this hexagon prism with cut away holes:

Here is the annotated code for the hexagonal base and frame. I've stolen Jose's code and added some annotations to explain it.

Export the object as a Shape: Export > Shape.

Then open Tinkercad 3D designs

Your Codeblocks creation can be loaded from the Shapes library > Your Creations

“You won't be able to take it apart like a grouped 3d design, but you can drag and use it as a design component in any 3D design”

I named my new tinkercad file hex_prep

Next, we will make a triangle to fit into the holes in the hexagon. I worked out the dimensions of the triangle from one of the links in Jose's article:

Using these dimensions I made this code to make the triangle:

I rounded those measurements in Codeblocks

To find the scale factor for the inner triangular hole:

Scale = (22 – 2.2 )/ 22 = 19.8 / 22 = 0.9

After applying this I then found I had to move the triangular hole 0.9mm up the Y axis to obtain equal thickness sides of the triangle. This was arbitrary guess work, if you can explain where I miscalculated let me know please! The problem is that the triangular hole does not centre.

Name it tri or triangle and export as an STL

Then import into your tinkercad hex_prep file

We are aiming to make this:

Make two duplicates of the hexagon Ctrl + D then rotate them so they are lined up. To fine tune rotation use the outer ring and hold down the mouse button

You now have to position the 3 hexagons and triangle correctly

Some Tips:

• When necessary hold down the mouse and use outer ring for rotation (more fine control)
• At the right time set Snap Grid to 0.1 mm
• Ctrl + up arrow to raise the triangle. Raise the triangle by 0.1 mm at a time until you see a clear airgap, both below and above the triangle.

Important: There has to be a visible airgap above and below the triangle!

Print this one as a trial before moving on

• Select and group
• Export as STL
• Load into your slicer and make the GCODE

Then a miracle occurs! The triangle is printing on thin air!

Here's a mesh that has been extended further