Summary

I took a ceramics class to explore how ceramics and 3D printing might intersect, as well as how learning ceramics might help me with 3D design and printing. For example, many 3D-printed objects can be made with clay, and vise versa. Material mashups--with some parts 3D printed and other parts ceramic--could be fun. Also, curling and warping can occur with either medium; supports are sometimes needed; both have very different "undo" features (with wet clay, you can just scrunch it up and start over).

As part of my first project, I wanted to see how 3D-printed clay cutters might work to produce basic drink coasters. BTW, clay is much better for higher temperature tasks, like hot pads and trivets, than thermoplastic filament.

I really liked the shapes and quality design of Matthew Vazquez's (RT3DWorkshop) Play-Doh/Montessori Shapes/Cookie Cutters, especially his more complex shapes. I remixed four designs for my project: circle, square, nonagon, and curvilinear triangle. The cutter can be for many other flat shapes, and the Thingiverse has lots of cool cookie and playdoh cutters.

I edited the original cutting edge so it slanted outward, instead of inward because that makes a cleaner cut with clay. (See my fourth picture.) Some cookie cutters also have blunt edges, which can work but may need more clean-up for a smooth clay edge. For a nice rounded cut, place plastic wrap on top of the clay slab before cutting. The plastic wrap also makes it easier to separate the cutter from the cut clay.

Clay shrinks during drying and firing. My remixed coasters are scaled up (110%) to create typical 100-110mm drink coasters when completely glazed and fired, which assumes about 10% clay shrinkage.

A clay slab can bend and warp as it dries, especially thin slabs. I rolled my slabs to about 5-6mm and slowly dried the coasters between flat boards, to produce straight flat coasters.

Overall, my remixed cutters printed easily and worked well. I plan to attach felt pads or cork backing to the rough bottoms to avoid scratching surfaces (e.g., wood tabletops).

As part of this project, I also created a cutter to produce drink coasters with designs pressed into them. See Ceramic Smiley Coaster.