Introduction: 3D Printed Ceramic Ribs

This instructable will show you how to make a custom 3D printed rib to use for ceramics! I created my ribs to use for lips with throwing. Moddeling these ribs in Rhino allows you to make any shape and truly customize your tools!

Step 1: Modeling in Rhino

The modeling of the ribs is very simple in Rhino.
First create an oval for the middle of the rib and then draw an outline for the shape of the rib.
Next copy and paste two of the oval shapes and move one up 1/4 of an inch and one down 1/4 of an inch.
Now loft your top oval to the rib outline, then the same for the bottom outline.
Once the shape is lofted, loft the top and bottom ovals to close the shape.
From here turn the shape into a mesh using the mesh command.

Step 2: Printing

Now the ribs are ready to print! Simply load the Rhino file into the printing software as an stl file.( I used http://cloud.netfabb.com/ to check my files before I printed them.) My ribs took about five hours to print then I left them over night in the acid bath.

Step 3: Ready to Use!

Your ribs should now be ready to use! They work best with clay that has little or no grog. Make sure to take care when cleaning them because the ends are fragile.