Safe Distance Sign - Together by Lyl3

Last crawled date: 4 years, 1 month ago

This is a sign that reads "WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER - JUST FARTHER APART - STAY SAFE". It visually indicates the safe distance for reducing the risk of transmission of airborne pathogens. It's obviously designed to raise awareness during the Coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic, but it could be used to raise awareness for any dangerous airborne pathogen.
The sign is 150 mm x 200 mm and there are two holes in the back for holding 6mm x 1.75mm magnets (the holes are 6.5 mm x 1.4 mm).
I have also created another safe distancing sign with a harsher message. You may prefer that one instead, so here is the link:Safe Distance Sign - Confused - Dead Relative
Customizer Options
There is a customizer for it so that you can create your own sign, selecting from a range of sign sizes and from a range of magnet hole sizes, or nail hole sizes. Additionally you can choose from two layout variations available in the customizer: one with the pictogram on the upper area and one with the pictogram in the lower area. You can also choose the distances indicated for each arrow: feet, metres (British), or meters (American). Each of the parts (base, border, text, people, and distance arrows) can be created as separate STLs to allow printing with a multi-extruder printer. You can also independently set the heights of each part so that you can print a 5-color sign with a single extruder.
The first image shows a 5-color print with the pictogram in the lower area with distances indicated in Imperial feet and British metres and with magnet holes (not visible). The second image shows a 3-color print with the pictogram in the upper area with distances indicated in American meters and Imperial feet and with nail holes. The third image is the same as the first, but with just 2 colors.
Multiple Colors with a Single Extruder
The signs can be printed in multiple colors with a single extruder by pausing the printer mid-print and and then swapping in a spool of different colored filament.
Most printers support the M600 G-code command, so you may be able to add in pauses using your slicer program. You may find the Colorprint tool useful if your printer supports the M600 command, but your slicer doesn't support adding pauses: https://www.prusaprinters.org/color-print/ . If your printer doesn't support the M600 command, you will have to pause the print manually using the control panel.
The included STL has a 2 mm thick base, the text and people are 0.4 mm thick on top of the base, and the distance arrows and border are an additional 0.4 mm. So you can print it dual color by pausing after the layer at 2 mm is finished and swapping in the filament. And if you want a third color, you can pause it after the layer at 2.4 mm is finished and swap in the third color.
After switching filament colors, the nozzle may not be primed and the first bit printed may be under-extruded, so to compensate for this, I always add in a little cylindrical tower and get the slicer to start the layers on that tower. For Cura, the settings that control this are Layer Start X and Layer Start Y, which are in the Travel section. I put the cylinder above the top right corner and set Layer Start X and Layer Start Y to a high number like 500. The customizer will add this automatically by default if you're creating a model with all the parts.
For the best looking sign, you'll want the top infill area of the faceplate part of the model to be a single continuous solid print from one corner to the other, instead of going around the areas where the letters will be added in later layers. To accomplish this in Cura, set the Skin Expand Distance to a high number like 10.