All projects need a starting point. Feel free to download these files for your own 3D modeling and printing of moveable type! I only ask that you let me know how it goes and share what you have done as well.
If you need any assistance accessing the file, please email jacquelyn.deppe@shu.edu.
Creating your own 3D printed movable type printing press can cause some unexpected problems.
Even when everything is built to plan, exported correctly, and sent to the printer, there are still issues. For my project this manifested in printing the letter “l,” which often failed to print completely. Even with the successfully completed l’s there were still irregularities. While the print was functional, I was still curious as to what was going wrong, why the PLA was not adhering to the build plate and why the skirt (which is part of the build plate adhesion process) was intersecting the print. This issue has been a case study in how many ways a print job can fail.
The first issue which was part of build plate adhesion problem was a blob effect. According to Dremel FAQ’s:
“Why is the filament blobbing on the build platform?
This may be the result of a build failure or a poorly constructed file. The building process may have been interrupted by the computer disconnecting, or by removing the SD card/USB flash drive during the building process. Run the Dremel Test Print to verify that your printer is working correctly, allowing the print to finish completely before disconnecting it.”2
But even though there was a blob, it seemed to have started with an adhesion issue which is a common and reoccurring problem throughout this project. Research about this problem yielded many results, tips and tricks from different sources. According to Autodesk Instructables, poor adhesion could be due to the heat of the build plate which for PLA should be about 60 degrees Celsius.1 Suggestions to help adhesion include using painter’s tape, a layer of Elmer’s glue, and even hairspray!
Other suggestions even included ensuring the extrusion temperature was appropriate. It needs to be hot enough to push out enough plastic and cold enough to solidify and adhere to the build plate. But if it was too hot then it could not cool, not adhere, and ultimately be dragged around. For PLA this temperature should be around 200 degrees Celsius.1
In another source from 3D Printing – StackExchange, a thread titled Reasons for a PLA print not sticking to bed all the sudden? is answered by a user named Trish who mentions factors to keep in mind:
“Have a sufficient surface for the print to stick. A pyramid printed on the tip can’t print properly.
Check the leveling of your bed occasionally and relevel the bed. By removing prints, one can easily unlevel it over time without noticing it.
Clean your print bed from fingerprints and grease every so often. Fats are good separators between the print and the bed. Getting them off with Isopropyl alcohol or other solvents can restore print surfaces in an instant.”3
This is followed by an answer from another user JayCrossler who mentions a time when their printers all had a non-stick issue around the same time and it was “mostly around changes in temperature and humidity – the outside temperature changed inside AC settings/wind-flow, etc.”3
Any one of these were potential solutions to test; however, the next letter that was printed after the first two fails of the letter “l” came out with a new issue which was seemingly under- extrusion. The base printed fine and the letter was completed but there are tiny gaps within the print, leading me to believe it is a case of under extrusion, where the extrusion temperature was too cool making the layer not want to adhere to the previous layer. Or, another likely issue is that after the two failures, the nozzle was still a little clogged.
The next letter after printed better; however, there was a base issue where the skirt was printed into the print itself. Nothing in my settings had changed and I ensured the print was lying flat. Ultimately, I’m not quite sure what is wrong and why there are issues that seemingly come and go. All I can really think of is that it is a print failure that occurs and like other printers, it’s a typical moody printer.
Perhaps we will just have to take the “L.”
BradBuilds. Failed 3D Prints, and How to Fix Them. (n.d.). Autodesk Instructables. https://www.dremel.com/us/en/digilab/3d-printers-faq
Dremel. Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). https://www.dremel.com/us/en/digilab/3d-printers-faq
Reasons for a PLA print not sticking to bed all the sudden? (2019 September 6). 3D Printing – StackerExchange. https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10980/reasons-for-a-pla-print-not-sticking-to-bed-all-the-sudden
On Wednesday, April 24h, as part of the 8th annual Petersheim Exposition, our five Time Machines researchers presented their final projects to an audience of their peers, advisors, and faculty. In addition to the presentations, the Archives staff displayed all of the objects that were featured in the presentations.
Pegi Bracaj
Object of Choice: The Miriam Rooney Papers
To tell the story of Miriam Rooney, Bracaj created a three episode podcast entitled “The Echoes of the Archives: Unveiling Hidden Gender Narratives at Seton Hall”. The first episode “delves into the university’s gendered past, from its origins as a male-only institution to its transition to coeducation.” The second episode “explores the often overlooked stories of women within the university’s archives. ” The third and final episode dives deeper into Miriam Rooney herself, uncovering “Rooney’s achievements as the Dean of Seton Hall University School of Law, her academic and professional journey, and her multifaceted contributions to the community.” To supplement the podcast, Bracaj also created a webpage that provides a brief biography of Miriam Rooney and details her collection of papers held here in the Archives. You can view Bracaj’s project here.
Eman Fatima
Objects of Choice: Coin, Mughal Dynasty; Coin, 1/4 Anna
Eman Fatima, who moved to the US from Pakistan at age 16, wrote an op-ed entitled “The Construction of Two Coins: The Past and the Present”. The piece utilizes the two coins as symbols of just how far reaching the impact of British colonization had on and continues to have on South Asia.
Austin DelSontro
Object of Choice: The Setonian Newspapers, 1924-2024
Inspired by the 100th anniversary of The Setonian, Austin DelSontro originally sought to examine the entire Setonian archive, but instead chose to focus his research on The Setonian in the 1960s upon learning the publication was briefly banned in 1964. In his presentation, DelSontro selected a few stories from the 1960s, such as Seton Hall transitioning into a coed institution, the Setonian ban and the protests that erupted as a result, and a retrospective on the 1953 men’s basketball team and their experience at the NIT championship. In addition to his presentation, Delsontro also created his own newspaper in both a physical and digital format. You can view the digital version here.
Collin Doyle
Object of Choice: Journal of Roy Fitzsimmons, 1937-1938
Collin Doyle took the research from the Roy Fitzsimmons’s journal documenting the MacGregor Arctic Expedition and through Mathmatica, produced three-dimensional maps that represent the same part of the Arctic that was traversed during the expedition. In doing so, Doyle illustrated the importance of climate consciousness through the creation of interactive visualizations of sea level rise. Doyle also presented a poster that features direct quotes from the journal.
Hope Mahakian
Object of Choice: WWII Ration Books, 1943
Hope Mahakian, dressed in 1940s inspired attire, presented her video on the history of ration books and how they were used during WWII, followed by her friends’ attempts at recreating popular recipes during the US rationing period. The first half of the video is edited in the style of a 1940’s informercial, while the recipe recreation was done more like a modern day vlog. You can watch the video for yourself here.
Congratulations to all of our student researchers on a job well done, and a special thanks to the Archives staff and faculty advisors for your support throughout this project!
The FIG project is near completion! This is a project that is aimed at recreating a historic moveable typeface using 3D modeling and printing in connection with a block press to recreate the printing process. The goal is to engage faculty and students in a discussion, where they will be able to recall the steps in the printing process; identify a historic typeface; and discuss how technology can be used to resurrect a typeface.
As the project wraps up, I’d like to share the process.
Working in the Archives and Special Collections Center and having access to numerable examples of different typefaces, I decided to recreate Fraktur one of the oldest typefaces. By researching some different type specimens, my first step was to create an outline of the letters. I printed out a guide and traced the letters making some edits to smooth out shapes and lines, onto paper which I then scanned into the computer.
From there I opened the scan in Photoshop to enhance the contrast of the scan. Using Curves and the black and white eye droppers is a quick way to make the scan into a black and white image while darkening and lightening specific areas. This method is successful when the tracing is clean, no smudging, and crisp lines. Tracing in ink is ideal especially with a superfine tipped marker.
Next was to open, or copy and paste, the edited scan in Illustrator. I would suggest opening the document in Illustrator so that you do not have both programs open and running which can cause them to crash. Once in Illustrator you can create a tracing of the edited scan. If all went well with editing the scan in Photoshop then the resulting tracing in Illustrator should yield a nicely rendered set of letters in black and white.
This is an important step because it creates vector shapes. Once you ungroup and delete the unnecessary white space and use the minus function to ensure letters have the appropriate shape cut out so that the O looks like an O and not a black circle. After that, it is time to save the file as an .svg which will then be uploaded to Fusion360.
Fusion360 offers free trials but is free to use for educators and students which is why I selected it for this project. I have also had previous experience using Fusion360 and other Autodesk software which played a part in my decision. In Fusion360, after inserting the .svg and finishing the sketch, select the shape, the letter should highlight, and under the Create tab select Extrude to extrude the shape. Once that is complete, you can add the base by selecting box and adding the box over the letter that has been extruded.
If you traced and scanned the way I did, the letter will be the correct way as opposed to backwards which is what you need. However, do not worry! If you navigate to the underside of your modeling, you will see that the letter is backwards so it’ll all work out in the end.
Once the letter is extruded and the base added, you can select the entire body, right click and hold to select Isolate. Doing this allows you to export the body to an .stl file. If you export without this step, you would export everything in the file. Afterwards, I always do Ctrl z to undo the Isolation.
You can find all exported files in your files within Fusion360. Here you can download all the .stl’s. While it’s tempting to go straight to printing, there is another step! At least there was for me as I was using a Dremel 3D printer. Using Dremel DigiLab Slicer you can open the .stl and set up your print. You’ll select the material, specify the quality of the print along with how much infill, build plate adhesion, and generate supports if your print requires it. There is also a mode to customize your print where you get more into the details of 3D printing. With all your details set, which includes orienting the file on the build plate, an important step that you shouldn’t forget. From there you can Prepare Slice followed by saving the file as a .gcode.
Using a USB drive, I plugged that into the printer and selected my file to print. From there the printer does its steps to orient itself and warm up while you’ll want to cross your fingers to make sure it all comes out okay!
The specs of the project will vary depending on a number of factors that are specific to your project such as the size of the letter itself and the size of the box that serves as the base of the letter. I tested a few before I came to the one that worked the best for myself and this project.
I started off small, which proved to be an issue. It is important to remember that 3D printers can only print so small. Small prints, especially those that rely on details, may lose those details in printing. I decided to increase the size to keep that detail. Furthermore, I realized I would be using these pieces in a workshop and having a larger example would be easier to show as opposed to the small one.
Here are my tests and their specs with the how they printed:
Test 1:
Test 2:
Test 3:
Test 4:
Test 5:
Test 6:
Test 7:
Test 8:
Final:
We are thrilled to introduce #ArchivesDeepDive, a recurring series of write ups on the research done within the Msgr. William Noe Archives & Special Collections by our own staff and students, faculty, and members of the general public.
The Archives & Special Collections recently welcomed Professor Sean Harvey into the Reading Room for a sneak preview of our new acquisition of Seton Family Papers. These new materials were generously donated by the Sisters of Charity of New York. These papers consist of letters from Elizabeth Ann Seton’s relatives both before and after her lifetime as well as records of the family’s international shipping business, which played such a monumental role in Mother Seton’s life. The sisters not only took meticulous care of these valuable records but transcribed them so that modern readers can easily decipher the contents of the 18th century script.
Harvey focused on the correspondence of William Seton, father-in-law of our university’s namesake, Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, and his mother from 1782-83. William Seton was a prominent merchant in New York City during the American Revolution. Like many merchants of this time, Professor Harvey notes that he was a Loyalist, who felt the reason for his own success was the result of a prosperous British Empire and faithfulness to King George III. Seton remained in New York City throughout the war since it remained primarily under British control, but the pending British evacuation after the war “left William Seton exposed, vulnerable to retaliation once patriots took control of the city” Professor Harvey regards. While we do not have his own words, we can see this vulnerable sentiment reflected in letters from his mother, Elizabeth Seton, who writes in December of 1782 “you will have it more in your power than ever to make a large Fortune, as the Americans will be wiser, and more selfish, than to drive Honest industrious People out of their Society.”
As the popular idiom says, history is written by the victors, and a simple exchange between a mother and son provides larger insight on what the American Revolution meant to those who opposed it. In addition, Professor Harvey notes, this correspondence “hints at the resiliency of family ties despite an ocean-wide separation and the disruption of war and revolution”.
There is still much to be explored in the Seton family papers. If you are interested in doing your own research, make an appointment with us here. The Archives & Special Collections is open Mon-Fri from 9am-5pm.
Have an idea for your own #ArchivesDeepDive? Email archives@shu.edu.
This initiative was established in an effort to engage students more with the invaluable artifacts held in the Special Collections center. To apply for this project, students must submit a short proposal, with the assistance of a faculty member. Upon acceptance, students must attend an orientation, submit weekly research progress logs, and present their projects at the Petersheim Academic Exposition. Potential project ideas include, but are not limited to building a website, recording a podcast, designing an infographic, creating a piece of art (visual, a piece of writing, a short film, etc.), or authoring a paper about the object for publication in academic or popular media. “Too often, students do not encounter special collections materials until late in their studies. With this support, students will have the opportunity to encounter rare and historic objects and deploy the skills they are learning in their classes in a way that they can take with them into a variety of careers,” says Sarah Ponichtera, Assistant Dean of Special Collections and the Gallery.
All interested students may attend an information session on October 4th. Proposals are due by October 20th, and the accepted students will be announced on October 31st. Projects will begin November 1st and conclude by April 30th, 2024.
Click the link here to apply now! Applications are due October 20th.
To find materials in special collections to work with, search our online portals:
Questions? Please contact archives@shu.edu or visit the Archives and Special Collections on the first floor of Walsh Gallery. The hours of operation are Mon-Fri from 9am-5pm.
This project was heralded by Gallery Director Jeanne Brasile and Assistant Dean of Special Collections and the Gallery, Sarah Ponichtera.
Students in Dr. Laura Wangerin's "VIKINGS!" class discuss a replica of the Gundestrup Cauldron from the university's collections
This semester, students experienced history first-hand through object-based learning (OBL), an approach that adds value to classroom studies. In OBL, students learn via engaging in conversation and discourse using artworks, artifacts, archival materials, or digital representations of unique objects as catalysts to foster a sense of wonder, awe and curiosity. Object-based learning prioritizes critical thinking inspired by close observation to connect objects to concepts learned in the classroom.
Dr. Laura Wangerin’s “VIKINGS!” class visited the Archives and Special Collections recently to view the university’s replicas of the Gundestrup Cauldron and Book of Kells in a conversation guided by the student’s thoughts, questions and observations – relating the imagery back to what was learned through readings and coursework. Students were taken by the scale of the work, the construction of the cauldron, and the high relief imagery which is visible 360 degrees around. Engaging objects via the senses connects students to the past while making connections to the present. Objects are powerful tools for learning, especially when students realize they are standing in the presence of an object made by people or cultures from long ago. In this sense, objects can become almost like time machines, bringing us back to pivotal moments in human or natural history.
Noticias Summarias das Perseguições da missam de Cochinchina, principiada, & continuada pelos Padres da Companhia de Jesu. (OCLC #: 16077971)
In Dr. Kirsten Schultz’s course “Religion and Society in Early Latin America” students visited to see rare books published around the time of the Counter-Reformation to enhance their understanding and appreciation of the issues at stake as they discussed the role of the Church in colonial society. Conversation centered on the adventencia pages of the “Noticias Summarias,” which served as an agreement that the book could be published. The volume is an important account of the Portuguese mission in Cochinchina and Tonkin, today’s Vietnam.
The Walsh Gallery and Archives and Special Collections care for the university’s various collections and make them available for study, research, exhibitions and related programs. Objects include materials from world cultures and span from the neolithic era to the present. Highlights of the collection include Byzantine and Greco-Roman coins and artifacts; Native American basketry, ceramics and beaded crafts along with tools and leather goods; Japanese toys and 19th century woodblock prints; 3,000-year-old Chinese ceramics and metalwork; contemporary Chinese art; 17th and 18th century European engravings; and documents dating to the founding of the Newark Diocese and Seton Hall College. There are also significant collections from New Jersey politicians such as Brendan Byrne – the state’s 47th governor and Donald M. Payne, New Jersey’s U.S. representative who served the 10th congressional district from 1989 until his death in 2012.
A portion of the university’s collections can be viewed on Google Arts and Culture and you can view scholar Dr. Caterina Agostini’s recent digital exhibition, “Currency Culture” which uses coins from the Ron D’Argenio Collection of Coins and Antiquities to discuss notions of power and politics as conveyed on minted coins from the Byzantine and Roman Empires.
Those interested in viewing the Gundestrup Cauldron can view it through the end of the semester on the first floor of the Walsh Library in the display windows outside the Archives and Special Collections. If you would like to make an appointment to use the collections for research, class visits or other scholarly pursuits, please contact us. We would love to hear about your projects and how we can work together to illustrate your ideas!
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The Walsh Gallery has a considerable collection of fine art, artifacts and archeological specimens for use by faculty, students and researchers. For access to this or other objects in our collections, contact us at 973-275-2033 or walshgallery@shu.edu to make a research appointment. Now on view in the Walsh Gallery: Seton Hall Re/Collects through Friday, December 9th. The gallery is located on the 1st floor of the Walsh Library and is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. Groups of 8 or more must make an appointment prior to visiting.
One year ago, Seton Hall’s Monsignor William Noé Field Archives and Special Collections Center received two grants: one to process the papers of New Jersey politicians, and one to process the papers of Irish fraternal organizations. Apprentice archivists were hired and trained by Seton Hall staff, and they got to work organizing boxes of material, deciphering handwriting, and creating custom archival boxes for obsolete media such as LPs and Super-8 videos.
The results are now ready for scholars:
MSS 132 Papers of Arthur A. Quinn, early 20th century labor leader
MSS 003 Papers of Richard Hughes, the first Catholic governor of New Jersey
MSS 002 Papers of Bernard Shanley, Chief of Staff to President Eisenhower
MSS 0135 John Concannon Collection, National Historian of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians
MSS 0145 James MacFarland Collection, past president of the AOH New Jersey State Board
MSS 0146 AOH New Jersey Collection, materials documenting Irish American life sourced from the AOH New Jersey
MSS 0147 Knights of Columbus / Catholic Daughters of the Americas Collection, materials from these fraternal organizations
MSS 0148 James Comerford Papers, papers of a New York City judge who spent time as a volunteer in the IRA
MSS 0150 Gloria Schneider Papers, papers which document the donor’s involvement in numerous Catholic organizations in Northern New Jersey
The archives encourage those interested in these newly available materials to make an appointment to see them in the reading room. We look forward to seeing scholars use these collections to enrich our understanding of history!
On the second floor of the Walsh Library is a rare petroglyph – a prehistoric rock carving – made between 3000-1000 B.C.E. The petroglyph generates numerous research requests each year due to its unique nature. One of those requests was made by the National Scenic Visitors Center/Earthwalk USA of Zionsville, Pennsylvania for their Earthwalk Explorer multi-media interactive exhibition. They requested a visit to the petroglyph to do a 3D scan which was written about in a previous blog post roughly two years ago.
This traveling exhibit pairs maps, topography, history, culture, written and spoken language and storytelling in an immersive experience that projects videos onto a topographical map of the East Coast of the United States. The looped video begins by revealing the original Lenni Lenape trails that eventually became the highways and busy roads we use today; facets of Lenape history and culture, and other fascinating information about the region’s forests, parks and borders. The National Scenic Visitors Center worked closely with Chief Demund of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania who offered this blessing which opens the video program:
“Grandfather, sacred and holy father, you whose breath we hear in the four winds. I say thank you for the wingeds, the four leggeds, the fish people, the creepy crawlers, the plants, the trees, the grandfathers. I say thank you for the breath of life and for all my relations.”
– Chief Demund, Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania
Adjacent to the exhibit is an activity area featuring a reproduction of the petroglyph. Visitors learn about the glyphs – their conjectured meaning, what they depict and how the words are pronounced in Lenape. The project relied on the Lenape Talking Dictionary for some of the interpretations. Professor Sean Harvey of Seton Hall University discussed the petroglyph’s significance in a video produced last year for Native American Heritage Month.
The petroglyph was located on Rudyard Jennings’ property along the Delaware River in Walpack Township, New Jersey until 1968 when it was moved to Seton Hall University by Herbert Kraft, a field archaeologist specializing in Lenni Lenape people and culture. Kraft was also a renowned professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at the university. At the time of the move, Kraft sought to preserve the petroglyph which was at risk due to a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to dam the river which would have flooded the area: submerging the petroglyph. Plans to build the Tocks Island Dam were never realized, but the petroglyph had already been moved by the time the project was abandoned. The petroglyph is the only one discovered along the Delaware River, making it a unique resource that offers tantalizing glimpses into the life and values of the Lenni Lenape people.
Gallery Director Jeanne Brasile recently visited the Earthwalk Explorer which is on view at Northampton Community College in Easton, Pennsylvania to see how the petroglyph was integrated into the exhibit and interpreted for visitors. Brasile met with Mary Ellen Snyder, Executive Director of the National Scenic Visitors Center and Amy Hollander, Strategic Consultant at Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor who developed the educational programs and much of the content. Joining them were two student docents, Alexander Almonte and Alejandro Zuniga who enthusiastically and expertly guided the experience for visitors. Almonte described how his interest in GIS (a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface) and geography drew him to this work but the exhibit also stirred more of a connection to his own lineage which is partly indigenous Peruvian on his mother’s side. The exhibition uses the concept of geography and topography as a jumping off point for discourse on issues such as colonialism, land stewardship, respect and migratory patterns.
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The Walsh Gallery has a considerable collection of fine art, artifacts and archeological specimens for use by faculty, students and researchers. For access to this or other objects in our collections, contact us at 973-275-2033 or walshgallery@shu.edu to make a research appointment.
Retired Seton Hall University Librarian and Assistant Professor, Richard E. Stern recently donated a significant collection of African art and artifacts to the University. Stern acquired the objects when he was a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Liberia from 1969 to 1970. The donation includes more than sixty-five pieces of cloth – some hand-dyed by Stern – using traditional methods and natural materials such as indigo and cola nuts. Many pieces were hand-woven, including a small selection of Kente cloth from Ghana. Other hand-crafted objects include wooden masks and sculptures, cast metal figurines and beaded necklaces. “This donation is significant for Seton Hall University. The objects illuminate world cultures and artistic traditions unique to West Africa, while embodying the donor’s personal relationships to the people he met and places he traveled during his Peace Corps service. Stern’s personal recollections about the objects and the people connected with them are being preserved, providing a crucial layer of context for the collection. We could not be more appreciative.” stated Gallery Director Jeanne Brasile.
The collection amplifies the university’s Diversity Initiatives which celebrate a rich tapestry of global ideas and perspectives. Stern’s generous donation will expand Seton Hall’s collections overall, while augmenting existing collections of African art and artifacts including sculptures, paintings, photographs and prints. Presently, Collections Manager Laura Hapke is preparing the objects for exhibition by cataloguing each item and creating a safe storage environment for each, thereby ensuring access to this unique collection for generations of students, faculty, researchers and scholars.
The Walsh Gallery cares for and interprets Seton Hall University’s collections of material culture. In addition to the African art and artifacts the university collections include The Wang Fangyu Collection of Asian Art which spans over 3,500 years of cultural traditions from China, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, India and Vietnam; The Seton Hall University Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology which includes objects from North American cultures including the Leni Lenape, Paiute, Zuni, Pomo and Tlingit peoples as well as objects from South America, Asia and Europe; and The D’Argenio Collection of Coins and Antiquities which includes coins from ancient Etruscan, Greek, Roman and Byzantine cultures. Appointments to see the collections can be made by completing this form. A sampling of our collections can be viewed on Google Arts and Culture. The Walsh Gallery is open 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday—Friday and is located on the first floor of the Walsh Library. The gallery is free and open to the public.
