Clay Firing Shrinkage Ruler

A pottery friend receives orders from time to time with specific finished sizes.  He needs to know by how much to oversize the initial clay objects so that they shrink to the correct size after the various kiln firings.

I designed and printed this ruler to be stamped into a test strip of clay to show how much shrinkage takes place over the various firings.  It will help get better manufacturing estimates and reduce wastage.

The cover photo is the ruler I printed for him (and has his name on it).  The model file doesn't have his name but has the text ‘Ceramic Firing Shrinkage Ruler’ on it.

I printed it in PETG at 0.2mm layer height, two perimeters, and 20% Grid infill.  My use of contrasting coloured PETG for the raised markings and lettering is completely unnecessary and a single colour throughout will be just as effective……

Make sure you print it with the raised text on the upper surface. The 3mf file needs to be flipped over in your slicer.