Thursday, February 19, 2009

Everything happenes at once


Just when I a was plugging away at the work for ACC Baltimore guess what showed up at the school? Our 3D printer. Of course as you know I can't resist a little technology. Like a moth to a flame I was camped out next to this brand new shinny thing for four days straight! Someone needs to make better directions for this thing (it was worse than IKEA's frownie man). It was little rough at first (mostly small technical problems, our PCs needed updating desperately). I did get some great help from Michael Gayk who sort of works for the manufacturer. Thanks buddy!

Now that it is running I have been experimenting. I think I love this machine. There is no heated lye solution you have to dip your piece into or a large vat of resin that you have to suit up for, or powder to vacuum. You just "print" the part and peel away the support and you are done. No messy clean up.

Check out the two pieces I printed yesterday. Notice the loop within a loop towards the bottom? There is also a screen shot of the software and the location of the peeling cuts. Yes I said peeling cuts. This thing is really a glorified vinyl cutter. It lays down a piece of material on a moving Z table, applies a little masking fluid then a little glue, cuts the layer and repeats the process, building an object layer by layer.

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

3D printing

9 comments:

  1. %$#@! Arthur! I am still confused by that. So you peel away each layer and the item inside is solid? I think I get it but I might have imploded my mind... :-) Hey I bought a book the other day on Jewellery, and you were in there! I am like, hey, I know that dude! he has emailed me! felt famous by association.
    keep it up!
    x J

    ReplyDelete
  2. yeah kind of crazy. So it lays down a sheet of plastic and only glues where the part is and then cuts the perimeter of the layer. Then it lays down another on top of that layer and the cuts the glue and cuts the perimeter of that layer. Repeat, repeat, repeat layer by layer. Once it comes out only the model is glues together and the res can be peeled away. Imagine a whole bunch of paper shapes stacked on top of each other forming a topography.

    ReplyDelete
  3. that seems incredibly wasteful and also awesome. and also way better than the other 3d printer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That looks amazing. Which brand is it and whats the cost? Christmas isn't that far off? ha

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is made by 3D systems. This model is an Invision LD. I think it says how much they cost on the website.

    http://www.3dsystems.com/products/invision_ld/index.asp

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's pretty amazing. What made you decide on this model over the other ones? Can I send you obj files now? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. we had our I on another model but it had delays. The manufacturer was having problems with something or another. This was the next model in the list. Its actually really nice and semi affordable. Not like the machine at VCU.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Coraline used rapid prototyping to make the thousands of models needed to make the "frames" of animation in Coraline. It is stop motion like "Nightmare Before X-mas" and "James and the Giant Peach"
    http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4924&page=1

    ReplyDelete