3d printing

[skiddy]

Hi i see a forum was started on computer and sculpture... and i just wondered if anyone had tried out the process of 3d printing?

Im just starting to looking into its design possibilities, which i think are endless?!

Im creating a (fragile) sculpture of wires about 1.5mm thick and 140mm in length, which arc and bend. I hope to use my sculpture in this process?

I just wondered it anyone has tried anything similar and the results obtained?

:)

[fritchie]

Hi, skiddy - This process clearly is new. I have exactly two stories to relate. One, I saw an actual example of this process in a very good New Orleans gallery about 3 - 5 years ago, and I thought the art was very poor, just an example of a trendy technique. It was in clear, not very nicely finished, soft-looking plastic, and was basically a cube about 4 inches on edge, with some curvy lines adding to the shape. As I recall, it was priced at about $4000 or so.

Second example: I spoke with a Florida sculptor at the recent ISC New Jersey “Figuratively Speaking” conference, who actually has used the process and who is happy with it. I asked whether these “prints” can be opaque or colored in some way, and he said that colors are being used experimentally.

As for your example, you must remember that the “print” will be in a sort of plastic and will have different flexing characteristics from your metal example, at the least. It won’t behave in the same way, even if production is successful.

That said, I look forward to other responses. It’s a new technique, and one that should be successful at some point.

[kestonh]

I've seen some stuff done by Z-Corp (http://www.zcorp.com) before, but this was a year or so ago. Their process uses a cyano-infiltrated starch, its pretty brittle but the surface quality was decent. They can also infiltrate the starch with an elastomer in order to make it flexible. I've heard they've got a metals depostion process now, but I haven't seen any samples.

[ExNihiloStudio]

I've seen the Z-corp printer demonstrated at a trade show. The process is very interesting, and I immediately did think of the possibilities for art, but there are some hurdles to overcome.

1. The printer device itself is blindingly expensive, so access to the equipment is the first problem. I don't know how much the software is, but the sales representative quoted me a price for the printer that was at least five figures.

2. The medium is a starch like power, and the object is built up by a print head that passes back and forth releasing a hardener one layer at a time. Imagine you have a sphere and you slice it into thin horizontal sections. You could lay those sections out like pancakes, but stack them up again to make a three dimensional sphere. This method can do things that a reductive (e.g. carving) method cannot. At the display they showed me a model of a ball bearing created in the printer. The balls were all free turning inside the races, but the entire object was created simultaneously, and to remove the balls you'd have to break the object. This being said, some of the objects they showed me did show the strata of the layers clearly, like wood grain. Unlike wood grain, I did not find it attractive because it has nothing to do with the form of the object and how the material makes it what it is. The surface also looks very porous, and there is a limit to the fine detail that it can retain. Standard color is off white, with some pigmented medium available, though the colors only came in bold, saturated levels, like colored sand. I found myself attracted to the device and how it worked and not the final products. Perhaps an artist and not an engineer at the helm could reverse this impression.

There are experimental possibilities, but it would seem an academic environment would be the most likely scenario for such an opportunity given the high cost of the equipment (don't forget maintenance too). As I understand it, this device is part of a production scenario in which you design a part in a computer and create three dimensional models with this device, and once you get it right you send the computer model to another device that can translate your work into a more permanent material.

If anybody finds something like this used in an interesting artistic way, post it here. I would would be very curious to see it.

[xsculpt]

3d printers,

I've been working with 3d print technology since 94 or so and have built pieces as large as 7' and as small as your thumbnail, with all of the major processes: stereolithography, selective laser sintering, laminated object manufacture, 3d printing and so on. Its an awesome capability, if not a bit expensive. I've worked with all the major processes and prefer the "powder" technologies, primarily because they have no supports. The powder technologies are 3d printing from Z corp and Selective Laser sintering now from 3d systems. the prices of the machines are dropping to the 20-30 K range. Used machines are often available. Many on the rapid prototyping mailing list enjoy speculating about $1000 printers and when they're going to come.

As wonderful and automatic as it seems don't be deceived though, nothing is borne of this world without significant labor and care.
I have a 3d printer from Z corp. It prints starch or plaster with a light sugar water binder. It takes a lot of post processing but the results are generally satisfying.

At this point I've built files from the following cad/modeling/animation packages: mirai, maya, 3ds max, rhino, wings 3d, nendo, form z, cinema 4d. Lightwave tends to make models that are difficult to correct thought its been a pair of years since I tried.

The printers need water tight polygonal models. STL is the standard but some will take vrml and some other proprietary formats. Even if you have nurbs models they will be converted to polys when you go to stl's. Its a wysiwig process so leave it as smooth or rough as you desire. I actually dig big fat flat open polys in rp modesl, its the true digital gesture.

Currently, I'm preparing for an exhibition in a gallery in New York that will include multiple physical models, two animations, and a large scale sculpture (7' tall) carved using a CNC mill http://www.michaelrees.com/steve-Pages/Image1.html). If you are in New york on September 12th, stop by the Bitforms gallery and say hello between 6-8pm www.bitforms.com)

The difference between milling and rapid prototyping is simple. Milling is subtractive: take a block and carve it, and demands secondary software to make tool paths to carve the block. It can make things up to enormous sizes. RP or 3d printing is additive, usually makes small things, (say 24" cubed) is generally precise, and can accomplished with a print command (as long as you're not the machine operator).

If you know what you're doing, you can make models that can be repurposed to all of these capabilities with relative ease. Its an awesome capability. there are some material constraints and strength issues. You can be an engineer about this or just work with it, trial and error.

Making models has gotten cheaper but I caution: nothing is born unto this world without significant labor and care.

There are machines that do color. Its not experimental. In fact, I wrote the first article ever written about color in rapid prototyping in 1998. check: http://www.michaelrees.com/articles/RParticles.html#Color this was prior to any commercially available systems for color machiens see http://www.zcorp.com/products/printersdetail.asp?ID=2

cheers, michael rees