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So my part time job is being an amateur prop maker, and one of the main markets for that is high-end larpers with lots of money. Last summer, the stars were finally right and I got to do a project that included 3d printing. One guy sculpted a spaulder on Zbrush with frankly ridiculous detail as far as larp armor goes. We had it printed out by Shapeways for a relatively high price (around 500$). I made a silicone mold and cast it multiple times in cold cast resin with fiberglass reinforcement. (The result is mildly artistically NSFW, I'll link it instead if anyone complains)  (the metallic effect isn't so great, mostly because of the lighting) Bottom line: 500$ isn't that much considering I would have needed 80$ of super sculpey and god knows how many hours of painful sculpture work to come close to this by classical means. 3d printing is awesome. The future will truly be here once it becomes practical to 3d scan a full suit of gothic plate armor and have a bored video game 3d artist to Zbrush insane embossed detail on it. I had previously used a CNC mill on another armor project, but the Zbrush/3d printing pipeline is much more refined, while CNCs are mostly limited to what can be sketched out in Catia. I can't wait to have one of these babies in my workshop. Super.Jesus fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Jan 23, 2012 |
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Jan 23, 2012 19:17
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Mister Sinewave posted:That's super cool, and a great insight into actual revolutionizing of a workflow or process (i.e. "something other than bottle openers and coat hangers") My only gripe with it is that we chose one of the cheaper white plastic materials for cost reasons, and ended up with a striped master model. Fortunately, it ended up looking like rippled damascus metal once the patina was applied. My first run was 5 spaulders, but if I had 50 to make and wanted them baby smooth, paying 1500$ for the master model would have been possible. Fortunately, it's only going to get cheaper. 
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Jan 23, 2012 20:06
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Be aware that under most circumstances, it's going to be way cheaper to get a master model made and cast your production run with standard production techniques. For example, get a detailed and smooth model made for a ring, make a high temperature silicone mold, and then cast it in wax for lost wax casting or directly in pewter. Sell directly on Etsy. There's also the advantage of choosing the material. Get a part printed in weak UV resin and then cast it in high-performance smooth-on urethanes. Shapeways is pretty much perfect for rapid prototyping. A notable exception exists for stuff that simply can't be molded, such as this insanely awesome dice set: http://www.shapeways.com/model/126266/ Expect most successful Shapeways products to be novel 3d shapes that can't be made with standard techniques.
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Jan 23, 2012 23:23
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Mathhole posted:Just out of curiosity, why did you make 4 walls that had to be stuck together instead of having all 4 walls be one piece? It is important that it can be taken apart again? Molds aren't free. We're talking about a huge 3d cube mold vs a centimeter thick flat mold. Considering that mold rubber is about 90$ a gallon, that's a huge difference. Aurium posted:There's previously been some talk about 3d wax printing for lost wax casting. I've said before that people have had good success with simply burning out the plastic to make molds instead. Also, that wax doesn't really respond well to FDM extrusion. Given its low melting point, a wax printer could be very interesting compared to an abs printer. For large objects, you can smooth out the lines with a weak heat gun. However, as long as it's not a ridiculously complex print, just make a high temp silicone mold of the plastic original and cast your lost wax sprue out of it.
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Jan 24, 2012 03:10
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Linux Assassin posted:As long as you don't need to produce multiple copies plaster is a much better molding material for lost wax due to its much higher heat tolerance, and with vibration setting better detail fixing. I'm not sure you understand. Silicone is used to create a wax model, which is then dipped in the various plaster and ceramics that are used to create a mold for metal. Silicone has no trouble handling melted wax, certain types of silicone can be used to cast molten pewter.
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Jan 24, 2012 21:19
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Linux Assassin posted:Perhaps I do not. Yep, my process's only advantage is the fact that you can make multiple prints. If you want a unique model, you can go straight to casting.
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Jan 25, 2012 20:36
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baka kaba posted:I think they're using them to print frameworks for growing organs from people's own cells too, there's some amazing medical stuff going on with these. They are. There's a lab at my university that is currently researching the printing of biodegradable scaffolds for organs. A printhead builds a layer of biodegradable polymer, another ''prints'' a solution of cells inside it. Layer by layer, it builds an organ. We're not at the point where we can make a working heart, but livers and etc. are a possibility.
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Feb 12, 2012 22:37
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