Aug. 5, 2014
In January of this year, Todd Blatt, a mechanical engineer and maker, teamed up with 5 other makers - David Fine, Matthew Griffin, Amy Hurst, Ryan Kittleson, and Marty McGuire - and formed We The Builders, a crowdsourced 3D printing project. As part of the ArtBytes Hackathon at the Walters Art Museum, the team set out to recreate full 1:1 scale replicas of prominent work of Baltimore public art using 3D printing.
Their first project, the George Crowdsourcington sculpture, was completed and debut at the NY 3D Print Show and then traveled all over the country to over a dozen events. The bust is a copy of a statue in the style of Giuseppe Ceracchi's neoclassical "Bust of George Washington" (1791-1792) which is currently on display at the Walters Art Museum as part of the restoration of the nearby Washington Monument.
With the help of 70 makers and their personal 3d printers worldwide, all 110 pieces of the George Crowdsourcington were 3D printed and mailed to Maryland where they were all glued together to create a one-meter-tall sculpture.
On Monday August 4th We The Builders team launched their second crowdsourced 3d printed sculpture: Distributed Benjamin Franklin. The bust they are making is a replica of is a contemporary piece of Benjamin Franklin. The sculpture were first scanned by Baltimore scanning company Direct Dimension and the model was then sliced up into 198 pieces using netfabb. The model were scaled up so the final piece will be the same height as George, about 33" tall.
This project works same as the first project: anyone who owns a 3d printer can log in and download one block of the sculpture, 3d print it, and mail it back to Baltimore where they're all getting glued together.
How it works
- Sign in to get involved with your Google+ account
- You will be assigned a new block to print.
- Print your given block within 24 hours. You may print in whatever color or material you like. You are free to inscribe your initials on the back (or other non-visible face).
- Verify your printed block by uploading a photo of your printed block along with its length, width, and height measurements.
- Your print will be verified and you will receive an address to mail your block
- When all blocks for a project have been completed, they will be glued and assembled to present next to the original statue.
Each piece is made smaller to allow more people to participate in the project. The project was launched on August 4th and the team is hoping that all the 3d printed pieces can be shipped to Baltimore by September 1st, so they will be able to glue these pieces together in time for Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire on September 14th, followed by World Maker Faire NYC on September 20th and 21st. If you want to be part of this project, sign up at WeTheBuilders's site to help out.
Below are photos of completed "George Crowdsourcington" Statue.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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