Nov.26, 2014 | By Alec
It is something that everyone planning to start their own business has to face: what kind of logo, style and artwork will I use for my company? If you're thinking about starting a 3D printing (-related) business, wouldn't it be cool to have something that can actually be 3D printed? Not only would it create some relevant brand-recognition, it's also a business gift that contains your whole message.
3D Hubs is one of the companies in the 3D printing world to get something like that off the ground with their fun and endearing Marvin. The mascot has created something of a 3D printing buzz for itself, with fans and business partners printing Marvin mascots in all shapes, colors and sizes. And now one of their Italian partners, Marco Capolino from printer manufacturers i3d.it, has taken that to a whole new level with the largest ever 3D printed Marvin.
For those of you who don't know, 3DHubs is a network or community of 3D printers founded by a team of Dutch entrepreneurs. Its capital is in Amsterdam, and it has developed a network of 3D printing services all over the world since its foundation in April 2013. In under two years, their network has grown to include more than 7000 3D printers in 130 countries.
And all of them offer local print services; just choose your area and upload the 3D printable file of your choice to the 3DHubs website, and it will be printed by one of their hubs near you. It's a clever business model that centralizes 3D printing services, while offering hobbyists everywhere to earn some money doing what they enjoy and companies more revenue. Marco is a typical example of these hubs, working for a printer manufacturer while also running a hub in Florence, Italy.
While the record for the smallest Marvin was recently set by the Hungarian hub basiliskus3D (with a Marvin of a miniscule 2.4 mm), Marco took things in the opposite direction.
His giant Marvin measures to a maddening 800 x 600 x 800mm (or 31.4 x 23.6 x 31.4 inches), took a mind-blowing 180 hours of continuous printing to complete (printing at approximately 50 mm per second). It was printed with a layer height of 0.5 mm and 1 mm diameter nozzle. As can be expected, this takes up quite a lot of filament: 13.8 kilograms, to be precise. As the video below shows, it's so large you need to lift it with both hands.
Obviously, this giant print was done to showcase the soon-to-be-released PivotMaker 3D printer (by his i3d.it), though Marco also wanted to test the printer's capability to print bridges, half bridges and overhang sections, which large scale printers tend to struggle with. But his printer obviously passed with flying colors; even at this scale, the quality of the print is impressive. As he said himself, 'The infilling inside and the perimeter is calibrated to have excellent mechanical strength, low weight, and the best possible finishing. The simulation in these operations is essential, if you fail gcode, you lose a lot of material and time.'
Though very pleased with the result, Marco hopes to drastically reduce building time in the future, hoping to print his giant creation in less than 50 hours. It therefore looks we have plenty to look forward to. Perhaps someone will try to break his record? Also, those looking to print their own should take a look at these tips.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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The material is PLA 1.75mm, amazing filament of FILOALFA www.FILOALFA3d.com Marco Capolino www.i3d.it
Marco Capolino wrote at 11/27/2014 5:51:53 PM:
Printomizer Hello, you're right about the infilling adaptive, this would allow an even better finish. I wanted to test the slicing with slic3r which has no infilling adaptive. you're wrong about the fact that the perimeter of 1-2cm would weigh less. This solution would have big problems retraction in overhang spoiling the surface finish. Thank you for your suggestion Marco Capolino www.i3d.it
Printomizer wrote at 11/27/2014 10:01:19 AM:
For a model this huge, he could have saved a LOT of time and material by adapting the infill. Why print all that material inside when you could have the same size and almost the same durability with a mostly hollow marvin? I'd think that a wall thickness of 1-2cm should be enough at that scale (depending on layer thickness/layer bonding), so he could probably get the same size with less than 10kg of plastic and maybe around 100h of printing time... (numbers are just a rough guess, i did not calculate/simulate it)
Hans Fouche wrote at 11/26/2014 6:49:01 PM:
Is this a challange? ;-)
maker wrote at 11/26/2014 4:15:51 PM:
what material is this??? PLA
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