Mar. 19, 2015 | By Simon
Although there have been a wide variety of conceptual products that use 3D printing as a final method of manufacturing, the stakes have been pushed higher over the last couple of years to really push rapid prototyping into a rapid manufacturing stage whose aesthetic and functional qualities are embedded within the aesthetics of the final piece - something that is rarely ever done with traditional manufacturing techniques. One recent example of how 3D printing has been used other than to create a prototype or otherwise ‘typical’ 3D printed object comes from LA-based Synthesis Design + Architecture (SDA).
The firm’s founding principal Alvin Huang is also a teacher at the nearby USC School of Architecture and although he appreciates what 3D printing has to offer, is worried about how students in this current generation see the technology.
“You see things that could have been done better, faster, or cleaner by hand,” said Huang, when discussing how students today find it easy to just 3D print everything, “I find it a very troublesome predicament we’re in, we’re letting the tool dictate.”
After being contacted by 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys about doing a project for the upcoming ACADIA 2015 conference, Huang and his team at SDA decided to use the technology for all it had to offer - by producing a design that would only be able to be manufactured using the Objet500 Connex3 printer, which is able to print in multiple materials and colors. To print the multiple materials and colors, the Objet500 Connex3 printer uses two separate print heads that feature 96 nozzles each and are capable of printing gradients consisting of both different materials as well as different colors.
After some initial brainstorming, the SDA team chose to run with a dual-purpose chair design that they called the Durotaxis Chair and features a gradient mesh that visually communicates the rocker’s function and ergonomics using the aforementioned technology that the Objet500 Connex3 printer would provide.
To create the chair, the team use multiple software packages including Rhino, Grasshopper, Weaverbird, ZBrush and Maya. The final design is capable of being operated in both a lounger and a rocking chair position while also incorporating both rigid and flexible materials in their own individual colors to communicate the ergonomics.
Once the team had established their chair design, they set out to have it manufactured as a half-scale prototype at the Stratasys headquarters in Israel.
“It was also an experimental process for them,” said Huang. “Ultimately, through a lot of back and forth, we were able to arrive at something they were able to print.”
Currently, the SDA team is tweaking their design to be able to create a full-scale version of the chair. Among other challenges that the team has been met with is an abundance of support material that has to be manually removed after the chair comes off of the Object500. To get around this, the team will reorient the print to be done vertically in order to minimize the need for the support mesh.
“How do we expedite the process, and refine the geometry of the lattice so that you’re changing direction before the material starts to droop?” said Huang. We’re trying to do something where, in a sense, we’re growing the chair.”
In any case, Huang and the SDA team are among those who are treating 3D printing as its own form of manufacturing rather than a step to another manufacturing process - something that is helping establish what the future of using 3D printing as a way of mass manufacturing might look like.
“We see the computer very much as an intuitive tool, the same way previous generations thought of the pencil,” said Huang. “We try to find a happy medium between the scientific aspect, and the intuitive manipulation of that science.”
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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