Oct 27, 2015 | By Kira
You may remember Joris van Tubergen, the 3D designer and inventor who had the ingenious idea of flipping his Ultimaker 3D printer upside down so that it could print extra-tall columns. He went on to use the amazingly simple add-on, known as the Z-Unlimited, to 3D print a life-size elephant to raise awareness for World Animal Protection. Now, van Tubergen is back with another mighty 3D printing project that is fun, sustainable, and as usual, larger-than-life.
As part of the Vogelverschrikker Festival in Valkenswaard, Netherlands (that’s Scarecrow Festival, in English), van Tubergen was asked to create a unique scarecrow of his own. A proponent of the ‘go big or go home’ camp, he happily accepted. “It’s a good reason to print big in public space again” he told 3Ders.org.
He began by getting a full-body 3D scan of himself, courtesy of Th3RD, a Dutch 3D scanning company. He then took that scan into Blender, to create an approximately 4-meter-tall ‘jumping-jack’ style Scarecrow, with extra-elongated limbs and van Tubergen’s signature head of hair. "It's a cut and pasted version of 3D scans of myself…it’s a form of arrogance to print yourself so big," he joked.
The 3D printed scarecrow’s size isn’t its only selling feature: it will also be printed live over the entire week of the Scarecrow Festival using entirely recyclable PET materials. “For this event, we collaborated with the Perpetual Plastic Project, the complete installation is present to recycle your cup into a 3D printed object,” said van Tubergen. The Perpetual Plastic Project is an interactive recycling installation in the Netherlands wherein plastic, in the form of water bottles or festival cups, is washed, dried, ground up and melted into 3D printer filament right before your eyes. At a recent festival in Amsterdam, the developers either used that filament to 3D print unique, personalized rings for participants, or turned it into a high-quality recycled filament called ReFil.
For his scarecrow, van Tubergen is using ReFil filament in a ‘smokey’ color. “There is also a clear variant, but this gives a very special effect to the final print,” he told us. “Together with the shininess, it looks a bit silver.” To ensure the giant 3D printed scarecrow is finished on time, a total of five 3D printers will be chugging away live on the festival grounds. He also designed it in such a way that several slicing profiles could be combined—some parts are completely hollow, others have some infill for added strength. Though he says he is not a trained programmer, van Tubergen did manage to create a script that combines the profiles, saving time and materials.
The Vogelverschrikker Festival takes place bi-annually in the South of the Netherlands and invites architects, environmentalists, birdlovers, designers, builders and artists to create 100 unique scarecrows. This year’s festival will take place between October 24th and November 1st.
3D printed with recylded PET bottles at vogelverschrikkerfestival.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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