Apr 10, 2018 | By David
A Swedish designer has been gradually building up an impressive range of 3D printed guitars over the last few years, and his latest project sees him branching out a little into the world of 3D printed jewellery. Olaf Diegel has 3D printed some eye-catching aluminium chain-link bracelets, making use of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology. The BLING3D range will add some serious bling to your outfit, and it also has an interesting design with a lot of flexibility, allowing movement in between the parts.
(source: ODD Guitars)
Diegel started out this project as a fun exercise, to see if he could figure out some clever linkage mechanisms that would allow him to print metal parts with moving patterns of tiles. Once he had figured the mechanisms out, the next logical step was to transform them into a metal AM demonstration piece. This is what gave him the idea to expand the link mechanism into a series of bracelets, known as BLING3D.
The BLING3D bracelets were printed in AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy to keep their weight at a minimum, and Diegel used magnets for the clasp mechanism. They needed to be 3D printable as one single component, but still with suitably large gaps between the moving parts. This meant that they could be printed on a metal AM system, and then removed from the build plate and transformed into wearable jewellery with a minimum of post-processing.
A number of challenges present themselves during the metal 3D printing process. Support structures are necessary in order to prevent any distortion of the part during the melting process, as well as preventing any parts from being submerged in the melt pool.
Large metal parts can cause problems when being printed flat, with corners curling up as the metal melts, which can lead to stresses and distortions in the part. To get around this, Diegel had to use a non-horizontal angle. When the bracelets were printed, they were rotated at 30 degrees in the x-axis (to avoid large horizontal down-facing surfaces), and 10 degrees in the z-axis (to avoid the powder-spreading mechanism from encountering an area parallel to the spreading mechanism).
Post-processing was the longest part of the 3D printing process, as Diegel needed to get the bracelets up to a wearable standard for metal jewellery. After the support material is removed and heat treatment is carried out, filing is necessary to get the ideal surface finish.The BLING3D bracelets have a bold design, with large chain links in a number of different shapes. They are now available on Diegel's website, to complement the style of his unique range of guitar designs.
Diegel uses SLS 3D printing and guitar parts to put together custom-made guitars, with a variety of different themes, based on classic designs like the Telecaster or Jazzmaster. They include a heavy metal guitar, an ‘Americana’-themed guitar, and a visually striking ‘Steampunk’ design. This latter features artificial gear mechanisms and pistons, and has a worn-out, rusty look as a result of the impressive paintjob carried out by New Zealand airbrush artist Ron van Dam.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Salut Olaf, Beau travail! Félicitations. Je ne sais pas si ce message partira, j'ai eu des difficultés l'autre jour avec les questions finales. 4x4 peut être 16, mais aussi voiture, non? Bises. Pierran
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