Hi everybody, I would really need you for your advices. I'm working at the observatory of Paris and i'll would like to stamp not less than the universe for an exhibition... I need to know if it could be done. In fact, the universe is a kind of sponge. It's made of cosmic strings like on the pic attached. My purpose is to stamp in 3D a cube shape universe made of these solid strings. I have seen a lot of strange shape full of holes on this website. Is my kind of shape printable ? How strong would it be (I would like children manipulate it...) Of course, we'll need to made a proper 3d model to stamp. Thank you a lot for your advices Taïna
I love the shape, and it's an interesting project, but I fear that it's going to be very difficult to produce with a 3d printer. You have to do something to ensure that the voids are connected to the outside and/or that they are inter-connected to each other. You might be better off seeking one of the companies that punch voids into acrylic or glass using a focused laser.
It is, but not by Shapeways for the reasons Stony mentioned. Another option would be to have this 3D printed by an Objet Connex500 as seen in this example: This gives me an idea I may implement related to the data presented in the image you posted.
Hey, Thank you for your answers ! @universe becoming : How much would it costs to make one of these, with a size about 30 cm ? Which kind of format is necessary for the laser work ? Can you ask it to make points (many many) ?--> my pic is made of points (each point is a galaxy) Thank you !
Oh i made a mistake, i thought the object connex 500 was a laser solution. Then, anyway how much would it cost and which kind of format do you give for that ? Is the laser solution less expensive ? Thank you for your help !
To 3D print a mostly solid block at 30 cm would cost a small fortune! Something like 80 thousand US dollars. When you think of things to make with 3D printing you should try to think of small designs. Like if you could get that design to show up in a 50 mm cube would be more of a good design for 3D printing. If you plan to make a lot of them you might do well to lease a connex 500. As for 3D laser engraving, I don't know the approximate costs for that. You'll probably have to find a manufacturer for that process and negotiate a deal. If you do produce something let us know how it came out!
I seem to remember Bathsheba Grossman makes them as a sideline to her sculpting business (see bathsheba.com or PM bathsheba here on shapeways)
The design could be done via Shapeways as a small item, using a trapped wax technique with Frosted or Frosted Ultra Detail. The outsied would need polishing to make the block transparent and the detail might not be too good. Paul
Yeah I thought of that too Paul, but doesn't that method require that the whole cavity be a single inner shell with a minute hole extending to the outer shell? What was the final word on that? That would be the ideal method cuz it would have a wispy ethereal look to it in some lighting conditions. A 50 mm cube would be around $298.75 in FD, so it's definitely doable as high priced product.
It was easier when you didn't have to connect the shell to the outside. What I was thinking might work is making bubbles with long tiny posts, and boolean subtracting them from the cube when you have a bunch of them in the shape you are looking for. I did print one in transparent detail. Looks good after a little polishing.
Oh, I didn't know Bathsheba was into sub surface laser engraving. Here's the link. I wonder what the cost are for getting into that.
Yeah that would work. You could have one cluster of galaxies right at the very edge somewhere so that they acted as a through hole to the outside. Do you have pics of the one you did readily available? I'd like to know how visible it turns out to be, does it need special lighting to show up?
No I don't. It's hard to get a picture of. It made it easier to view, if you held it up to a light. Only issues are you have to polish the layers on the sides, the top will be fine, the bottom may have artifacts from removing it from the tray. And it has a yellowish color.
I see, I see. Sounds like it would be fun to experiment with. To enhance the image, the support wax could be died. A florescent or even a glow in the dark die would be cool. It would need to be able to be dispersed by diffusion since I think capillary action would keep anyone from actually replacing the wax in the tiniest areas.
Might have worked once but not the last time I tried 'no holes to the outside world', I got a solid lump of FUD - a hole to the outside world is needed. And if you do the modelling work correctly, you don't need to boolean anything, you just connect the surfaces of the inner structure to the outside surface Paul [hr]stop4stuff Modeller for hireShapeways Shop - Controller PendantTwitterYouTube[hr]
Back when I made mine, the software didn't remove internal geometry. It would be a lot harder to build a model like the cubes I made that would successfully print today. And that depends on your software and modeling techniques. The software I use, the quickest and easiest method would be to build the cube, build the void, and boolean subtract the void from the cube. I could use your technique in my software, I'd have to unstitch the intersecting surfaces, trim them to each other, and restitch them to each other. This would then result in improper rendering in my software because the faces of the void would be facing the wrong way. Best solution I've found for this so far is to unstitch every face, and restitch.
Question, how can something be 'boolean extracted' (removed, whatever), if the part to be removed is part of the 'outside world'? I'm so glad I still use dinosaur software Paul
A little off topic, but the software I use is very good with working with solids. It's a simple, I want to remove from object A all parts that are overlapping object B.
Yes, that works with overlapping geometry, How would you expand that cube to be the string like structure of the universe captured within a cube? Curious to know how'd you do it Mike, and what software you use - PM is fine Paul