Picture: Modeling Sheet by PaulChanning

One of my favorite types of objects on Shapeways is what we tend to call 'Digital Fabric': chainmail-like structures that behave like cloth. You can't resist it - you HAVE to play with these prints, and whenever I show them to people who are new to 3D printing, it leaves them with their mouth open.

So, given that it's time for the weekend and some goofy modeling again, I challenge you: can you make a digital fabric model that's more interesting than just a square piece of cloth? You're free to use any kind of structure that you like: interlocked rings, parts that are connected by tiny springs, or anything else.

You have until Monday morning 10:00, GMT+1 to come up with your ideas!

How to enter

Model the your digicloth, upload it to your gallery, tag it with 'Weekend Contest: Fabric' and post the link and picture here (upload the image, and click 'Insert image into message body' to embed it in your forum message).

Who wins?

You decide! Visit the model that you like most, and add it to your favorites. The model with the most votes wins.

What's the prize?

Eternal fame! Kudos from the Shapeways team! Riches! Okay, well, the winner will get a $25 gift certificate.

That's all?

Yep, grab a drink, goof around in your favorite modeling app this weekend and have fun!

Bart

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Just curious - Shapeways Digi-fabrics one, two and three are in a Downloadable category, but I don't see the Download option for them.

Am I missing something, or just hoping for too much? I was hoping to look at the internal structures to see how they work.

[Updated on: Sat, 23 February 2013 15:05 UTC]

Each 'pin' should be able to be inserted or removed from the 'Yo-Yo Torus' and angled up to 15°
The idea is that you could have say five 'pins' and 'Yo-Yo's' fixed together to start to create a tailored effect by reducing the number of pieces.
You could also join them together into a bracelet or necklace. Minimum12 'Yo- Yo's' (52.39 mm Internal Diameter)

http://www.shapeways.com/model/939444/digital-fabric.html

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[Updated on: Sat, 23 February 2013 23:20 UTC]

I thought i would have a go this week as i had some spare time. I have been design chain mail products to test for a while and i thought why not design a new design that used panels that i could use to produce an iPad Mini Case with. Here is a small sheet that i have produce and i am going to start on the iPad mini case soon.



Link

Thanks

Ryan

[Updated on: Sun, 24 February 2013 10:11 UTC]

This Schema (Conceptual model) should be printable. All pins have a 0.5mm gap. So the pins are free to move.
Like I said before it will take a few trials to get this right.
The Yo-Yo with five pins and the pins that fit into it would be slightly smaller to create the natural curve.

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No one took George de Mestral seriously at first.

update 'bracelet' approx 100mm insde diameter

When I try to upload it there are 'pins' missing!!!

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[Updated on: Mon, 25 February 2013 00:45 UTC]

I've designed a purse using a very flexible, interwoven mesh pattern. the wires are a little over 1mm with about .5mm between.
The purse also has a reclosable clasp. The rendering shows it in the closed position, but it will be printed in the open position.

model page

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stop4stuff wrote on Mon, 25 February 2013 11:33

@vertigopolka The design of your purse looks very familiar.

@stop4stuff - Yes, I've used the same basic purse design in my "Woven Purse" as my "Mesh Purse" (attached pic), but the new purse has an interwoven "fabric" design as opposed to a flat, flexible pattern in the mesh purse below.



And, quite honestly, I've attempted (very unsuccessfully) to use this weave pattern in a purse earlier this month. This new design fixes some of the flaws I had. So maybe this design does not qualify for this contest.

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