With the introduction of Porcelain I was finally able to make a working tobacco smoking pipe! It had been possible to make in metal before but who would want to put metal in their mouths? Porcelain materials not available to the public but if you want to buy one let me know and I'll order and ship (sorry, but it will work out a bit more expensive that way).
Impressive! I'd be really interested to hear about the steps you took in modeling this, any challenges, etc. There are elements of the design that I'm really curious about, like the joint between the stem and bowl, and the inset on the bottom of the bowl. Was it a physical pipe scanned and touched up, or is it a from-scratch model? Did you have any trouble with print-time debris or glazing getting down in the stem?
@twoshay - Thanks. Nope, not a scan, it's a straight from scratch model. I used Rhino and ZBrush for this, although it could certainly have been modeled in Rhino alone but would have taken me longer. Stem and bowl were separate models. I had to create the stem allowing for the design limitations of porcelain, i.e. allowing for the thickness of the glaze. I had to create a pipe (no pun intended) that ran down the centre of the stem and then perform a Boolean operation to cut the hole. I took bowl and stem into Zbrush where it was a matter of refining the shape of the stem to get a nice curve (much easier to in do ZBrush) and to give the bowl/stem "joint" more strength by adding digital clay. My concern was that the glaze would seal the stem hole somewhere but when it arrived I put some water in the bowl and tilted it to see water come out the end! I haven't yet tried it, but plan to on the weekend. I'm really hoping that the bowl doesn't get too hot. I made it quite thick to try and avoid that.
when will porcelain be available to buy for the public? I have a few great ideas ve been waiting on since ceramic. Is this pipe perfectly safe to smoke out of?
@kronos242 - Wish I could tell when it will be available for the public. It's only been a short while that all makers have had access to it. As for safety, well if you can eat off and drink out of porcelain I don't see any problem...
Porcelain is safe to use for smoke , it was and it is one of the first material used to make pipes. And other smoking devices along glass. If it is safe to use for cooking , then it is safe.
It's not a "paint" than can peel off.....Ceramic glaze is an impervious layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fused to a ceramic body through firing. Glaze can serve to color, decorate or waterproof an item.
Thanks for the insight on how this was modeled. I've had a couple of similar ideas that I wanted to work on in porcelain, but I was worried about whether small tubes like that would get inadvertently filled in during processing. I definitely would expect the bowl to get good and hot if you're smoking a full bowl of tobacco... but not insanely hot, and I'd be surprised if you had any issues with it. Kiln heat is much higher than what it'll get from routine use. That blue glaze is awesome, though... can't wait to see some prints with that.
@numarul7 - Price will be $24, unfortunately I cannot sell here yet since Shapeways hasn't let us offer porcelain to the public.
It works! Finally got around to trying the pipe and am pleased to report it is better than I expected. The bowl after the full burn was warm but did not get anywhere uncomfortable. And as an added bonus the stem actually feels nicer than the one that is on my Meerschaum pipe. Very easy to clean in water as well, something that I haven't tried with my other one. Now I just need Shapeways to open up the material for purchase!
Obviously far from perfect a quick half hour in zbrush , ive thought about this since they introduced porcelain I saw another pipet in this post thought i would put my two cents in.. Question what level of detail can we expect from ceramic? will we be able to carve meerschaum pipe type quality? if so i really see this going places. be easy it is a quick sketch .
Good stuff. I was going to try the same thing now I have proof of concept. As for details I don't think we can expect Meerschaum quality. The glaze would have to be allowed for with the details, although from what I've seen the glaze is thinner than the previous ceramic Shapeways offered.
so could you just add more depth to allow for the glaze? not sure ill have to make and purchase one and take a look myself
For the old ceramic, yes, you had to do that. If I recall it was a 1mm thickness! The porcelain glaze seems much thinner.
@kronos141 - Just found this from Shapeways that should help you with deciding on details... https://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/22462-tips-for-getti ng-the-most-out-of-details-in-glazed-porcelain.html?etId=573 13890&utm_source=sw-email-8&utm_medium=email&utm _campaign=20151014&ca=email&ct=20151014