3D Printing News Briefs: December 26, 2019

For your holiday edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, we’ll get business out of the way first – Wipro 3D has launched Addwize, a new Additive Technology Adoption and Acceleration Program. Moving on, Prusa interviewed animatronic model senior designer Joshua Lee about their shared interest in 3D printing. Finally, Voodoo Manufacturing helped an artist bring her 2D artistic vision to full-sized 3D life.

Wipro 3D Introduces Addwize Program

Scale vendors: Foundation – blue; Advanced – green; Practitioner – orange

Additive manufacturing solutions provider Wipro 3D, a business of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, has launched a new Additive Technology Adoption and Acceleration Program called Addwize, which will address all the phases in the AM adoption cycle within academia and industry. The multi-platform, OEM-agnostic adoption program will help interested organizations and institutions fully understand 3D printing, evaluate business cases for the technology, and then scientifically use it to create value. It’s designed to help stakeholders of all levels, and academia, adopt and scale their usage of AM for business benefits.

“Wipro 3D addwize™ is designed and developed to support any organization or institution who is either evaluating metal Additive technology, has AM in their near future technology roadmap or has already invsted in AM, create business value using metal AM,” said Ajay Parikh, Vice President and Business Head, Wipro 3D.

“There is no lower or upper limit to the size of the organization who wants to evaluate AM.”

Prusa Interviews Animatronic Model Designer Joshua Lee

Not too long ago, the Research Content Team at Prusa met award-winning animatronic model senior designer Joshua Lee in Prague, who has over 25 years of experience in the film industry working on such movies as Prometheus, The Fifth Element, and even the Star Wars and Harry Potter series. The team took advantage of the opportunity to speak with Lee about a topic near and dear to all their hearts – 3D printing, which he uses often in his work.

“We use a lot of different techniques of 3D printing in the filming industry,” Lee told Prusa. “We only really adopted it in the last 5 years. I am really using it a lot now.

“The thing I like the most is how 3D printers help when you have really tight deadlines. The film director has a new idea and you just wish there were more hours in a day. We used to do a lot of “all-nighters” to get things made. If you’ve got your own 3D printer, you can design something quickly, press print and you can go home to bed – that’s the best thing! In the morning, you are up and running again and this amazing print awaits you there. I still get a small thrill, every time I come in and see this thing that has magically appeared there overnight.”

To hear more of what Lee had to say about the materials he uses (PLA and PETG), his preferred desktop printer (Original Prusa MK3), and specific Star Wars-related projects he used 3D printing for, check out the rest of the interview in the video below:

Voodoo Manufacturing Assists with 3D Printed Art Installation

Back in 1976, artist Agnes Denes created a 2D art piece called Probability Pyramid – Study for Crystal Pyramid, and has long since dreamed of turning into a life-size installation. In early 2019, her dream seemed like it would become reality when NYC-based art space The Shed began working with her on the project. The team didn’t have much luck with acrylic, glass, or mold injection, and so turned to Brooklyn’s Voodoo Manufacturing for assistance. There were a lot of requirements for the project – the Pyramid required several groups of bricks in unique sizes and shapes, totaling 5,442 translucent bricks that could be stacked to easily transport and form the pyramid; Voodoo 3D printed bricks that were 99% hollow, so they were less breakable and very lightweight.

“A lot of traditional manufacturing happens abroad. Because Voodoo’s factory is in Brooklyn, the team at The Shed would have an easier time accessing the parts as the sculpture was built. By the same token, as part of her commitment to environmental responsibility, it was very important for Agnes Denes to keep the production local,” Voodoo explained.

“The use of 3D printing was much more in line with her vision than traditional sculpture construction methods. This also allowed us to test multiple versions of the Pyramid digitally instead of having to build many physical versions.”

Thanks to Voodoo’s digital factory, the exhibition Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates opened on time. The retrospective, which features the 3D printed installation, will be displayed at The Shed until March 22, 2020.

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below. 

The post 3D Printing News Briefs: December 26, 2019 appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Arthur Mamou-Mani’s 3D Printed Architectural Brick Installation to be Featured at 2019 Salone del Mobile

The 58th Salone del Mobile will be held in Milan April 9-14. (Image: Salone del Mobile)

We want our designs to be magical, ethereal and trigger instant curiosity. To achieve this we use mathematics and physics through algorithmic and parametric design to maximise inexpensive materials.”– Mamou Mani Ltd Architects.

Collection of Style, most commonly known as COS—and headquartered in London—is gearing up for the 58thSalone del Mobile, in session from April 9-14 with an international focus on three different style categories: Classic (Tradition in the Future), Design, and xLux. Each year around 330,000 attendees enjoy the show, representing 165 different nations. Commissioned in collaboration with COS, Arthur Mamou-Mani will be enticing event-goers this year with an architectural installation featuring 3D printed bricks formed into pyramids. They will wind all the way from the main courtyard of the Palazzo to the back garden.

Arthur Mamou-Mani (Image: Mamou-Mani Ltd Architects)

This is not the first time we have followed the Salone del Mobile in parametric design, as they pushed design boundaries with 3D printing in previous years, but Mamou-Mani explained to Architectural Digest that this year’s installation will be centered around a repeating form that offers a “contrast between the permanence of the palazzo’s marble and stone and the impermanence of the bioplastic.” The design plan will also include an onsite 3D printer, along with other interactive items for attendees to experience.

“We wanted to create a journey from the interior to the exterior,” explains Mamou-Mani.

Mamou-Mani is famous for his Burning Man installation from 2018, featuring a vaunted central temple named Galaxia, thus garnering the attention of architectural enthusiasts around the world—and the higher-ups at fashion brand COS.

Temple Galaxia – Burning Man 2018 with all of the participants surrounding the Temple shot via a drone – Photo by Alex Medina (from Mamou-Mani Ltd Architects website)

Karn Gustafsson, creative director explained why they wanted to bring in Mamou-Mani for Salone del Mobile this year:

“The common threads of inspiration this year were new craft and innovation.

“What we liked about his work was that the process informed the end result—which is how we work as well.”

Mamou-Mani’s interest in 3D printing has not just been fleeting either. His London firm features FabPub, an open maker space where Londoners can learn about 3D printing and digital design.

His work is centered around the use of natural materials, however:

“There is an awareness of materials that is starting to come back in architecture.

“Bioplastics have a much lower carbon footprint than conventional plastics, and unlike petrol-based plastic, they are entirely compostable.”

With 3D printing of the project occurring right at the installation site, both production and pollution costs are diminished too.

“I really appreciate COS’s approach to risk-taking on this project and their openness to collaboration,” says Mamou-Mani. “That is the environment you need to truly innovate.”

Mamou-Mani’s FabPub in London (Image: FabPub)

Mamou-Mani’s architectural and design presence at Salone del Mobile will highlight more than just 3D printing but also how the study of materials science is propelling innovation today. If you have been following our stories over the years—or just recently even—you may be aware of how much research is being invested in studies comparing the now ubiquitous ABS plastics over recyclable vegetable-based PLA, or the popularity of metals, mechanical metamaterials and other alternative but extremely useful materials like concrete.

Environmental concerns along with worries over toxicity and particle emissions continue too. Engineers, artists, and designers around the world are bringing all these interests forward in many different venues—and some, like the Salone del Mobile, are much more glamorous than others!

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source: Architectural Digest]

Partially 3D Printed Bricks Generate Electricity Through Temperature Changes

Bricks have been in use as building materials for millennia, but they can do so much more when science and technology are applied. A group of scientists led by King’s College London have developed a thermogalvanic brick that can generate electricity, as long as the two faces of the brick are at different temperatures. This is because of a balanced electrochemical reduction and oxidation processes occurring inside the brick at the two faces. As long as there is a temperature difference between the two faces – if, for example, the outside of a brick structure is hot and sunny but the inside is cool and shaded – the electrochemical reactions will occur and generate electricity. The compounds inside are not consumed, do not run out and cannot be overcharged.

The researchers used gelled water inside the brick and added a 3D printed interior based upon a Schwarz D minimum surface structure. This makes the thermogalvanic bricks stronger than typical bricks, as well as allowing the electrochemical reactions to occur and improving insulation.

The scientists believe that these bricks could be used to provide both shelter and electricity in regions of the world that have limited access to both. The energy the bricks provide is both affordable and sustainable, and the bricks can easily be constructed.

“The idea is that these bricks could be 3D printed from recycled plastic, and be used to quickly and easily make something like a refugee shelter,” said Dr. Leigh Aldous, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at King’s College. “By the simple act of keeping the occupants warmer or cooler than their surroundings, electricity will be produced, enough to provide some night time lighting, and recharge a mobile phone. Crucially, they do not require maintenance, recharging or refilling. Unlike batteries, they store no energy themselves, which also removes risk of fire and transport restrictions.”

3D printing is being talked about as a promising way to quickly and sustainably build houses and other structures in areas that need them, but many of those areas also have limited resources in terms of electricity. 3D printing has been used in conjunction with alternative energy technologies in these areas before, such as solar power. The thermogalvanic bricks are something new, though, and the team, which also includes scientists from Arizona State University and the University of New South Wales Sydney, has filed a provisional patent for the bricks.

“What is so interesting is that we can take something so common and never thought about, such as temperature difference in houses, and use it to create electricity,” said King’s College undergraduate student Conor Beale. “For a family living in a developing country, this could have a substantial impact.”

Electricity is something that most people in the developed world take for granted, but without it, life, education and work are limited by the rising and setting of the sun. Having access to electricity could significantly impact productivity in locations that previously did not have access, not to mention allowing people to access technology like cell phones, computers – and maybe 3D printers.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.