3D Printing Experiment

3D Print into Metal

Joshua at QueLab hackerspace is going to 3D print an object that we can cast directly into metal -- in a 21st century version of the "lost wax" process.  Apparently there is a new 3D printing filament -- POLYCAST  (available on Amazon) -- that is designed exactly for that.  The final 3D print acts like wax, and burns out of the investment plaster like wax -- skipping a step.

Polycast YouTube video

of the 3D print to casting process

NOTE:  There is no need to first make a mold of the 3D print, cast a a positive in wax, and then embed that positive in investment plaster.

POLYCAST is distributed by Polymaker.


Joshua has a new modified version of the Creality Ender 3D Printer.

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LOST PLA

 2012

We tried doing this with PLA filament in 2012, at Xerocraft hackerspace in Tucson -- pioneering the "Lost PLA" process. .  While we did get a successful casting of a small object, further experiments did not work well.  If I remember correctly, melting the plastic filament smelt really bad, and Connor said something about the thermal mass of the PLA plastic not melting out properly.

"Lost PLA" bronze casting 2012,

at Xerocraft hackerspace in Tucson

We also did sand casting at Xerocraft:

Sandcasting at Xerocraft

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"WHAT" TO 3D PRINT

DESKTOP HERO

We could create a 3D STL model from Desktop Hero to print.  This video explains how to do this for free, but free does not give good details.

SMITHSONIAN DOWNLOADS

The Smithsonian Institute has recently uploaded a lot of 3D STL files, of objects in their collection, to download and 3D print, such as this Greek Slave figure below:

3D STL file of a Greek Slave statue,

for download from the Smithsonian website

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York permitted that 3D files be available for the public to download -- such as this STL of the Statue of Gudea (more info on Wikipedia).

Ancient statue of Gudea

from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC,

available for 3D download on Thingiverse

Metalphysic in Tucson

 milled two medium sized Gudea sculptures in Styrofoam

for the 2013 Tucson Sculpture Festival

BOCCIONI

I am very drawn again to the artistic approach of Umberto Boccioni, as I feel like my drawing has the most affinity with his work, particularly his sculpture.  I noticed that Darioc uploaded the most famous Boccioni sculpture -- Unique Forms of Continuity in Space  -- to Thingiverse for downloading and 3D printing (and also to myminifactory).

3D Boccioni sculpture in STL file,

uplaoded and viewed online in the STL Viewer

I was inspired to look for Boccioni STL files after discovering that Matt Smith and Anders Råden recreated some of the lost sculpture of Boccioni using digital technology.

Digitally reconstructed, and exhibited,

Boccioni sculptures

One can even alter and "remix" the 3D Boccioni STL file, as I did with the online program SculpGL.

Quickly altered Boccioni STL from Thingiverse,

with the online program SculptGL,

as shown in the online STL Viewer

List of free 3D sculpture programs

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FANTASY

I would like to translate my drawings in 3D sculptures.  If Matt Smith and Anders Råden can recreate Boccioni's sculptures from 2D drawings, then perhaps my drawings can be translated into 3D files to be sculpted.

Were there a good software to interpret 2D drawings into 3D STL files, reliefs or otherwise, that would be a good start -- but with something more smooth than Image to STL; maybe NVIDIA has the solution.

I gave mass to my drawings with the help of the AI (artificial intelligence) program online called Deep Dream Generator, and some further editing in Photoshop (as explained at the end of this blog entry).

 First Phase --

 altering my drawing

in Deep Dream Generator

Last phase --

Mass added to my line drawing,

using AI (artificial intelligence)

and Photoshop editing

(as explained at the end of this blog entry)

Then I converted into a relief with 3D This/3D Photo Effects, but it would still be nice to get a smoother, simpler 2D to 3D conversion, without the ruffles.

3D This/3D Photo Effects

conversion of my 2D drawing into a 3D relief --

too many ruffles

The above STL file

imported into SculptGL forr online editing

Ultimately it might be exciting to alter 3D files with AI (artificial intelligence).  There is a a version like Deep Dream Generator,  that will apply a surface treatment style transfer to decorate the outside of 3D files (Github software online).  However I think that AI could be used to alter the actual forms (such as this car chassis, or in Solidworks).

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LOOKING BACK

I have been wanting to create a sculpture that viewers could control with their smart phones.  This seems like the ultimate 21st Century sculpture experience.  We made various proof-of-concepts in the last decade, like this quickly-put-together demo at the Southwest Maker Fest 2014, in front of Heatsync hackerspace in Mesa (essentially Phoenix, Arizona).

SCULPTURE YOU CAN CONTROL WITH YOUR SMART PHONE --

proof-of-concept at the Southwest Makerfest of 2014

in Mesa (Phoenix, Arizona)

Sculpture thoughts from 2016

CONCLUSION

It would be very exciting to create new digital sculptures that could then be 3D printed, or milled in a larger format.  I really like the idea of using AI (artificial intelligence) to inform and create art and such sculptures, because AI will take us places that we had not imagined before, and revive art.  And of course, I would like to see some of my drawings blossom into sculptures using this technology.