One of the best parts of being involved with both new technologies and students is amazing things start to appear before your eyes. Last night one of our Arts/DXArts student teams (Julianna and Kate) checked in. They were interested in being able to build a Mendel or in our case a Clonedel. A long time was spent looking at the molds, examining the test parts, and especially looking at the color palette. Because we have history with this team, we just expect that they will ask for something “a LITTLE bit different”.
Last night was no exception…
By the way, Samuel Francis (1923–1994) was an Abstract Expressionist. He employed bright colors in much of his work. After seeing the new Clonedel parts, it seemed like Mr. Francis had been playing in our lab.
When new processes are available for object creation, we often witness exciting new ideas. Last night was clearly one of those events. The art team created Clonedel parts with molded-in colors (not just a paint job). Who could have imagined RepRaps as a piece of art (more than just form and function)?
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Fascinating. I was speculating a while back on what a steampunk style Mendel might look like (lots of brass and wood). It’s interesting to see the machine used to create art become an art piece itself.
Kevin, It was amazing to watch it happen right in front of my eyes. So very cool.
I can’t wait for the first blinged out Mendel.
Very nice ! A truly unique RepRap
[...] Previously we spoke about the Open3dp project by the Solheim Lab of the University of Washington. One of the exciting things they are working on is in cloning the RepRap Prusa. The Prusa is the simplest 3D printer in the stable of the open source 3D printer RepRap Project. A team of students managed to create molds that let them mold most of the body of the 3D printer within half an hour, they called the result Clonedels. Now the team has been playing some more with the molding and the result is very psychadelic. [...]
Love the concept, but is anyone ever going to post formulas for the casting resin? I just wanna know what you guys are using.
thanks!
Victor, I don’t think we will be posting formulas for the casting resin but I’ll be happy to tell you what we use for molding
and casting in our lab. We use Smooth-On’s Oomoofor the silicone RTV and Smooth-On’s Smooth-Cast 300 for the
polyurethane because of the low cost. Both are VERY easy to use and Smooth-On has tutorial videos online.
The Oogoo from Instructables works OK for making molds but is only about $40-$50 cheaper per gallon.
There are very many vendors (please search the web for a vendor near you) for both silicone RTV and polyurethane
(and most offer low cost trial packs).
How did you get the multiple colours in blotches like that? Are these 3D printed or moulded?
Dear Caleb, The colors are poured in during molding.