Open3dp is a website hosted by the Solheim Additive Manufacturing Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the University of Washington campus. Its purpose is to disseminate information and foster a community of people interested in an open sharing of 3D printing information. We hope that you find useful information on this site and that you will feel free to comment and share your expertise.
Looking in the Window at the Solheim Lab (see what’s going on)
The Solheim lab is co-directed by Professors:
Mark Ganter (ganter@uw dot edu)
Duane Storti (storti@uw dot edu)
Researchers/Contributors:
Grant Marchelli (grantlsm@uw dot edu)
Charlie Wyman (chwyman@uw dot edu
Corporate Contributors:
Seattle Pottery Supply
Spectrum Glass
Olympic Color Rod
Bullseye Glass
Hello.
The ideas and processes I see you developing are inspiring.
I own and operate a Roland computer-controlled 3D router. It has enabled me to create fun and useful shapes out of wood, plastic, metal and I’m about to try cutting pipe stone.
I also own several kilns which I use for enameling metal and would love to experiment with some of the materials and processes you describe from your research.
That would require me to acquire or construct a 3D printer.
This seems likely to be a challenge facing many in the communities to which Open 3D Printing is directed.
What recommendations can you make regarding products, kits, parts and plans? I’m currently looking at RepRap and MakeBot and wondering if I can repurpose their designs.
I dream of someday upscaling an Open Source 3D printer design until it is large enough to print a house, which could then be fired as Khalili does with his handmade ceramic homes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_houses
Of course, other sizes of Open Source 3D Printer would offer other interesting opportunities for design. So many possibilities, so little time….
Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Colin
We’ve been running a polychrome 3DP for 3 years and are continually frustrated by the expensive consumables and high maintenance costs. We’re compelled by the work you’re doing, so we just got a used monochrome 3DP with which we intend to explore open source consumables. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work.
-kg
Hi, Just recently I came across a product /material (through a fellow glass student) called Arboform http://www.tecnaro.de/english/willkommen.htm the main ingredient is a paper industry waste product ‘Lignin’. Would that work in your printer? BTW love your experiments in glass.. very impressed.
-Spike.
Dear Spike, Basically the first step in determining if something is printable is determining if it is available in a powder which passes through a 400 mesh
screen (to produce powder in the 40-100 micron particle size). Next one must find a binder/adhesive, etc. Lignin has been a wood industry adhesive
for a long time. I believe that one could develop a workable process.
[...] Mark Ganter from University of Washington and Laura West from Fresno City College gave a presentation titled [...]
fantastic site ..
sharing..
thanks Mona & the girls
[...] individuals and organizations for their knowledge, support and assistance: Dr. Mark Ganter (Solheim Additive Manufacturing Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the Universi…), Artist Ehren Tool, Professor Richard Shaw (Berkeley), The Department of Art Practice at The [...]
[...] Project Date: 2011 Project Location: Berkeley, CA Design Team: Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello, Kent Wilson. Project Information: Technical assistance: Dr. Mark Ganter (Solheim Additive Manufacturing Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the Universi…) [...]
Hi there,
We are a group of friends designing a new concept of underwater turbine to produce electricity from rivers. We are wondering if you system can use used plastic bottles or used plastic bags or parts for 3D print? More; how big can be the parts produced by your printer?
Thanks
Herve
Herve, the printer has a 4 foot x 8 foot x 3-4 foot build space and it is very much experimental.
Hello,
I have just started learning about 3D printing and just started reading your blog but have been making 3D models for a while with various CAD programs. I have noticed that you and other blog owners frequently mention models or even take pictures of the printed results but never display the models on your site. Concluding that this may be from a lack of means, I made SuperCuber, a tool which allows you to embed 3D models on your blog from uloaded stl files. An example is at cubespaces.blogspot.com. I stand to make no money from this and the app is completely open source. I just made this out of interest and wanted to see if it could help you.