3D printing in large scale for art installations
Large scale 3D printing has a lot of potential for being used to create ehxhibitions and installations, but not everyone knows why to choose this technology. 3D printing lets you to overcome limits of manufacturing, experimenting with shapes and structures that are not possible in other ways. These works are made by WASP Hub Madrid, Lowpoly.
Stairs to Infinity
In this case study, we’ll see how additive manufacturing opens new ways to design stairs with parametric techniques: lighter and with recycled materials.
The structure has been designed in wireframe to reach the goal of lightness and resistance at the same time.
This project is designed by Carmen Baselga and Hector Serrano for the exhibition PRINT3D in Cosmocaixa Museum in Barcelona. The concept of the project was trying to design a spiral staircase of 12 meters, only supported by transparent threads, as light as possible.
Gelosia
Gelosia is a project that uses 3d printing on a large scale to create big partition walls. Like for Stairs to Infinity, It was designed by Carmen Baselga and Hector Serrano for the exhibition PRINT3D of Cosmocaixa museum in Barcelona.
The purpose of the project was to separate sections of the exhibition while maintaining the view through it.
3D printing process
The wireframe structure has been chosen not only for functional issues, but also for the light and shades effects that this holes pattern creates.
Grasshopper is the software used to generate the gcode and the route that the 3D printer follows. If you want to see how to generate the gcode directly from Grasshopper, click on the button
This design process permits to minimize the waste of material, optimizing the shape and reducing the material only to the structural parts.
Each step has been divided and printed in parts to have the chance to add couplings to make the assembly easier. This procedure has led to shipping the entire stairs in two boxes, optimizing the logistics and dropping the CO2 emissions.
PLA pellet
The material used to print the project is PLA recycled from food packaging, mixed with natural white pigment. In this way, the aesthetical result is excellent and it is not necessary to finish it with final painting. Printing with pellets has many advantages: you can use recycled plastic: it is cheaper and faster than filament material.
Check our pellet materials.
Large scale 3D printer
For these two projects it has been used the 3MT 3D printer. It permits to print big pieces until 1 meter of diameter and it is really used for installations or to create walls. The procedure is to print in pieces and then assembly them, building the entire structure.
