Feb 26, 2011

3D Printing a Vacuum

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Last year I decided to practice my prop modeling skills and that the theme would be things that I wish to have in my future home. The first thing was an olive green corduroy couch, next is a Dyson vacuum cleaner! Specifically, the DC24 model. Originally I thought I was going to make it out of a combo of sculpey clay, aluminum wire, and bits of plastic that I had around, but then I discovered the wonder that is Rhino! Rhino is a NURBS based 3D modeling program, and normally I am not that great with computer programs, actually I'm pretty bad at them, but Rhino was easy to pick up. I did some online tutorials, and then used all the basic commands that I learned to model the vacuum.


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Here's a shot of the print in progress. Sorry, the pictures aren't too great, they're from my phone. 

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Here's the final model! All the black stuff is support material  that the printer builds up around the actual model and I had to put it into a chemical bath for several hours to dissolve the support. The print itself took about 5 hours to finish and I'm really happy with how it came out. I've never 3D printed anything before, and it was a great quick way to create my prop without having to fabricate all the parts separately. I printed my piece out of ABS plastic using the Dimension 1200 SST printer at Length Width Height, a fabrication lab in NYC. Overall I think 3D printing is an awesome way to create prototypes or see how certain parts of your model will work, especially if you don't have a lot of time or money to spend on material. This print was just a test to see if I had any flaws in the model, I'm going to print it again, paint it, and repost pictures soon! 

1 comment :

  1. Weird and neat! Now if it was me, you'd have to fabricate a person to do the vacuuming with that adorable vacuum.

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