I aim to be as impartial as possible regarding the companies that I write about. But heck, I just love voxeljet! Pushing the build envelope with a unique conveyer-esque printing system is a great solution and I have eagerly followed developments at voxeljet for a few years now. The company provides large-format 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers. Join me then as I ooze enthusiasm at their latest big build architectural project, a large, unique architectural column.
Big build architectural 3D printing is gaining headlines. From the artistic intrigue of projects such as Digital Grotesque (see image below) and the first 3D printed building (see Mike’s article here) additive processes are creating forms and intricacy that we simply would not witness as derived from any other manufacturing process. Let us now add to the increasing range of examples the impressive column created by architect and designer Sam Welham and Richard Beckett from London, UK. This sculpture underlines the fact that 3D printing is no longer used just for the production of prototypes and models, but also for architecture at a 1:1 scale.
The sculptural element features a total height of 2.1 meters and consists of two halves. The lower half was printed with 250 DPI resolution and a layer thickness of 0.3 millimeters in sand. It transitions into the white region made of high-resolution PMMA plastic with a layer thickness of 0.12 millimeters.
Both components were produced on 3D printers at the voxeljet service center in Friedberg, Germany. Even though the moulds were very large and complex, and featured numerous undercuts, it was nevertheless possible to print each of the lower as well as the upper half in one piece.
The large-format VX4000 printer took less than 20 hours to print the lower sand half, which is 1.14 meters high and weighs 134 kilograms. The upper plastic half, which weighs 52 kilograms, is almost one meter high. It was created on a VX1000 printer in a build time of approximately 34 hours.
You can bear witness to the creatively cool column yourself at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group Conference in Tucson, Arizona, which kicked off at the weekend and closes on the 10th of April.
