Sometime people are afraid that digital manufacturing will take something away from the arts, allowing anybody to express his or her creativity even if he or she lacks the talent. While that may or may not be a bad thing, the truth is that 3D printing can act as just another means of expression. Digital additive manufacturing technology lets people express themselves by creating objects that could not have existed before or would have been extremely costly to make, such as, for example, a full-sized, transparent 1972 Honda CB500.
Making a digital sculpture out of a cult motorcycle model is just what Jonathan Brand, a New York City artist, did. His work was published by Ultimaker as a highlighted feature story for the launch of the company’s redesigned website. And, judging by the photos and videos, it is is worthy of the honor. Brand – a motorcycle enthusiast – went through painstaking work to recreate the 1:1 replica. To ensure full transparency, he kept the walls as thin as 1 mm, something a well-tuned Utimaker Original is capable of, as the end result is impressive.
While the motorcycle is made up of hundreds of pieces welded together (the seat alone is consists of over 20 parts), each piece still required several hours to print out, and that is a great certificate of reliability and standardization for the Ultimaker Original, when properly tuned. “With 3D printing I can draw on the computer and immediately see the piece come to life,” said Brand, “Everything was printed, numbered, cataloged and put into a box, for me to assemble it even a year later.”
If two Ultimaker Originals can be used to achieve something this large, I am very curious to find out what artists like Brand will do with the new Ultimaker2 Extended.
