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This made me wonder about a 3D printer alternative that builds things by folding a thin sheet of metal into arbitrary shapes instead of extruding filament.
by 0-_-0 3mo ago
This made me wonder about a 3D printer alternative that builds things by folding a thin sheet of metal into arbitrary shapes instead of extruding filament.
- whilenot-dev 3mo agoI made an artwork in 2013-ish, where I attached an aluminum foil to a good DC motor. I mounted it from the ceiling with 2 stepper motors to control height and one orthogonal axis. The motor would unwind the foil by accelerating quickly in either direction (CW/CCW). By changing directions it would also create folds and stabilize the emerging shape: https://imgur.com/a/gaRKGtQ https://imgur.com/a/gaRKGtQ I always imagined an additional stepper motor to cover an area like a delta 3D printer and liked to think about the difficulty in creating the 3D software, and the need to find a solution to simulate the unwinding-into-shape through some physical model. EDIT: unwinding GIF here: https://imgur.com/a/VP3gEiv https://imgur.com/a/VP3gEiv
- aradaelli 3mo agoImgur is not working anymore in UK :(
- whilenot-dev 3mo agoAlternative links: https://postimg.cc/Q9vjhdrk https://postimg.cc/Q9vjhdrk https://postimg.cc/9D1Vzphj https://postimg.cc/9D1Vzphj
- cineticdaffodil 3mo agoUnited Korea is best korea!
- pbhjpbhj 3mo agoWell, AIUI, Medialab AI were told they were going to be fined for tracking children, and using their personal data, if they didn't stop ... so they blocked the UK from access. A united democratic Korea would be great though, good call.
- iancmceachern 3mo agoThey do this. This is the coolest one IMO: https://mantle3d.com/ https://mantle3d.com/
- daveguy 3mo agoThat's not how mantle3d works. It's 3d printed metal alternating with CNC machining after several layers for precision: https://mantle3d.com/how-it-works/ https://mantle3d.com/how-it-works/ This is optionally followed by a pressurized furnace for sintering.
- toast0 3mo agoMy college had a 'rapid prototyping' machine circa 2000 that worked in paper. Roll out a layer of paper, cut through the top layer, something something glue, roll out the next layer, etc. No reason that couldn't work with aluminum foil.
- whilenot-dev 3mo agoI can just tell you from experience that aluminum foil is much more fragile than paper, your college might face some difficult challenges in making it work and need to rework their machine. Maybe very lightweight paper comes close, but certainly not the standard 80gsm printing paper. I created an embossing machine than would emboss aluminum foil with the scratch marks of a teaspoon. Aluminum foil tends to get a fold rather quickly, doing that for 40m was quite a challenge. The embossing machine: https://postimg.cc/67wkVGBy https://postimg.cc/67wkVGBy The embossing process as GIF: https://postimg.cc/3W6zSqKx https://postimg.cc/3W6zSqKx The embossed aluminum foil as GIF: https://postimg.cc/yDh5NY0D https://postimg.cc/yDh5NY0D
- kragen 3mo agoThis is very impressive!
- dekhn 3mo agoI mean, one of the most useful metal fabrication techniques is already folding thin sheets of metal; I learned it in shop class decades ago and it's still a very relevant skill. Some fun stuff here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS5kwdaNhZo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS5kwdaNhZo
- elil17 3mo agoLike this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXu8Ju_fdY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXu8Ju_fdY
- kragen 3mo agoThat's SPIF ("single-point incremental forming"), which is mentioned in passing in my note: > These can presumably be removed, permitting traditional SPIF processing of raw foil by sliding the point over the foil; a better alternative might be... I don't think it's closely related to 0-_-0's "folding" idea.