I generate 3D models using SfM and need to have a large object printed for a museum exhibition. I am a complete newbie to 3D printing. Can anyone provide advice about large-scale good quality 3D printing. I have heard that resin provides a good quality finish - but can the printers handle a 1 metre squared job? Many thanks, in advance, for any advice!
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I cannot tell if your model needs such a fine detail.
Printing on 0.2 mm layer height is very precise on a square meter model.
Maybe the Bigrep 1 is good enough.
Is any color / multicolor required? I would recommend splitting the 3d model and then print it with around 0,1-0,2mm resolution. After assembly you can apply filler and sand everything down (or get this done as an extra service), to improve the surface quality. Resin printers can handle build volumes of around 15x15x15cm (6x6x6 inch), which would be way too less for your model. FDM printers should give proper quality, if you stick with the resolution I recommended above. Larger printers, like the Lulzbot TAZ, Ultimaker 2 Extended or the leapfrog Creatr (HS) can print the model in fewer pieces then for example the Makerbot printers. If you want to sand the material, you should avoid printing in PLA as it gets soft, if you try to sand it. Polyesters like Colorfabb XT or ABS are a very solid choise as printing material. ABS is difficult to print in a large scale so you might want to stick to XT. The biggest known printer is the BigBox (to my knowledge), as the guy before me said, this should handle your model as a single piece, however those printers are very rare and therefore a print from such machine might be more expensive. What is your budget for this project? Given you only want to spend 100-200€ I don’t think, that this is possible (unless your part is 99,99% hollow). To give you proper quotes and recommendations for the possibility to split the model we would need to see the 3d model. If you don’t want to upload it publicly you could contact me via my hub by clicking on the icon below this comment. Cheers, Marius Breuer PS: If you can’t provide the model now it would be nice to know, what the dimensions (including height) are. You said you need 1 square meter, but also 1 Meter of height? Do you mean a build area of 1x1 or 2x0,5 meter and so on? More specific informations would help a lot!
Hello,
Sounds like an interesting line of work. We actually have a Big.Rep 3D printer here in our shop, Its one of the largest on the market. We are in the process of printing a Statue (from Thingiverse) about 6 feet tall in two pieces with great detail. I will attach some pics for you to see. Ill also attach a pic of a dragon head we printed in PLA (both unfinished).
Feel free to check out our hub of some examples of what the Big.Rep can do. Let me know if there is any way we can help you out or if you have any questions.
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Did you get this job done? We are a professional 3d print studio called ThinkSee3D. We specialise in producing pieces for museums and have worked for the British Museum, National Maritime Museum and the ThinkTank in Birmingham. Let us know if you still need help.
