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I work at a museum and we have an Artec Spider which we have used to scan a few objects. We would like to print these objects so that students with visual impairments can touch them and interact with them.

The scans I did were at maximum resolution (0.1mm). What material is best for a combination of durability, the ability to accurately reflect surface texture, and low weight? The object we are most interested in printing is a basalt stone duck. It has some pitting that the scanner was able to record.

We are in Chicago and I would also welcome any recommendations for organizations that can print this material.

Thank you for any help you can offer!

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How large is the Basalt Duck? I’ve printed some HD scans from Duke of the Homo Habilis skull they have made available. They turned out great For passing around. I’m sure I could help you with this Project.

-Patrick

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PLA would be good to use, its fairly low cost to print. Also when items are 3d printed they arent filled solid, typically 20% infill, so weight would be light.

About how big are the pieces? With 3d printing it will not be a perfectly smooth piece. You may be able to feel some lines on the sides and such. Im north of you in Wisconsin and could print via my hub also. https://www.3dhubs.com/service/71804

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Thank you for this information! The duck is 30cm long, 20cm wide, and 20 cm tall. Here is a similarly shaped artifact for context:

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The duck is 30cm long, 20cm wide, and 20 cm tall. Here is a similarly shaped artifact for context:

I looked at the pictures of the Homo Habilis skull. That is a fascinating project. I saw that there were very subtle horizontal lines across the print. Are these unavoidable?

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The lines can be mitigated many ways. It was a rather rush project and was needed quickly. Are you looking for a full 1-1 print of the duck or, smaller versions?

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Hi @Josh_Cannon as @keebie81 mentioned, your biggest issue is likely to be the lines created by FDM printing; although high quality prints can look very smooth, the layer lines are quite perceptible to the touch. Prints can also sometimes produce small imperfections (often termed “blobs and zits”). The problem could then be that it would be difficult to separate what is an artifact of the printing process and what is a feature of the original object. Other surfaces might be difficult (if not impossible) to recreate accurately. For example, I believe basalt usually has quite a rough texture to the surface (please excuse any geological ignorance being displayed here!) and reproducing that with FDM could be very tricky.

The lines in the surface could be treated (if printed in ABS or similar) using acetone smoothing, but that process itself would perhaps then leave an unnaturally smooth finish, and would certainly ruin any chance of reproducing fine grained rock.

At a guess, I’d say binder-jetting is probably one of your best shots for a combination of high detail and surface quality:

However, it isn’t going to be cheap, so you may want to experiment with cheaper alternatives before taking the plunge…

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Thats a large item so it might shrink the pool of printers that can print it. My Lulzbot Taz 5 has that size build area and it would fit fine. Are you looking to get 1-1 sizing or smaller. Shrinking an item 50% would drop the cost to 1/4 of the full size due to the volume being considerably less.

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I am looking for a full 1:1 print. This will be used in a classroom and handled by students. The closer it can be to the actual artifact the better.

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I would recommend staying away from pla and the brittle plastics. I would hate to see it shatter if it gets bumped off the table. Possibly might be worth turning it into a mold so you can make multiples possibly for other museums?

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I am not familiar with the process of making it into a mold, but that sounds very interesting. In your experience, are most 3D printing materials brittle? Do you do molds or have a recommendation for someone who does?

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I may have. can you send me an inquiry so we can possibly chat?

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Does that mean set up a quote on your Hub?

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If you go to my hub page there’s a contact this hub button