Print of the Month: May '18 (Work Edition)

Hey guys.  First off, not much of an update with the printer this week.  The replacement parts should be on the way but according to the tracking page they haven't yet left China, so if that doesn't change in the next couple of days I'll get back in touch with CS.

So today, as this is a POTM week, I thought I'd touch on something pretty cool that happened at work last week.

In 2017 I managed to convince my office that we should get hold of a 3D printer to be able to produced physical models of the digital models we already had for projects.  I settled on the Prusa MK2 as at the time it was the best quality for money FDM printer on the market.

I had done some bits and pieces at work, including printing a pretty cool bridge model for a site team that wanted to present it to a client at the end of the project, I even presented it on a nice stained wood base.

The other month I was given another interesting set of models to print.

I was provided with an example AutoCAD model of a pier from the Bridge project in question to test workflows involved with getting a construction model 3D Printed on the in-house printer. 

The models were successfully printed at a small scale and were later seen by the Site Manager of the project who reached out to me to inquire whether further 3D models at various stages of construction could be printed at a much larger scale. 

The original small scale print next to one it's big brothers.

Making good use of the available print volume!!

All four stages printed and ready to be picked up by the client.

The purpose of the models would be to be used in site inductions and for onsite explanation of the complex shapes involved with the bridge piers.  The models were delivered to site and have since been used for the intended purposes and have received many positive comments by site personnel and visitors.

The Site Manager had this to say about the models;

In terms of value added, today they really came in to a league of their own. We have started to install the rebar on site, which as you are probably aware is a fairly complex beast. Our subcontractor was finding it difficult to understand the required profile at various heights and the model worked perfectly out on site in displaying the new alignment of the finished pier face, to clearly relate this to the setting out templates we have installed. It was bloody fantastic and made a complex conversation far easier for all to understand. This model is currently living out on site, for use by the gang figuring out the bar arrangement.

How about that!? "Bloody fantastic"!! Can't ask for much more than that.

Talks are now underway to commission more models to be used on site in the event that the originals may become damaged.

Hope that was interesting guys, I'm pretty chuffed at how the models turned out and that people in the industry are starting to realise how useful 3D printing and visualisation in general can be!

See you all next week.

Troez.