163 lines
8 KiB
Markdown
163 lines
8 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "3D printing"
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date = 2018-05-03
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updated = 2025-05-05
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authors = ["Aron Petau"]
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description = "My 3D Printing journey and the societal implications of the technology"
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[taxonomies]
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tags = [
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"accessibility",
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"creality",
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"decentral",
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"democratic",
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"engineering",
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"experiment",
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"gcode",
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"octoprint",
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"parametric design",
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"plastics",
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"prusa",
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"slicing",
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"private",
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"work",
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"additive manufacturing",
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"3D printing",
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"university of osnabrück"
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]
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[extra]
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banner = "prusa.jpg"
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show_copyright = true
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show_shares = true
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featured = true
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+++
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{% gallery() %}
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[
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{
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"file": "cloning_station.jpg",
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"title": "A plant propagation station now preparing our tomatoes for summer",
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"alt": "cloning station"
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},
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{
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"file": "elk.jpg",
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"alt": "elk",
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"title": "We use this to determine the flatmate of the month"
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},
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{
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"file": "dragon_skull_1.jpg",
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"alt": "dragon skull",
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"title": "A dragon's head that was later treated to glow in the dark."
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},
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{
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"file": "ender2.jpg",
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"alt": "ender 2",
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"title": "This was my entry into a new world, the now 10 years old Ender 2"
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},
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{
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"file": "lithophane.jpg",
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"alt": "lithophane of my Grandparents",
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"title": "I made some lithophanes, a process where the composition and thickness of the material are used for creating an image."
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},
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{
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"file": "prusa.jpg",
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"title": "This is my second printer, a Prusa i3 MK3s."
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},
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{
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"file": "vulva_candle.jpg",
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"alt": "vulva on a candle",
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"title": "This candle is the result of a 3D printed plastic mold that I then poured wax into."
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},
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{
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"file": "pinecil.jpg",
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"alt": "pinecil",
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"title": "An enclosure for my portable soldering iron"
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},
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{
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"file": "lamp.jpg",
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"alt": "a lamp design",
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"title": "A lamp screen design that particularly fascinated me, it effortlessly comes from a simple 2D spiral shape."
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},
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{
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"file": "prusa_enclosure.jpg",
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"alt": "Prusa enclosure",
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"title": "A custom-built printer enclosure made up of 3 Ikea Lack tables and around 3 kgs of plastic."
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}
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]
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{% end %}
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## 3D Printing
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{{ youtube(id="Yj_Pc357kEU") }}
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### 3D Printing is more than just a hobby for me
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In it, I see societal changes, the democratization of production, and creative possibilities.
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Plastic does not have to be one of our greatest environmental problems if we just choose to change our perspective and behavior toward it.
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Plastic Injection molding was one major driving force for the capitalist setting we are in now.
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3D Printing can be utilized to counteract the production of scale.
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Today, the buzzword 3D Printing is already associated with problematic societal practices, it is related to "automatization" and "on-demand economy".
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The technology has many aspects to be considered and evaluated and as a technology, many awesome things happen through it and on the same page it fuels developments I would consider problematic.
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Due to a history of patents influencing the development of the technology, and avid adoption of companies hoping to optimize production processes and margins, but also a very active hobbyist community, all sorts of projects are realized.
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While certainly societally explosive, there is still a lot going for 3D Printing.
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3D Printing means local and custom production.
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While I do not buy the whole “every household is going to have a machine that prints what they need right now at the press of a button”, I do see vast potential in 3D Printing.
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That’s why I want to build my future on it.
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I want to design things and make them become reality.
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A 3D Printer lets me control that process from start to finish. Being able to design a thing in CAD is not enough here, I also need to be able to fully understand and control the machine that makes my thing.
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I started using a 3D Printer in early 2018, and by now I have two of them and they mostly do what I tell them to do.
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I built both of them from kits and heavily modified them.
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I control them via octoprint, a software that, with its open and helpful community, makes me proud to use it and taught me a lot about open-source principles.
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3D Printing in the hobbyist space is a positive example where a method informs my design and I love all the areas it introduced me to.
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Through it, I felt more at home using Linux, programming, soldering, incorporating electronics, and iteratively designing.
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I love the abilities a 3D Printer gives me and plan on using it for the [recycling](/plastic-recycling/) project.
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During the last half year, I also worked in a university context with 3D printers.
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We conceptualized and established a "Digitallabor", an open space to enable all people to get into contact with innovative technologies.
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The idea was to create some form of Makerspace while emphasizing digital media.
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The project is young, it started in August last year and so most of my tasks were in Workgroups, deciding on the type of machines and types of content such a project can provide value with.
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Read more about it on the Website:
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[DigiLab Osnabrück](https://digitale-lehre.virtuos.uni-osnabrueck.de/uos-digilab/)
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Looking forward, I am also incredibly interested in going beyond polymers for printing.
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I would love to be able to be more experimental concerning the material choices, something rather hard to achieve while staying in a shared student flat.
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There have been great projects with ceramics and printing, which I certainly want to have a deeper look into.
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One project I want to highlight is the evolving cups which impressed me a lot.
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[Evolving Objects](https://evolving-objects.nl)
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This group from the Netherlands is algorithmically generating shapes of cups and then printing them on a paste extruder with clay.
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The process used is described more here:
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The artist [Tom Dijkstra](http://tomdijkstra.info) is developing a paste extruder that can be attached to modify a conventional Printer and I would very much love to develop my version and experiment with printing new and old materials in such a concept printer.
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[Printing with Ceramics](https://wikifactory.com/+Ceramic3DPrinting/forum/thread/NDQyNDc0)
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[The Paste Extruder](http://tomdijkstra.info/dirtmod/index.php)
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Also with regards to the [recycling](/project/plastic-recycling/) project, it might make sense for me to incorporate multiple machines into one and let the printer itself directly handle pellet- or paste-form.
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I am looking forward to expanding my horizon there and seeing what is possible.
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Cups and Tableware are of course just one sample area where a backtrack toward traditional materials within modern manufacturing could make sense.
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There is also more and more talk of 3D Printed Clay- or Earth homes, an area where [WASP](https://www.3dwasp.com/en/3d-printing-architecture/) is a company I look up to.
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They built several concept buildings and structures from locally mixed earth, creating some awesome environmentally conscious structures.
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Adhering to principles of local building with locally available materials and taking into account the infamous emission problem within the building industry has several great advantages.
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And since such alternative solutions are unlikely to come from the industry itself, one major avenue to explore and pursue these solutions are art projects and public demonstrations.
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I want to explore all these areas and look at how manufacturing and sustainability can converge and create lasting solutions for society.
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Also, 3D Printing is directly tied to the plans for my master's thesis, since everything I manage to reclaim, will somehow have to end up being something again.
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Why not print away our waste?
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Now, after a few years of tinkering, modifying and upgrading, I find that I did not change my current setup for over a year.
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It simply works and I am happy with it.
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Since my first beginner's printer, the failure rates are negligible and I have had to print really complex parts in order to generate enough waste for the [recycling project](/plastic-recycling/).
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Gradually, the mechanical system of the printer shifted from an object of care to simply a tool that I use.
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In the last years, hardware, but especially software has matured to a point where, at least to me, it tends to be a set-and-forget situation.
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On to actually making my parts and designs.
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Read more about that in the post about [CAD](/project/cad/)
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