3D printing (on) balloons

Hello guys.

I'd like to introduce a style of 3D printing inflatable structures, which involves spraying thin layers of silicone onto a permeable form, stretching it by inflation, 3D scanning the subsequent balloon and then 3D printing silicone over the surface of the inflated structure.
I've made a video of the process here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmuf_6h7Kl8

Some of the printed results tend to look like some kind of cake decoration :


I built the whole system in a modified Leapfrog Creatr - I had to replace the print head, print bed, electronics and then add a load of pneumatic control and a fourth.....axis but the XYZ gantry stayed mostly the same!



You can find out more about the processes involved at my website :
fergalcoulter.eu

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 06:03PM by Cowfingers.

Nice!

Which software?

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Hi Viktor.

Mostly bespoke software - I do all the geometry wrapping and the toolpath calculation in Grasshopper, then the print host software is a custom script I wrote in Processing.
The printer movement is mostly controlled by a RAMPS, but i've a number of independent Arduino Unos doing things like controlling the scanning laser, air pressures, valves and mandrel rotation.
It all got pretty complex by the end!

-Fergal

... looks like a perfect 'egg-bot' system for professional designed+printed easter-eggs or christmas orbs

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I'll get a nice heating jacket for the material reservoir,and by the time easter comes around I could be churning out customized chocolate eggs!

I keep thinking about semi see-through bikinis.

But then I catch myself and go back to thinking about this thread.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2015 12:52AM by JonS.