Sonoma Pilot Master Project

[Malachi Constant]

Yeah, ditto here too ... that rendering looks completely "real" ... if it really is a rendering.  Wow!

Sorry about the bummer on the wax, but once the "black magic" part of getting the right material is done, this will be a great piece.

Cheers,
Dallas

[marc_reusser]

WOW! Ditto, ditto, what Ray and Dallas said. Both are beautiful. Thanks for the detailed information. Very interesting and informative. Great to see the inroads and barriers you are pushing with the technology. Thanks.


Marc

[W.P. Rayner]

Thank you gentlemen. Heard from the Lab Director today and they are upgrading their Objet printer in the next couple of weeks to print digital materials which will allow them to combine two base materials in varying ratios to produce a material designed to meet specific properties. Not really sure where this is all heading, but it certainly is exciting (at least in a geeky sort of way... ).

Paul

[W.P. Rayner]

Some more good news on this project today. We completed a successful burnout test on one of the Objet plastic materials, Fullcure 720. It burned out at approx. 1000 F. with no residual ash. Objet had not conducted burnout tests on this material so they are as grateful to know it worked as we are. I also completed some modifications to the pilot drawing today adding a supporting sprue structure inside and behind the pilot. It should provide the additional support necessary to strengthen the pilot during printing support material removal and subsequent shipping as well as promote material flow during casting. We hope to run some more print tests this week using the Fullcure material.

Paul

[marc_reusser]

Congrats. Thats great news.

I see you are becoming the "go-to leading expert in the field".


...next step apply for that research grant, the get corporate funding and angle for a hedge fund buy-out.


M

[michael mott]

I've found it to be a much better and more gratifying use of time and energy to be actually doing the work than climbing a soap box to talk about it.

Amen!

Sharing the great results is a grand thing though.

Stunning work Paul, good luck with the next phase.

Michael

[W.P. Rayner]

Thanks Marc and Michael. While it has certainly been a challenging project on all fronts, it has opened many doors for us which may be the ultimate payoff (though I do like your corporate funding, hedge-fund buyout scheme Marc... ). Earlier today I sent the STL print files of the modified pilot to the lab for the next round of tests. Hopefully we'll see some results in the next few days. We're going to try prints again in both wax on the 3DSystems printer and Objet's Fullcure 720, an acrylic based photopolymer material on the Objet printer. Both print in 16 micron layers.

Paul (resisting the impulse to start using a vinyl pocket protector)