3D Print with Double Mesh

Properties & Qualities

Application

Art Sample Making

Qualities

Textured

Colour

White

Sample Information

Date of creation

April 2021

Dimensions

Width 20cm x Height 20cm x Depth 5mm

Weight

41g

Culture & Context

This sample is inspired by bees incredible ability to see the world through UV (ultra violet) vision. They see the world in a different way to us opening the bees up to seeing hidden UV patterns on flowers and throughout nature. As well as looking at how bees see the world I also dived into the anatomy of their eyes and the thousands of tiny hexagonal lenses that make up their eye. Influenced by this structure the low relief embellishments were designed to look like many small hexagonal tubes that made up one hexagon, that was then repeated. This pattern is similar to the structure of the bees eyes when sliced in half to see the inside (diagram).

Process & Production

The process of this material was firstly to research and see what materials were suitable to 3D print onto. The material that was most suitable for initial testing was a very light weight super stretch mesh. The 3D printed design was created using the Rhinoceros 3D modelling software and then printed using a 3D printer. The first two layers of the design were printed on the base of the printing bed, the printer was then paused and the mesh fabric was taped on top. The printer was then resumed and it continued to print on top of the fabric seeping through the mesh gaps in the fabric when wet and bonds to the first few layers of filament printed trapping the fabric between. When there was 4 layers left the printed was paused again and another layer of mesh was added on top. The printer then resumed printing for the last time adding the final layers trapping the second layer of mesh to the filament creating a doubled layered textured thick material. The filament used for this sample was a white PLA filament.

Recipe Details

The 3D printer used to produce this sample was a Prusa i3 Mk 2.5s.
The extruder is set at 215/210c.
The print bed is set at no heat.
2 layers are printed first before adding the textile on top to continue printing.
The design continued printing until the last 4 layers then paused again. A second layer
of mesh fabric was added and the printing resumed for the final few layers.