3D Printed Vase Made out of Glass Won’t Appear to be Much, However it’s Still a Miracle [3D Printing' ]

While this vase is perhaps more attractive on your granny than you, would she understand just how much technology was used in its creation? Custom 3D-printer guys Shapeways made it from glass, that’s no small feat for 3D printing.

Writing on their blog, they described among the many challenges they faced with the design:

” When designing hollow parts accommodations should be made to allow the support powder to utterly fill all empty spaces. The support powder acts as a mold during firing. The glass becomes like soft toffee during firing and without support it is going to move in unexpected (usually disastrous) ways.”

3D printing is obviously well-suited for churning out bulk designs, but these days it’s still at a premium, with most designs being custom-ordered. I ponder how much this vase will sell for in future years? [ Shapeways via Boing Boing ]

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This post is tagged: 3d printer, challenges, empty spaces, future years, granny, Toffee