We were asked to model and print a commercial complex in Dubai for an exhibition in Poland.
The challenge was to use one printing technology only: FDM, filament printing.
It is a very accessible and relatively simple technology, but it has weaknesses when it comes to combining colours and printing difficult angles. We got around them by splitting the model sensibly and using cold joins that do not show.
The project was printed in FDM – fused filament fabrication, where the part is built from layers of melted filament. It is the most accessible technology in cost per volume, which makes it the right choice for large display models where mechanical strength matters less than size and price.
The standing challenge with FDM is sharp angles and visible joints. The answer is engineering rather than technology: split the model sensibly and hide the bonds. See all the printing technologies we run.
A large architectural model is judged from two distances: from far away, as mass and proportion, and close up, as detail. Printing it in one piece is almost never possible at that size, so the real engineering is in the split lines – where to cut so that the seam falls on an architectural line that is already there, rather than in the middle of a flat plane.
See also product design and development.
Send us a file or a description of the problem and you will get a recommendation on technology, material and timescale – talk to an engineer. See also product design and development and 3D printing production.
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