Jonathan Schwartz from Voodoo Manufacturing recently posted his full size human model to Thingiverse, to explain his process for creating 3D printed model of himself. Voodoo worked with Body Labs to take a life sized scan and turn it into a body model suitable for printing.
The body model was parceled into eighty eight pieces that would each fit on one of Voodoo’s Makerbot printers. Eighty eight printers built eighty eight separate parts in what I’m assuming was creepy and surreal unison. Schwartz estimates that concurrent manufacturing made the entire process around thirty times faster than it would have been printing parts one by one. The entire process took 623 hours of print time and used 14.7 kilograms of plastic. The printers used two shells and 7% infill for the model.
Voodoo estimates that moving forward the project could be replicated for a week for a $3,000 price tag. That cost factors in labor, printers and supplies along with the filament itself. Makerbot filament starts at $48 for a 0.9 kilogram spool so the filament cost alone would be closer to $800 for the assembly.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a life size 3D model of a person – 3DPlatform’s 3DP1000 machine will print a replica of a person, along with a few other machines. Groupon offered an extremely odd 3D printed son for a once-in-a-lifetime Mother’s Day present, at a price of $30,000. The Groupon offer partnered with Swigro in Auburn, Alabama and I’m assuming used the company’s BigRep ONE machine and its 35 cubic foot build envelope.
The applications for a full size 3D printed model when fitted with sensors and mechanical joints are almost limitless. Crash testing, manufacturing , surgery and industrial design could all benefit from the technology. All 88 models for the scan are currently available on the Thingiverse website.
(Photos courtesy of Thingiverse, and the Voodoo Manufacturing websites.)