DI Materials Workshop
From Wikicliki
List of facilities shown to us during induction workshops at school of design
Contents
CNC Milling Machine
- CNC = computer numerical control
- CNC routers are generally available in 3-axis and 5-axis CNC formats
- Submit igs/stl format files for milling
- Use air benches for sanding
Laser Cutter
- something is happening to it / might be replaced
Hot wire
- for cutting polystyrene
Strip heater
- for heating/bending acrylics/plastics
Solid welder
- pvc bonding
Resin forming
- fastcast (polycast) - vapour cured sillicone
- buy your own material, can store in room
- vacuum machine available to take bubbles out of castings
- sink in corner, beware of catalyst as they are corrosive to skin and eye
- use extractor fan booths when handling resins and curing compounds
clay room
- faber clay
- never shrinks, can be painted, polished etc
- softens with heat
- contains small amounts of sulphur and may make electronics not work
spray painting room
- all aerosol or spray painting is to be done in this room
- pantone / rail number reference required when ordering specific spray paint colours
- water curtain / thinner bin (funnel)
metal shop
- steel sheets 2m x 1m various thickeness
- ductile copper rods
- ear defenders, suede gloves, latex gloves available
wood shop
- lathe, circular saw, threadsaw, bench saw, etc
- special hole cutting and bevelling - ask technician - red code machines only
welding shop
- man gives depressing talk about how burning yourself when welding is inevitable
- do not look at welding arc as some can cause flash blindness
rapid form
zcorp
- plaster powder prints - fine and powdery - must be treated after that
- stl format files
- min wall thickness 2mm (technically can do 1mm but may collapse)
- lowest price
- after printed in plaster powder, to be followed by infiltration process with epoxy resin to maintain structural integrity
- has oblique compensation so shape not lost during infiltration
- use geomagix to fix stl polygon or holes or file issues
sla process (stereolithography)
- medium price range
- photosensitive resin + laser = cured resin which is very accurate and durable
- white resin or clear resin available - can be sanded and painted after
- max buildplate 250mmx400mm
fdm (fused deposit modelling)
- using abs filament
- more like glue gun with x y axis
- low resolution
- printed with water soluble support resin which is washed off using pressure washer
wax casting
- expensive
- very detailed - 12 microns detail (other fdm method is 200 microns)
- mainly used for producing extremely fine details for metal casts, jewelery
- escape
objet connex escape machine
- very accurate, but expensive due to amount of support resin required
- high resolution, ready to go
- photosensitive resin + laser process
- pressure washer to remove support resin
- uses range of connex digital materials including flexible resins
mcor
- paper printing + pva glue = model
- Staples now provides this as a service as well - check it out - it uses this process
3d scanning + zscanner + geomagix + freeform haptic arm lab
- 3d scanning for £25 half day
- rest of lab accessible on request
