3D printing is a great way to create complex geometric forms. However, it can be very slow, and parts may lack strength compared to other alternatives. There are other ways to take advantage of this technology however, as shown in the build of this tidy voronoi lamp.
The lamp is so-called for its voronoi-patterned base, named after the mathematical concept. 3D printing is used to create the base, which would be very difficult to create with traditional subtractive machining methods. A copper coil is then used to give the lamp some height, as well as act as protection for the filament bulb. Here, 3D printing helps out in a different way, being used to create a jig to allow the copper to be quickly wound into an accurate coil shape. The coil also serves to act as a conduit for the mains wiring, giving the lamp a neat finished appearance.
The project goes to show that even if 3D printing is appropriate to produce your final parts, it may be of help to create useful jigs or tools to get the job done. We’ve even seen similar applications before in the microcontroller space!
I’ve worked in some machine shops that use 3D printing to make custom vice jaws to hold strangely or complex shaped parts. If carefully done, they can be excellent for this purpose. My current shop test machines 3d prints of rough parts, because the actual material we work with is extremely expensive. It saves cost and R&D is quicker and cheaper this way on mass production parts.
If you need a jig for holding a 3D printed part, it’s super easy to make one that fits perfectly by doing a subtraction of the part from a pair of cube primitives, then print those. The part can then be fit into the jig halves then held in a vise.
Yes, thats how I think they did it. Its a neat trick for holding forgings for initial datum machining.
The lamp here is really elegant too, the voronoi base is a nice touch
Looks like it’s hard to replace that bulb trapped in that spiral… Do you have to take half of the lamp apart to get that thing out of there?
I think it has a hole in the center of the base for that purpose, so you just need to hold the lamp upside down.
It’s probably LED and should theoretically last indefinitely.
It doubles as a puzzle. When the bulb goes out you need to figure out how to get it out, without smashing it.
(c: