First Frames Took Time
The last time around, the intricate ornamentation was quite a time-consuming process. The team needed to print tall edges, wide edges, and dozens of additional details, each of which required days or weeks to print.
While it’s obvious from the video that Joel and NPH had a blast doing the assembly, the protracted build time made the process less than ideal for projects moving forward.
Although desktop printers are awesome and people use them to create all kinds of cool projects, when you’re building something massive, it helps to have a massive printer, so Joel decided to use a Massivit 1800 printer to work on a new idea that Neil had for some interesting technological artwork.
Joel Knows Massivit Builds Bigger
Joel, the 3D Printing Nerd, is a pro at matching up machines with applications. He had previously met Massivit CEO Erez Zimerman at a 3D printing show, Formnext where he was blown away by how quickly Massivit printers can build – 6 feet high in just 6 hours!
After the Formnext meeting, we gave Joel a closer look at how Massivit’s patented GDP (Gel Dispensed Printing) technology works and he made an awesome deep dive video demonstrating exactly how the 1800 Pro works in detail.
For his next project with Neil, it looked like this technology was just the ticket and they went back to making picture frames, but with a twist!
Frames in a Flash
Neil’s latest idea was to conjure up custom-made picture frames to fit his large tv screens, on which he could display unusual, Harry Potter-esque images of himself and his husband, creating a sort of optical illusion. When you first look at either one of them, they appear to be still photos, but if you watch them over time, you’ll notice they appear to move – because they actually do!
Instead of hundreds of pieces to assemble, the frames were printed in four parts each, two at a time. The taller edges of the frames (74.5”) took only 18.5 hours to print in parallel. The shorter top and bottom edges of the frames (49”) took 14 hours to print in parallel.
That’s a grand total of 32.5 hours of printing per frame, compared to nearly 700 hours per frame in the previous project – over 95% reduction in printing time, for frames that are even larger!
Printing for Pros
Daniels Woodland in Paso Robles, California, made this project possible by directly printing the intricate design on their Massivit 1800 Pro. And extremely quickly. This tech provided designers Garrett and Chelsey Kearney from the Chaos Core Tech channel nearly unlimited freedom to create custom architectural elements without requiring tons of post-processing time from artisans.
Not only that, with GDP technology, there’s virtually no wasted material in the form of elaborate support structures, so each frame was printed with about 16 kg (35 lbs) of gel.
The Chaos Core Tech team cleverly designed the frames to neatly hide the screens and at first glance, it’s nearly impossible to tell they are anything other than authentic, antique picture frames.
The printed pieces were post-processed to emulate the look and feel of brass, and the frames were distressed and finished by the artisans at Daniels Wood Land, before being delivered to Neil’s home.
The installed frames make for quite a statement in the entry to Neil’s home, and we’re so thrilled we could be a part of bringing Neil’s innovative vision to life!
What’s next for the 3D Printing Nerd and Neil Patrick Harris using Massivit machines? We don’t know yet, but we’re already excited for whatever these two creators come up with. Subscribe to the Massivit blog to make sure you don’t miss out!
