Testing Metal 3D Printing for Luxury Manufacture - with ES Technology and Concept Laser
ES Technology has been in touch again for research collaboration and this time we're working on designs that will challenge the capabilities of Concept Laser's MLab machine to see how it performs at luxury manufacture levels.
Our designs will be printed directly in sterling silver by laser fusing a very fine metal powder.
We anticipate a difficult surface to polish, but the trade-off is high density and integrity (as opposed to porosity problems in cast metal) and hopefully great accuracy (as opposed to shrinkage and warpage in cast components).
Since we're all about marrying the traditional with the high-tech, we thought we'll get this space-age machine to help us print the most perfect ancient Cretan labyrinth. We used Rhinoceros 3D to model the piece, carefully measuring out and mapping the labyrinth in 2D and then projecting the design onto a divinely smooth pebble-like pendant. We then cheekily pierced the design straight through the entire thickness of the pendant - something no mere mortal could do by hand to such perfection.
So let's see what happens!
