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PHOTOS TONY FRENCH
Inside themagic factory
M A K I N G O F
T H E C O V E R
We reveal the story behind the world's first 3D-printed magazine cover
we
’
re standing
in a bright, cavernous space in west London, the
clanking and whirring of machinery all around, and right before
our eyes a complex object is materialising out of thin air.
OK, it's not quite thin air, but it’s close. That object, resembling
a flat blue-green frame, is actually slowly taking shape in a
rectangular chamber filled with white powder. Every 30 seconds
or so, a roller runs over the surface of the chamber, miraculously
building up the thing beneath it. In another two hours – we’ve
already been here just over an hour – the object you see on the
front of this issue will be completed. But for now, it looks more like
a half-excavated relic. This is the culmination of weeks of hard work
that started when our art director had the – frankly bonkers – idea
to illustrate our cover story, a list of the 50 best travel experiences,
by creating a real Airfix model. Hundreds of man hours later, spent
designing and fine-tuning, we now wait. And hope.
Welcome to the brave new world of 3D printing – it’s
something you’ll be hearing a lot about in the near future, if the
geeks are to be believed. It works like this: a 3D design of an
object is created on a computer using modelling software. This
information is then transmitted to a printer, which begins to build
the item from the bottom up, using a roller to lay 0.1mm layers
of powdered resin on top of each other. Following the roller
each time, a set of print heads sweeps over the surface applying
coloured ink and glue in the places dictated by the design. The
roller then returns to add more powder, which sticks to the places
where the glue has been laid. And so the process continues.
Depending on the complexity of the model, it can take
anything from a few hours to a few days to complete, but there
are virtually no limits to what can be made. “We recently printed
James May [a British TV personality]. The model was lifelike and
in full colour,” says Michelle Greeff, the 3D-print specialist at
Hobs Reprographics (
hobsrepro.com
),
who we approached to
help us with this project. “But this is by far the most challenging
job I've ever done, due to the small details. We really pushed the
boundaries of the printer – and it performed extremely well.”
It's all part of what commentators are calling the “next
technology gold rush”, as a growing number of firms begin to
offer these services to consumers. It's taken off so rapidly that
the global industry is even predicted to be worth $2.99bn by
2018.
Hobs itself has been printing since 1969, but has only
specialized in 3D for six months, and their machine is already
running day and night. “Our biggest clients are architects,” says
Greeff. "We can build models of hospitals, schools or anything
else in about a week. It used to take five times as long.”
Experts even believe there could be one of these devices in
every home in as little as a decade. So whenever we need items
such as household objects or child’s toys, we’ll simply print them
off. It’s already possible to purchase a printer for around £800
(
although the ZCorp 360 used by Hobs costs a cool £44,000).
“
Anyone can knock up a beautiful model on the software that's
currently out there,” says Greeff. “However, though it may look
good, it may not actually print properly. And that’s where our
expertise comes in. That’s what we do best.”
Another thing that Greeff does best comes right at the end of
the printing process. Once the model has been finished, it still
needs to be excavated from the block of powder that surrounds
it. And so we find ourselves watching her painstakingly brush
away the excess resin with all the skill of an archaeologist.
It’s a heart-in-your-mouth moment. Then, slowly but surely,
the model is revealed for the first time, as another thing becomes
exceptionally clear. Along with our cover, we’ve just witnessed the
future manifest itself – quite literally – before our eyes.
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