Creating truly 3D graphics by using a 3D printer?

[Andy D]

This is something I have been thinking about & I'm sure someone, somewhere is already doing this;
What if for your higher end customers you offer true 3D in part of your graphics?
For example; in the image below, you added the guy & his wrench, 3D printed & wrapped with printed vinyl.
Even with a smaller 3D printer, you could print him in multiple parts right?

 

[Boudica]

huh? I don't understand what your saying

 

[White Haus]

huh? I don't understand what your saying

If I understand correctly, he's wondering if you could 3D print dimensional elements for vehicle graphics etc.

Super cool concept, and I'd love to know as well. The first concern that comes to mind is getting vinyl to stick to those plastics...not very familiar with what the 3D printing materials are but I would assume (you know what they say...) that they would be hard to adhere to. I wonder if painting would be an option?

This is probably the first application I've seen that would actually make good use of a 3D printer in our industry.

 

[Boudica]

ohhh, so the dimension would be on the front of the shape, and the back would be flat - adhered to the vehicle. Would there be a lot of detail in the 3d print, or would it be like a silhouette bump? I would think it would be difficult to line up the print of the vinyl over the guy and his wrench.
but now that we are discussing this, I feel like I've seen this done some where. I'll try to remember where I saw this.

 

[Gino]

Sounds like a neat idea, but ya know how many tree branches, kids and other things hanging out in tight alleys, driveways would scratch the living daylights outta that stuff ?? Maybe even dislodge it.

 

[balstestrat]

It's super time consuming, expensive and you need to learn a lot of new stuff. Remember you have to actually make/model/scan the 3d model first. And unless you do thousands of copies you will be doing that a lot.
Did I already say expensive and time consuming?

 

[White Haus]

I guess if they had a huge fleet, it would be worth vacuum forming a mold then repeating them that way, but that's a good point that you would still initially have to design/scan the original.

 

[Andy D]

ohhh, so the dimension would be on the front of the shape, and the back would be flat - adhered to the vehicle. Would there be a lot of detail in the 3d print, or would it be like a silhouette bump? I would think it would be difficult to line up the print of the vinyl over the guy and his wrench.
but now that we are discussing this, I feel like I've seen this done some where. I'll try to remember where I saw this.

I think you would wrap the vehicle like you would normally, print & wrap the element and attach it to the vehicle, maybe tap into it from the inside of the panel...

 

[Andy D]

It's super time consuming, expensive and you need to learn a lot of new stuff. Remember you have to actually make/model/scan the 3d model first. And unless you do thousands of copies you will be doing that a lot.
Did I already say expensive and time consuming?

So down the road when the printers are bigger, cheaper, and faster, maybe you down load premade art like we do for clipart, like a pipe wrench on a plumber's truck....
Creating and offering 3D "clip art" might be a good business to start up?!?!?

 

[brdesign]

It could be printed in small pieces and glued together, something the size of that wrench would take several days to print one wrench, it's a very slow process. It would also require bondo / high build primer and lots of sanding to get a smooth surface. Just search on youtube "3d print mandalorian helmet" to see how much time and effort goes into making one prop helmet.

A router table capable of 3d routing would be more practical

This is something I have been thinking about & I'm sure someone, somewhere is already doing this;
What if for your higher end customers you offer true 3D in part of your graphics?
For example; in the image below, you added the guy & his wrench, 3D printed & wrapped with printed vinyl.
Even with a smaller 3D printer, you could print him in multiple parts right?

 

[netsol]

huh? I don't understand what your saying

you said you were here for educational purposes

 

[netsol]

andy

i am not sure why you would 3d print and cover with vinyl

you simply change fiber colors

we have a stratasys bst 1200, but the hot new ones are pantone compatable

 

[Boudica]

you said you were here for educational purposes

I'm learning things. eventually

 

[GAC05]

https://signsofthetimes.com/wraps-go-3-d/

 

[netsol]

I'm learning things. eventually

just kidding

you hold your own with anyone here

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

You wouldn't need to wrap It in vinyl, you can print It in different colors as long it's not to complex.

 

[jimbug72]

Couldn't you also do multiple layers of thick vinyl cut and stacked to achieve a similar, yet more subtle effect, and wrap over that? Seems that would be easier to clean and less prone to damage than a hard plastic protrusion.

 

[Robert Addo]

So they did this on a tour bus promoting Black Sails. The skull is 3D, something like 6" deep:

They actually used a Massivit if I remember correctly, that they used as a mold for vacuum formed plastic with printed graphics applied. The Massivit uses UV cured gel as opposed to melted filament, which when fully cured is close to a polycarbonate. It's a ton faster than FFF/FDM, but when you're looking at one print for 9 busses or 9 prints, the vacuum forming makes much more sense. Super cool stuff, but the market for this kind of stuff is just not in my area. Looking into Massivits lately, the big one was around $350k, which 'is not that bad', but the gel costs a ton, $100/kg, but that's not a problem if you jump on the subscription, all you can print gel up to 500kg @ $5k/month, but that's whether you print anything or not. Here's a link to the article featuring the bus. https://wideformatonline.com/news/wide-format-news/8215-3d-vehicle-wraps.html

this is great stuff. Love it. Am loving the "education"

 

[Andy D]

Yes and no. The best color 3d printers are Mimaki and HP, but those are intended for interior elements. I'm not really certain what kind of strength one of those prints has, nor what sort of life it would have exposed to the sun and elements. Plus these are super slow printers compared to something like the massivit, though the parts are essentially finished when they come off the printer.

Plus if you're doing the majority of the project in printed vinyl, by wrapping the 3D effect, the colors and finish would be a better match , correct?

 

[Andy D]

Very cool, but what is the white parts, part of the graphic of the material showing?
Edited to add: NM I'm a dummy, it's snow....