3D Printing at the World Cup
After the demise of England’s hopes in this year’s World Cup we all try and lift our spirits after those dismal performances and plan to get back to work.
The excitement of watching your team is second to none and the thought of lifting the Cup is beyond every football fans wildest dreams.
Even though we are out you can but think of the years and years of planning that has been put into just 4 weeks of football.
When Brazil was awarded the world cup in 2006 they have been non-stop producing the stadiums and infrastructure to suit all the thousands of fans that have travelled around the world to follow their teams.
There were mascot STL’s for the brazil 2014 world cup made possible to download by ultimaker.
not to mention the official 3D printed bag by Nike for all the stars.
One of the things that I was very moved by was the images of the paralysed gentleman that was present at the opening ceremony. Un-be-known to many this was achieved by scanning the man’s limbs to use as a template for 3D printing. Each and every component is bespoke and uses ABS plastic. The same ABS plastic that we use at 3D Quick Printing. When the ‘robot’ legs were fitted to the guy it fitted perfectly with no discomfort as it was, after all, custom made.
If it was not for 3D printing this project would not have been possible and the ‘goal’ would have not been achieved. The most difficult part of the project was the scanning of the limbs. Then, of course, the CAD design of every component. 3D printing allows the designers to quickly perfect the design to make sure the robot suit fitted snuggly. With the help of a local 3D printing service or 3D printing bureau to 3D print the parts, the team were able to make subtle changes ensure the suit fitted as it should. Not only were the legs 3D printed but a helmet was too. Again, the man’s head was scanned and this data was used to design a helmet. The next step of-course was to use the CAD data to 3D print the head using a 3D printer. The ABS plastic helmet was an exact fit to the guys head and all that was left was to connect via a clever PC. The computer then relayed those signals to the hydraulic powered legs allowing movement.