2018
Budget RLP Printing is a collaboration among Erin Kirchner, Dione Lee, and Miles Barnett that involved experimenting with different materials to print
3-dimensional objects from a custom-made syringe printer to obtain a variety of results, material compositions, and techniques. The process began with building the printer, then trying a variety of media as the ‘filament’ and as the ‘bath’, utilizing different curing processes to solidify liquid prints. In total, sodium alginate and UV curable resin were used as the ‘filament’ and xanthan gum, gelatin and carbopol were used as the ‘baths’ in which the filament was printed into.
Considering rheological and optical natures of each material, we concluded that carbopol and UV curable resin was the best in terms of holding up 3-D objects, but the sodium alginate in a calcium chloride and xanthan gum bath produced far more interesting material possibilities over time. Overall, the process expanded on the capabilities of the syringe 3D printer and proves it to be fruitful to explore more possibilities with it.
To share our results, we created a publication documenting our process and materials for others to use in hopes that are research can be taken further.
