A student-professor team at George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering proves that do-it-yourself 3D printing is a thing of the present.
This 3D-printed steel sculpture, created by student Jeff Bynum (pictured left) and assistant professor David Lattanzi, is a smaller version of the AISC steel sculpture. It is scale accurate, with just a few minor modifications to help printing. (The AISC steel sculpture is a valuable teaching aid that exemplifies the many methods of steel framing and their corresponding connections; it can be found on more than 150 college campuses worldwide).
Each section was modeled and printed individually per the AISC-provided drawings. The only part of the sculpture not 3D printed are the fasteners, which are simple machine screws.
The print medium was filament on a TAZ 4 printer, with some backup printing on a Makerbot while the TAZ was down for standard maintenance. Overall print time was estimated at 100-125 hours, and the print was spray-painted red to make it more realistic.