Potomac Photonics recently departed from their usual industrial, consumer and manufacturing applications to serve as the official 3D printing service for the Bits to Its 3D Printing art show in Rockland, Maine.
The Bits to Its show organizers chose digital fabrication experts Potomac Photonics to complete all the 3D Printing needed by artists who did not have their own 3D Printers based upon the 3D Printing service provider’s experience and excellent 3D Printer choices. Bits to Its cited in particular the 3D Systems ProJet 3000 Plus high resolution 3D Printer that can lay down a 16 micron layer for a very smooth finish. Potomac Photonics President and CEO Mike Adelstein commented: “For the art in this show a very smooth surface was required. So we ran the 3D Printer in our highest resolution mode and the result speaks for 3D Systems great quality.” The 3D systems production grade 3D Printer also had a build area large enough to accommodate some of the more substantia designs.
But it was Potomac’s long history in digital fabrication including rapid prototype design that gave the show organizers confidence. “We know a 3D Printer is not as easy as it’s made out to be in YouTube videos so we wanted to work with a 3D Printing service that we knew could deliver,” said the show organizers. “We could rely upon Potomac Photonics decades of experience working with CAD files to assist artists who might be new to 3D printing. They had not just run out and purchased a bunch of 3D Printers, they actually had lots of practical experience in both rapid prototype design through to production manufacturing.”
Henry Segerman’s entry, Round Mobius Strip, is an outgrowth of his research in 3-dimensional geometry and topology at Melbourne University in Australia where is he a research fellow. With a PhD from Stanford University, Dr. Segerman’s art is a literal interpretation of the Bits to Its concept. He uses 3D Printing to bring concepts that are abstract to the physical world, and was able to work with Potomac Photonics because the 3D printing service has capability to generate high-resolution 3D prints.
Jim Stanis, whose art is inspired by biological forms, said: “I thought Potomac’s 3D printing service was able to produce a great product and have it shipped in a short amount of time. They were very friendly and helpful to work with! But it was the quality of their 3D Systems printer that was incredible. The smoothness and detail of the surfaces came out looking very nice and true to the design. I was very impressed in how well the forms of the objects came out with the materials that were used. I’d also add that Mike Adelstein was great to work with in terms of answering any questions I had and responding quickly.
For Potomac, the main difference from other digital fabrication applications such as medical devices was the aesthetic aspect. Mr. Adelstein says, “Marrying art with technology was intriguing and a fun departure from our mainstream 3D printing service business.” The Lanham, Maryland company will rapid prototype through to production runs for a variety of industries. This includes medical device manufacturing, sensors, microelectronics, and consumer goods to name just a few.
Dr. Segerman says, “3D printing lets you hold in your hands ideas that would be very difficult to physically realize otherwise.” And it was 3D Printing service Potomac Photonics that made that happen for the art in the Bits to Its art show.
