It is hard to disagree that when Swiss quality meets German precision, great things happen. Take the case when Thorsten Franck put the Delta Tower printer to good use in a project called 7DAYS7STOOLS.

One of the objectives of this project was to find a new way of production for real objects in human scale.

It took the efforts of the delta tower team of HYPECASK and COLORFABB to come up with a new way of free form injection molding, with no need for expensive molds.

We asked Franck to comment on the process of making the stools and this is what he said, ‘the width of that spiral line defines the wall thickness of the objects. The curve grows the volume by drawing the body. The object can be customized and changed at any time. The folding reminds very much at origami structure and they stabilize the thin walled vessels. These ornament is a sculpture out of light and shadow, it is using a minimum of material.’

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SS: Have you adapted the drawings somehow to make them work with the chosen technique?

Franck: The design was not developed by drawings. It was an exploration by physical experimenting. To watch the material and its reaction during printing. To find for that production technique and the material the right shape – its natural form.

SS: Was the structure of the stools based on previous studies developed by you for other items or did their design require a specific study?

Franck: the whole process and construction is very much related to the nature: to use as little material as possible and to use as little energy as possible. The study for the OUT_OF_BALANCE stool started many years ago and there is a lot of different material solution.

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SS: How was the process of planning the way the technologies (injection and 3D printing) would be used together? What were the main challenges?

Franck: The injection is the 3D printing! Injection moulding 2.0 means to use 3D printing in a fully freedom for production without the needs of tooling. In my opinion it’s the new injection molding! A very individual injection molding – is just a other word…

SS: How does the machine work, is it different from other 3D printers?

Franck: There is no difference; it is only that this machine is in a human scale that makes it possible to print real objects. The process is very clear visible at the images the stools are printed from one infinity spiral. I used the ‘joris function’ for that, usual you print xy in every z-step, but then you never get a high quality print. My prints are growing from one point, and changing with every movement their z-position. That is the best way for FDM-prints.

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