Meet THRILL. The newest light in the Schoone Lights collection. The shape of the shades was designed by Kees Kamper. He used mathematics to create a shade that looks like as if it’s lingering around the chassis of the lamp. But, as can be seen in the second image from the right, this is an optical illusion.
The shades of THRILL are printed according the ‘infill only’ method. It’s base is made of recycled plastic. The 12 Volt LED light system implies: this is an energy save product. Available at Alosery Art & Design € 595
Not available yet, just a sneak preview: BABY THRILL
Bad news: after five years of very intensive usage my leapfrog Dual Creatr is seriously in trouble. Suddenly it lost complete control over it’s x-movements. It does not recognise x=o, produces aggressive sounds and goes anywhere but the right x coordinates. I did some research and think the motor which drives the x-axis is broken. But I am not sure. The question is should I invest in a five year old 3D printer? What if there are additional problems and what’s the future of an overaged Leapfrog? Conclusion to much uncertainty, so I will not invest in my senior Leapfrog.
I owe a lot to this machine: it changed my life! But it is time for something new. My Leapfrog is from 2013, which means it’s unbelievable old and nowadays there are much better 3D printers available. But it’s difficult to say goodbye, so, I give my printer one last chance by asking Leapfrog if there’s still a suited motor in stock and given the uncertainty about the status of my Creatr; do they want to sent me one for free? They did not answer this question yet.
As I said, this 3D printer changed my life. I never thought: “one day I will be selling light systems in art galleries”, but I do. Together with Gerard Schoone we are ‘Schoone Lights’ and this brand-new company is a very promising startup. In the previous post, I mentioned that some of our lights are exposed and for sale at Gallery De Hooffzaak. They still are until the 27th of January.
Good news: our top model ‘Paternoster’ is now also available at UMBRIA ART & ANTIQUES
‘Paternoster’ at ‘Umbria’
And there’s more: ‘Schoone Lights’ is also participating in CBKamer, where art and design talents present and sell their work. We show and sell three Schoone lights: ‘Paternoster’, ‘Geo’ and ‘Toorts’.
Schoone Lights had a wonderful time at Rotterdam Design District. In fact we were surprised by the amount of positive attention our product received. Many visitors liked what they saw, but were curious about what they were looking at. Understandable, because when you see ‘infill only’ 3D prints for the first time, you might think: is it a kind of fabric or is it perhaps glass?
Regular 3D prints have a plastic look and feel, ‘infill only’ products are mysterious.
Some months later, at ‘MEESTERLIJK’, a 3 day event the Westergasfabriek Amsterdam (where professionals from traditional craft such as silversmiths and woodworkers together with designers and manufacturers of handmade design expose their products) we had the same experience. Many people took a closer look at our ‘infill only’ shades, but did not dare to touch them. When we told them, they could, most people were surprised. They expected very fragile material, but they experienced a strong and stiff lamp shade: nice surprise.
Important notion: Schoone Lights are environment friendly: our 3D printed parts are made of fully recyclable PET. They are printed in Haarlem and only when we need them, so no stock and almost no transport. The lights are 12 volt /1.5 Watt LED systems, which means Schoone Lights use less energy than average lights.
Meanwhile Gerard designed some strictly metal lights. This one is called GeO:
Schoone Lights is ready to sell it’s products. For information about pricing: contact our agent Bas Meijer of ceipps.nl Phone +31 35 6720711 or mail info@ceipps.nl
You can also contact Gerard: info@schoonelights.com for a visit at his studio.
This is a picture of the exposition at Galerie Hooffzaak. Schoone Lights (at the right) is a guest at the yearly light party of Gert Merlijn (in the middle).
Some weeks ago we were asked to design a light with logos to present to Secretary of State Keijzer and prince Constantijn on the opening of the Dutch young tech startups pavilion of the Hannover Messe 2018. We did, and on the first of May the pavilion was opened by secretary of state and the prince. This event was hosted by a young tech company called 3D4makers. They invented a waterless production process of 3Dprint filaments. SCHOONE LIGHTS uses 3D4makers PET-G in it’s prints, with great results.
During the passed two years, Gerard Schoone designed many variations of his smart light systems on 12 Volt (PATER NOSTER). Kees Kamper prototyped the INFILL ONLY parts and together they created the Schoone Light Collection.
On 6, 7 and the 8th of June The Schoone Light Collection is presented at Design District Rotterdam in the Van Nelle Factory. We present several standing lights, a hanging light, a wall light and some table lights. Also present: the impressive “Wall Of Light”.
In our last post we used 3D printing to create a new part to build a better version of an almost forgotten chandelier.
Gerard modified the steel rods and in this post we use the same central part to present a fully 3D printed chandelier: TRAPEZE 02
The same light shades we used in our standing lights, are now building a hanging light. One can also put this light system upside down and it becomes a standing light!
Trapeze 02 is rather big, how about a smaller version?
After some adaptations of the central 3D printed part we prototyped TRAPEZE 03. To complete the Schoone Lights collection 2018 we also needed a wall light. New modifications of the central part gave birth to WALL ONE.
It’s amazing to see how 3D design and printing allows you to check out (prototype) your ideas in a very short time. Some years ago you needed a expensive molding service to build your prototypes. Today some 3D modelling and 3D printing do this trick faster and cheaper.
The lights I print on my Leapfrog Creatr 2013 look great because of their ‘infill only’ structure. Next step is to design and print special or personalised editions. To do this, I import a logo in SketchUp and ‘draw’ it on the shape of the light shade. I can not go into the details but in sketchUp this is a time consuming enterprise.
To check out the limits of my printer, I starte with a very complicated logo. It took me nine hours to get two STL’s. I processed them in Slic3r and printed this light shade in X% infill and the logo in X-Y% infill.
Amazing print job on one extruder! I had no idea my printer was capable of printing the difference in density so outstanding. Okay, the word AMSTERDAM does not look great, but it was a test to see what’s the smallest font this kind of ‘infill only’ printing can handle. Too get an idea of the scale; this light shade measures 180 times 180 mm.
It takes some time but the product looks great. Let’s try another logo. Here’s the famous Leapfrog frog. Again a lot of drawing, but once drawn and sliced, these models can be printed over and over and over again.
Up, we see the print at daylight, down it is lighted by a 12 volt 3 watt LED. Compared to ’27’ the shade density is lower and the logo density higher. I never use the same settings, because I want to learn how different settings influence 3D printing. I still have to fine-tune ‘infill only’ logo printing, but it’s a new and valuable opqrstu3D experience. It’s wonderful to see how differences in density enable graphic 3D printing. Un3Dprinted. Printed on yellow 3D4makers PET-G.
Almost four years ago, I started my 3D print career on a Leapfrog Creatr. Nobody beliefs me when I tell this machine is still producing great prints. Last week, the first structural problem arrived: the fans became noisy and after some time stopped turning. A little push made them run again, but still very noisy and after some time they stopped again. I mailed Leapfrog and they will sent me new fans. After almost four years of daily use, the fans are finished: seems normal to opqrstu3D, as long as this robot still prints cool stuff.
So, for the moment no printing and some time left to publish a new post. This time about Slic3r. Opqrstu3D uses this slicer because it came with the printer. It’s free software with many options and it’s great. I am an experienced user, but the possibilities are almost endless. By changing Slic3r settings a 3D printer can produce dramatic changes in it’s endproduct. It started with my invention of ‘infill only’, resulting in ‘un3Dprinted’ lights.
Next, I learned about modifying meshes, or using several infill patterns in one layer, a vey graphic kind of 3D printing. You can use different patterns in different densities to create unexpected (un3Dprinted) prints. I used this technique to create a 3D printed Picasso:
Abstract Painting 26, 3D printed by opqrstu 2017
To get this, Slic3r needs to know which part of your drawing gets which pattern and density. You transport this information to Slic3r by using multiple STL’s. If you want five different patterns in your print, you have to feed Slic3r at least six STL’s. To get these STL’s you have to do six drawings. It is a complicated and time consuming method, BUT great results. If you want to know more, follow this link: www.3ders.org
‘Modifying meshes’ works in horizontal direction. This is an awesome tool to create 3D printed graphics, but for my lights, I need to modify patterns in vertical direction.
Slic3r is a great tool, but comes with minimal information about it’s possibilities. I knew there must be a way to change patterns vertically. It took some time to get it right. It is almost like ‘modifying meshes’. Here, you use the STL’s as a part, instead as a modifier. Confusing maybe, but that’s the way it is. I cannot present a link to check this out, because there isn’t. The do this at home, you have to try and fail, try and fail and try.
The server overloaded, so I had to remove some post. Don’t worry, these post are still available, not as a blog, but as a fresh Ebook. It took some time to build this book, but the job is completed: The opqrstu 3D print experience part 2 is available. It is a free download.
fresh Ebook
Next post, new developments: Slic3r, modifier meshes.
Today, I realised not everybody follows Instagram. So here’s an update about opqrstu 3D design and printing activities. Not blogging saved a lot of time to design and print. I am no writer, so composing a piece like this takes about three or four hours. Last month, I used these hours to design some great new and cunning thingies.
We like to combine 2D and 3D and did another Roy Lichtenstein artwork in 3D. This is ‘Masterpiece’ and it’s awesome to see how the robot printed text, you can even recognise the font opqrstu3D used in SketchUp: comic sans! Next, 3D4makers asked the robot to test some new PET-g colours; orange and purple; it printed some wonderful and perfect infill only bracelets. We also checked out very small detail printing: a 150 mm long T-Rex: Amazing details again, this time in 3D4makers PET-G Gold. The Xmas tree was printed because it’s the time of the year. The triplets light is printed because 12 volt LED lighting is what opqrstu3D is really about. I am still prototyping this standing light and the blog will continue and keep you informed about the future of DIY 12 Volt (save energy) light design.
Today three years ago, a Leapfrog Dual Creatr arrived at the opqrstu studio. It took almost nine months to tame this robot. These were heavy times and if you want to know more about this frustrating experience, get a free download of this story at iTunes. But a tamed 3D printer does not exist without problems like clogged nozzles, jammed fans and Z-axis problems. This robot will never be plug and play. It’s a T-Ford and we are looking for Tesla. Not only the printer is far from perfect, so is the software. Opqrstu3D uses SkectchUp, Repetier and Slic3r. They do their job, but there’s lots of room for improvement.
Anyway, today is a day of joy. Against all odds and beyond expectations, after three years of almost daily productivity, our robot is still doing what it has to do: producing (almost) perfect thingies. In ‘Hat trick’ it starts with three separate shapes which grow together to build one light shell (without problems). A wonderful birthday treat! Next, it printed this new study of a three parts ceiling light. It’s an improvement of FullMoon: two colours and a constant voltage LED driver instead of one colour and a constant current driver.
After three years, the opqrstu3D print experience is alive and kicking, but as a blog it’s a bit finished. We discussed and solved almost all problems a starting 3D printer will encounter, there’s noting more to say. Meanwhile, it’s 2016 and there’s a new kid on the block called Instagram. A great tool to follow the future of the opqrstu3D print experience: @prdcz.
Schoone Lights had a wonderful time at Rotterdam Design District. In fact we were surprised by the amount of positive attention our product received. Many visitors liked what they saw, but were curious about what they were looking at. Understandable, because when you see ‘infill only’ 3D prints for the first time, you might think: is it a kind of fabric or is it perhaps glass?
