Largest 3D object from a desktop 3D-printer

How do you fit a 15-m-long (50-ft) chain into a 12-cm (5-in) box? In 2013, Skylar Tibbits and Marcelo Coelho (both USA) used a Formlabs Form 1 – the first low-cost, high-definition 3D-printer – to achieve this via their printer’s print chamber, which measured only 12.4 x 12.4 x 16.5 cm (4.9 x 4.9 x 6.5 in). The project, named Hyperform, transforms CAD (Computer Aided Design) models into a series of linear structures contained in a chain of virtual rings. Each link in the chain acts like a pixel to help define the form of the model and is customized with a unique “notch” that allows it to connect to nearby links. The model of the chain is then “folded” digitally, optimized for space to fit in the small printer chamber, and then sent to a 3D printer where a UV laser cures a light-sensitive resin until the finished part emerges from the machine. The result looks like a brick of uncooked noodles, which can be unravelled to produce the finished chain of parts. After the giant chain is created, each link can be removed and snapped into the next, like a custom-made construction toy. When completed, the original model is revealed like a jigsaw puzzle. The proof that the concept worked was the finished product – a chandelier, approximately five times larger in volume than the print chamber in which it was created.