Help/Advice Needed on a Sculpture Project

[bipolarandy]

hmmm, to what degree does the pattern on the panel matter? Because I have another idea, what about setting up a punch press and punching the holes manually , It wouldn't be the fastest but it would be cheap'er, If it must be exzactly like the 3D cad drawing then its waterjet for you

[NateDJ]

Hmmm... are the holes different sizes and different places on the sheet? For some reason the name of the art form escapes me, but the use of different size dots causes the form to appear darker or lighter in areas that need it.
If this is the case could you use a cnc machine that has a travel table the size of the plate to be ''carved'' and simply program it to cut all the holes the same size at once then change bits and go again?
The web is full of DIY cnc machines which can be made for about $2,000-3,000 usd and would allow you to create what you are needing. Google DIY CNC machines for more info on these things.

[Ian]

Thanks to all for chipping in.

Nate, yes the holes in the plate are all different sizes/shapes and in different places and thats exactly what fools the eye into seeing a 3D 'mesh' image (even the shadow appears 3D too) on a totally flat surface.

I'd forgotten about spark erosion John, ( even though Moony first told me about it and it's use in die making. Doh!) I'll have to do some digging on it's cost/time vs waterject. Thanks for jogging that memory it's possibly a good avenue.

As much as the idea of building a CNC machine appeals to me (and those of you who know me understand it REALLY appeals) I doubt I could sell the idea to David, the studio isn't big enough for starters and my understanding is he wants this to be something that can be entirely done out of house appart from installation. Apparently my time is more valuable spent working on the figures he makes and all the other in house technical work, this particular project fell into my Technical Consultant/ Ideas Man drawer on the workbench.

I pride myself on finding solutions to problems and this ones a nice challenge, (for instance I'd even looked at sand casting as a possibility for this project and I've still not entirely discounted it either as I've seen foam patterns used that burn out as the metals poured) so please feel free to offer up an idea.

Thanks to all again who have thus far

[NateDJ]

WOW ... so those pictures are of flat panels not formed sculpture? That would be really neat to see in person! Best of luck to you!

[Ian]

The one posted on this thread is a flat panel, most of his work is 3D but some of the ones on Davids site are listed as panels or 'limited editions'. From a photo they're virtually impossible to spot next to true 3D piece

[azIRonSmith]

Okay. I get what yer talking about now. You want a flat panel that has holes in it to simulate the 3D sculptures. I guess I watched the video thinking he just wanted to scale up the 3D sculptures with bigger mesh. When we say "holes", we really mean multi-shaped holes not just round holes.

I can understand why the CNC cutting shops quoted so much. That's alot of intricate hole cutting on a very large panel(s).

Another thought would be to not use metal as the base but a plastic or vinyl base cut with a vinyl cutting printer or even hand cut after laying out the design on the plastic sheet. Since the panels will be "supersized", the hand cutting may not be too difficult. Just time consuming. You could either use a metallic looking vinyl or paint a metallic paint on it to look like metal although I think a black paint/plastic maybe better for contrast.

This of course means you will need your panel frame to do most of the structural holding. Assuming these panels are indoors (i.e. no wind/rain/weather), this might be an option.

I have another thought which would involve liquid plastics that would be used as "ink" to "print" those panels too. Hmmm liquid JB weld as "ink"...

If it's for an outside exhibit then you would probable need to do it in metal and have a strong framing system to boot.

As I've heard before, you can have it cheap, good, or fast. Choose any two!!!

[Hofi]

Ian
u can use the mesh that is used to reenforce concret they have squer or rectangle holes 150x 150 mm or smaller or bigger .
They are coming in 3x4 or 5 or 6 meters.
If u take three of those of 5/16 or 8 mm steel wire .put them together
u get the body and the strangth and by mooving them u get different holes
size weld them together and the u can cut the form u want
hope it helps
hofi