14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printers can't be used to make very big things, at least not without resorting to one of those huge, building-sized ones that don't even use plastic. However, it is possible to break down a project into pieces small enough to be 3D printed.
That is what paleontologist Jeffrie Parker, of Western Paleo Labs, and Kirk Brown, a Stratasys reseller at GoEngineer, bet on when they began their Dryosaurus project,
Essentially, they made, in several sessions, the different pieces which eventually came together in the figure of a Dryosaurus skeleton 50 inches / 4.16 feet / 1.27 meters long.
Parker had previously uncovered a Dryosaurus in Wyoming, and he wanted a large model of the creature to display in a museum.
He knew he couldn't make the whole thing in one go, though, because there aren't 3D printers with large enough build chambers. Hence the choice to section the model into multiple parts, 20 to be exact.
A Stratasys uPrint SE Plus was used to make said parts, two of the same per session, and an ivory ABSplus filament made sure the final product actually looked something like a fossil, or at least bone.
The result was not one but two models of the Dryosaurus, one for the GoEngineer office and one for Parker himself. All in all, the project was a great success, so Parker now wants to make a full Jurassic period 3D printed tableau.
You might not think the printing of this dinosaur skeleton is such a big deal, until you realize just how annoying and time-consuming it can be to create one through normal means.
Setting aside how hard it can be to carve fossils out of the earth and rock they are found in, making replicas of them can be even more frustrating.
You first need to sculpt the bones out of clay, then create silicon molds for them, after which you cast the bones from resin. Even then, the replicas usually aren't perfect. But you have to use them, because you can't just use the original fossils, or want to add them to a second museum's exhibition; obviously, you can't have the original in two places at once.
Now, though, 3D printing technology promises that you won't have to spend months on making a single replica of a paleontological discovery.
And to think that we've gotten so good at reviving the memory of dinosaurs but we still have no idea what killed them all.
