Skip to content

9. Textile Scaffold

Week 9!! It is really impressive we are at this point of the master. This week: Textile Scaffold. The week started with visits to three AMAAAZING companies: Footwearology, Manuel Dressmann and Norman Vilalta Shoemaker.

Out of this visits I highlight the effort and the perspective that each of the exhibitors explained. In all the cases, sustainability was the base. Even though all of them used different materials and their market were different, all of them were focused in making its product special.

Image from Fabricademy Presentation - Week 9

Footwearology was focused in taylormade shoes out of 3D Printing. They explored different materials and different methods to produce shoes with a competitive price. They told us that big brands are not very interested in taylor made products because for them is cheaper to produce at large scale same products. SO THERE IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO START UP!

3D Printed Shoe in Footwearology

Manuel Dressman taught me how a hobbie can become an important business. He started selling online and then he moved to a physical store selling unique products with amazing Stories. Moreover, the way how each product is unique and how it is done is fascinating as he uses simple methods to produce locally, reducing manufacturing costs and making more competitive prices. Indeed, its raw materials are really high quality leather

Backpack from Manuel Dressman [^1]

Finally, when listening to Norman Vilalta he really inspiring. It is fascinating how he impress his passion and his talent in his shoes and he explained to us the ways how artisan methods are appreciated and how he has made to get to where he is. He talked us about his different mentors he had had in his life and how in some way he is now transferring this traditional knowledge to present generations. His shoes are TOP and impressive.

Shoes from Normanvilatala Online Store

Techniques of Textile Scaffold

Mycelium

This week we also visited Jessica Dias and her amazing Fungi laboratory. We learnt that Mycelium is a single cell (hyphae) that forms a multicellular fruiting body, and is what we know as mushroom!

Image from “MYCO-MATERIALS WORKSHOP” presentation by Jessica Dias

Mycelium is found within soils and allows plants to communicate with one another, exchange nutrients and help decompose organic matter to break it up into soluble compounds as plant food. It feeds on organic matter by releasing enzymes to help it digest the medium it grows on. Also, Mycelium is an excellent and natural binder for organic materials as it is able to fuse together its substrate.

Among the different species of Fungi, the most impressive for me were Horse Hoof and Reishi. At the end of the presentation we inoculated Mycelium for Scaffold and this was the procedure:

Lab Protocol

When working with fungi in a laboratory setting, it is important to follow appropriate health and safety protocols to minimize the risk of infection or other hazards. Here are some general considerations:

  • Personal protective equipment (PPE): PPE such as gloves, lab coats, and face shields should be used when handling fungal cultures to prevent contact with potentially infectious material.

  • Handling and disposal of Material: Bio material should be handled carefully to prevent accidental release or exposure to infectious material. Contaminated materials should be disposed of in accordance with appropriate biological waste disposal protocols.

  • Sterilization: All equipment and materials used for culturing fungi should be sterilized before use. This can be accomplished using heat or chemical disinfectants.

  • Ventilation: Laboratories should have appropriate ventilation systems in place to minimize exposure of airborne spores or other particles that Fungi may produce.

  • Risk assessment: Before working with a new species of fungus or in a new laboratory setting, it is important to conduct a risk assessment to identify potential hazards and develop appropriate safety protocols.

Methodology

  • First incubate the mycelium, cleaning everything with alcohol and following the same same procedure to incubate bacteria.

  • Then break in small parts the substrate

  • Then add flour and a bit of sterilized water. Mix
  • Finally, sterilize your mold, and compress your composite in to the mold. The more pressure, the stiffer the material would be

  • Cover with film and then seal it with a tape

  • In the case that the piece is not ready, or it has cracks, you can let the piece to grow a bit more, to allow the mycelium to grow.
  • Once it is dry, you can put it in the oven 40oC or leave it exposed at room temperature with a fan

In general, the substrate provides the nutritional base for the mycelium to grow, and the flour (often wheat or rice flour) serves as a source of carbohydrates that can be easily consumed by the mycelium. For example, in this case we used a 2:1 ratio of mycellium to flour.

Mycelium can grow relatively quickly under optimal conditions, with visible growth often appearing within a few days to a week. However, the growth rate can also be influenced by factors such as temperature, humidity, and nutrient availability. In this case, we tried to grow best at temperatures between 20-30°C and a relative humidity of 60-80% in controlled conditions of the laboratory.

Crystalization

It is a very delicate work and the final product is beautiful! The process is really simple and in this case I wanted to produce crystals inside an egg as you probably have seen them in fairs:

Crystal Eggs [^2]

Recipes for different Crystals
  • The temperature can define the size of the crystal

  • You can define the fabric where you want to crystallize

  • You start with hot water, then add colorants, then add and dissolve minerals and crystals, soak the object into the mixed solution and cover the glass jar with aluminum foil

Crystals of Copper Sulfate observed in the Microscope
  • 12-24 hours in a dark place without any movement

  • There should be a balance between water and crystals to avoid saturation. If the mix is saturated, crystals will not be created.

  • There are no exact recipes , usually is by feeling how it is going

  • Glue inside the egg shell some Alum powder to promote nucleation and spread it evenly. Shake excess of powder and ad a thread to one tip

  • In the meantime Boil the water. In this case I used some Avocado dye that I had available since week 4 to color the crystals
  • Remove the 300 ml of water when boiling and mix it 36gr of Alum. Mix and then filter the solution in a coffee filter.

  • Finally dip the egg in a jar with a cord hanging from the lid and leave the jar in a dark place until the crystals are formed

After one day of cristalization, I got pink diamonds in the wall of my egg shell! 😊

Alum Crystals dyed with Avocado

It can be seen that probably the powder in the walls was removed when in contact with the water. However, there was some crystallization in the bottom of the egg and you can see that the crystals were pink/orange with the same color of the dyed water, confirming that the Alum crystals were dyed by the colored water. I loved the experiment

Also, some friends induced cristalization in pig's teeths and a dead moth. Further details and alternative explanations, you can check in the webpages of my friend Anna

Alum Crystals in pig's teeth and moth

CAD to CAM for CNC Milling

For the Resin composite we needed a mold, and for this assignment I wanted to create a mold with one of my favorite plants in the world: the Monstera

Montsera leaf

Initially I started the design of the leave by following the curvature and then producing an extrusion to the surface. Then, following Ana’s suggestion, we decided to put the center vain of the leave for additional details and better impression of the mold. For this part I drew the lines and then used the pipe function in Rhino

First attempt

However, this was not the best possible mold, so Ana helped to push further and with the heighfield function of Rhino, I converted the image in Black and White and got the exact details of the leaf with the surface.

In Rhino, we used the function "SUBD" which refers to Subdivision Surface modeling, which is a technique used to create smooth, curved surfaces from simpler shapes. Subdivision modeling starts with a basic polygonal mesh, which is then subdivided multiple times, resulting in a smoother surface with more detail, and more flexible.

Final design

Then, I saved the file in Rhino 6 and opened in Rhino Cam to select and set the different settings of the CNC milling based in the shape and the tools we will use. We need to same set the origin in Rhino on top of the material and Bounding box is the command in Rhino and move the plane to the top of the material

Settings of the tool

Settings of Rafting and Finishing operations

Finally you export your XYZ files: 1 for Rafting, 1 for finishing and 1 for cutting the mold from the material

XYZ Code generated for CNC Milling

CNC

CNC Equipment

From Josep’s presentation I catched the below main ideas:

  • You need to be aware of what material are you using because the tool can break
  • Fusion360 can be used for CAM options. For each machine you need a different type of file
  • When you do 3d operation: Rafting operation: remove material as fast as you can, and finishing is an operation when you want better resolution after rafting
  • Tools: you need to set all the dimensions and properties related to the cutting tool
  • Each material needs a different tool. There are different materials, sizes
  • Flat nose can be used for rafting and ball nose for the finishing
  • The faster the material, the lower resolution you get
  • Cut Speed is the most important parameter
  • Feedrate=RPM * Num.Flutes * Chip Load.
  • If we are cutting very fast or very slow we can damage the tool or the machine. The noise can be a good indicator
  • When doing molds, we are interested that the negative mold is bigger than the positive
  • The tools move clockwise and making squares
  • Long axis is X and short axis is Y
  • When we change the tool we need to change the zero in Z axis. Set Zer Axis
  • Program -> uplowad file, reset & reset ** Important: If we change the tool, we need to set Z position but not X and Y
CNC Milling

Resin Composite

To produce the resin composite I used pieces of leather that are already scraps of major parts, Epoxy Resin and the mold I milled in CNC.

Material Details - Thickness 60mm

CNC Milled Mould

First, we used part A and Part B in, mix the epoxic resin, then 100gr of A and 35gr of B according to the manufacturer datasheet.

We need to cover the mold with plastic, otherwise the mix will stick to it

Wear gloves and for the mix use a disposable recipient. Then we start to stick the leather, piece by piece, to the mold with resin

Then we need another plastic with small holes that filters the excess of material

Finally, wrap the plastic and the mold and we put it in the vacuum machine for 4 hours

Some rules of the vacuum machine: - Cutters-free Area - The air is extracted thru little holes in the surface of the table - No sharp things goes in the machine - First close and seal - Then select Auto mode. In this way when you reach a negative pressure, the machine will stop without forcing the motor

Results and conclusions

On top of that, the result of my Leather composite was amazing! I really enjoyed the final result of the material and how from little pieces I obtained a solid layer of material. However, I noticed that probably it was not the most suitable material to test in my mold, as the leather is thick and the thickness of my mold was not very defined, so I did not obtain the level of detail I expected but you can see from the pictures that the external shape of the leaf was obtained!

Mold and Composite of leather pieces

Front and Back face of the composite material of Leather and Resin
Composite material of Leather and Resin

Thank you Ana, Petra and Josep! Another week we accomplished with your valuable contributions! 😊

Fabrication files

Montsera Leaf Mold

Rhino CAM

References

[^1] https://shop.normanvilalta.com/collections/all-leather-shoes-and-boots-made-in-spain

[^2] https://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2021/03/diy-crystal-egg-geodes.html


Last update: 2023-05-04