SLA Water Lily | Part of the Month

For February’s Part of the Month, Post-Processing Technician, Brian Alberta, chose a part we all know and love… the large SLA Water Lily. As you may remember, this part made its debut in a video back in April of last year where we showed it rising out from the Neo450s in slow motion (with very dramatic, cinematic music). The audience went crazy. Now, it is in the spotlight again..

Brian did not choose this part because of that video. He picked it because it is one of the biggest parts we’ve printed in-house on the Neo450s so far, and he is a fan of water lilies. Its intricacy and size make it stand out amongst our other parts. According to Brian, there is a legend that claims the water lily was once a star, but it fell from the sky and hit the water, turning it into a flower.

The lily was printed on our Neo450s printer using Somos BioClear. The flower is 16 x 16 in. and boasts a variety of different sized petals to create its aesthetic. The petals range from 6 x 3 in. to 2 x 1 in. Our Senior R&D Engineer, Cameron Williams, applied TetraShell to the print to reduce its weight and material consumption. The part took roughly 20 hours to print.

The post-processing is more time consuming on a print like this because the part is delicate and there was a lot of support between each petal. As soon as the lily finished printing, our Post-Processing Technicians gently removed the print from the tray.

Our Technicians manually brushed the isopropyl alcohol onto each petal removing support material. It is important to note that SLA parts are not fully cured when they are removed from the printer. Although the part was robust, it was still in a green state, and our team needed to handle it with care. Once the part was brushed with IPA, the part was hit with air to dry the part and remove any final bits of support. Brian was the one to place the part in our SLA post-curing machine, the UV800, for a final cure. Now the water lily was ready to be presented to the world.

Not only can the Neo Series print amazing prototypes, it can also do high-volume production prints, investment casting, and composite tooling. If you are interested in learning more about SLA or the Neo Series printers, give us a call at 949.474.9222 or send us an email at [email protected].

Meet Brian Alberta

Meet Post-Processing Technician, Brian Alberta. Brian removes and cleans parts from our 3D printers using post-processing techniques such as sandblasting, water-jetting, and dyeing. He makes sure all the machines are clean and ready for their next print. His favorite thing about working at Purple is that he is surrounded by colleagues that teach him something new every day and that are fun to be around. (And the candy at our front desk is a nice bonus.)

In his free time, Brian enjoys working out at his at-home gym and creating 3D parts for his Etsy shop. If you haven’t met Brian yet, stop by our office and say hi!