Rik Olthuis Design

3D printing concepts

Attempted to 3D print a gyroid structure but the wall thickness wasn’t strong enough, if the structure is made bigger there are too many overhangs. When modeling the products, ultimaker 3D printers will struggle to build structure in layers, this limits the structure in terms of direction and thicknesses. In this case if a form 2 printer is used there are much more possibilities. At this stage the biodegradable filament is only available through ultimaker type printers. I will need to put more work into the CAD models before finding a successful way to print using the biodegradable filament.

Another concept for the sole of the shoe contains individual pieces attached at the top, this way the sole has a lot of movement.

The upper would be attached by a brim the runs along the edge of the sole and stitches on.

Biodegradable foam

With some help I did further testing to see if it was possible to make the foam lighter while maintaining its strength and compression.

Testing with using a blender to mix the dry ingredient, a hotplate when adding each liquid ingredient, using double boiling to melt the wax and a low temperature oven when drying. Attempting to create the foam in a more controlled environment.

The blender worked well to thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.

The double boiling method worked well to melt and measure the wax accurately while also mixing in the wax for a good consistency.

The hotplate mixed the ingredients well but brought in a cooking time element so the resulting materials have varying moistures.

The low heat oven seemed to have cooked the foam samples while still not drawing out all the moisture.

 

Attaching an upper

Using masking tape to trace a pattern of a foot that fits the sole

Sewing a basic upper from black canvas and threading onto the edge of the sole, with a cork layer insole.

On foot

First full sole print, empty voronoi shell from flexible filament.

Then filled with biodegradable foam, along with a voronoi filled test.

The sole has some issues to work around, such as the seperation at the edges when bending, the foam wearing down before the filament and the texture of the foam.

The filled voronoi test was difficult to pour and set, it either needs to be forced into the 3D print or set in a vacuum chamber.

Using Grasshopper

Grasshopper is a pluggin for Rhino which allows you to edit an object at every stage of its development. I learned the basics of this program to make lattice structures that could be used along with voronoi.

Taking inspiration from a range of parametric patterns make using grasshopper

Range of patterns I produced for a shoe sole

Concept development sketching

Exploring the possibility of modelling sections of the sole

Sole design, taking from natural patterns.

The voronoi structure takes any shape and fills it with a cell like structure, this sort of structure has the ability to be manipulated to be denser in specific areas.

One possibility is for the upper to be woven. I looked into the current 4D knitting technologies which is a computer based production and this lead me to looking into hand made materials which took me to weaving.

This process using a weaving loom works well to create square pieces of fabric. I then tried to take this method and create a custom shape such as a shoe upper, this way there would be no off cuts. To do this I made a frame using nails in a piece of timber and did a test piece.

Test worked well, moving onto a larger scale.

 

Exploring a range of 3D printed concepts working around attaching a fabric upper and encasing the foam without glue.

Attaching fabric upper with thread

Using photoshop rendering to explore colours, materials and styles of footwear.