Branch 3d printing

3D Printing Climbs to the Top at Chattanooga Airport Chattanooga, TN

Surrounded by the mountains of the Cumberland Plateau, Chattanooga, TN, is well known for its scenic overlooks and serves as one of the most premier rock climbing locations in the world. When it came time to reinvent a kiosk at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce envisioned an exhibit that would highlight one of the city’s most prominent tourist attractions.

“We wanted an iconic sculpture that would define the city,” said Sybil Topel, vice president, marketing communications and community engagement, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. “Branch was a standout choice for the job because we enjoyed a great relationship with them – after all, they started out in the INCubator that our Chattanooga Chamber manages. No one else is engaged in the future of 3D printing like Branch. They care about our community and were excited to be a part of our mission to provide an interactive visitor experience. ”

The centerpiece, titled “Climbs Sculpture,” stands 16 feet tall and is made of Branch Matrix™, which is the technology behind all of Branch’s exterior cladding solutions, such as BranchClad^™ and StoPanel^® 3DP. It is a 3D-printed open lattice material that can be made to virtually any shape or form, allowing architects to harness its limitless design flexibility to create one-of-a-kind facades. Manufactured using Branch’s unique C-Fab® process, the material can also be painted in any color to deliver optimal design diversity. The piece is finished in a dark blue color that integrates the sculpture with the airport’s overall interior design.

“As a gateway for the city, the Chattanooga Airport welcomed nearly 400,000 inbound flights in 2021. Designing something that properly captured Chattanooga and its character was very important to us,” said Platt Boyd, founder and CEO, Branch Technology. “Branch is proud to have had a role in creating such a symbolic sculpture that we hope leaves an imprint on travelers to our community. ”

Branch Technology submitted four designs – all themed around the Tennessee River and the mountains of Chattanooga – before the Chamber of Commerce selected the design that they felt best symbolized one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions and recreational activities: Rock climbing.

The 3D-printed structure holds two screens where people can connect to ChattanoogaCalling.com and explore the idea of coming to Chattanooga to fill some of the best jobs in Tennessee. ChattanoogaCalling.com is part of a larger talent attraction and retention campaign by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and partners. The collaborative website lists thousands of jobs as well as a cost-of-living comparison calculator and online guide to neighborhoods in the greater Chattanooga area.

The sculpture is designed to promote Chattanooga’s reputation in innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology. It serves as a connection between these attributes and the city’s storied history in manufacturing.

The sculpture, conveniently located by several terminals, points upward toward the center of a large glass dome skylight. It’s the first thing visitors see as they enter the concourse upon their arrival.

Branch’s advancements in 3D printing technology allow for unprecedented creativity for large construction-scale projects, making them the ideal fabricator for the Climbs Sculpture. 3D-printed shapes are produced directly from digital files rather than being interpreted from shop drawings. The result is extreme accuracy that is true to the original design. The process is much faster than typical fabrication methods and produces drastically less waste compared to traditional construction projects.

Completed in October 2021, Climbs Sculpture represents a collaboration between the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, Branch Technology, Greater Chattanooga Economic Partnership, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.

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Branch Technology makes history with 3D-printed building project - FESPA

Features

by FESPA | 17/06/2021

The Tennessee-based construction-tech company Branch Technology applied its experience in architectural facades and 3D-printing robots to complete the first freeform 3D-printed composite project in the world.

Developed for Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union (TVFCU), Branch collaborated with the architecture firm and general contractor to create a glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC) facade. This is the first commercial building with a 3D-printed building envelope in the US.
 
Branch's 3D-print technology has been developed specifically for use in the construction sector, offering what the company said is a more sustainable and cost-effective method for producing construction-scale components.
 
Speaking to FESPA.com, John McCabe, director of brand and communications at Branch, said that 38% of landfill waste is shipped directly from construction sites worldwide. Using Branch’s unique technology, he said, will allow architects and developers to reduce production waste while unlocking design freedom for their projects.
 
“Our desire is to change the built world, create a more sustainable future, and establish a more resilient supply chain for construction,” McCabe told FESPA. com. “With Branch, we only use material where it is needed.
 
“Many companies are interested in purchasing robots and doing the work themselves onsite, but this is a more expensive proposition than they fully understand. The value of prefabricated modules is that you don't have to deal with factors such as the weather and vandalism.
 
“We do all the production in our advanced design and manufacturing centre ourselves and currently don't sell our technology.”
 
By manufacturing all of the building parts at its facility, McCabe said it can meet project deadlines and ship these out to customers worldwide and assist with fitting the pieces together onsite “like Lego”.
 
Returning to the TVFCU project, McCabe said this collaboration was a “beautiful accident,”, explaining that the Credit Union was where Branch's founder received some of the initial capital to launch the business.
 
The TVFC building has minimal employees working locally and instead relies on technology, allowing customers to engage with tellers offsite. To reflect this mindset, McCabe said the aim for Credit Union was for the exterior of the building to reflect the same innovation that exists the inside.
 
“Internally, we provided many incredibly designed facade options to the client and landed on one that reflected the companies brand and the regional beauty of Tennessee,” McCabe said.
 
“The project elevated everyone who was involved and has proved to be a huge game-changer for commercial construction.”

Discover the latest innovations in 3D printing at the Global Print Expo 2021, Europe's leading exhibition for screen and digital wide format print, textile printing and signage. Discover the latest products, network with like-minded individuals and explore new business opportunites. Register now and use promo code FESh201 ​to receive a discount of 30 euros.

 

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Concrete 3D printing in the construction of a new London Underground line

Jul242017

Crossrail construction

You may have heard about one of the largest construction projects in Europe - the Crossrail high-speed railway (later the name of the project was changed to Elizabeth Line) in London, UK. It is planned that this branch will provide transport links between urban areas and the suburbs of London. Thus, the 100-kilometer metro line will cover 40 stations, and a total of 42 km of new tunnels will be laid. But the most interesting thing became known relatively recently: the project will involve 3D printing with concrete. nine0003

Such a massive expansion of the subway could not go unnoticed by the public, and as a result, Crossrail is the first commercial project of such a plan to use 3D printing. Demonstration of the possibilities of the technique has already been carried out in China and Dubai. There, 3D printing with concrete was involved in the construction of office space and residential buildings. Now the same technology is going to be used in the construction of a high-speed railway.

Elizabeth Line and concrete 3D printing

Several organizations are working on the project, including Bechtel Ltd and FreeFAB. The latter is directly responsible for the 3D printing of concrete and the creation of high-precision molds for its casting. It is for the creation of special injection molds that 3D technologies will be used in the construction of Crossrail. The reason for this is the layering inherent in printing on 3D printers. Even though the layers merge together, weak spots appear between them, which ultimately makes such structures unsuitable for real life applications. nine0003

When it comes to 3D printed molds, things are different. This approach can no longer be fully called 3D concrete printing, but it is this difference that gives the technique a number of advantages, which will be discussed below. The bottom line is that thanks to 3D technologies, the Crossrail project will receive new opportunities for implementation. Already, hundreds of 3D printed concrete panels are being installed in Elizabeth Line's passenger tunnels.

Construction progress and the role of 3D printing

So why is concrete 3D printing inferior to 3D printed injection molds? Here are the benefits of the latest technique:

• Strength and integrity. Due to the absence of layers in the finished models, their strength is much higher than 3D printed products and is similar to concrete blocks produced by traditional methods;
• Variety of possibilities. 3D printers make it possible to produce forms of any complexity, experimenting with the weight and strength of products, bypassing the problems of using concrete on a large scale;

• Reduce production waste. Ordinary forms made of wood or polystyrene become useless after just one use. 3D printed molds can be melted down and re-extruded in a completely different way; nine0026
• Cheap. As it becomes clear even from the previous paragraph, 3D printing of injection molds is not only easier, but also more profitable. Creating complex concrete structures will cost much less than using traditional methods.

Future

There are currently no data on the application of the technology beyond the Crossrail project. Of course, in the future, this is an extremely profitable and convenient way to solve many problems and a radically new construction technique. As for 3D printing for Elizabeth Line, the launch of the branch is scheduled for the end of 2019of the year. According to experts, this ambitious project will certainly pay for itself.

Once the railway is operational, it is planned to carry up to 200 million passengers a year, which will increase the capacity of the London Underground by 10%. The movement of passengers around London in the new trains will be carried out in less than 45 minutes.

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Services for creating 3D models for printing on a 3D printer

It is known that a prerequisite for 3D printing is the presence of a 3D model, according to which the printer will grow a three-dimensional object. But, even after simulating an object, you should not assume with absolute certainty that the job is done, and soon the printer will give you the finished product. The fact is that not all models are suitable for 3D printing. There are certain requirements for the dimensions, thicknesses and design of models - and these requirements vary depending on the material used and the printer. In addition to these individual characteristics, there are general requirements that distinguish print models from other 3D models. nine0003

In this direction, we carry out the following types of work:

Creation of a model prepared according to all standards for printing on a specified model of a 3D printer.

Project evaluation and implementation stages:

Determining Customer Requirements

At this stage, the Customer provides our company with all available information about the upcoming scope of work, if necessary, the conclusion of a confidentiality agreement for the provided data (NDA). nine0003

All information should be set out as detailed as possible in an expanded structured form (specification or terms of reference). If you do not have such a document, then we can offer to develop it on a paid basis.

Terms of Reference - source document for software design. The terms of reference establish the main purpose of the software being developed, its technical characteristics, quality indicators and technical and economic requirements, the prescription for completing the necessary stages of creating documentation (design, technological, software, etc.) and its composition, as well as special requirements. nine0003

The terms of reference is a legal document - as an annex is included in the contract between the customer and the contractor for the performance of work and is its basis: it determines the procedure and conditions for work, including the goal, objectives, principles, expected results and deadlines. There should be objective criteria by which it is possible to determine whether this or that item of work has been done or not. All changes, additions and clarifications to the wording of the terms of reference must be agreed with the customer and approved by him. This is also necessary because in the event that inaccuracies or erroneous initial data are discovered in the process of solving the design problem, it becomes necessary to determine the degree of guilt of each of the parties involved in the development, the distribution of losses incurred in connection with this. Terms of reference, as a term in the field of information technology, is a legally significant document containing comprehensive information necessary for setting tasks for performers to develop, implement or integrate a software product, information system, website, mobile application, portal or other IT service. nine0003

Why we recommend entrusting the development of technical specifications to professionals:

Professionals will analyze your future project and offer you the most productive scheme of work. For example, releasing a project prototype will save not only your budget, but also time for the project as a whole. Release of the minimum working version of the project (MVP) - will save the budget for the project and accelerate the attraction of profit.

nine0002 What causes errors in the terms of reference (if you develop it yourself):

• An endlessly developed software product that will eat up the entire budget and will not be released;
• Problems with acceptance of work, no specific requirements, everyone is right, no one to blame the product does not work properly;
• Superficially described moments lead to a significant increase in time and budget; nine0026
• Conflict situations at all stages of project development and legal costs (in the worst case).

Negotiation of the cost and terms of work with the client

At this stage, the cost of work is agreed with the customer in accordance with the terms of reference or specification and the composition of the team involved in the development of the project. nine0003

The following cooperation models are available:

Fixed price

This model is one of the two most popular cooperation models. Most in demand for small and medium-sized businesses in work on short-term and medium-term projects. The model includes a precise scope of requirements, timelines and a fixed budget.

The customer defines a set of requirements for the finished solution, which must not change throughout the entire period of creation of the final product. Our company, in turn, provides a schedule, a detailed work plan and a monetary estimate, based on the scope of work and the complexity of the project. nine0003

Time and material

This model is ideal for long-term projects with changing requirements and an uncertain scope of work. If there is not enough data in the early stages of creating a project, or the customer wants to have more control over the process of creating a solution, then this model helps provide the flexibility to identify and capture project changes at any stage of implementation. nine0003

This collaboration model provides flexibility in the size and workload of the development team involved in the project, optimizing time and costs. The total cost of the project is determined by the amount of time and resources spent, based on the number of specialists and the mutually agreed hourly rate for different categories of workers.

Dedicated team

This model allows customers to expand their in-house team with offsite professionals. Our company allocates a team of specialists, previously selected by the customer. The team adopts the norms and methodologies of software development and customer project management. Project management can be performed both on the customer's side and from our company's office. In both cases, the customer has full control over the life cycle of the software. nine0003

Formation of a team and the beginning of project development

These are very general questions. None of them are clear. A task is required. The speed of operations in the blockchain depends on the number of nodes and the consensus policy. "Easy to create a smart contract" is also a very general question, because The goals of smart contracts are very diverse, and the development of formalized smart contracts for certain tasks can be quite complicated. Nothing is known about the platform. What does the blockchain in general have to do with telegram and e-chat? In general, you can write your own network, you must first form a task. nine0003

The whole project is divided into stages (depending on the cooperation model) and tasks, which in turn can consist of subtasks. The project manager has a leading role, he monitors the timeliness of tasks and load balancing of all project participants.

To manage the project, we use JIRA on our own server, Confluence for documenting and structuring information, Bitbucket (on our own server) for version control of program code. Any integration with the services provided by the customer is also possible. nine0003

Project handover

Conditions are always very individual and depend on the model of cooperation, as well as the requirements of the terms of reference.

Modeling software we use:

3ds Max, ZBrush, Maya, Cinema 4d, Blender, Photoshop. nine0003

Warranty:

Upon completion of the work, we provide the customer with a guarantee for the work performed. Warranty conditions for each project are individual. In case of finding any shortcomings, we eliminate them completely free of charge. Working with us you will get maximum convenience and quality.

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The advantage of cooperation with us

Team 100+ people

On the market for more than 10+ years

More than 1,000 clients

Cheaper offshore developers

Experienced management

2 million + hours of work

Our specialists have at least 5+ years of experience

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