3D Print Filament Dyeing
Marcel van Nispen, Instructor, 3D Lab

What did you want to find out with this research?

I wanted to see if it was possible to dye 3D print filament in several colours, and still print with it. (Filament needs to be able to absorb the colour and 3D printing requires that a material be pushed through a 185-230°C-heated nozzle).

Materials / Amounts:

Pigment made by Rit-DyeMore for Synthetics (about 6,50 euro p/207ml for each colour)

On their website they share a colour palette with mixing formulas to make new colours.

I used a special type of TPU filament, VarioShore made by the brand Colorfabb.

This filament creates a half-open cell structure during printing, which results in a fluffy 3D print close to the nature of fabrics/textiles. The horizontal lines usually seen in 3D prints are hardly visible because the filament expands and merges these lines.

Tools / Techniques:

3D modeling software / slicer (software that slices your 3D model into G-code)

Colour lab tools: buckets/measure-tools/cooking equipment e.g.

A filament drying oven

3D printer to print your model

Workshops:

- 3D Lab (for making the digital parametric model)

- Colour Lab (to colour the filaments)

Steps:

1. Make/download a 3D model.

2. Use a slicer to calculate the length of filament to be used. Export this G-code.

3. Cut the length of filament from the material (ColorFabb Varioshore TPU).

4. Cook filament in cooking device using the Rit DyeMore recipe (amount of water/Rit DyeMore/cooking temp/time).

5. After the cooking you need to fix the colouring by using vinegar/acid. This helps the surface of the filament hold the colour better. There will be some trial and error but when you master mixing colours, it’s really rewarding!

Health / Safety Precautions:

As always when working with chemicals and heat, use safety glasses, a safety shirt and, if needed, temperature-reducing gloves. Wear old clothes and shoes because the colour pigment really does colour everything…

Leonie Schneider
Instructor, KABK Metal Workshop

What did you find out with this research?
That by pneumatically hammering metal plates the material surface becomes smoother and by stretching it with the English wheel and with a bit of polishing, it very quickly becomes reflective and gains an impression of depth.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
Metal to me is like clay. If something does not work, I reshape the material and continue working on the piece until it becomes what I hoped it could be.

Materials:
Brass and copper tubes, plate material

Tools:
Pneumatic hammer, ‘shrinking tool’, English wheel, wooden shaping blocks, metal hammers, angle grinder, acetylene torch to solder, polishing machine

Workshop:
KABK Metal Workshop

Steps:

1. Cut a 30 x 20cm plate of either copper, brass or steel and shrink the corners.

2. Hammer plate with metal hammer into a rough shape.

3. Smooth rough hammering dents with pneumatic hammer.

4. Go back and forth between manual hammering and pneumatic hammering until you have the shape you are going for.

5. Cut off excess with an angle-grinder.

6. Smooth hammering dents by pushing plate through English wheel.

7. Polish plate with polishing machine.

8. Attach hanging system and ‘nose’ with soldering wire and acetylene torch, to minimize dents and excess welding material.

Health and Safety Precautions:
Follow instructions for, and ask technician from the metal workshop to explain, pneumatic hammer and polishing machine; the acetylene torch can only be used with the help of a technician.

Marcos Kueh Sheng Pang
4th year, Bachelor Textile & Fashion

What did you find out with this research?
Using the laser cutter and heat press to cut and fuse plastics onto construction fabrics and waste yarns produces interesting pattern repeats.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
The power of the laser melts the plastic material at different levels which later on determine how much the material shrinks on the heat press. A lot of trial and error was needed to figure out the right setting to get the most interesting results.

Materials:
Construction coverings or plastic tarpaulins, cheap organza fabrics, waste yarn

Tools / Techniques:
Laser cutter machine: 100% power, 10% speed for cutting; 80% power with 80% speed for engraving.

Manual heat press: 170 degrees for 15 seconds.

Workshops:
KABK Textiles

Steps:

1. Prepare design files for laser machine.

2. Arrange cut-out in between waste yarn and organza fabric.

3. Put under heat press in between non-stick fabric.

4. Take out after 15 seconds and let cool before peeling off.

Health and Safety Precautions:

When cutting, make sure the ventilation is sufficient. When melting plastics, make sure material is properly cooled before handling.

Dolores Hilhorst
Instructor, KABK 3D Lab

What did you find out with this research?
The kerf-bending technique allows you to introduce additional flexibility to a sheet material such as MDF, Perspex, PP, or cardboard. The shape and size of the pattern, as well as the characteristics (type, thickness) of the original material, influence the flexibility of the resulting sample. The higher the number of columns, the stiffer the sample.The higher the number of rows, the smaller the minimum bending radius.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
Some patterns do not result in a flexible sample and, instead of bending, the sample breaks. By adjusting some values in the parametric model, a different pattern, and thus a sample with different properties can be created.

Materials:
3-mm birch plywood. Maximum dimensions of material depend on laser-cutter (800 x 450mm for the laser-cutter in the KABK Metal workshop)

Tools / Techniques:
Rhino 7 + parametric modelling in Grasshopper plugin; laser-cutter

Workshops:
KABK 3D Lab (for the digital parametric model)

KABK Wood (for the wood)

KABK Metal (for the laser cutter)

Steps:

1. Make parametric pattern model in Grasshopper, which takes as inputs the length and width of the sample, the amount of columns, and the amount of rows. Save and export resulting line-patterns as .dxf file.

2. Open .dxf file in Illustrator, and give the lines the appropriate RGB color for cutting operation. Save Illustrator drawing.

3. Place 3mm plywood in laser-cutter. Use Universal Laser Panel preset for 3mm birch plywood.

4. Open Illustrator drawing with Universal Laser Panel, and position drawing.

5. Let laser-cutter fabricate samples.

Health and Safety Precautions:

Some materials, such as PVC, are unsuitable and unsafe to laser-cut. If you want to laser-cut materials other than wood or Perspex, ask the workshop staff for advice.

Marcos Kueh Sheng Pang
4th year, Bachelor Textile & Fashion

What is the technique you based your material research on?
The pieces were created by embroidering computer-generated visuals of bacteria culture on pieces of trash collected from the bins in the Textiles workshop. The process enabled a visual speculation on the decomposition of textile waste fibers.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
The long yarns would sometimes tangle with the needles, while some waste materials were so hard that they broke the needles. Eventually I learned to gauge what materials are kinder to the machines and there are also dissolvable films that are sold in the workshop that prevent loose yarns from being trapped in the needles.

Materials:
Waste from the bins in the textile workshop

Tools:
PE design program (can convert images into embroidery files); Brother embroidery machine brand (10 colours per round)

Workshops:
KABK Textiles

Steps:

1. Collect pieces of trash from waste bins.

2. Convert images of bacteria culture into embroidery files, set in different embroidery styles and colors.

3. Arrange materials onto embroidery plate and lay a dissolvable film over them.

4. Let it embroider.

5. Take out artwork when complete and wash it under the sink to let film dissolve.

6. Let it dry.

Youbin Kang
4th year, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

Materials:
3D printer filaments, laser-cutting wood

Tools:
3D printer, SD card, laser cutting machine, Fusion 360, Rhino, Illustration, PrusaSlicer, filament, super glue, paper tape

Workshops:
KABK 3D Lab

KABK Metal

Steps:

1. Design model with a 3D modeling program.

2. Export into a stl file.

3. Check for defects in 3D model with a PrusaSlicer.

4. Set the filament, model size, printer speed, etc. on PrusaSlicer. (Set the timer to pause mid-way through, because the thread has to be placed on the model.)

5. Save the file that has been set up in SD card.

6. Insert the SD card into 3D printer and start printing.

7. When the machine stops at the time set earlier, place the thread on the model.

Drop a drop of super glue on the part where the threads cross each other to fix. (Be careful not to get super glue on the 3D printer panel.)

1. Fix threads outside 3D printer panel using paper tape.

2. Re-operate 3D printer. Make sure that nozzle of 3D printer does not touch thread

Health and Safety Precautions:

The 3D printer should be used in a suitably ventilated facility. But even then, I don't recommend staying there for too long. I hope you can take a break from time to time to breathe some fresh air.

Cara Domscheit
3rd year, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What is the technique you based your material research on?
I am fascinated by clay as a material and a resource. I wanted to understand it holistically, where it comes from, where it can be found in The Hague, and what are its limits and possibilities. I was particularly interested in processing the material in a more original way, without a kiln and a ready-made glaze.

Terra sigillata (‘sealed earth’) is a type of engobe (clay slip) used since Roman times. It is applied to dry or leather-hard ceramics and, after firing (max. 1080°C), produces a silky, almost dense surface.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
Observe it in order to learn from it.

Materials:

500g wild/natural clay sourced in The Hague (self harvested)

1l water

2.5g deflocculant

Tools:

Mixer, scale, bucket, sieve, tube, glass cylinder, pot, hotplate

Workshops:
KABK Ceramics

Steps:

1. Filter clay to remove coarse dirt (mix with a little water, pass through sieve, spread on plasterboard), and let clay dry.

2. Add water to glass cylinder and mix it with deflocculant (to prevent the colloidal particles from sticking together).

3. Now add the dried clay, mix well.

4. The container should be left for 20 hours and not moved.

5. After 20 hours you will be able to see that 3 layers have formed!

6. Pour off the middle part with the help of hose/tube. This is the terra sigillata.

7. The next step is to determine the correct gravity (relative gravity of the terra sigillata in relation to the same volume of water):

Weigh 100g of water in a clear plastic cup on a gram scale (remember to tare the scale with cup on it);

Mark a line on cup at the meniscus of the water;

Empty cup, refilling it with terra sigillata to the meniscus marking, and re-weigh the cup filled with the terra sigillata;

The resulting weight should be between 110-120g. Divide this weight by 100 (the weight of the volume of water) to determine the specific gravity. You can also measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer.

1. If the gravity is too low, you can heat the terra sigillata using a pot and a hotplate. Stir well and measure the gravity again after about 30 min.

Chiel Lubbers
Graduated 2021, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

Materials:
Plaster, eco-latex

Tools / Techniques:
Make a wooden frame which will be used to press in the sand for casting the ripple. For the mould making you can use smaller wooden plates, clamps and straps. When working with the technique of glassblowing it is difficult to predict how the material will behave. I suggest doing at least one smaller test mould to allow you to detect possible unforeseen outcomes. In my case, the first mould ended up being too small and both ends were too narrow for the object to have a stable base. I increased the diameter at both ends.

Workshops:
KABK Ceramics

Glass workshop by Mark Bareda

Steps:
1. Cast plaster on the ripple.
2. Put a layer of eco-latex on top of ripple.
3. When eco-latex has dried, shape flexible mould into a cylinder.

4. Pour plaster inside cylinder mould. When dried, you will have a rippled cylinder form that will become the shape of final object.

5. Make a mould of the object by making a four-part plaster mould.

6. When the plaster is fully dried out, the mould is ready for the glass to be blown inside.

Chiel Lubbers
Graduate 2021, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What did you find out with this research?
How various vegetables have the potential to be processed into biomaterials/textiles.

What is the technique you based your material research on?
Cooking, blending and drying.

Materials:
The ingredients can easily be bought in the supermarket. When larger amounts are needed you could find a farmer who grows specific vegetables, which is also a nice way to find out more about their origin and growth. Glycerine can be bought in most herbal or drugstores.

Tools:
Knife, pan, stove, mixer, blender, spatula, large oven mat to dry the material on, fan/dry-oven, slow-juicer (optional)

Workshops:
Kitchen

Steps:

1. Process/chop, and cook vegetables.

2. Mix or blend cooked vegetables and add glycerine.

3. Spread the mix on an oven mat and let it dry with constant air circulation.

4. When the material has dried it will easily loosen from the mat.

Courteney Reitz
Graduate 2021, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What technique was this research based on?
I was curious about 3D printing and how to connect parts and shapes without using standard types of joinery or glue. I was also inspired by a game book that used magnets as its method of closing and holding the parts together, thus magnets became an integral part of the research exploration. I used the technique of embedding and programming pauses into my prints, which allowed me to insert magnets. I would say that the technique became a result of the research, as I really wanted the ‘connection’ to be hidden and provide a ‘surprise element’ when the 3D parts joined to one another.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
Many things went wrong. The first problem was the print bed — the initial embedded magnet test was on a glass print bed. Needless to say, the magnets jumped out and latched onto the hotend/extrusion nozzle of the printer. Pro tip: use a metal print bed! The second difficulty was finding the correct tolerance for the gap where the magnet needed to be placed. When printing with various plastics, they expand and retract, and magnets (metal) are conductors of heat, so this all needed to be considered. The other tolerance that was important was the thickness and infill percentage used around the magnet. Magnets of different sizes have different strengths, thus you have to determine the strength that you want after the magnet has been embedded. This is also important to remember when using really strong magnets, as they can also do what I mentioned in the first problem above, so what I had to do was ‘fake it’ and go against what I wanted to do and use a small amount of super glue to keep the magnet from jumping out of its gap for the embedding. Another important thing that I discovered when printing multiple pieces on the same print bed was to keep in mind the distance between them. If too close, the magnets will attract to one another and pull the print off of the bed, meaning I would have to start the print again.

Materials:
PLA and PETG plastics/filaments (various colours), magnets

Tools / Techniques:
PrusaSlicers, with metal print bed and free software to slice your STL files. Within the Prusa Slicer program, you can use the ‘Print Mode’ function to program a ‘pause’ into the code. The same function allows you to add a ‘colour change’ or ‘custom code’ into the GCODE used for printing. For PLA and PETG, use the recommended print settings: PLA — nozzle = 215°C, bed = 60°C; PETG — nozzle = 240°C, bed = 85°C. For the infill pattern use the ‘grid’ or ‘aligned rectilinear’ and for the infill percentage, depending on the size of the object and magnet strength, between 5-8%.

Workshops:

KABK 3D Lab

KABK Metal

Steps:

1. Create your design in a 3D-modelling program (such as Rhinoceros). Remember to ‘cutout’ the gap for where magnet will need to be placed.

2. Export file as an STL document and open it in your slicing program. (A slicing program is used to convert your file into a GCODE (a combination of codes and instructions), which is the file type a 3D printer reads.)

3. Apply your settings in the slicer program, e.g. material type (this usually generates recommended temperatures, otherwise you can change them manually), infill pattern and percentage, any support structures that may be needed (place a support blocker where the magnet would be embedded, as you do not want the printer to print the support there — the magnet will provide support once placed inside), and your pause or colour change (important to note, is that it should be at the exact layer of the colour change or at the exact layer of the magnet gap top height — the magnet should not be sticking out when the print continues, otherwise the nozzle will collide with the magnet and get damaged). Then save it as a GCODE and place the SD Card/USB into the printer.

4. Start your print and watch it go! The print will pause as per your settings and then it is time to insert the magnet/s. Tip: place the magnet onto a pair of pliers (they will stick automatically), place the magnet into the gap and then gently pull the pliers away in a sort of sliding motion (BE VERY GENTLE AT THIS STEP — you do not want to move the print off of the print bed). Also keep in mind that if you are placing multiple magnets, it is best not to carry the new magnet over the one you have just placed, sometimes they pop out again and can move the print.

5. Before continuing the print, place a small amount of glue stick onto the magnet, this will help to give grip and better adhesion for the filament and the first layer above the magnet.

6. Remove the prints when they are finished and have fun!

Health and Safety Precautions:
When working with 3D printers in general, always remember that there are hot metal parts on the machine. Watch where you place your fingers and hands. If removing support from a design, wear protective glasses, as small parts can fly up into your eyes. Always be careful when working with magnets. Do not eat them and be careful if children are around. Also be aware of the strength of magnets, if strong enough, they can attract to one another with force and if a finger or body part gets between them, it can be very dangerous.

Cynthia Bruinsma
4th year, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What did you find out with this research?
Hemp is a versatile and sustainable material and can absorb CO2. Combined with lime it becomes hempcrete which has the flexibility of clay and the strength of concrete.

My research was about the crystallization of hempcrete and rammed earth and the various patterns that emerged with the addition of different household chemicals.

Materials and amounts:
For rammed earth: 5g clay, 20g earth (sourced from Friesland), 50g limestone (from Hornbach), 40ml water.

For hempcrete: 20g hemp flakes, 80g lime, 150ml water.

For crystallization: alum, ammoniac, dish soap, fabric softener and all-purpose cleaner.

Demineralized water

Tools:
Your hands. For gathering the earth and sand. Also, as a tool for shaping molds and pounding rammed earth.
Machines in the wood workshop to create a mold to put rammed earth or hempcrete in. (Tip: paper is also a great mould for this material, or even fabric for a more abstract output.)

Funnel, filter paper, glass cup, electrical wire, bucket, string, toilet roll centres, cover (e.g. bottom of a soft drink bottle).

Steps:

Rammed earth

1. Start with 5g clay and 20g earth in a bucket

2. Add 40ml water

3. Mix with limestone

Hempcrete

1. Start with 20g hempcrete and 80g lime in a bucket

2. Add 150ml wate

For both

1. Make sure your surface is flat and place your toilet roll mould on it. Then add small pieces of materials and stamp it with a tool, such as a stick

2. Repeat until the mould is full.

3. Let your sample dry for 2 days and carefully remove paper.

Mixtures with chemicals:

1. Heat about 200ml of demineralized water.

2. Dissolve as much alum as possible in the water; continue until it no longer dissolves and then add a minimal amount of water.

3. Filter solution into a beaker and cover it (do not seal it).

4. Let solution stand for a few days until crystals form.

5. Filter off the solution so that the crystals are separated from the solution (mother liquour).

6. Make a new solution as described above.

7. Select the largest crystal from those you had already made and attach a string around it. This will be the growth nucleus.

8. Attach that string to a batten or a piece of thick electrical wire, which you can hang over the opening of the jar with the new solution in it. Make sure the crystal hangs in the middle of the solution.

9. Place covering over it, it is important that no dust gets into the solution.

10. Wait.

11. After a sizable crystal is formed remove it from solution.

12 Pour solution into a larger pot and heat it.

13. Make a fresh warm saturated alum solution and add it to pot.

14. Place crystal back into the solution.

15. This process can be repeated if necessary, so the crystal can grow.

16. Mix a fresh warm saturated alum solution with the chemical you want to test.

Health and Safety Precautions

Use gloves if you want to mix materials that include chemical substances. Safety glasses and/or mouth masks are also useful for mixing limestone because it stirs up dust.

Erco Lai
Graduate 2021, Master Industrial Design

What did you find out with this research?
Geo-processes such as mineral formation can be the basis of new manufacturing methods.

What is the technique you based your material research on?
First electrolysis then an adapted version of geopolymerization. I consulted an earth scientist and a scientific research institute. I mainly worked in the Industrial Design department studio. We built a small workshop ourselves with leftover materials from previous students and some second-hand machines. There, I smashed seashells with hammers/metal beams into chips, then used a coffee bean grinder to make fine powder.

Materials:
Calcium carbonate (You can source seashells from the beach at Scheveningen. Or use lime pellets, extracted from the water-softening process), waterglass. You can experiment with other minerals like bentonite, slag or lava sand.

Workshops:
KABK Hack Lab
KABK 3D Lab

KABK Metal

Steps:

1. In brief, the process is like making concrete. Pretreat the ingredients. For seashells, you can sort them in different colors then grind them into powder; for limestone, find fine powder when you are in the quarry; for lime pellets, sieve them into buckets and use different sizes with different proportions.

2. Mix dry ingredients with waterglass or lye. You can also add bentonite into the mixture to increase plasticity.

3. Wait for mixture to solidify. It can be put into molds or sand casts. In general, it takes 1-2 days to finalize the reaction, although this will vary with room temperature and the proportion of waterglass used.

Health and Safety Precautions:

Waterglass and lye are strong alkalines so do not touch them with bare hands. When mixing the ingredients use gloves, and avoid using aluminum containers for storing lye.

Jan Sagasser
3rd year, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What did you find out with this research?
I wanted to find out why a particular kind of board chair which has been in use all across Europe in all social classes ever since the 16th century, has been so durable. I soon found out that the most important aspect is the self-tensioning effect whereby, if constructed correctly, the legs and also the backrest lock each other under load. I wanted to find out if a new or redesigned connection between the backrest and the seat and between seat and legs could be made with the same kind of durability as the original but optimized for contemporary machine production. We can learn a lot from our ancestors regarding the durability of products. With industrialisation, many traditional construction techniques fell into oblivion; picking them up and bringing them back into people’s consciousness could be formative for the development of future products.

What is the technique you based your material research on?
I wanted to find the oldest possible instructions for building these chairs and found them in a book from 1941 about seating furniture. In it, all the necessary details for building a board chair were shown and explained. Based on this knowledge, I designed various types of joints before I started to build models of the most promising ones. The first prototype broke when I pressed against the backrest from behind, simulating the chair falling over backwards. I fixed this by using dowels which were inserted through the stabilising element and the seat. Since I didn't use wood glue for the chair but still wanted to see a comparison between dowelling and gluing, I repaired the first prototype and glued it. The result was identical.

Materials:
For the prototype, multiplex boards and round bars; for the legs and final chair, pine from hardware store

Tools:
Table saw, arm saw, router, long-hole and pillar-drilling machine to drill the holes that needed to be at an angle, disc sanding machine. That’s it!

Workshops:
KABK Wood

Steps:

1. Determine proportions and material thicknesses based on traditional chairs.

2. Cut rough parts, making sure to cut individual elements to size only when you have matched them to corresponding elements, to avoid chain errors.

3. In the prototypes for backrest, the most complicated steps are the 7° angled holes for the dowels in the seat and the 41.5° hole for the stabilizing element.

4. Drill holes in the seat board which defines angle of backrest so that holes for the stabilizing element can be adapted to it.

5. Stabilizing element itself consists of bar into which groove is inserted and board which is the only element that has to be glued to bar. For the complicated step, the groove in the staff, ask Sabin, one of the workshop instructors to help!

6. When thickness of board and width of groove match, glue them and clamp together while drying.

7. The most important thing about the legs are the slanted cut-outs, as these define how the stopper fits into them and prevents seat from lowering.

8. Make the cut with the radial arm saws by placing one cut next to the other to create the width and depth of the groove. As the material is round, a stop has to be screwed to the bar so that the cut is placed at the same point of the rounding.

9. For legs, drill holes with pillar-drilling machine on a tilted table.

10. Cut stoppers with table saw and insert into legs. Copy the curve of legs onto the stopper and match them using disc sanding machine.

11. Make cuts for wedges with band saw.

12. To assemble, use a combination of hammering in individual elements, wedging and sawing off protruding material.

13. Test the connections as well as you can with your body weight.

14. Rework the dimensions again to fit them to the final chair.

Lucie Ponard
Graduate 2021, Master Industrial Design

What did you find out with this research?
How to reuse industrial waste (steel slag, coal ash, pieces of brick) gathered from Westduinpark as pigments for glazing ceramics. Mostly, I was introducing pigments in different proportions to a base glaze, to create a palette of colours.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
So many things went wrong! Sometimes, I would open the kiln and all the samples were disappointing. I would then add another layer of glaze and fire them again, if I had space in the next kiln.

Materials:
Pigments: pieces of brick, steel slag, coal ash (smashed in various sizes of grains).
Texture elements: sand, pieces of shells (smashed in various sizes of grains).
Glazing bases: transparent base for 1100° and 1200°, white base for 1100° and 1200°. Clay body (has to withstand the temperature you are firing at).

Tools:
Ceramic kilns (temperatures: 1100° and 1230°), press, sieve, very precise weighing scale that measures 0,1g. (I bought mine at a cooking shop), glazing brush

Workshops:
KABK Ceramics
KABK Metal

Steps:
1. Smash rocks using press and sieve them into very fine powders.
2. Bake clay tile of about 5 x10cm. For this you will need 10g base + 3% 6% 9% 12% 18% of pigments. Mix together, add water, and apply with brush.
3. Based on these first experiments, more or less pigments can be added for the next one. Write a number on the first batch of experiment tiles, to remember what colours correspond to what percentages.
4. Pro-tip: Clay shrinks, so if tile is 5x10 when unbaked, it will be smaller once baked.
5. Pro-tip: The clay that you use should have a similar firing temperature to the glaze (otherwise the whole tile will melt completely.)

Health and Safety Precautions:
Always use a mask when sieving, because very thin powder is in the air. Since my pigments were a bit unknown, I also used a mask and gloves when applying the glaze.

Maria Tyakina
Graduate 2016, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What is the technique you based your material research on?

Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to ferrous alloys, such as steel or cast iron, to achieve greater toughness by decreasing the hardness of the alloy. When a polished steel object is treated with heat an oxide layer forms. As the temperature of the surroundings increases, the thickness of the iron oxide will also increase on the steel surface. The iron oxide is not transparent by its nature, but such a thin layer causes a phenomenon called thin-film interference, which results in the appearance of a sequence of colours: light yellow, brown, purple, and finally blue corresponding to particular temperatures reached between 620 °C and 770 °C. By precise control of time and temperature during the process, the desired colour outcome can be achieved.

Materials:
Stainless steel, cold-rolled steel, polisher

Tools:
Ceramic kiln, enamel oven

Workshops:

KABK Metal
KABK Ceramics

Steps:

1. Clean / polish metal pieces (any contamination of the surface will leave an imprint on final piece).

2. Preheat oven to first setting in a temperature range between 620 - 770 °C.

3. Place pieces in kiln.

4. As soon as the colours start to change, immediately remove pieces from the kiln, and let them naturally cool.

Health and Safety Precautions:

The work should be conducted in a well-ventilated area, and heat-protective gloves and mask must be worn when placing and removing pieces from the kiln.

Marlot Meyer
Tutor, BA Interactive Media Design

Materials / Amounts:
1 broken electric heater.

You can often find broken electronics or objects at the deposit box at the Albert Heijn, on the side of the road in the evenings, kringloop stores or by posting on Facebook groups and asking around. Usually, though, the objects find you first.

Tools / Techniques:
To open something up you usually need a screwdriver/drill and maybe some pliers, wire cutters etc. In order to start testing the components to see if they work I’d suggest a range of power supplies and batteries, and at least something which has an on off switch in case something goes wrong.

Steps:

1. Find objects/appliances which you know have movements or characteristics which interest you.
   In my case, I am interested in how an electric heater has the ability to move air and make something warm.
   
   

2. If it is clearly broken and damaged you can skip step 3.
   My heater is clearly damaged but not so broken that I cannot turn it on.
   
   

3. Plug it in and see if anything works. Try different settings. Try turning on and off quickly. Try listening for any sounds, vibrations or other effects. Giving it a little kick sometimes does the trick too. Note down your observations.
   My observations: The heater turns on when I turn the knobs. The indication LED also works. The setting with just the fan works and it stays on. When I turn on the heating setting it gets warm for a minute or two, but then it turns off again and the fan stays running but the air is cold.
   
   

4. Unplug it. Unscrew all the screws using a drill or screwdriver. Pull apart the housing of the appliance. Lay all the parts out and start detaching them from each other. Use a soldering iron or cutters and pliers where necessary.
   
   

5. Once everything is detached, do some research on what you see in front of you. Try to understand why each piece was made in this specific way, from this specific material.
   My heater contains some common parts like wires, lights, a fan, a plug, turning knobs, and plastic housing. I know what these do and it’s pretty clear how they work.
   
   There are some components which I am unsure of what they are but I can assume one is a timer and one is a thermistor (measures temperature to make sure it’s not too hot). Since the heater kept turning off I assume one or both of these are broken.
   
   The heating element is made up of wire wound around some shiny brittle material. I find out the wire is called nichrome. A wire made up of a mix of chromium and nickel and some other metals. Nichrome has a high resistance to the flow of electrons. Meaning that when electricity wants to pass through it, it has to really ‘fight’ through the wire, and by ‘pushing’, it loses a lot of its energy in the form of heat.
   
   The shiny material I learn is called mica. Mica is heat-resistant and does not conduct electricity. It’s actually a natural rock made up of very thin layers of flakes.
   
   

6. When you feel confident that you understand what you see in front of you and how it works, you can begin testing or repurposing each individual part. Make sure you know if you need to use AC or DC power and, if DC, that your power sources match the required current and voltage. You can usually find this information on the underside of the housing, or if it comes with an adapter check there as well. You can always run by the HackLab if you are unsure!
   Since I know that the heater doesn’t have an adapter and I just plug it into the wall I can assume it uses AC. I double check the casing and I see written at the bottom 220-240VAC.

I know the fan works from step 3, so I remove it from its housing and I take the plug of the heater and attach it to the wires of the fan. It works! Because I understand that nichrome is resistance wire, I calculate the minimum length of the heating element, and in a very controlled environment, at a distance, turn on the power when it's attached to the ends of the nichrome wire. It works! It gives a small glow!

1. If your parts work, it’s time to kick start your creative process! What happens if you attach something to moving parts? Can your part provide you with feedback or information (like a weight- or an InfraRed sensor for example)? Does your part offer any kind of special tactile sensation, make a cool sound, create unique light or mood?
   The glow of the wire is beautiful, and offers warmth, but also light. There are countless ways to incorporate this into an installation or sculpture! I could also use this wire more practically. Like instead of having to wait for the workshops to become available, I could make your own hot wire foam cutter from this heater part! It also works pretty well cutting glass and is also used to stabilize ceramics before they are baked!
   
   Next you could start incorporating some basic electronic elements like switches or relays to turn your parts on and off either manually or digitally.
   I can add a motor controller to make the motor slow down and speed up, and turn on and off. Using a microcontroller I could add some basic code to create a choreographed movement of my fan/motor. Similarly I can use an AC dimmer on the nichrome to have control over its brightness.
   
   

2. If your parts don’t work or are not electronic, ask yourself if there is anything else that it can offer — be it symbolically, aesthetically or conceptually. Maybe the wiring of your object inspires you to create a new weaving technique. Or it could simply become a prop in a photoshoot or performance.
   There is the plastic housing which can be reused in the future. Then there are some turning knobs which I can remove and could use as a control element for a new electronic project.
   
   The mica is beautiful and useful for far more than just holding the hot wire safely in place. When you grind up mica, it can be used as a pigment which adds a beautiful sparkle, and resistance to water penetration and weathering, and brightens the tone of other coloured pigments.

Health / Safety precautions:

I have experience in working with electronics and if you don’t, I would not suggest this specific recipe without guidance of someone who has. Make sure your work space is also cleared of anything which could be short circuited, get tangled, or break if something unexpected were to happen.

Lastly, if your (electric) parts don’t work and you cannot find another purpose for them, do not throw them in the bin. Take them to the Albert Heijn to the section with broken appliances so that they can be disposed of safely and responsibly.

Youbin Kang
4th year, Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

What did you want to find out with this research? I wanted to explore unexpected tactility and how touch might give people a new approach to understanding information that they couldn’t discover with their eyes.

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?

In the case of 3D printing, defects in the 3D model are checked through Prusaslicer. It also resizes the model. If there is no problem with the 3D model, adjust the printing speed of the 3D printing. Most defects can be easily corrected because they are found in 3D models. The best way to test is to print it.

Materials / Amounts:

Laser-cutting wood

Tools / Techniques:

Laser cutting machine

3D printing, Laser cutting, Fusion 360, Rhino, Illustration

Workshops:

3D Lab, Metal

Steps:

1. Draw the design you want with Illustration.

2. Make sure that there is no disconnection in the connected part of the line.

3. Send the completed illustration file to your email.

4. Download files sent to your email to the computer next to the laser cutting machine.

5. The method of setting the file to fit the laser cutting machine is described in detail and kindly on the computer. All you have to do is follow it in order.

6. Once again, check if there is any disconnection in the part where the line is connected. (Because the line may break while changing the thickness of the line.)

Health / Safety Precautions:
When the laser cutting is in progress, you should never leave your seat. If you have something personal to do and you are away for a while, you should ask your friends or people around you to watch the machine for a while.

Moe Kim
Graduate 2019, Bachelor Textile & Fashion

If anything went wrong along the way, what did you do?
My goal was to experiment with the colours, structure, combinations and proportions of Electroluminescent wire (EL) in woven textiles. If something went wrong during the preparatory warping and threading stage, I would do it all over again. During the weaving process itself, you can’t really make a wrong decision; you just keep testing to find out the best result.

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Materials:
Mainly weft yarn (I used Italian mohair yarn and many other yarns collected over the years that were purchased or gifted to me from friends), electronic wires (you can find them in second-hand shops, in bins, and ask friends), electroluminescent wire.

Tools / Techniques:
Weave-point software to make weave structure, Dobby loom, connected to compute, hand-weaving technique.

Workshops:
KABK Textiles

Steps:

1. Decide colour scheme

2. Collect materials according to colour scheme

3. Make brief sketch of design

4. Make detailed sketch with weave structure / gage / yarn combinations

5. Prepare warp for small scale sample

6. Set up loom

7. Set up the weave structure on the software

8. Begin to weave with plan

9. Observe what can be done

10. Adjust by selecting what combination looks nice (trust your eyes)

Health and Safety Precautions
Weaving can make you forget to eat and drink. Make sure you set an alarm so you can take a few 5-minute breaks during a weaving session. Since you will be sitting for long hours, it is very important to do some stretching and have some fresh air.