New toy…and it’s not even Christmas!
(it really is the last time we mention Christmas before the Winter newsletter…we promise)
It’s heeere…!
It had been researched, it had been discussed and then it was official – it was happening – it had been ordered and it was on its way. It arrived on August 1st but it might as well have been December 25th! The excitement at Solinear HQ was palpable as bit-by-bit our new toy was revealed and oh so carefully removed from its protective layers of packaging.
If you build it, it will work
Akin to a classic IKEA flatpack, our new toy needed assembling with the hope that there wasn’t a screw left over, or even worse something completely unidentifiable that hadn’t been affixed at the very beginning and couldn’t be fitted without taking the whole thing apart again. We’ve all been there…haven’t we…? The anticipation was unbearable, and this was just the assembly stage! It was becoming clear that once our new toy was ready to play with, the Solinear office was going to be in a heightened state of wonder and euphoria.
We have a new toy – 3d Printer!
That momentous day had arrived and so it began…it was now playtime at Solinear HQ! Sure enough, as the Solinear team huddled around a table (with shorter staff members on tip-toes trying to peak over taller shoulders and shuffle their way to the front for optimum viewing potential), eyes were fixed on this new alien structure. The Solinear team was mesmerised by its latest acquisition – a 3D printer!
What is this sorcery?
As its printer head began to rapidly dart around the board busily building up layers of whatever it had been tasked to print, we found ourselves analogous with those wide-eyed, little, green alien squeeze toys (a.k.a. Little Green Men or LGMs) from Toy Story, who, when confronted with a spectacle they haven’t witnessed before, just collectively say “Oooooh” and “Aaahhh” with awe-filled wonderment and stupefaction. That summed up the Solinear team scanning every minute movement as the 3D printer became a 21st-century alchemist right before our eyes.
Plans are afoot
As we headed back to our respective tasks it was obvious that we had plans of our own; A wall-mountable Frida Kahlo head, a Disney castle, a life-size Jennifer Anniston…
Of course, none of this was what the 3D printer was actually meant for but that didn’t seem to matter. Before long we had a frog, a castle, an alien, a fidget-spinner-type-thing…as well as a box to put accessories in.
There is a practical reason for having a 3D printer – it will help with our solar shading manufacturing process and, as it takes quite some time to print an item depending on complexity, there are plans to invest in more 3D printers for continual production.
Environmental consideration
Whilst Solinear prides itself on helping to reduce energy consumption by installing solar shading and brise soleil to buildings where solar gain is a problem and we insist that all our stationery is printed on the most environmentally friendly paper possible, we hear you cry “What about the plastic crisis?!”. It’s a comment that was made and considered at Solinear HQ.
The 3D printer constructs objects from a spool of Polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA) thread which is a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from renewable biomass, typically from fermented plant starch such as from corn, cassava (the starchy tuberous root of a tropical tree), sugarcane or sugar beet pulp. It’s strong, adaptable, versatile and can be disposed of in an environmentally sympathetic way. PLA is manufactured with a variety of finishes and therefore can easily be incorporated into Solinear’s products.
3D printed items use as little material as possible but reinforce the structure with a complex framework instead, thus creating a product that is lightweight whilst retaining strength and integrity (let’s just say we’ve had some fun devising and executing a few interesting experiments of our own to test the durability of the products!)
With products manufactured through 3D printing we also save on energy consumption and with the accuracy of the 3D printing, there is less scope for error and consequently a reduction in rejected items and therefore waste.
It’s safe to say, we love our new toy and all there is to do now is give it a name! Theodore the 3D printer? We’ll give it more thought.
