The South American firm MVD Frames are utilizing 3D printing to create wonderful, natural designs in eyewear whereas serving to the surroundings on the identical time.
Posted on January 28, 2019
by
Chris Morgan
Primarily based within the vibrant metropolis of Montevideo, Uruguay, our April 2019 Hackers of the Month are creating a brand new mannequin of manufacturing, model, and sustainability for eyewear with their start-up firm, MVD Frames.
Andres Roppa and Alberto Menestrina are each long-time product engineers who come from an industrial engineering background. Their first publicity to 3D printing was round 2002 when a university journey took them to the wind tunnel at an engineering facility that was evaluating the facade efficiency for a future constructing; the size mannequin was created utilizing stereolithography.
A number of years later in 2011, they each began taking part in design contests for 3D printing sponsored by Shapeways and Materialise, in addition to others. Additionally presently, Alberto was working full-time at a product design studio that centered on electrical gadgets and used speedy prototyping every day. As a result of there have been no industrial grade printers in Uruguay on the time, the design recordsdata needed to be despatched to Brazil for printing!
In a considerably totally different timeline for many of us, they had been capable of reduce their tooth on SLS (selective laser sintering) additive manufacturing processes however then moved on to smaller scale FDM (shaped deposition modeling) processes to create their extremely trendy MVD frames.
The place did the inspiration come for the MVD Frames enterprise mannequin? Andres explains, “We’re rethinking find out how to make eyewear, and why we must always make it within the first place. We develop merchandise which have extra which means for the person… when it comes to the person and never the business, transferring away from mass manufacturing and consumption.”
The result’s nothing wanting wonderful. Utilizing primarily guide sprucing strategies, Andres and Alberto create gorgeous eyewear at a fraction of the price of high-end designer labels. The rationale behind this hands-on method speaks volumes, “Our challenge revolves across the thought of mixing digital with pure, so we’re utilizing hemp and espresso stuffed PLA amongst different composite filaments from 3DFuel and different manufacturers to repeatedly check new choices. We wish to display how these supplies could be mixed with our design method to realize high-end high quality merchandise that may meet powerful necessities.”
Using 3D printing has allowed them to develop and fabricate fashions rapidly to validate their product concepts. The flip round time in with the ability to troubleshoot and reprint flawed designs has vastly lowered their improvement time in creating new concepts and merchandise.
“Our eyewear is born out of the digital period, however with a home made contact that makes every body distinctive. So, we mixed new applied sciences, like 3D printing, with pure supplies and guide processes to create an modern manufacturing methodology.”
“We design high-quality frames inside a multisize idea, with the person in thoughts, making a stronger and longer lasting bond. Our collections adapt and evolve organically with out leftovers, as a result of that’s how nature does it, and that’s the way it ought to be.”
Why did they select eyewear? “Eyewear is the proper product to enhance with 3D printing. Take customization, as an illustration; small scale manufacturing, assembly particular person wants, and so on. For now, we’re concentrating on consolation and match whereas utilizing extra sustainable supplies. However some enhancements aren’t that seen as a result of they’re associated to processes occurring backstage. As an illustration, our lens supplier could be very excited to seek out that many points which might be associated to lens becoming and different lenses/body processes could be solved rapidly and in keeping with their wants. There are inherent issues with standard injected and acetate frames, that we are able to keep away from because of the fabric and know-how.”
What’s it about 3D printing that makes this design so intriguing? “Moreover the eyewear itself, which we design by benefiting from the inherent advantages of additive manufacturing, we’re consistently utilizing the know-how to resolve particular each day points on different processes we want. We print personalized templates for laser engraving eyewear components as an illustration, amongst different fast options to help in meeting. These options are easy, nothing fancy, however they’re so fast and low value, which is right for us at this level.”
“We hope to make extra comfy, higher becoming eyewear for the person. We concentrate on making every design and assortment a bit extra superior when it comes to benefiting from additive manufacturing. This method has additionally helped different eyewear startups for which we’ve developed designs with particular necessities. Other than eyewear, we did some design and printing for human and animal orthosis and technical aids. This was a facet challenge that Alberto was main with one other group.”
One other good thing about utilizing 3D printing of their manufacturing is the collaboration issue. It has allowed them to attach with world purchasers on a number of tasks. It has opened a brand new means of working, making enterprise alternatives obtainable to them that might have been inconceivable to implement 10-15 years in the past.
As is obvious of their design and manufacturing course of, they hope to see 3D printing dramatically cut back the environmental affect of manufacturing, and never simply one other medium to create much more ineffective plastic devices – and so they consistently critique themselves on this metric as properly!
For now, Andres and Alberto need to develop their eyewear designs by collaborating with different manufacturers, whereas taking the time to make it possible for persons are educated within the design, conceptualization and accountable use if 3D printing know-how. A measure of their success appears to lie of their notion that the human facet of 3D printing is what must be upgraded as a result of the know-how is already getting cheaper and simpler to make use of extraordinarily rapidly.
We stay up for seeing much more designs and the world domination of the 3D printed eyewear market by Andres and Alberto! For extra of what MVD is as much as, you’ll be able to go to their web site right here:
www.mvdframes.com
