Near Net Fab: Establishing a method to produce silver artifacts at scale from digitally designed data using 3D printing and CNC milling.

Silver Commission, winning submission as part of the National Museums of Scotland metal award. The final work and all prototypes and test pieces are part of the National Museums of Scotland's permanent collection and housed in Aberdeen Art Gallery.

The research sought to establish a new method for creating complex metal artifacts in precious metal. This 4 year research project explored the potential afforded by new production techniques, namely direct metal printing, 3D Laser scanning and 4 axis CNC milling to create digitally produced silver artefacts.

The finished artefact within the collection alongside the working prototypes communicates the research journey and knowledge insights.

Research Questions
What methods can be used to accurately evaluate surface uniformity and triangulation density?
How can timely and expensive CNC milling process currently used be improved?
What digital and/or analogue methods can be employed to reference the accuracy of physical prototypes produced through 3D printed and vaccum casting processes.
How can waste metal material created in the process of CNC milling be reduced or eliminated?