Aleksandrina Rizova & 3DPrintUK Create Intricate 3D Printed Walnut Table

The 7 pieces making up the legs of the 3D printed /milled table

While some of the most exciting applications for 3D printing have been within the medical field, saving lives or making them more fulfilling, there is no doubt that some of the more interesting uses have been within the fields of art and design. The ability to design pieces of work with infinite complexity without additional costs has propelled the technology to the forefront in both the art and design fields.

A London-based architectural designer, and associate lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, named Aleksandrina Rizova, certainly has realized the benefits of 3D printing. With many of her pieces utilizing emerging digital fabrication methods, she has adopted 3D printing as one of her many tools.

More recently she decided to create a table using only digital fabrication methods. To get started, she turned to 3DPrintUK, which offers professional grade 3D printing as a service. With their help, she was able to fabricate one truly incredible design for legs of a coffee table, she calls ‘transitional fields’.

The table used only 3D printing and CNC milling for its creation. The top of the table was created by milling a piece of walnut wood, while the legs were completely 3D printed with the help of 3DPrintUK.

“In the beginning of the project Alek came into our studio to talk through the project,” stated Jason from 3DPrintUK. “She printed a few test pieces with us, which is very cheap to do if you are prototyping with the aim of testing the strength of the material versus the look. We printed variations starting from 1mm thick to 5mm. Eventually, she found a compromise between look and strength and soon after produced the full CAD design for us to print.”

The legs were printed in a total of 7 different pieces, over three separate print jobs on an EOS P100 SLS nylon 3D printer. In total, it took approximately one week to print out all the pieces necessary for Rizova’s project. Once the pieces were completely fabricated they connected them all together using 2-part epoxy glue. The walnut table-top, which was CNC milled by 3DCNC, was then added on top to finish the remarkable piece.

Despite the fact that the mesh of the legs is made up of nylon as thin as only a few millimeters in width, the layout of the design allows it to easily support the heavier walnut wood on top. There is no way a piece like this, so intricate and beautiful in design, could have been fabricated in any other way than with 3D printing and milling. Check out some additional images of the table below. Let us know your thoughts on Rizova’s work in the 3D Printed Table forum thread on 3DPB.com.