Kecheng!! 3DP Unlimited Clones One of Their Employees in 3D Printed Form

Whenever I have a chance to attend a 3D printing trade show, one of the first booths that I make sure to visit is the booth of a company called 3DP Unlimited. They are known for their large-scale FDM 3D printer, the 3DP1000, which is capable of printing objects up to 1  x 1  x 0.5 m in size. They usually have all sorts of interesting things on hand to show off the potential that this 3D printer can provide.

This includes full-size chairs, engine blocks, and even a super large Frankenstein head. At CES 2015, I had the opportunity to meet with 3DP Unlimited’s Marketing Communications Specialist, Kecheng Lu. She showed myself and 3DPrint.com editor Brian Krassenstein around the 3DP booth, and let us watch as the company 3D printed some large gears. Kecheng is a super enthusiastic young woman, who certainly has a passion for 3D printing. Undoubtedly 3DP Unlimited is extremely lucky to have a knowledgeable employee of her caliber on board. Evidently, one Kecheng was not enough, so they decided to 3D print a clone of her.

Using a 3D scan of Kecheng, which was created at the Esun 3D+ Scan booth at CES 2015, 3DP Unlimited was able to 3D print a life-sized replica of their valuable employee.

“It looks amazingly real to me, although a bit creepy at this size,” Kecheng tells 3DPrint.com. “We printed a few smaller ones just to check the file, so I literally have 3 smaller version of myself standing on my desk now.”

The 3D printed Kecheng clone was printed with an infill density of 7%, completely out of PLA plastic on the 3DP1000 3D printer. The full-scale replica weighs just 21 pounds, and took 7 days to print out. It was printed on a diagonal in two halves (upper and lower portion) and then assembled together.

“Our inital plan was just to print it for fun,” Kecheng tells us. “But now I think we are bringing her to trade shows, and we will probably post process it so it looks exactly like me.”

We look forward to seeing the 3D printed, fully painted Kecheng clone at the next trade show, and wonder how difficult it will be to differentiate the 3D printed clone from Kecheng herself.

All in all, this goes to show the potential that the 3DP1000 3D printer provides in creating large prototypes and even end-use products of massive scale. What do you think about this 3D printed clone? Discuss in the Kecheng forum thread on 3DPB.com.