Vesicle

Vesicle was designed to hold and spin many small, delicate, 3D-printed silicone parts in a post-processing solvent bath.

The design was inspired by the structure of nephrons in the kidney, which efficiently separate blood cells and proteins from solutes for filtering, as well as the structure of stinkhorn mushroom skirts, which direct airflow through the mushroom for maximum spore dispersion. Similarly, Vesicle’s structure filters the part-to-be-cleaned from solvent, while allowing for dispersion of uncured resin into the surrounding solvent.

The vornoi lattice structure allows for homogeneous exposure to solvent while the rig spins, gently dampening the flow of solvent.

Designed in Solidworks, NetFabb, and nTopology Element. 3D Printed from Carbon’s RPU 70 dual-cure resin.

Structure inspired by nephrons and mushrooms: filtering and dispersion methods in nature

Delicate 3D-printed silicone parts (not shown), sticky with residual resin, are placed into the eight capsules for cleaning in solvent

Once parts are enclosed, the assembly is placed into a Carbon Smart Part Washer for cleaning, where solvent will wash away the residual resin.