3D printing plans and other wall decorations

Today, if you want to reproduce a large schematic or mechanical drawing, all you have to do is ask it to print or plot from the CAD model. But back then, you were drawing on big sheets at a drafting table. How to make copies? Sure, there were a few large format copiers, but they were expensive. A more common method was to use a heliographic copier which often but not always resulted in a plan - i.e. a blue page with white lines or vice versa. These days, you're more likely to think of a blueprint as an artistic wall hanging, and as [Basement Creations] wanted, they figured out how to make them with a 3D printer.

These prints are not really blueprints. They use the printer as a plotter and put white ink on a blue page. In the video below he shows a number of ways to use a printer to create interesting wall art, even if you want it to be bigger than the print bed. Some murals use multiple 3D printed parts, and others use the printer as a plotter.

To join the printed parts, he uses a soldering iron to solder them together. We wondered if it would be interesting to make some overlapping pieces to stick together, which would also help with alignment. Plotting is great for making PCBs, of course, and although you can invert the image and print blue on white paper, it won't really look like a blueprint.

You might think mounting a pen to a printer is easy, and there are plenty of models online. However, the pen needs to be stiff, and unless your bed is completely blocked, the pen needs some ability to move up and down to maintain pressure. The third stand it creates is quite over-engineered, with two bearings and rods allowing the pen to move up and down. It seems like a lot, but it also seems to work well. The final wall art is a 3D printed replica of the James Webb Telescope that uses real mirrors to mimic the iconic look of this space observatory.

This is one of those projects that isn't a completely new idea, but we liked the variety of ideas and tips. Presumably, you could also attach the plan paper to make larger ones.

This isn't the first James Webb replica we've seen, but the last one had a wooden base. You might be able to point your replica telescope at a fake moon.