Some consider Friday the 13th to be an unlucky filled with the possibility of things going wrong... But this couldn't be farther from the truth here at Aleph Objects!
The Canadian-produced television show “How It's Made” visited our headquarters in Loveland, Colorado on June 13th to film a segment for the show. If you have ever wondered how 3D printers are made, keep an eye out because our episode is set to air sometime next season. For those unfamiliar with the show, it shows how everyday items are manufactured – everything from bubblegum to musical instruments and now, LulzBot 3D printers!
A friendly production crew from Productions MAJ, Inc., the company who films for the show, started the day with an overall tour of our facility. Filming began in our Cluster, where we use over 130 TAZ printers to produce parts to build other machines. Many of the parts printed in the cluster for the How It's Made episode were printed in LulzBot green, but more on that later.
The group's next stop was right outside the cluster to get some “glamor shots” of a finished printer making a custom designed “How It's Made” sign. We think it's safe to say the film crew was intrigued by the TAZ 4 3D printer while we were equally intrigued by their filming processes.
The final stop of the day was in assembly to show how the printer is put together. As mentioned earlier, the printed parts from the cluster, which are normally black ABS, were mostly printed in LulzBot green ABS, creating a custom “How It's Made” TAZ 4 3D printer.
Initial shots were of pre-sub assembly activities around wire crimping and harnessing, drilling holes, placing thermal insets, and applying PET tape to borosilicate glass beds. Then the crew moved into regular assembly steps of building the printers themselves, and final testing, calibration, and quality control before the printers are packed to ship to our customers in 65 countries around the world.
Everyone here at Aleph Objects is excited to see the final, edited segment which will air on The Discovery Channel in 2015. It was a pleasure showing their crew, and eventually their global audience, how 3D printers are made! Make sure to stay updated on the LulzBot blog and our Facebook and Twitter pages for more information on when the episode is set to air.
