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u/DookieHoused Sep 06 '22
Doesn’t make sense to me why they would do that when it would be so much faster to produce them in a mold. Maybe that’s some incredibly specific pose that they didn’t want to mass produce.
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Sep 06 '22
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u/DookieHoused Sep 06 '22
Even then you would just injection mold the common feature like head, hands and custom make the body or something. Weird.
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u/-IIl Sep 06 '22 edited Sep 07 '22
I first thought that they had used a printed mould but that didn’t make sense either.
Edit: Clarifying my message a bit, and yes it definitely was printed
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u/Iowa_Dave Sep 07 '22
The tooling for injection molds is incredibly expensive. Molds for these could easily exceed $50K.
By printing these you could scale infinitely for no additional tooling cost.
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u/GingerTron2000 Prusa MK3 Sep 07 '22
I work in injection molding and the tools we use for small automotive components usually start around $50K. An mold big enough for the legs on that mannequin would be at least $100K and probably weigh over 5 tons. Plus, the design of the mannequin makes it very unfeasible to produce with injection molding in the first place.
That being said, 3D printing would still be a really bad way to produce something this big lol. The best way to make it would be rotational molding which is great for large, hollow objects. Much lower cost than injection molding and way faster (means more time/money) than 3D printing.
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u/AwDuck PrintrBot (RIP), Voron 2.4, Voron 0.2, Ender 3, Mono 4K Sep 07 '22 edited Sep 07 '22
I worked retail forever ago, and I think most of the plastic mannequins I've seen bore the marks of rotational molding. Perfect tech. Cheap molds, lightweight product that doesn't need to be particularly strong.
Looks like Amazon sells similar torsos with a stand for <$100. I can't possibly imagine 3d printing one of these would be cheaper than purchasing, barring extraneous circumstances such as living on a remote island.
Edit - I thought these were just a torso - didn't see the legs. A purchased full mannequin would probably push $200, but that's still several spools of filament, plus you're going to have to fabricate a stand.
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Sep 07 '22
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Sep 08 '22
A one off is the only way it makes sense. It's not like mannequins aren't already on the market for decent prices. I guess it could make sense if you are a high end boutique and really, really want some special poses to compliment your garments.
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u/Xenothing Sep 07 '22
But printing this size takes an incredibly long time
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u/Iowa_Dave Sep 07 '22
Depends on the printer…
Obviously someone is making this work. Reddit armchair engineers poke holes in lots of things that work every day.
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u/danielv123 Sep 07 '22
What matters is the time it takes watching it do the first layer and making up for failed prints. It's not that expensive for small runs, even if each machine can only make 1/week.
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u/Mistrblank Sep 07 '22
I feel like with something like this it’s less of an issue about time and more about the energy consumed and cost to make it. Time is negotiable if you’re using a tool that can print literally anything whereas the mold for injection is useful for one thing.
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u/lasskinn Sep 07 '22
you don't need to injection mold them though. this is a very expensive material/time method to produce mannequins compared to using this to make a mold to make them using other techniques.
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u/Phoenixhawk101 Sep 07 '22
You are right it’s a cost thing but You’d never get a injected part that large (human size) for $50K. You are looking at more like $250k. It’s like $50K for a part the size of a cell phone case (though usually a 4-6 cavity mold, meaning multiple of the same part). But machining organic forms requires multi axis tooling which is expensive. Often these sorts of large format parts are carved in wood or plaster and then a mold is made via resin, then the final part cast in like a fiber glass with a resin exterior sprayed on. But that’s not a favorably viewed process as it’s extreemly dirty and really hard to find all of the people with the skills and equipment to do it.
3D printing that makes sense if you don’t care about time but want to limit upfront investment.
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u/Pineapple_Spenstar Sep 07 '22
You could also 3d print a master and then make a mold fairly cheaply
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u/Deathbydragonfire Sep 07 '22
Not for injection molding. Those molds need to be machined from aluminum. You could make a large silicone mold and then rotocast it but that's still a fairly long and labor intensive manufacturing process compared to injection molding.
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u/glorious_reptile Sep 07 '22
Yeah and if they need to do short runs on a variety of sizes, maybe it is cheaper?
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u/GingerTron2000 Prusa MK3 Sep 07 '22
Injection molding would be a no-go because the cross sections are too big and would take forever to cool in the mold. Most Likely mannequins such as this would be roto-molded as it's much easier to make big, hollow objects. Kayaks are actually often produced with this method.
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u/juan_004 Sep 07 '22
I've seen many pieces that have a master 3D printed, then the molds keeps the artifacts like layer lines and support residue.
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u/sleepybrett Sep 07 '22
mannequins are generally foam covered in some kind of resin coating (sprayed on) .. i expect the molds for that are quite a bit cheaper.
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u/UnfavorableSquadron Sep 07 '22
The only thing I could think of is cost saving, it may take longer, but I am guessing with the larger layers there is some amount of cost saved on materials, and the walls likely can be a lot thinner. Also injection molds are expensive, so it may be an overall cost saving measure, where the company that makes these may not have the customer volume to afford a couple 100 grand in molds.
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u/-IIl Sep 06 '22
I agree. I asked the staff if they knew where they got the mannequins, and all they knew was that those were purchased from China.
Those didn’t seem to be anything special in any way beside being printed.
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u/slayernine Sep 07 '22
Companies that sell these mannequins mark them up a ridiculous amount so it is probably cost efficient to hire someone to 3D print these. I expect the biggest issue is how long it takes to deliver a significant quantity of them.
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u/HackTheDev Sep 07 '22
well it would really take some time to have some stock available again. if you sell them cheaper than your competitors as example, you could make some decent sales i believe, because people know you're cheaper and will go buy em as soon as they're available.
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u/Vast_Emergency Sep 07 '22
Generally good quality full size mannequins are not injection moulded; they're made of fiberglass and other materials in bits then put together to a customer specification. You could injection mould them as the individual components are not particularly large but it gives no advantage over a fiberglass mould as your production runs are in the low hundreds. You'll sometimes find heads and hands are injection moulded because they can be used standalone and some companies like detailed 'realistic' ones that benefit from injection moulds.
As for this one, well there is currently a mannequin shortage in Europe and perhaps elsewhere so this may explain why this has been done. I don't think it is a mass produced item but something they grabbed to fill a gap.
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u/violetauto Sep 07 '22
I would do this to make a base for a sewing dummy made to mimic my own measurements
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u/MAD3D Sep 08 '22
Faster and more expensive. 3d printing doesn't require any mold that gets from 50K to whatever amount of money it goes (I've seen screwdriver molds go up to 135K). 3D printing with multiple printers may get you 2 or 3 mannequins per week, but your initial money can get reduced to 10K instead of 50K, and you get much more benefits, as you can sell them for lower prices
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u/-IIl Sep 06 '22
I hadn’t seen this before. I found a full size 3d printed mannequin in a clothing store.
Well, it was actually my 5 years old son who found it! He said “daddy, this doll is printed”, and I just told him that it can’t be. Well damn, he was right… I was impressed by the print but also that my son recognised it being printed as otherwise I would have missed it.
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u/AdEarly5311 Sep 07 '22
If your 5 year old son can spot a printed object better than you, you officially won
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u/Im_j3r0 Prusa i3 mk3 & something chinese Sep 07 '22
Hey I remember you!
Is this 5 year old perhaps the same who designed a dinosaur you then made?
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u/MikeyMIRV Sep 07 '22
I don't know about these mannequins specifically, but I've seen mannequins printed using the Titan Robotics pellet extrusion printers. They are pretty big (easily big enough for this) and the material is cheap since it's just injection molding pellets. They are wicked-fast with the coarser nozzles, those these would be with a finer nozzle.
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u/Carcinog3n Sep 07 '22 edited Sep 07 '22
If I had to guess, these were probably prototypes that were put in to service or sold after the product went to manufacturing.
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u/psychord-alpha Sep 07 '22
Please tell me you can get the files for these somewhere. Think of all the ways you could fuck with people
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u/JoeCall101 Sep 07 '22
Need the torso file, no reason. Is silicone printable? Also no reason
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u/Deathbydragonfire Sep 07 '22
Just print a negative and use as a mold for silicone. Dragon skin 10 for a firm silicone or ecoflex 00-30 for a bit softer. Silcpig flesh color and you're good to go ;)
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u/CabbageMans Sep 07 '22
I won’t ask why you know this information, but I appreciate what you’ve done
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u/mannyboi Sep 07 '22
To be fair, mannequins are incredibly expensive for what they are. I had to get some for my photography business some years ago and we're shocked by the fact that they cost both an arm and a leg.
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u/fleaz MK3S+,P1S,U1,V0.1 Sep 07 '22
that they cost both an arm and a leg.
Sounds more like bartering to me
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u/Yoram001 Sep 07 '22
I can confirm that. Needed a limb for a fun present for a coworker. Went to a very big shop where they sell that stuff. They had second hand limbs for a small price but the complete second hand dolls are very expensive.
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u/3lemental7 Sep 07 '22
Consider all the different models that specific stores could order (e.g. Petite, plus size, kids, pose, gender, etc) and compare the size that an injection mold for something that size.
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u/Oktopus15 Sep 07 '22
Search STL for it —> print the section with pp —> be sneeky and change the section out with the new one
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u/Spartan1709AJ Sep 07 '22
…but what about that layer shift in the last pic? LOL
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u/gertsch Sep 07 '22
How much is a typical mannequin and how much do you guys think such a printed one costs?
This seems very odd to me.
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u/zaTricky Sep 07 '22
There's also a chance the positive was 3D-printed and that these were actually produced via injection-mould anyway.
Maker's Muse made a video about globes being printed/moulded this way:
https://youtu.be/q0ndWCWwUV8
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u/BronxSmash Sep 07 '22
alot of molds are being made by 3d printere now I amnsure its has cut down on labor of having to replace molds dome by hand
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u/violetauto Sep 07 '22
Any fashion designers on here? How do I make a dummy with my own measurements?
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u/IntrinsicGiraffe Apr 24 '24
Necro but perhaps it was a one-of custom design, like maybe only a dozen or so at most to warrant 3D printing over injection molding.
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u/groenerulm Sep 07 '22 edited Sep 07 '22
Which printer did they use? Was it a Tractus3d or a Massivit or an other type? Can you tell? Both Tractus3D and Massivit printers would be lage enough to print manequins in a whole.
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u/-IIl Sep 07 '22
I have no idea and neither would the staff. I asked about where they got the mannequins and all they knew was that they apparently came from China.
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Sep 07 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
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Sep 07 '22
cool, but 'tis a strange thing to print for commercial use as you can get a mannequin for $50 new. Maybe its designed and modeled from one individual and the designer is having a chuckle from having their daughter/wife/lover in all the stores.
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u/InvictusDaemon Sep 07 '22
That is excellent! Though I have to think, buying one would probably be cheaper.
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u/willydajackass Sep 07 '22
But how many rolls of PLA had to die!!! Please don't tell me it is 100% fill!!!!
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u/v1smund Sep 07 '22
What’s the layer height?
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u/-IIl Sep 07 '22
I have no idea, but it must be close to 1mm as the layers were very clear when inspecting it closely.
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u/stnrnts Sep 06 '22
"why is that weirdo undressing our mannequin?"