The Schaffhausen-based artist, who used to live in Leipzig and now lives in Zeitz, has been connected with GF Casting Solutions in Leipzig for at least 10 years for a variety of projects. For his latest project, he maintained close cooperation with Matthias Heinrich (Managing Director of the GF site in Leipzig), Lukas Blumenauer (Head of Addivite Production) and the team.
For the realization of the project, the latest investment and innovation of the Leipzig foundry has been used: a big 3D printer (1800 x 800 x 700mm) for sand which was inaugurated in 2018. Thanks to the 3D printing process single sand cores, used for the casting process to create cavities or even entire molds, can be printed in only few hours and then used for prototyping, for spare part production or to print entire series of complex castings.
For the production of the Swiss mythical creature, a miniature form made of modelling clay has been 3D scanned to generate CAD data which served as production template. With the template, several sand cores were then manufactured additively in the 3D printer, assembled, and finally filled up with 1400° hot iron. This process is called reverse engineering and allows the redesign of nearly every existing product (here: prototype made from modelling clay) and therefore create almost every desired component.
Unlimited freedom of design
Thanks to the new technology of the 3D printer and a highly motivated and creative team in Leipzig, customers benefit from unlimited freedom of construction desires and component geometry. This is why GF in Leipzig already realized first axes prototypes for autonomous construction machinery, trucks with electric drives as well as serial production for new cast components for off-highway vehicles and machines and hydraulic applications.
About the Art project “Rhyality”:
This summer, the mythical creature, called QUAMELUS ALBATRHYN GRUNFUS, has been introduced to the public in the course of the opening of the first Immersive Art Hall of Switzerland and the premiere of the immersive Art pioneer movie project “The Rhine Fall in 4 seasons” produced by Swiss Impresario Beat Toniolo in cooperation with module+.
If you want to learn more about the Immersive Art project, please visit: https://issuu.com/arttourist/docs/rhyality_weboptimiert
The idea behind the iron sculpture and the upcoming launch of the new children’s book “The Mythical Creature of the Rhine Falls” in spring 2021 is to create new stories, myths and legends all around the Swiss waterfall.
