• Descent 302 is published on 15 February and it will soon be on its way to our subscribers.

    In the newsdesk, read a review of the underground events at Kendal Mountain Festival, plus tales of cannibalism and the Cavefish Asteroid.

    In regional news, we have three new connections in Ogof Agen Allwedd, a report on the iron mines of Anjou, an extension to Big Sink Cave in the Forest of Dean, a new dig in Yorkshire's Marble Steps Pot, student parties, an obituary for Tony Boycott, a tight find in the Peak District and a discovery in County Kerry with extensive formations.

    Click here for details of this edition

3D Printed Formation Repair

Tommy

Active member
Can anybody think of a formation that has broken that could be repaired with 3D printing?

I've recently started working for a large 3D printing company, and it's opened my eyes to the quality and range of things that are possible with the technology. It goes well beyond the common desktop Fused Deposition Modelling printers that have caught the public eye in recent years.

The damaged location could be 3D scanned, a model generated to match perfectly, and the surface could be designed to allow the rapid take-up of a calcite skin - at the advanced end of the technological scale.

I bet there's an ethical debate in here somewhere that the forum could have, but I'm more interested in the opportunities for conservation/replication from my personal point of view.
 
Very, very interesting, on all sort of levels. Can't think of anywhere off the top of my head (pun intended), but will keep watching the thread.
 
Didn't Hunters Lodge Inn Sink get f'ed up about a year ago.. is it worth contacting the people who pieced together the repair to try and find out if there was any bits unrepairable that this kind of process could help with..

Here's the original thread:
https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=20046.0
 
Everything in Peak Cavern, Stoney Middleton, Lathkill. Everything that ever had miners in it or was explored in Victorian times.
 
Why stop there? South Passage in GG, for example, is more or less devoid of formations. With a bit of creativity one could fill it with stal.  ;D
 
2xw said:
Everything in Peak Cavern, Stoney Middleton, Lathkill. Everything that ever had miners in it or was explored in Victorian times.

Thank you WW, your dedication towards conservation astounds even I.
 
Don't fail the probation  :thumbsup:

If the pieces are there then reattaching is possibly preferable.  If they aren't colour match would be a task.
 
You couldn't replicate most formations unless they were scanned before they were broken...

Mike
 
To make an *exact* replica? Yeah, sure.

To make something that looks exactly in place? No, just the base where the replacement will mount. I suspect most cavers will be able to produce a close approximation.
 
Time can be a factor, I've heard of South Island NZ where you can trash loads of big straws ect then three years later you can't tell the difference, in other places it might take millenia to get formations back the way they were if at all.

If photographs are available results will be better - more accurate.    This coud be a massive step forward in conservation.
 
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