“I spent all my savings on my first 3D printer”

Chances are slim that you’ll run into Sébastien Martinerie on campus unless you venture into his lair: the Student Prototyping and Outreach Tank (SPOT), a room filled with 3D printers. This makerspace may be located underground, but it’s high on the radar for anyone wanting to develop a prototype. “Our biggest challenge is procuring enough printers for the 500 students who need them,” says Martinerie. “We started with eight printers when SPOT was opened just over two years ago, and we now have more than 30. I reckon we’ll soon have 40. But demand is so strong that we’re almost afraid this won’t be enough.”

Martinerie became interested in 3D printing in 2003, just after he graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from HES in Sion. “3D printing lets you bring your ideas to life,” he says. “You dream up something new, sketch it out on a computer, and a few hours later or maybe the next day, you’re holding the object in your hands. What’s especially exciting is that today we can create shapes that were previously too complicated.”

While a student at HES-SO Valais, Martinerie worked in a materials-science laboratory and developed a 3D printing process for metallic parts. “That planted the seed and made me want to have my own machine,” he recalls. Back then, 3D printers cost tens of thousands of Swiss francs and were only used for industrial purposes. “In 2005, I had an opportunity to purchase a machine with a colleague, at a price of CHF 50,000. I spent all my savings and opened my own 3D printing workshop. Today, the 3D printers we use at SPOT cost a little over CHF 1,000, although industrial ones can still run into the millions.”

“Nature is definitely the best 3D printer”

Martinerie runs a small business out of his workshop offering his prototyping expertise and services to others: architects who need to build scale models, watchmakers who want to test a new design on a wrist, artists seeking to create new works, and more. “I eventually specialized in medical applications,” says Martinerie. “I produced models of patients’ body parts that were going to be operated on – their skull or heart, for example – based on medical imaging data. Surgeons used the models to practice on, plan their operations and calibrate their equipment. I still think that’s the most interesting 3D printing application.”

Martinerie finds a fascinating similarity between 3D printed plastics and structures found in nature. “Once I had to print blood vessels and was struck by how they resemble trees – both in their shape and how they grow. Nature is definitely the best 3D printer.”

Recycling plastic

3D printing is used in a number of industries. Sophisticated machines can print objects made of plastic – from plastic filaments, powder or resin – or other materials including concrete, metal and ceramic. Some researchers are even testing methods for printing living, biological tissue. “3D printers work by depositing layers,” explains Martinerie. “If you find the right material and layering method, you can make just about anything.”

The machines generate very little waste since they only use the amount of material that’s required for each object. But Martinerie believes the process can be improved. “Shortly after we opened SPOT, I realized we’d be producing a substantial amount of plastic waste, and I decided to keep it,” he says. “With all the student projects that are carried out here, we have an almost industrial production volume – tens of thousands of objects per year, and the amount keeps growing. We’ve consumed 500 kilograms of plastic filaments in the past two years, or the equivalent of hundreds of kilometers. I’ve now accumulated some 50 kilograms of plastic to recycle, including printed parts that are now obsolete.”

Martinerie has introduced several waste-reduction measures at SPOT, such as purchasing filaments made from recycled plastic. And for the past year, he’s been working with students to develop a recycling process. “Recycling our waste is pretty complicated since a lot of factors have to be taken into account,” he says. “For instance, you can’t mix different kinds of plastic. At first we created huge piles of objects to recycle, but that caused a lot of problems. Now we sort the objects individually to check what material they’re made from and whether it’s recyclable.”

Martinerie adds: “I would have loved to have a workshop like SPOT when I was a student. I often think that if I worked for a company and had to hire engineers, I’d look for people with experience at SPOT or a similar facility. To me, it’s an important point to look for on a CV because hands-on learning delivers major benefits. I’m very proud to be involved in this initiative and to pass on my knowledge to future engineers.”