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September 24, 2024The Dull Men's Club : 3D Printed Banana for Scale
The 3D Printed Banana for Scale
In the far reaches of Facebook, nestled among food pics, cat videos, and political memes, lies the home of the legendary Dull Men’s Club. Here, we appreciate the mundane and celebrate the uneventful. One peculiar fascination that has gained popularity among this community is the trusty banana for scale. Yes, we use a banana to compare sizes. A simple, yellow (or sometimes green and mushy) fruit to convey scale for everything from a new lawn mower to an oversized wrench.
But while the banana has served them well over the years, it’s far from perfect. Bananas spoil, they bruise, and heaven forbid you don’t have one handy when you urgently need to illustrate the size of your new Star Wars character collection. Let’s not forget the variations of natural banana sizes for example, some bananas are long and skinny, others short and stubby. How is anyone supposed to take size comparison seriously with that level of inconsistency? Ha!
Enter the heroes we never knew we needed: Stratasys and Prototyping Solutions, two titans of the 3D printing world. With the state-of-the-art J55™ Prime and J850™ Prime PolyJet printers. They allow you to 3D print your very own banana for scale. Yes, you read that right—a custom, 3D printed banana that will never let you down. How about a 12 inch or 19-inch banana for larger scale?
But before we delve into why you need a full-color 3D printed banana in your life, let’s take a look at the technology that makes this fruit-tastic innovation possible.
The J55™ Prime: More Than Just a Pretty (Rotating) Platform – It’s Appealing!
Let’s start with the J55™ Prime, the new hero of office-friendly full-color 3D printing. This isn’t just some ordinary printer that takes up space in your office and loudly churns out paper jam after paper jam. No, the J55™ Prime is here to revolutionize your banana for scale game—and maybe a few other objects to print for scale. Why not pizza for scale, shoes for scale and/or how about printing out a real ruler for scale? Wow isn’t printing a ruler for scale kind of dull?
The J55™ Prime is equipped with a rotating print platform that not only looks cool but also delivers a flawless surface finish. That’s right—your 3D-printed banana will be as smooth or as textured as that one banana in the grocery store. You know the one that practically calls out to you with banana perfection? With the size of this print bed, go ahead and print a big 12-inch!!
And it’s not just about looks or size. The J55™ Prime offers multi-material capabilities, meaning you can print your banana with up to five different resins simultaneously. Want a peel that’s slightly firmer than the fruit itself? Done. Need a banana that looks real but feels like a stress ball? Done. With the J55™ Prime, your banana can be as tactile and functional as you want it to be. The only limit is your imagination (and perhaps your tolerance for banana-based puns).
But we’re not stopping there. The J55™ Prime also features over 640,000 distinguishable color combinations. Want a yellow banana? Sure. A green one? Of course. How about add numbers for a more accurate scale? Print a banana with subtle brown speckles to show just the right amount of ripeness. YES! Go Bananas!! With this level of detail, your banana for scale will never be questioned again (if it ever was).
And did we mention the ready-to-print mode? That’s right—no mechanical calibrations, no endless tinkering. Just fire it up, hit print, and watch your banana come to life (figuratively, of course—this isn’t a sci-fi movie).
The J850™ Prime: Speed and Style for Your Banana Needs
Now, if you’re the kind of person who takes their banana for scale very seriously—and we know you are—then the J850™ Prime might just be your new best friend. This beast of a printer doesn’t mess around. It’s all about speed, precision, size and color that will make your banana look like it was plucked straight from a Pantone® color wheel and can be scaled up to a 19-inch log banana.
The J850™ Prime can produce over 600,000 PANTONE® validated color combinations, meaning your banana can be exactly the right shade of yellow (or any other color you prefer). And while we’re on the topic of colors, let’s talk about the fact that the J850™ Prime can print with seven resins simultaneously. Yes, seven!!! That’s more than enough to create a banana that not only looks real but could practically fool a monkey.
And here’s the kicker: the J850™ Prime prints your banana in 20% of the time it would take to create traditional models. So, when you need a banana for scale—and who doesn’t—this printer has you covered in record time. No more waiting for your fruit to ripen or going on a desperate grocery run. Just press print, and you’ll have a fresh, custom banana in minutes. It’s the kind of speed that will leave your fellow Dull Men’s Club members green with envy (or maybe that’s just the color of their 3D printed bananas).
Beyond Bananas: The Full Power of PolyJet Technology
Let’s get real. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about bananas, because this project was a-pealing, the Stratasys J55™ Prime and J850™ Prime printers can do so much more. It’s a slippery slope. These machines are designed for serious business: product prototyping, industrial design, and even medical education. They’re capable of creating high-fidelity models with tactile, functional, and sensory capabilities, which means they’re perfect for all kinds of professionals or rich hobbyist.
But let’s not lose sight of what really matters: your banana for scale. Sure, you could use this technology to create realistic product prototypes or educational medical models, but where’s the fun in that? The real joy lies in knowing that you can create the perfect banana, every single time.
And it’s not just about looks. With multimaterial printing, your 3D printed banana could have a peel that feels like rubber, a core that feels soft, and even a subtle scent (okay, we’re not quite there yet, but one can dream). You could print an entire family of bananas—big ones, small ones, and everything in between. You could even create banana accessories: a 3D printed banana hammock, banana stand, or banana-shaped phone holder. The possibilities are endless, and they’re all wonderfully, beautifully pointless—just the way we like it.
The Future of Banana-for-Scale Technology
So, where do we go from here? With Stratasys and Prototyping Solutions leading the charge, the future of banana for scale is bright—and not just in the banana-yellow sense. These printers open up a world of possibilities, not just for scale bananas, but for everything from jigs and fixtures to prototypes and models.
But let’s be honest: the banana is what matters here. And thanks to the J55™ Prime and J850™ Prime PolyJet printers, you can have a banana that’s always the perfect size, color, and texture. A banana that never goes bad, never gets bruised, and is always there when you need it to use for scale.
So next time you’re in need of a banana for scale, why reach for the real thing? With the power of Stratasys PolyJet technology, you can 3D print your way to banana for scale perfection. It’s time to say goodbye to inconsistent fruit and hello to a world where your banana for scale is always on point.
And remember: in the world of 3D printing, even the simplest things can be extraordinary—
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