{"id":1429,"date":"2013-01-14T21:15:46","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T05:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/makingof\/?p=1429"},"modified":"2013-01-14T21:15:46","modified_gmt":"2013-01-15T05:15:46","slug":"the-making-of-the-fairing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/2013\/01\/14\/the-making-of-the-fairing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Making Of&#8230; the Fairing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South of Market in San Francisco, industrial designer Scott Summitt, is blurring the line between medical devices and sculpture. He calls what he&#8217;s making the Fairing.<\/p>\n<p>Listen:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F74960646\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The word fairing typically describes the covering on a motorcycle \u2013 the curved shiny part that makes it a sleek, aerodynamic machine. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bespokeinnovations.com\/content\/scott-summit\">Scott Summit,<\/a> Director of technology at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bespokeinnovations.com\/\">Bespoke Innovations 3D Systems<\/a> is pushing the definition\u2014his fairings are for people with prosthetic limbs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTypically a prosthetic limb is a very mechanically designed thing. Hardware, exposed nuts and bolts, titanium tube, carbon fiber foot,\u201d says Scott who has designed for Apple, Nike and other Silicon Valley companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea here is, how do we give somebody their body shape, their symmetry and turn this into a piece of sculpture that really represents the person, more like jewelry or something they would wear deliberately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Part Human Part Machine<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chadcrittenden.com\/about\"> Chad Crittenden<\/a> is a tester and employee at Bespoke. A lifelong athlete, he lost his leg to a rare form of cancer 10 years ago. \u201cScott and I will sit down and talk about what I\u2019m going to be doing and how I want it to look,&#8221;says Chad (who was the first amputee contestant on the TV reality show Survivor). &#8220;The front side of this fairing is the shape of what my shin would be. The backside, the calf shape, I wanted bomber jacket leather.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2013\/01\/Sarah_R_Web3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1471\" title=\"Sarah_R_Web3\" src=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2013\/01\/Sarah_R_Web3-300x449.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Ironman athlete, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alwaystri.com\/about-sarah\/\">Sarah Reinertsen\u2019s<\/a> leg is amputated above the knee. \u201cI have often felt that I am part human part machine. So I wanted to choose one of the patterns where you could kind of see into the mechanics of the leg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scott and the designers at Bespoke work individually with each person to customize and develop the look of the fairing. Leather, chrome, heavy-duty dishwasher safe plastic \u2013 simple or patterned. Some people choose plaid, or snakeskin, or a tattoo. The back covering of Sarah Reinertsen\u2019s fairing is a see- through herringbone design dipped in chrome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s most important is the functionality,\u201d says Sarah, \u201cbut now I can also have it look beautiful, and it\u2019s cool to fill in a pair of jeans and not have it flopping around on the pylon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Idea<\/strong><br \/>\nThe idea came to Scott about twenty years ago when he saw <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aimeemullins.com\/about.php\">Aimee Mullins<\/a> at a conference talking about being an amputee and how that shaped the way she goes about her life. Amy showed the audience her sprinting legs made of carbon graphite and the legs she uses for tennis and softball that have shock absorbers in them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s this lovely woman,\u201d Scott remembers, \u201c but she had these legs that were looking so mechanical. And I thought, \u2018Wow, why did nobody step up to the plate and make something as sculptural and fluid as the rest of her.\u2019\u201d Scott realized that a major obstacle was the difficulty and expense of producing a custom device per person.<\/p>\n<p>That all changed about five years ago with the technical advances made in 3D printing. \u201cSuddenly you could 3 dimensionally print a part that was durable, completely custom tailored to the body. We can design things that are not mass-produced that don\u2019t see the world as one size fits all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scan, Design, Print<\/strong><br \/>\nThe first step in making a fairing is to scan the person\u2019s \u201csound side\u201d leg using image-based 3D scanning technology. This takes less than a minute. A 3D computer model is mirrored and superimposed over the prosthetic post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf a person is missing 2 legs,\u201d says Scott, \u201cwe try to find a surrogate who is the right height, weight, age \u2013 a body morphology donor to come in and get scanned. Then we start shaping and sculpting digitally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mfba9_YUI6o\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Scott explains that the term 3D printing, is a metaphor. It\u2019s not printing anything in the traditional sense of what printing is. A 3D computer model is sent to the printer and the computer inside this machine slices it up into very thin cross sectional slices. A laser, or an electron beam, or a nozzle creates one layer after another after another. A range of materials can be used&#8211;plastics, nylon, metal, ceramics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mountains of Failed Products<\/strong><br \/>\nWe walk around the Bespoke 3D Systems loft office looking at tiny plastic robots, gadgets and gizmos \u2013 all 3D printed. Small printers, about the size of coffee makers whiz and whirr layering and layering brightly colored plastic.<\/p>\n<p>Scott picks up a guitar and begins to tune it. \u201cThis guitar was entirely 3 D printed\u2014the body, the sterling silver on the badge, even the stainless steel plate on the neck.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2013\/01\/3dguitar11.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1556\" title=\"3dguitar1\" src=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2013\/01\/3dguitar11-300x168.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a>\u201cThe technology is new enough that people have no idea of where it can go. We have no idea where it can go. Most of the time we\u2019re experimenting. So we have mountains of failed products. that \u2018s kind of what this environment is. A place where you can screw up then get it right the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2013\/01\/James_Motorcycle_Web1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1492\" title=\"James_Motorcycle_Web1\" src=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2013\/01\/James_Motorcycle_Web1-300x451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Anything is Possible<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cI grew up down the peninsula,\u201d says Scott. \u201cMy dad was one of the Silicon Valley early guys. He and his collaborators were explorers. They had these new tools\u2014data bases, boolean searches, ascii text files, and the modem \u2013 this idea that you can transfer information over a telephone line, a crazy idea. That was exciting to see as a kid, this idea that anything is possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big goal for the prosthetics, for me anyway, is that one day we\u2019ll be able to go to a developing country, scan the person with nothing more than a camera, 3 dimensionally print a prosthetic leg that somebody could pull out of the machine and walk a way with. Fully structural. Ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South of Market in San Francisco, industrial designer Scott Summitt, is blurring the line between medical devices and sculpture. He calls what he&#8217;s making the Fairing. Listen: The word fairing typically describes the covering on a motorcycle \u2013 the curved shiny part that makes it a sleek, aerodynamic machine. Scott Summit, Director of technology at &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/2013\/01\/14\/the-making-of-the-fairing\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Making Of&#8230; the Fairing<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11456,"featured_media":1430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[9,174,222,337,528,535],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-1429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-3d-printing","tag-design","tag-fairing","tag-industrial-design","tag-prosthetic","tag-radio"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"template_type":null,"featured_image_type":null,"is_audio_post":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"affiliates","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/affiliates?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/programs?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"collections","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collections?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"interests","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/makingof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/interests?post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}