Les Mimipots is a Quebec based business highlighting the benefits of concrete in interior design. By bringing to market an impressive array of practical and decorative elements ranging from vases to pencil holders, the success of Les Mimipots is living proof that concrete isn’t just useful for construction sites!
The Project
Myriam, founder at Les Mimipots, approached us with a project that differs a bit from previous works we’ve had the opportunity to collaborate on. Les mercredis de Terrebonne, a not for profit event organised by Group Plein Air Terrebonne, presents a cross country style mountain bike competition every wednesday evening. The organisers of the event were looking for sponsors to help with this year’s competition and wanted to partner up with Les Mimipots to produce a series of concrete medals to offer the podium winners throughout the events of the upcoming year.
The only issue is that these custom medals had to be produced in under a week. From design to final product – in time to go around the necks of the first wave of mountain bike competitors. That’s possible when you team up with a reliable 3D printing service.
Myriam asked if UCrea would be interested in offering our design and 3D printing services to create a high quality master for her to manufacture the silicon moulds required to produce the medals in exchange for some exposure at the events. We said we’d be happy to support them and agreed to sponsor the competition, offering our 3D printing and design services at a cost that fit the event’s limited budget.
In the end, we only had a few days to prepare the designs and 3D prints as the process of producing concrete objects is time consuming:
- A master of the object is manufactured. This is a replica of the object that has to be produced in concrete. It can be made of any material – so long as it is compatible with silicon. FDM 3D printing is perfectly suited for this task.
- A silicon mould is produced. A shell or casing is placed around the master such that there is an air gap of a few mm to a few cm between the master and the casing surrounding it. These outer elements can also be 3D printed or simply made of cardboard or other materials. The silicon is then poured between the master and the casing and left to cure.
- The mould is prepared for concrete pouring. The master and the shell are separated from the mould and the mould is cleaned up and usually flipped the other way and secured to a flat surface.
- The concrete is mixed and poured. The elements of the concrete (dry cement, pigments, water, etc.) are mixed together and carefully poured into the mould. Air bubbles are removed and the object is left to cure.
- The part is removed from the mould. Once the concrete has hardened after several hours, the silicon mould is peeled off the part and the final concrete piece is cleaned and up and ready for post processing or delivery.
The Results
The medals we worked on were particularly challenging to print because of the small details that had to be produced. Thankfully with well tuned FDM 3D printers, reproducing detailed parts to be used for the small batch manufacturing of medals was a challenge we felt comfortable with. Les Mimipots were pleased with the results and with a few minutes of sanding were easily able to prepare the surface to the required smooth finish. The crisp details of the Mercredis de Terrebonne logo were captured flawlessly. What’s more, Myriam was able to pick up the part less than 24 hours after confirming the final production. Leading up to that, we were able to iterate quickly to ensure we met the expected results, communicating efficiently with each other along the way. Les Mimipots were able to deliver their project on time and Les Mercredis de Terrebonne were very pleased with the end result.
This was a nice upgrade from the previous wooden laser cut medals Les Mercredis de Terrebonne shared with us as a basis for producing the masters for the next generation of concrete medals.
Good luck to all of the 2024 competitors!
If you’d like to work on a similar project, feel free to reach out to UCrea at info@ucrea.ca or give us a call! We look forward to working together.