{"id":29793,"date":"2021-05-15T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=29793"},"modified":"2021-05-14T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T11:10:44","slug":"nano-sized-cornells-mcgraw-tower-step-forward-for-3d-printing-technology-150420214","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/nano-sized-cornells-mcgraw-tower-step-forward-for-3d-printing-technology-150420214\/","title":{"rendered":"Nano-Sized Rendition of Cornell’s McGraw Tower Marks Step Forward for 3D Printing Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, a team led by staff photolithographer<\/a> Ed Camacho at Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), in Duffield Hall created what is thought to be the world\u2019s smallest rendition of Cornell\u2019s iconic McGraw Tower. The tower is complete with 161 interior steps, two sets of stairs and 21 bells. 160 microns wide, 150 microns deep and 1 millimeter tall, the miniature was constructed to scale. For reference a penny is just 1.5 millimetres thick. According to Camacho, <\/span>\u201cthis is possibly the world\u2019s smallest bell tower\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This achievement was accomplished using a two-photon polymerization volumetric 3D printer, one of CNF\u2019s newest tools, the NanoScribe GT2 Laser Lithography System. Acquired in late 2019 with funding from a National Science Foundation grant and installed in January 2020, the state-of-the-art machine is one of nine photolithography tools at CNF. The NanoScribe GT2 is able to create 3D nanostructures using a near infrared, femtosecond laser via direct-write onto a photosensitive resin.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cFifteen years ago, only a specialist could do this with very specialized equipment,\u201d<\/span><\/i> commented Chris Ober, director of CNF and professor of materials engineering in the College of Arts and Sciences. He continues, <\/span>\u201cthis<\/span><\/i> is a commercial device\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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The McGraw Tower 1-millimeter-tall scale model is highly detailed. (Photo Credit: Edward Camacho)<\/p><\/div>\n

The tool was purchased in order to bypass several of the limitations possessed by the current generation of 2-photon 3D nano-printers including speed and capacity. With the NanoScribe GT2, researchers specialising in life sciences are now able to develop a variety of different things including cell scaffolds or microfluidic devices. Similarly, it allows researchers in photonics to draw 3D waveguides, while researchers in robotics are now able to make very small, soft structures for soft robotics, all at this miniscule length scale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Camacho chose to replicate Cornell\u2019s McGraw Clock Tower as it <\/span>\u201cis unique and has the right combination of complexity to display 3D printing at the nanoscale for this flagship tool.\u201d <\/span><\/i>He goes on to explain how he built the piece, <\/span>\u201cI did not find a detailed 3D CAD model of the structure, so I created my own,\u201d he said. \u201cPictures from the Cornell [library] online archive and the building\u2019s website were used as a reference. My main specifications and assumptions: 173 feet (53 meters) tall, 161 steps, 21 bells, identical sides, two different staircases, two floors at the top, a pyramidoid roof and a Romanesque Revival architecture style.\u201d <\/span><\/i>With this information, Camacho was then able to achieve an incredible level of detail, including a complete reconstruction of the tower, managing to include aspects from the individual external bricks all the way to the dual internal stairways and bells.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cornell\u2019s

Cornell\u2019s McGraw Clock Tower (Photo Credit: Cornell University)<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you think about Camacho’s scale replica of Cornell\u2019s McGraw Clock Tower? Let us know in a comment below or on our<\/span> Facebook,<\/span><\/a> Twitter<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> LinkedIn<\/span><\/a> pages! Sign up for our free weekly<\/span> Newsletter here<\/span><\/a>, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox!<\/span><\/p>\n

*Cover picture: Ed Camacho of the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility created a scale replica of Cornell\u2019s iconic McGraw Tower. The model, just 1 millimeter tall, contains the tower\u2019s 161 steps and chimes. Courtesy of Edward Camacho.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Earlier this month, a team led by staff photolithographer Ed Camacho at Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), in Duffield Hall created what is thought to be the world\u2019s smallest rendition of Cornell\u2019s iconic McGraw Tower. The tower is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6075,"featured_media":29795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29793"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29799,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29793\/revisions\/29799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}