IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1503860
IPC COMMUNITY 38 SUMMER 2023 A-Teams play such a crucial role in help- ing standards committees accomplish their goals that IPC established the Golden Gnome Awards Ceremony in 2021 to recognize their contributions. As part of the event, IPC wanted to provide a tangible and meaningful keep- sake for award winners to take home. IPC invested in 3D printers and leveraged their capabilities to create unique and per- sonalized gnome trophies. When a win- ning A-Team member walks away from the Golden Gnome Awards Ceremony carry- ing their statue, they're holding a "proj- ect" that's equal parts science and design, a symbol of modern technology com- bined with old-school creativity. This year's statue design process began shortly after SummerCom 2022 when IPC technical staff met to determine the theme of the 2023 event. Partially inspired by the release of "Top Gun: Mav- erick," the tech staff chose to fashion this year's celebration after the original Tom Cruise classic. My "top secret clear- ance" design requirements: the eponymous gnome must have aviator sunglasses, a fighter jet, and a volleyball. I started with a few prelimi- nary sketches, ruling out the too- silly, too-complex, and too-time-consuming. Then I used Fusion 360 to build a few CAD models for the tech team's review. To main- tain a thread of tradition, I incorporated the same gnome body as the two previous years' designs, but with a different headgear and pedestal. The tech team reviewed my designs and made their final decision. Knowing I would need help—where would Maverick be without Goose?—I enlisted technical team intern Nick Thelen to repair and refine the model mesh using Blendr, a 3D modeling tool. IPC employs three Elegoo Mars 2 Pro UV-LCD printers—Kraken, Nostromo, and Black Pearl—to fabricate the various tro- phies, badges, challenge coins, key fobs, and other keepsakes gifted and earned throughout IPC departments and pro- grams. Kraken and Nostromo reside in Crestwood, Illinois, while Black Pearl lives in Sant Pol de Mar, Barce- lona, Spain, under the care of Fran Fourcade. Although 3D printers come in many variants for commercial purposes, only two types are realistically available for home users: Fused Deposition Mod- eling (FDM) and photopolymer resin-based systems. Kraken, Nos- tromo, and Black Pearl are examples of photopolymer resin-based printers A Gnome Is Born Some ingenuity and a 3D printer bring the gnomes to life By Patrick Crawford, Manager, IPC Design Process Standards A prototype. STANDARDS