We recently caught up with An Duong, founder of morethan3D.com and Manufacturing Engineering Manager Global Test at Rolls Royce plc. He designed a 3D model of the Crew Dragon Spacecraft that was used in the SpaceX ‘Demo-2’ and ‘Crew-1’ missions in 2020. BMF recently printed this model for him on one of our micro-precision 3D printers and wanted to learn a little more about An and the model he designed.
Could you tell us a little more about you and your background?
I graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2015 and am currently working in the Aerospace industry. Since I was a kid, I loved inventing and designing new things.
I was first introduced to 3D printing in 2018 by one of my friends and I fell in love with this technology immediately. One day, whilst working on my printer, I thought: “hey, why not do something fun with 3D printing to support my STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities?” That’s when I started to design 3D printed educational models as a hobby after work.
I’m currently working at Rolls-Royce Plc as a Manufacturing Engineering Manager Global Test. I also founded and currently running a company since 2019, called ‘Morethan3D Ltd’. Outside work, I love teaching kids about science and I get involved in many STEM initiatives. I also love designing engineering models and use 3D printing to bring my designs into reality.
Why did you decide to design the Crew Dragon Spacecraft model?
SpaceX has become the first private company to launch human beings into orbit and they are working on their next missions to send humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. I was deeply inspired by their successful ‘Demo-2’ and ‘Crew-1’ missions in 2020, so I decided to design & make this 3D printed model – which is a replica of the Crew Dragon Spacecraft that was used in those space missions. I published the STLs of this model on my website (https://morethan3d.com) so other people can also download and make the model themselves. I hope my work can be used not only to inspire more children to become astronauts in the future, but also to pursue STEM careers when they grow up.
Stats of the Crew Dragon Spacecraft Model
- Overall part size: 30mm wide x 15.8mm deep x 27.5mm tall
- Resolution – 10µm
- Layer thickness – 20µm
- Heights of the individual capsules are
- 24mm
- 12mm
- 4.75mm
- Base of the part is 3.33mm thick
How did you get connected to BMF?
I was introduced to Carl Leonard, BMF’s EMEA Apps Engineer by Steven Taylor from 3DGBIRE. Steve told me that Carl could print my Crew Dragon spacecraft at incredibly small scales on the BMF printers and I was really intrigued. I decided to send Carl the design and he surprised me with the world’s smallest Crew Dragon 3D printed spacecraft! It was amazing!
