Ceremonial Mace Produced for Yale University Using Metal 3D Printing

Incus GmbH has developed a ceremonial mace for Yale University in collaboration with engineer and artist Jacob Eldred. As the company announced on LinkedIn last week, Incus’ metal 3D printing process was also used in the process. The ceremonial mace is a symbol of current, modern engineering and features traditional and newly manufactured components. The mace itself is intended to reflect the historical development of engineering and so various traditional processes were used in its manufacture, as well as modern technologies – such as 3D printing – which can be seen in its shape, surface structure and materials.

The base is made of hand-carved wood. It then transitions into a more complex shape made of brass and copper and ends in a geometrically sophisticated top. This upper part is made of aluminum and steel and was produced using CNC manufacturing and 3D printing technology. This is also where the 316L stainless steel component manufactured by Incus is located, which was 3D printed using LMM technology.

Left: Incus technology works in a similar way to stereolithography (photo credits: Incus GmbH). Right: The 3D-printed part could not have been produced using other methods (photo credits: Jacob Eldred and Kristin Wagner)

This technology is a metal manufacturing technology based on stereolithography, which runs in a two-stage process and allows more metals to be processed than is the case with laser powder bed fusion. Instead of resin, LMM uses metal particles as the raw material. Incus emphasizes the consistency of its technology and its flexible possibilities. These have also convinced engineer and artist Jacob Eldred.