Kugel Archive - Page 2 of 3 - Kunststoffverarbeitung Sonderformen Modellbau mit GFK CFK

Sphere for the Tyrol Festival; ⌀4m

Presenting Huge Sphere!

Erl, is a small village in the Tyrolean region of Austria. It has 1,500 inhabitants, a handful of hotels and many cows. Erl is included in a very special part of history: In the 17th Century, the war-torn inhabitants swore an oath that every six years they would perform the Passion of Jesus Christ, if they were spared from the horrors of further wars. Erl was spared; and to this day, Erl performs the Passion play.

Since the Passion playhouse was constructed in 1959, the Tyrol Festival in Erl is performed in the bold and strikingly designed theatre. The playhouse has become part of the village. Similarly, the inhabitants of Erl, are part of the Festival as its actors, fire brigade members behind and on the stage, technicians, hosts and much more. This close relationship between the citizens, Passion play association, and festival makes the Tyrol Festival in Erl truly distinctive.

For the Tyrol Festival in Erl, ACCENTform made a giant sphere 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter, and mounted it to the ceiling. It was assembled from eight parts. The orb is not only extremely stable, but weighing just 375 kg (825 pounds) is very light at the same time. The object was made from the 4 mm (0.1 in) thick fibreglass laminate in the fireproof design according to DIN 5510 (S4, SR2, ST2) standards. The surface was painted matte white to avoid any reflections of the stage lightening.

Huge Molecule Model

Molecule – Company Logo Replica

Production of an oversized molecule as an eye-catching exhibition booth display.

The molecule floated at the height of 5 meters (5.5 yds.) in the center of the booth. For the production of the spheres, three were made 840 mm (33 in) in diameter and one 1200mm (47 in) in diameter, as well as three connection pieces. These orbs were formed into a molecule by means of the connection pieces. After being primed and smoothed, the surface of the molecule model was prepared for a glossy and reflective coating.

Subsequently, the molecule model was painted blue and yellow to give it a spectacular touch.

Fibreglass Sphere

Round thing for the German Opera Berlin

In August 2011, ACCENTFORMFORM was commissioned by the MCI workshops to provide13 spheres for a performance of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (German Opera Berlin). The orbs were primed and suspended, so that the final coloring would be supplied by the stage performers.

Of course, for this performance, safety is key. Compared with other thermoplastics, our fibreglass material has flame retardant coating and complies with current fire protection classification standards: the material is not flammable and in the event of a fire, it will not melt. Further advantages of the GRP-material are durability, resistance to chemicals and the elements. Additionally, for all of its strength, it is surprisingly low weight.

Because of its GRP material, the fibreglass sphere has unbeatable advantagesover an execution in thermoplastic material:

Durable coloring throughout finish coating
Fire safety is not an problem: no worries about burning or melting
Readily adaptable: Cuts and openings can be easily integrated
Large dimensions (2 m or 6.5 feet) are economically feasible

ACCENTform has the largest range of GRP production forms for producing large-sized spheres.

Orbs sized from 600 mm (2 feet) to 7020mm (23 feet) are not a problem for us. Our delivery sizes are:

GFK Kugel 600 mm Ø, (60 cm bzw. 0,60 m) / 2 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 770 mm Ø, (77 cm bzw. 0,77 m) / 2 ½ ft diam.
GFK Kugel 800 mm Ø, (80 cm bzw. 0,80 m) / 2.6 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 1.000 mm Ø, (100 cm bzw. 1,00 m) / 3.3 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 1.250 mm Ø, (125 cm bzw. 1,25 m) / 4 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 1.500 mm Ø, (150 cm bzw. 1,5 m) / 5 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 2.000 mm Ø, (200 cm bzw. 2,0 m) / 6.5 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 2.500 mm Ø, (250 cm bzw. 2,5 m) / 8.2 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 4.000 mm Ø, (400 cm bzw. 4,0 m) / 13 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 4.500 mm Ø, (450 cm bzw. 4,5 m) / 15 ft diam.
GFK Kugel 7.020 mm Ø, (720 cm bzw. 7,02 m) / 23 ft diam.

Giant fibreglas golf ball

Giant golf ball as an eye-catscher and advertising space

Oversized golf balls from ACCENTFORM are absolute eye-catchers on and near golf courses. They can be foiled with logos and lettering and thus also serve as exclusive advertising space. This large-format, high-gloss gelcoat coated FRP ball convinces with its true-to-theoriginal look of a golf ball in a scale of approx. 1:55. A giant golf ball is made from two hemispheres with a diameter of 2300 mm in the hand laminate procedure in a wall thickness of approx. 4 mm manufactured. An approx. 80 cm high tee replica serves as an optical complement to the golf ball and at the same time offers itself as a pedestal for the extraordinary eye-catcher.

FRP – golf ball as toilet

The FRP enclosure in the shape of a golf ball is used as a sanitary cell, e.g. on golf courses. The shapely, interesting exterior and interior design of the sanitary cell makes it a unique piece of equipment.
The outer shell of the golf ball toilet is made of durable FRP laminate with a UVresistant surface coating of gelcoat.

With a diameter of 2300 mm, the FRP – Golf Ball Toilet offers a space that is unique in this form.

Giant golf ball in a traffic circle – a round thing

How could you point out a golf course more effectively?
In a newly built traffic circle in Lesce (Slovenia), a giant golf ball was impressively placed on a tee. This round XXL eye-catcher is located near the oldest and most beautiful Slovenian golf course Royal Bled.

Presse: Gorenjski Glas

Photos from the production:

Projektion Dome

The new high-tech 3D adventure cinema

In cooperation with the Labros Engineering / Berlin company, ACCENTFORM developed for Kraftwerk Living Technologies Wels a projection dome in a challenging custom design. This projection dome, one of the largest ever-created installations of this type, is designed as a two-part accessible 3D cinema projection of 7 meters (23 feet) in diameter and about 6 meters (almost 20 feet) high.

The projector projects onto all interior walls the realistic 3D films, which the visitor can watch by passing through the projection dome. However, the viewer not only has a visual 360-degree experience, but in a very extraordinary way, stands centrally in the middle of the action, i.e. beneath and above him are installed projection screens.

The huge sphere, which was assembled from two vertically positioned half shells, is a particularly static challenge. Since the half shells were only 6 cm (2.3 inches) thick, the stability was ensured by a sandwich structure, in which all necessary wires can be hidden inside the structure. Each hemisphere is composed of eight different segments: The bolting of each segment is possible due to more than 500 integrated recesses in the sandwich structure, which will be sealed after assembly. Thus, a smooth and visually attractive constructed outer surface is ensured.

Efficient and powerful: The installation of the 3D cinema required relatively low manufacturing costs. Using a 1/8^th scale model of the hemisphere’s surface, a fiberglass production mold was laminated to shape on the outer shell. After having made a production mold for the inner shells, it was laminated to the outer shells that were joined to the outer shells in the form of layers.

In the fall of 2012, the sensational projection dome was completed and opened to the public.

Spherical tower

The Miramar in Weinheim is a constant among connoisseurs of exciting water slides. Numerous videos, test reports and reports of experiences can be found online, which enthusiastically document the Weinheim slide series. The ball tower
made by ACCENTFORM towers above all the slides and therefore not only had to meet the high demands of small and large slide enthusiasts, but also set visual impulses to the outside and meet the highest requirements of safety and stability.

The FRP dome was made of 16 segments and thus has a total diameter of seven meters. The assembly was carried out on site by ACCENTFORM employees.

Artwork Spherical Haus

For the EMSCHERKUNST.2013, the Berlin artist, Reiner Maria Matysik created at the mouth of the Emscher and the Rhine river the artwork, named “Fluss wird Wolke” (“River becomes a cloud”). This artwork consisted of a cloud machine and a building constructed in sphere shapes. The artwork’s highlight is that the soap bubble -like building is designed as an accessible art installation.

Here, where the Emscher falls several meters into the Rhine, the artist, using a cloud machine, “lifts” the Emscher into the air. In the residential architecture, because of its spheres, looks like a cloud, the visitors cannot only learn all about this airy building, but also stay here overnight. The artist has created in its architecture, clouds and overnight accommodations including an airy two-person bed.

The following requirements were demanded by the artwork’s design and were complied to by ACCENTform.

The spherical enclosures were designed 4 m (13 feet) and 2.50 m (8 feet) in diameter. The spheres´ production in this size was particularly economical, because ACCENTform already had the production molds for these dimensions. Each orb was made as a one-piece object; dividing lines are only at the interfaces between the spheres. Three large orbs were manufactured of 4m (13 feet) in diameter.

The seamless creation of the individual spheres was very advantageous, because no signs of the segment divisions are visible on the surface.

One challenging element was due to its large dimensions of up to 4 meters (13 feet). Thus, the pre-assembled spherical house had to be transported to the mouth of the Emscher and the Rhine rivers by special transport. Both the construction, supervision, and the static of the construction required that the spheres must withstand a certain load. The load is understood to be rain, snow, wind and/or people. That’s why ACCENTform used its own self-test: several staff members stood on the structure, whereby the load of 800kg was ascertained.

The performance of the GRP material is particularly apparent in the proportion of sphere sizes up to 4 meters (13 feet) and including wall thicknesses of only 5 mm (1/5 inch).

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Outside, the spheres have been coated with water-based façade colours; inside, the spherical house was sealed with a topcoat. This method ensures a reproducible smooth surface for all further shuttering oil treatments.

Further descriptions:

Corrosion resistant
Lightness of weight
Economic
Artwork, Art
High stability
Does not rot
Maintenance-free
Chemically-resistant
Anti-magnetic
Fiberglas sculpture
Freeform surface
Spherical house

Mirrored Spherical Lamp

Enlightening moments with mirrored globe lamp

The Fritz Gruber place in Cologne shines from now, on in a whole new light: ACCENTFORM created a mirrored LED spherical lamp according to the design specifications of the lighting designer Burkhard Wand from Hamburg. The lamp was processed by Carl Petersen / Hamburg and precisely positioned.

Hanging high above the street, the spherical lamp, made of stainless steel «lights up» accented the public space and creates an impressive evening shadow-play of people, trees and other movable or immovable “characters”. In a simple way, this creates temporary pictures and makes the place an ever-changing work of art.

ACCENTFORM manufactured the fibreglass sphere of 1.25 meters (4 feet) in diameter and about 5 mm (1/5 inch) thick. The light-ball illuminates an exactly predetermined square area using high performance LEDs. This fibreglass object includes inside mounting lugs and rotary flanges in order to increase the rigidity and yield a precise cutout in the spherical shape.

For the mirror-like glossy surface ACCENTform used a special metal coating from VeroMetal. In contrast to conventional chemical mirror-like finish coating processes, the stainless steel jacket was applied by means of a 95% metal powder content in a 1.0 mm (.04 inch) thick layer. Due to this rather «thick» metal coating, the surface ensures a very high weather resistance. Accurately smoothed by hand and extensively polished, the impressive spherical lamp provides not only enlightening moments, but also tends to overshadow the conversation.

Mirror ball – ILA Berlin

With a sphere diameter of 3 metres, ACCENTFORM produced the world’s largest one-piece mirror ball for the ILA exhibition in Berlin. The idea was to reproduce a mirror-image and distorted lettering on the ceiling of the exhibition hall through the mirror ball in such a way that the lettering on the ball appears straight, while all other images in the ball appear distorted.

The production of mirrored objects requires high technical manufacturing expenditures and a very exclusive know-how. Mirrored surfaces do not forgive the slightest mistake. Every spot, every unevenness is immediately visible due to the mirror effect. That is why every step in the production of the mirrored sphere requires the highest quality workmanship.

First, the 3m – sphere is laminated from two halves with a wall thickness of approx. 4 mm in glass-fibre reinforced plastic. Then the two halves are assembled to form a sphere. In order to hide the seam permanently and safely, the area is sanded from the outside and covered with an additional GRP laminate. The raw sphere is then annealed for hours at approx. 75° Celsius. The annealing process (heating over a longer period of time) causes the air bubbles trapped in the laminate to expand and become visible on the surface of the sphere. These defects are pierced and sanded out during the annealing process. These defects are then filled. At the same time, the annealing process results in “post-curing”. The high temperatures stimulate the non-cross-linked molecules to bond. The proportion of chemically unbound molecules in the fresh GRP laminate can be up to 3 %. After annealing, the laminate is cured to such an extent that no more deformation due to “creep” can take place in the long term. Only now is the basis created for levelling out the smallest geometric unevenness by filling and straightening. The sphere is then given a coat of filler, which forms an initial barrier between the GRP laminate and the subsequent mirror coating.

The further processing of the mega sphere then took place at the Blach company in Ansbach. For decades, Blach has specialised in mirroring the surfaces of works of art, vehicles and luxury products. Products that are mirrored using a chemical spraying process must be completely rinsed with an aqueous solution during the mirroring process. Thus, the sphere had to be picked up and rotated by means of an oversized skewer.

Als erster Schritt erfolgt eine Vorlackierung um eine glatte Oberfläche zu erreichen. Diese vorlackierte Oberfläche wird nochmals nass geschliffen um kleinste Unebenheiten und Einschlüsse zu beseitigen. Anschließend erfolgt der Auftrag eines Grundlackes, der eine brillante Oberfläche bewirken soll. Darauf wird die chemische Metallisierung mittels Silber- Kolloiden aufgebracht. Die Silber- Kolloide bestehen aus kleinsten Silberplättchen die nur wenige Moleküle dick sind. Diese Silberplättchen scheiden sich an der Oberfläche des Grundlackes ab und bilden die eigentliche Spiegelfläche. Jegliche Verunreinigungen und Störungen an der Oberfläche bewirken, dass die Silber- Kolloide sich nicht eben ausrichten und dadurch die Spiegelfläche matt wird. Diese Fehler sind nicht mehr zu korrigieren, als Folge muss das gesamte Bauteil nochmals abgeschliffen und einen neuen Grundlackaufbau erhalten. Nach der Verspiegelung erhält die Oberfläche, die aus reinem Silber besteht, einen Klarlackauftrag. Der Klarlack soll das Silber vor Korrosion und mechanischen Beschädigungen schützen. Die Kosten von verspiegelten Oberflächen können bis zu 1.500,- €/m² betragen.
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Pavillion Soccer Ball

Information pavilion in the shape of a soccer ball!

Our firm’s creativity knows no bounds…

We can fulfil all of your fantastic ideas with ease!!!

Technical characteristics:

The football pavilion is composed of 28 pieces: 10 are pentagonal and 18 are hexagonal.

Thanks to the special design and our manufacturing process, this pavilion is weather resistant, stable, and due to the modular design, it is easy to assembly /disassembly. Inside, the pavilion is equipped with an anti-vibration insulation.

Diameter: about 5m (16 ½ feet)

Wall thickness: about 5mm (almost ¼ inch)