Print your own Duchamp urinal

Rob Myers sez, "I commissioned the ultra-talented cwebber to make a 3D model of a urinal suitable for 3D printing, signing, & placing on a plinth. It's licenced under CC-BY-SA 3.0. I got a print of it from Shapeways, and you can too, or you can download and print it yourself from Thingiverse."

Shapeways Urinal Print (Thanks, Rob, via Submitterator!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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bartoncasey

Not sure how useful a urinal that mounts on a counter and drains on your shoes would be.
- escowles
  
  I don’t think you’re supposed to use it that way:
  
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4059997.stm
  - Skep
    
    Ah…I hang my head in shame of my modern art ignorance :-0
    
    …sigh…
- Skep
  
  Yeah, I don’t get it. If you follow the link ( http://robmyers.org/weblog/2011/02/shapeways-urinal-print.html ) you’ll see it is only a few inches high. I guess it is an esoteric scale model rather than a utilitarian device you can 3D print.
Avram / Moderator

Checking it against this photo of Duchamp’s “Fountaine”, I see that the original has much thicker walls, and various holes that didn’t make it into the 3D model. Are there technical limitations of the 3D printer process that made these changes necessary? Would making the walls thicker have just cost too much?
- Christopher Allan Webber
  
  Heya Avram,
  
  So, actually it’s not an issue of cost. You’re probably right that the “original” has thicker walls and more holes. I didn’t model off of a real copy in sight. You could say this model was “inspired” by other urinals that exist, but maybe isn’t that urinal itself? ;)
  
  If it bothers you, and you want to fix such things for yourself and have the skills in Blender (or know someone who does), the model is freely available to edit:
  
  http://dustycloud.org/gfx/gallery/blender/urinal.blend
  
  I’d be happy to see derivatives of this work, maybe some which more accurately match actual instances of urinals that people are fond of than I was able to do :)
  
  There was one limitation that’s intentional, and that’s that the “holes” don’t connect to any real 3d plumbing. I thought that amount of detail may make the thing too fragile. (Also, I was too lazy.)
  
  Thanks for the comments! Also, here’s a spaceship version if you want to play with it:
  
  http://dustycloud.org/tmp/uss_r_mutt_screenshot.png
  http://dustycloud.org/tmp/uss_r_mutt.blend
- Christopher Allan Webber
  
  Also I modeled the walls before I realized it was too thin. I could have fixed it maybe but at that point with the detail I put in it might have taken a long time to get it right without messing with the geometry. It’s probably fixable, but hard. The holes wouldn’t be hard to fix.
  
  And Rob Myers informs me that it *would* have cost more if it were thicker. I wouldn’t know! I’m not the one with the printed copy (though probably I should get one!)
Spookyland

Not to nit-pick, but it should be lying down, rather than presented as shown. Since this can be 3D printed, I’d like to see ‘R. Mutt’ printed on the side. That would be nice.

DuChamp’s original was apparently destroyed during WWII, but another stand-in readymade has been filling in for it ever since.

I am not sure if DuChamp ever commented on the irony of substituing a readymade object for his readymade instance of art.
Anonymous

Here’s a very practical problem for someone adept at differential geometry (that is, not me): what is the surface which sends all possible impinging “rays” (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection) to within its own domain? or said another way: there has got to be a urinal design that doesn’t splatter. look at that thing up there (“just look at it”) a flat floor? oh you know that’s going to bounce out. think centralized caustic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caustic_%28mathematics%29 ) …thankee.
Anonymous

Lose the plinth – at that scale Marcel would have preferred a little velvet-lined wooden box.
irksome

That is not a pipe.
- PaulR
  
  Maybe…you’re supposed to put your, um, ding-a-ling, in the hole in the front so you can get a ‘pipe’.
  
  To the people who speak French: you can go ahead and snigger now.
  - Freddie Freelance
    
    This is Not a Pipe.
Rob Myers

It is lying down on some copier paper in the photo.

I wish I could afford to print it in steel or glass for the Jeff Koons crossover effect.

A pipe might make a good next entry in the series. :-)
Donald Petersen

Duchamp has influenced many contemporary artists, including Tracey Emin – her unmade bed was inspired by the French artist.

Sigh… if only the world knew the inspirations behind my own series of unmade beds.
Christopher Allan Webber

Wow! I can’t believe this made it on boingboing :)

If you use Blender, you can download the .blend from here: http://dustycloud.org/gfx/gallery/blender/urinal.blend (CC BY-SA 3.0 also, of course) and play around with it (Use the Blender 2.5X series).

More on my blog: http://dustycloud.org/blog/2011/2/15/duchamp-fountain-urinal-model
LushMojo

That’s not a Teddy DuChamp urinal, is it? ‘Cause, you know, his dad is a looney up in the nuthouse in Togus.
Flashman

Ha! Very nice. I suggested just this thing in a comment here a couple of days ago:
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/12/jeff-koonss-claim-to.html#comment-1025453

Now, how litigious are the heirs of M.Duchamp?
Atvaark

When the takedown notice comes, here’s how you can comply: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4587988.stm

Just take it down.