Digital Delft Blue, a new approach
M.B. de Haan (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
W.S. Elkhuizen – Mentor (TU Delft - Mechatronic Design)
A.L.M. Minnoye – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Mechatronic Design)
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Abstract
Royal Delft is the oldest manufacturer of delftware that is still producing Delft Blue using traditional techniques up to this day. At the core of their company lies the craftsmanship of producing delftware by hand, from creating the moulds to hand-painting each piece of Delft Blue. With a fast moving industry, Royal Delft needs to innovate constantly to keep their market presence. By modernising their designs and collaborating with external companies, they manage to create contemporary Delft Blue.
Apart from hand-painting and transfers, Royal Delft wanted to look for new possibilities to decorate delftware. Through a collaboration with TU Delft, a first prototype was made with a lot of potential, which let to this master thesis.
This thesis presents an improved design of a Delft Blue painting robot with a working demonstrator. This demonstrator is able to autonomously decorate tiles with different techniques, ranging from creating personalised anniversary tiles to gold lustering and painting large tableaus. The consistency of the painting robot is achieved by analysing the surface of each tile and adjusting the brush accordingly. The robot uses the traditional brush and paint as hand-painted delftware, meaning that the robot is able to change brushes and dip the paint automatically.
The benefit of this production method is the quick personalisation and cost efficiency compared to other production methods. As hand-painted products are easy to customise but very expensive, and transfer products require a large batch, robotic painting is a good alternative that is both easy to customise and affordable.
An attempt was made to expand the product range to 2.5D products, such as plates and dishes. After scanning the surface and writing the software to follow the surface, the results lacked consistency due to the accumulation of uncontrolled variables, making 2.5D painting not viable with this configuration.
Finally, a design was presented for implementing the robot into the Royal Delft production process. The concept was validated with a showcase product, a demonstration day in the museum and a discussion with the account managers of Royal Delft. The results were promising, and the robot could be a valuable addition to Royal Delft.