3D Printing Flies High now. Articles on three-dimensional printers are popping up everywhere these days. And nowadays there are many 3D printer products. Some are small enough to fit in a briefcase and others are large enough to print houses.
Everything you ever wanted to know about 3D printing article tells that 3D printing is having its “Macintosh moment,” declares Wired editor -in-chief Chris Anderson in cover story on the subject. 3D printers are now where the PC was 30 years ago. They are just becoming affordable and accessible to non-geeks, will be maybe able to democratize manufacturing the same way that PCs democratized publishing.
Gartner’s 2012 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies Identifies “Tipping Point” Technologies That Will Unlock Long-Awaited Technology Scenarios lists 3D Print It at Home as important topic. In this scenario, 3D printing allows consumers to print physical objects, such as toys or housewares, at home, just as they print digital photos today. Combined with 3D scanning, it may be possible to scan certain objects with a smartphone and print a near-duplicate. Analysts predict that 3D printing will take more than five years to mature beyond the niche market. Eventually, 3D printing will enable individuals to print just about anything from the comfort of their own homes.Slideshow: 3D Printers Make Prototypes Pop article tells that advances in performance, and the durability and range of materials used in additive manufacturing and stereolithography offerings, are enabling companies to produce highly durable prototypes and parts, while also cost-effectively churning out manufactured products in limited production runs.
3D printing can have implications to manufacturers of some expensive products. The Pirate Bay declares 3D printed “physibles” as the next frontier of piracy. Pirate Bay Launches 3D-Printed ‘Physibles’ Downloads. The idea is to have freely available designs for different products that you can print at home with your 3D printer. Here a video demonstrating 3D home printing in operation.
Shapeways is a marketplace and community that encourages the making and sharing of 3D-printed designs. 3D Printing Shapes Factory of the Future article tells that recently New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg cut the Shapeways‘ Factory (filled with industrial-sized 3D printers) ribbon using a pair of 3D-printed scissors.
The Next Battle for Internet Freedom Could Be Over 3D Printing article tells up to date, 3D printing has primarily been used for rapid commercial prototyping largely because of its associated high costs. Now, companies such as MakerBot are selling 3D printers for under $2,000. Slideshow: 3D Printers Make Prototypes Pop article gives view a wide range of 3D printers, from half-million-dollar rapid prototyping systems to $1,000 home units. Cheapest 3D printers (with quite limited performance) now start from 500-1000 US dollars. It is rather expensive or inexpensive is how you view that.
RepRap Project is a cheap 3D printer that started huge 3D printing buzz. RepRap Project is an initiative to develop an open design 3D printer that can print most of its own components. RepRap (short for replicating rapid prototyper) uses a variant of fused deposition modeling, an additive manufacturing technique (The project calls it Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) to avoid trademark issues around the “fused deposition modeling” term). It is almost like a small hot glue gun that melts special plastic is moved around to make the printout. I saw RepRap (Mendel) and Cupcake CNC 3D printers in operation at at Assembly Summer 2010.
There has been some time been trials to make 3D-Printed Circuit Boards. 3D Printers Will Build Circuit Boards ‘In Two Years’ article tells that printing actual electronics circuit boards is very close. Most of the assembly tools are already completely automated anyway.
3D printing can be used to prototype things like entire cars or planes. The makers of James Bond’s latest outing, Skyfall, cut a couple corners in production and used modern 3D printing techniques to fake the decimation of a classic 1960s Aston Martin DB5 (made1:3 scale replicas of the car for use in explosive scenes). The world’s first 3D printed racing car can pace at 140 km/h article tells that a group of 16 engineers named “Group T” has unveiled a racing car “Areion” that is competing in Formula Student 2012 challenge. It is described as the world’s first 3D printed race car. The Areion is not fully 3D printed but most of it is.
Student Engineers Design, Build, Fly ‘Printed’ Airplane article tells that when University of Virginia engineering students posted a YouTube video last spring of a plastic turbofan engine they had designed and built using 3-D printing technology, they didn’t expect it to lead to anything except some page views. But it lead to something bigger. 3-D Printing Enables UVA Student-Built Unmanned Plane article tells that in an effort that took four months and $2000, instead of the quarter million dollars and two years they estimate it would have using conventional design methods, a group of University of Virginia engineering students has built and flown an airplane of parts created on a 3-D printer. The plane is 6.5 feet in wingspan, and cruises at 45 mph.
3D printers can also print guns and synthetic chemical compounds (aka drugs). The potential policy implications are obvious. US Army Deploys 3D Printing Labs to Battlefield to print different things army needs. ‘Wiki Weapon Project’ Aims To Create A Gun Anyone Can 3D-Print At Home. If high-quality weapons can be printed by anyone with a 3D printer, and 3D printers are widely available, then law enforcement agencies will be forced to monitor what you’re printing in order to maintain current gun control laws.
Software Advances Do Their Part to Spur 3D Print Revolution article tells that much of the recent hype around 3D printing has been focused on the bevy of new, lower-cost printer models. Yet, significant improvements to content creation software on both the low and high end of the spectrum are also helping to advance the cause, making the technology more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Slideshow: Content Creation Tools Push 3D Printing Mainstream article tells that there is still a sizeable bottleneck standing in the way of mainstream adoption of 3D printing: the easy to use software used to create the 3D content. Enter a new genre of low-cost (many even free like Tikercad) and easy-to-use 3D content creation tools. By putting the tools in reach, anyone with a compelling idea will be able to easily translate that concept into a physical working prototype without the baggage of full-blown CAD and without having to make the huge capital investments required for traditional manufacturing.
Finally when you have reached the end of the article there is time for some fun. Check out this 3D printing on Dilbert strip so see a creative use of 3D printing.
2,052 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
N12 bikini 3D Print Fashion
http://www.3d-print.today/?categoryId=29888&itemId=52083
The N12 bikini is the world’s first ready-to-wear, completely 3D-printed article of clothing. All of the pieces, closures included, are made directly by 3D printing and snap together without any sewing. N12 represents the beginning of what is possible for the near future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing: The Future Is Now
http://www.3d-print.today/?categoryId=29888&itemId=52085
Ever sketched a design idea on paper and wondered what it might look like if it could be brought to life? An earring design, a pendant, perhaps? A sculpture, or special widget? Or even a house plan?
One of the greatest challenges faced by artisans, entrepreneurs and small business operators is turning an idea into a tangible product. Often, the task of moving from concept to a functional prototype can be so difficult, many great ideas simply remain just that – ideas.
3D printing is not really that new, it’s just newly affordable. It popularity was confined to the world of engineering, architecture and manufacturing until the last few years. That all changed with the introduction of relatively low-cost 3D-pirinters, and the wider availability of 3D-printing software, online how-to guides and thousands of practical applications. This convergence has sparked a 3D printing revolution, fuelled by mainstream media interest and growing popularity with consumers and small businesses. Today, 3D printing is one of the most hyped advancements in the technology arena.
Driving Innovation
A relatively sophisticated, 3D printer can cost between $2,500 and $5,000. Cruder models are available for as little as $300-$400. This is giving rise to a growing community – from individual inventors and creative types, to nascent businesses – exploring the potential of 3D printing. They are driving innovation beyond the novelty of uniquely made printed objects.
Business models are evolving as well. A number of companies are emerging that enable anyone to upload a design to a website and order and receive their ‘prints’. Companies like Sculpteo and Shapeways take it even further. They help promote and sell products in a 3D marketplace.
For all the hype, there remains several constraints to 3D-printing moving into mainstream consumer applications. Though many things can now be 3D-printed, there are limits. One limitation is size.
Perhaps the biggest limitation to mass adoption of the technology, however, is ease of use. 3D printing is not yet a simple click-and-print experience for the end-users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Car 3D printed, driven at International Manufacturing Technology Show
http://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/car-3d-printed-driven-at-international-manufacturi
A nearly-completely 3D printed car has had its first drive at the weekend after being created on site at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago.
The car was designed by Local Motors and printed using a Big Area Additive Manufacturing Machine (BAAM), made by Cincinnati Inc. in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“You could think of it like Ikea, mashed up with Build-A-Bear, mashed up with Formula One,” Jay Rogers from Local Motors told WGNTV of Chicago.
The material used was ABS plastic reinforced with carbon fibre, and the Strati (Italian for “layers”) electric vehicle weighed 680 km, can reach a top speed of 65 km per hour and possesses a range of 190 km for a single charge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fonon releases new metal 3D printing systems
http://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/fonon-releases-new-metal-3d-printing-systems
Fonon Technologies has released a new metal sintering system that it claims is a breakthrough in 3D printing.
Fonon, a US-based two-decades-old plus laser technology company, calls its new system 3D Fusion or 3D Laser Metal Sintering, and describes it as an additive nano powder manufacturing technology.
The technology involves layeres of 10 to 100 microns thick of metal powder being fused in a “tightly controlled vacuum or inert gas atmosphere.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
A 3D Printed Peristaltic Pump
http://hackaday.com/2014/09/16/a-3d-printed-peristaltic-pump/
Peristaltic pumps work by squeezing a length of tubing to push fluids. This mechanism is similar to how your intestines work. The pump provides an isolated fluid path, which is why they’re commonly used in medical and food grade applications. Like many products in the medical space, these pumps tend to be rather expensive. Being able to print one for your own projects could save quite a bit of cost.
The pump is based on [emmett]‘s gear bearing design.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printer Gets Wheels, Leaves Trail Of Plastic Boxes
http://hackaday.com/2014/09/18/3d-printer-gets-wheels-leaves-trail-of-plastic-boxes/
The limitation of 3D Printer build volume is over. The folks over at NEXT and LIFE Labs have created a prototype robot with a 3D print head attached to it. Unlike a traditional 3D Printer that moves the print head around within the confines of a machine, the 3&DBot drives the print head around any flat surface, extruding as it goes.
Although the 3&DBot has 4 wheels, they are all stationary and face independent directions. Normally, this arrangement would only allow a vehicle to rotate in a circle. However, the wheels used here are not conventional, they are Mecanum-style with many mini-wheels around the main. This arrangement allows omnidirectional movement of the robot, depending on how each wheel is driven.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dremel Releases 3D Printer
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/09/18/223208/dremel-releases-3d-printer
Power tool maker Dremel today announced its now selling a desktop 3D printer that it said is targeted at “the masses” with a $1,000 price tag and intuitive software. Dremel’s 3D Idea Builder is a fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine that can use only one type of polymer filament, polylactide (PLA) and that comes in 10 colors.
Dremel releases a 3D printer for the masses
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2685322/dremel-releases-a-3d-printer-for-the-masses.html
The user-friendly printer can make objects using 10 different colors
Dremel has announced the first 3D printer to come from a major tool manufacturer, the $999 Dremel 3D Idea Builder. Dremel called it a desktop machine for the masses.
Dremel’s machine extrudes the melted filament in layers 100 microns thick – about the same thickness as a standard sheet of paper. The 3D thermoplastic filament, which looks like weed whacker string, comes on 1.1-pound reels that retail for $30. There are 10 colors from which to choose.
Unlike some other 3D printers, Dremel’s build platform is not heated. Heated platforms help objects that are being printed maintain their shape by holding the edges down.
The printer has a USB port for connecting computers that run either Mac OS X 10.8 or later or Windows Vista or later software. It also has a full colar touch screen display for controlling various functions.
ike all 3D printers, the Idea Builder’s robotic printer head is controlled by special modeling software that controls the placement of the melted polymer on the build platform. Dremel, which announced the printer at MakerCon in New York City, said it comes with Autodesk 123D, a suite of hobbyist CAD and 3D modelling software.
According to Makezine, Dremel’s Idea Builder is based on the same form factor as the Flashforge Dreamer, a consumer 3D printer released earlier this year
For example, XYZprinting recently announced several sub-$1,000 3D printers that will use both PLA and ABS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
THP Semifinalist: Farmbot
http://hackaday.com/2014/09/19/thp-semifinalist-farmbot/
The FarmBot team has been pretty busy with their CNC Farming and Gathering machine. The idea is to automate the farming process with precise deployment of tools: plows, seed injection, watering, sensors, etc. An Arduino with an added RAMPS handles the movement, and a Raspi provides internet connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel putting 3D scanners in consumer tablets next year, phones to follow
http://www.gizmag.com/intel-3d-realsense-scanners-tablets-phones/33882/
Intel has been working on a 3D scanner small enough to fit in the bezel of even the thinnest tablets. The company aims to have the technology in tablets from 2015, with CEO Brian Krzanich telling the crowd at MakerCon in New York on Thursday that he hopes to put the technology in phones as well.
“Our goal is to just have a tablet that you can go out and buy that has this capability,” Krzanich said. “Eventually within two or three years I want to be able to put it on a phone.”
Krzanich and a few of his colleagues demonstrated the technology, which goes by the name “RealSense,” on stage using a human model and an assistant who simply circled the model a few times while pointing a tablet at the subject. A full 3D rendering of the model slowly appeared on the screen behind the stage in just a few minutes. The resulting 3D models can be manipulated with software or sent to a 3D printer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NYC MakerFaire: A Really, Really Big Printer
http://hackaday.com/2014/09/20/nyc-makerfaire-a-really-really-big-printer/
Walk in to the science center at Maker Faire this year, and the first thing you’ll see is a gargantuan assemblage of aluminum extrusion spitting out molten plastic for one of the biggest 3D prints you’ve ever seen. It’s SeeMeCNC’s PartDaddy, a 16-foot tall 3D printer with a four foot diameter build plate.
The printer doesn’t extrude filament. Instead, this printer sucks up PLA pellets and extrudes them with a modified injection mold press mounted to a delta printer frame. That’s a 4mm nozzle squirting plastic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-Powered, 3D-Printed Microscope for Mobile Devices Costs Pennies
http://video.techbriefs.com/video/High-Powered-3D-Printed-Microsc;Electronics-Computers
There are a few devices that use a variety of approaches to leverage a cell phone camera into a microscope, but many are bulky, expensive, hard to align, or are lower powered. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers have developed an inexpensive, 3D printable version that can magnify a sample by 1,000 times. PNNL made the design specifications available to the public so anyone with access to a 3D printer can make their own microscope. The microscope, made out of plastic and inexpensive glass beads traditionally used for reflective pavement markings at airports, slips over the camera lens of the cell phone and is no thicker than a phone case.
The material cost, not including the printer, is under $1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video:
3D Printing Electronic, Optical, and Biological Interconnect Devices
http://video.techbriefs.com/video/3D-Printing-Electronic-Optical
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D printed optics for outdoor and indoor LED lighting designs
http://edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4434851/3D-printed-optics-for-outdoor-and-indoor-LED-lighting-designs
I first heard about LUXeXceL, a 3D printing service for optical components, when they recently announced the availability of a new outdoor-rated coating for their LUX Standard material. Since optics are both a potential key differentiator and a potential trouble spot in a lighting product design, I was intrigued at the idea of being able to produce custom lenses on demand.
From what I was able to learn, LUXeXceL’s high-resolution 3D printing process avoids the optical flaws created by the individual layers filament-based machines produce. Instead, they use something similar to an ink jet printer which deposits micro drops of a photopolymer onto a substrate material and hardens them with UV light. The process allows multiple lenses to be printed at the same time on a single substrate. Once completed, the product is then laser-cut from the sheet. LUXeXceL says the process has extremely high resolution which enables them to quickly manufacture lenses of nearly any shape which have excellent optical properties (scattering, total refraction, surface roughness) and high shape conformity.
Although the company has been manufacturing 3D printed optics since 2010, the new coating enables them to be used in outdoor products by protecting against the influence of sunlight (UV) and rapid temperature changes (thermal shocks -15°C and +60°C). The protection is guaranteed for at least 3 years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The UPS Store Will 3-D Print Stuff For You
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/09/22/2049209/the-ups-store-will-3-d-print-stuff-for-you
UPS announced plans Monday to bring in-store 3-D-printing services to nearly 100 stores across the country, billing itself as the first national retailer to do so. With the UPS system, customers can submit their own designs for objects like product prototypes, engineering parts and architectural models that are then printed on a professional-quality 3-D printer made by Stratasys. Prices vary depending on the complexity of the object; an iPhone case would be about $60
“saw demand for 3-D print continuing to increase across a broad spectrum of customers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
SpaceX Dragon cargo truck flies 3D printer to ISS: Clawdown in 3, 2…
Craft docks at space station with supplies, experiments, toys
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/23/spacex_cargo_dragon_docks_iss_3d_printer/
The International Space Station has snapped up the latest SpaceX Dragon and its supplies, including the floating lab’s new 3D printer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printers Pursue High Fashion
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324050&
“3D printed clothing will take 5-20 years to mature, but it’s not about being perfect,” said Mary Huang, who has created 3D printed bikinis and sandals. “It’s so much better than what’s been done for 100 years.”
She sketched out some of the opportunities and challenges ahead as the fashion industry lumbers into the digital age in a talk at the Designers of Things conference here.
“We live in the age of software, so why shouldn’t fashion be digital?” said Huang, founder of the R&D company Continuum Fashion. “Clothes have been made by hand, a process that is representative of the last century.” The chief hurdles today are in manufacturing.
Huang helped develop a program that lets consumers create dresses using their own patterns. In a crowdfunded pilot program, a Google Glass evangelist used the program to design a Windows Vista dress. A Canadian painter designed a dress that blended into one of her paintings. Thousands of users created custom dress designs, but the problem was making them.
“A plastic dress is not that great, but a nylon bikini was OK,”
Today’s clothes industry still relies on manual processes and high-volume production methods. The automated techniques that could replace them are still in their infancy and geared for other uses, Huang said. “3D printing is really cheap for mechanical engineering prototypes and really expensive for making consumer products. All the manufacturing behind this totally sucks.”
For example, an EOS Formiga P-100 laser scintering machine creates great products, but it costs more than $100,000 and uses powder that costs $200 per kilo, compared to $2 per kilo for fabrics. The result “would be a 3D printed shoe that costs $1,000 or more,” she said. “There are people who do it, but that’s not the potential of the technology. It’s not making things for Lady Gaga, but getting rid of the process of people making shoes in China.”
Current machines take 8-10 hours to print a single shoe. However, farms of small 3D printers — like the Ultimaker machines Huang uses in her studio — will be viable in the future. “We are not that far from this working.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Germans Have Figured Out How to 3-D Print Cars
http://www.wired.com/2014/03/edag-3-d-printed-car/
The assembly line isn’t going away, but 3-D printing is going to reshape how we make cars. The EDAG Genesis points the way, with an beautifully crafted frame made from a range of materials and inspired by a turtle’s skeleton.
The German engineering firm showed off the Genesis design concept at the Geneva Motor Show as proof that additive manufacturing–EDAG’s fancy term for 3-D printing–can be used to make full-size car components. It’s on an entirely different scale than the tiny, 3-D printed creations coming out of a desktop Makerbot, but it’s also just a frame–a stylized chassis that’s more art than reality.
We’ve seen 3-D printing applied to cars before, but EDAG’s design is unique because it shows that with the right equipment you can produce a structure at a massively larger scale. Rather than printing out tiny parts and assembling them together to create a whole, the Genesis proposes that future cars could be produced in fewer steps by assembling large, exceptionally strong unibody parts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Designer Builds A 3D-Printable “Imura Revolver” In Honor Of Arrested Japanese Maker
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/24/designer-builds-a-3d-printable-imura-revolver-in-honor-of-arrested-japanese-maker/?ncid=rss&cps=gravity
When Japanese police arrested Yoshitomo Imura for printing his own revolvers, 3D printing advocates in some circles were up in arms. The guns, which only fired blanks, were simple test models called the Zig-Zag. Now, in honor of Imura’s work in 3D printing, a CAD designer has created a newer, better gun that could be used to fire real bullets.
The designer, who calls himself WarFairy, is part of a team of creators called Free Open Source Software & Computer Aided Design.
WarFairy, who lives outside the US and preferred to remain anonymous, said that the model is quite difficult to design and print. The finished kit will include metal parts to comply with ATF regulations and to strengthen the firing chamber.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How 3D Printing Will Turn Manufacturing on Its Head
http://www.csc.com/cscworld/publications/99621/99377-how_3d_printing_will_turn_manufacturing_on_its_head?utm_campaign=0914-GDC-Outbrain30&utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=ocpc
Tomi Engdahl says:
How 3D Printers Went Mainstream After Decades In Obscurity
http://beta.slashdot.org/story/207745
By now, everyone knows the likes of MakerBot, Bre Pettis, and the gun-printing cage rattlers at Defense Distributed. But the tale of 3D-printing goes all the way back to the heady pre-Macintosh days of 1983, and a simple plastic cup holds the distinction of being the first-ever 3D-printed obj
Manufacturing the future: How 3D printing went from pipe dream to your desktop
Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/manufacturing-future-strange-past-impossible-future-3d-printing/#ixzz3EWi6DLwF
Tomi Engdahl says:
WirePrint is a Physical ‘Print Preview’ for 3D Printers
http://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/wireprint-is-a-physical-print-preview-for-3d-printers/
3D printers may be old news to most of us, but that’s not stopping creative individuals from finding new ways to improve on the technology. Your average consumer budget 3D printer uses an extrusion technology, whereby plastic is melted and extruded onto a platform.
That’s why Hasso Plattner Institute and Cornell University teamed up to develop WirePrint. WirePrint can slice your three-dimensional model into a wire frame version that is capable of being printed on an extrusion printer. You won’t end up with a strong final product, but WirePrint will help you get a feel for the overall size and shape of your print. The best part is it will do it in a fraction of the time it would take to print the actual object.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing of Parameterized Speaker Enclosures
http://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/3d-printing-of-parameterized-speaker-enclosures/
Despite what you would gather from looking at a mess of wires, carpet, and MDF in the back of a Honda Civic hatchback, building speaker enclosures is a pretty complex business. To get the right frequency response, you’ll need to take into account the driver’s resonant frequency, the volume of any internal components, and how well the speaker works when it reaches the resonant frequency.
[Rich] wrote a bit of OpenSCAD and put it up on the Thingiverse Customizer, allowing anyone to manually enter a box volume, height and width ratio, size for a speaker hole, and even bass ports.
SpeakerGen – Parametric 3d Printed Speaker Enclosures
http://nothinglabs.blogspot.fi/2014/09/speakergen-parametric-3d-printed.html
3d print your own speaker enclosures!
This OpenSCAD / Thingiverse Customizer script lets you:
- Generate a box of any desired volume / ratio / wall thickness
- Determine optimal sealed box size for any driver using Thiele / Small parameters (Qts, Vas and Fs)
- Include cutouts for speaker / terminal (and screw holes)
- Include a bass port of any dimensions
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Is Building A Sub-$1000 3D Printer
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/30/arduino-is-building-a-sub-1000-3d-printer/
There is by no means a shortage of teams working on low-cost 3D printers. Kickstarter is absolutely overflowing with them. But, as many of those teams quickly realize, shipping hardware is hard.
A challenger approaches! Arduino, the company best known for building and shipping the absurd number of microcontrollers that power many a DIY electronics project, is about to enter the 3D printing market.
Arduino made the news official today, announcing a partnership with Italy’s up-and-coming printer manufacturer, Sharebot. Their first printer will be called the Materia 101, and is built to print in PLA.
it’s exciting to see a company like Arduino, with its damned impressive ability to scale and its tendency to opensource everything it does, get into the space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OMG!! With nothing but MACHINE TOOLS, STEEL and PARTS you can make a GUN!!
’3D printed plastic gun’ man talks more rubbish
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/02/omg_with_nothing_but_machine_tools_steel_and_parts_you_can_make_a_gun/
Not so amazingly, it turns out that with nothing more than a lot of manufactured parts and some specialised machinery, you can make a working rifle. This “news” comes to us because a man famous for pretending to make working guns from 3D-printed plastic is selling such machinery – which does rather prove that his 3D printed plastic guns were indeed rubbish, and that you should take everything he says with a large pinch of salt.
The person in question, of course, is Cody Wilson, who caused a huge media pant-wetting with the “Liberator” 3D printed plastic “gun” – which was barely any more effective than holding up a cartridge in a pair of pliers and banging the cap with a centrepunch.
Epicmagazine.Net says:
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I’ve absolutely no understanding of programming however I had been hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, should you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple 3D Printed Grip Makes Household Robots a Little More Realistic
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/simple-3d-printed-grip-household-robots
Griple, developed by Zhe Xu and Maya Cakmak at the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Washington, in Seattle, is a US $10 3D printed adapter that slides onto a wide variety of household cleaning tools designed for humans to use with one hand. All you have to do is put Griple on the handle of one of these tools, add some Sugru self-curing silicone to lock it in place, and that’s it. Griple makes it easy for a robot with a relatively simple gripper (like a Baxter or a PR2) to then pick up and use these tools, without having to deal with any kind of grasping issues.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Design and Fabrication of a Radio Frequency Grin Lens Using 3D Printing
http://www.aerodefensetech.com/component/content/article/923-adt/tech-briefs/manufacturing-and-prototyping/19763
Microwave lenses are used in a variety of applications such as electromagnetic wave collection and imaging.
Engineered electromagnetic materials and meta-materials have been researched to explore devices that enable access to electromagnetic properties that are not available in nature. This new class of devices can not only open the door to new functionality, but also be effectively utilized to improve the overall performance of existing systems with respect to electromagnetic performance, cost, size, weight, and repeatability.
This work focuses on the design, fabrication, and characterization of a 3D meta-material implementation of a focusing GRadient INdex (GRIN) lens with an operational frequency of 12 GHz that is capable of focusing a uniform plane wave to a point outside the lens
In the microwave bands, GRIN lenses are often made of polystyrene. Currently, focusing lenses with homogenous refractive index are curved. Their size and weight can make them prohibitive in applications such as airborne systems where these constraints are crucial to efficient operation. These issues can be addressed by designing a lens based on meta-material structures and manufactured with 3D printing. The GRIN lens operates at radio frequency (RF) frequencies, and is not polarization constrained.
Microwave lenses such as GRIN lenses are used in a variety of applications such as electromagnetic wave collection and imaging. These lenses are major contributors to system size, weight, and cost, which forces tradeoffs between system parameters such as focal length, field of view, resolution, bandwidth, reflectivity, and range.
The 3D printing approach was chosen to show how such methods can be used to efficiently and accurately fabricate such devices and electromagnetic materials. This allows for building truly 3D electromagnetic structures, as opposed to stacked layer approaches.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CNC Router Converted To 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/cnc-router-converted-to-3d-printer/
3D Printers have come down significantly in price over the past few years. Nowadays it is even possible to get a 3D printer kit for between $200-300. It’s arguable how well these inexpensive printers perform. [Jon] wanted a printer capable of quality prints without breaking the bank. After researching the different RepRap types that are available he concluded he really wasn’t up for a full machine build. He had previously built a CNC Router and decided it was best to add a hot end and extruder to the already built 3 axis frame.
The CNC Router frame is made from aluminum, is very rigid and has a 2′ by 2′ cutting area. All axes glide smoothly on THK linear bearings and are powered by NEMA 23 motors driven by Gecko 540 stepper drivers.
[Jon] used liked Mach3 for controlling his CNC Router so he stuck with it for printing. He’s tried a few slicers but it seems Slic3r works the best for his setup. Once the g-code is generated it is run though Mach3 to control the machine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fabricating and Testing Freeform Optics: Current Capabilities, Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities
http://www.optimaxsi.com/fabricating-and-testing-freeform-optics-current-capabilities-lessons-learned-and-future-opportunities/
Fabricating and Testing Freeform Optics: Current Capabilities, Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities
http://www.optimaxsi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/OFT-2014-OW3B.2.pdf
Freeform optical shapes or optical surfaces that are designed with non-symmetric features are gaining popularity with lens designers and optical system integrators. A common question about freeform optics is, “If I design it, can you really make it?”
This paper will overview a freeform optical fabrication process that includes generation, high speed VIBE polishing, sub-aperture figure correction, surface smoothing and testing of freeform surfaces. This paper will briefly highlight the progress made to each of the processes as well as the challenges associated with each of them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-printed instruments used in live concert
http://edn.com/electronics-blogs/tech-edge/4435857/3D-printed-instruments-used-in-live-concert-
Lund University professor Olaf Diegel and a band comprising students at the Swedish school’s Malmö Academy of Music recently put on what they called the world’s first live concert of its kind, using only 3D-printed instruments. A drum kit, a keyboard, and two electric guitars, were part of the September show.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Second-generation 3D “self-replicating” printer, in distribution
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/second-generation-3d-self-replicating-printer-in-distribution.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004813&vID=44#.VD9wFhZsUik
RS Components now has the second-generation of the RepRapPro Ormerod, which it says brings affordable 3D printing technology to engineers ranging from hobbyists to large companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printer Builds Homes From Mud In Impoverished Areas
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/3d-printer-uses-mud-natural-fibers-make-homes-impoverished-areas
Nearly one billion people around the globe are homeless or live in substandard housing. In the era of 3D printing, some have addressed this crisis through quickly built concrete buildings. While this method would create a secure dwelling, delivering the raw materials and bulky printer increases the cost significantly, reducing its feasibility. The Italian 3D printing company WASP may have solved this problem by developing an easily-transportable machine that can quickly create dwellings out of mud and natural fibers—materials already available where the houses will be built.
Making houses out of mud is not anything new. In fact, humans have been constructing with mud and fiber binders for over 9,000 years. However, this new technique offers some extreme advantages.
WASP featured a scaled-down version of the project earlier this month at Maker Faire Rome, a huge event showcasing innovative technology from all over the globe.
WASP tentatively plans on building the first 3D printed home sometime next year. Though no official plans have been set for location, they are considering Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea.
This giant 3D printer can build houses from mud in the poorest regions
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141510-26336.html
A six-metre-tall 3D printer has been developed that can build cheap, sustainable houses using a clay-like paste.
Created by Italian 3D printer company WASP, the giant, three-armed printer was demonstrated at Maker Faire Rome last week.
While there are already 3D printers out there that can rapidly build houses, this model is unique as it can be assembled on site within two hours, and then filled with mud and fibre to construct extremely cheap dwellings in some of the most remote places on Earth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
US Army Wants to 3D Print Uniforms
http://www.3d-print.today/?categoryId=29888&itemId=50067
It really seems like the US Army is discovering 3D printing in all its forms. Recently they made the news with plans for 3D printed food, skin as well as warheads. Their newest plan is to 3D print uniforms for soldiers. Those uniforms are currently being made using 2D CAD software, but the US Army thinks in the future 3D printing will play a major role in the production of those clothes.
To Army Technology Magazine, LaFleur said the following about 3D printing:
“It could improve flexibility. You could incorporate hard and soft materials together into one design. So, maybe you have some sort of clothing or protective item that has rigid areas that move into soft areas, where our body needs to flex. That could be really exciting because that is hard to accomplish with a regular textile.”
She also said less seams will be necessary to produce a garment. “The fewer seams you have, the more comfort you can achieve,” LaFleur said. “Seams can cause a hot spot with rubbing. Seams can cause discomfort in high heat and humidity, especially when you layer with body armor. Reducing seams on chem-bio gear would be huge.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
3-D Printed “Iron Man” Prosthetic Hands Now Available For Kids
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/10/20/0142203/3-d-printed-iron-man-prosthetic-hands-now-available-for-kids
inventor Pat Starace has released his plans for a 3-D printable prosthetic hand designed to appeal both to kids who need it and their parents
Iron Man-Inspired Prosthetic Hand Now Available
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2470646,00.asp
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.K. Supermarkets Beta Test Full-Body 3D Scanners For Selfie Figurines
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/10/23/0140249/uk-supermarkets-beta-test-full-body-3d-scanners-for-selfie-figurines
Walmart-owned ASDA supermarkets in the U.K. are beta testing 3D full-body scanning booths that allow patrons to buy 6-in to 9-in high “selfie” figurines. Artec Group, a maker of 3D scanners and software, said its Shapify Booth, which can scan your entire body in 12 seconds and use the resulting file to create a full-color 3D printed model, is making its U.S. debut this week. The 3D Shapify booths are equipped with four wide view, high-resolution scanners, which rotate around the person to scan every angle.
Artec offers to print the figurines for booth operators (retailers) for $50 for a 6-in model
3D full-body scanning booth to create custom figurines
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2836838/worlds-first-3d-full-body-scanning-booth-to-create-custom-you-figurines.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
3d-printer sales will double this year. Market research company Gartner , this year 2014 will be sold 217,000 print units, while last year it was sold 108,000 unit.
Gartner predicts the growth rate will remain just as hard in the coming years, and that in 2018 the sales volume would be 2.3 million.
Next year, 3d printing equipment is moving money to more than 1.2 billion euros.
In 2018, the reading is expected to be almost ten times.
The largest manufacturers include American companies Stratasys and 3D Systems
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/uutisia/3dtulostimien+myynti+100/a1023447
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flying Wing Project uses 3D Printing to Reach New Heights
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/27/flying-wing-project-uses-3d-printing-to-reach-new-heights/
A team of engineers from the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at the University of Sheffield have just put the finishing touches on their 3D printed Flying Wing with electric ducted fan engines — a mini electric jet so to speak.
Earlier this year they had created a completely 3D printed fixed wing UAV, which the new Flying Wing is based off of. Designed specifically for the FDM process, they were able to optimize the design so that all parts could be printed out in 24 hours flat using ABS plastic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
XYZPrinting Releases All-In-One 3D Printer With Internal Laser Scanner
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/10/28/1513242/xyzprinting-releases-all-in-one-3d-printer-with-internal-laser-scanner
XYZPrinting today released the first 3D printer with embedded scanner that has the ability to replicate objects between 2-in and 6-in in size and print objects of up to 7.8-in square from .stl files. The printer’s retailing for $799.
A review of the new da Vinci 1.0 AiO all-in-one 3D printer revealed the 3D scanning capability, which is supposed to have a .05mm resolution
Review: The new Da Vinci all-in-one 3D scanner/printer
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2839535/review-the-new-da-vinci-all-in-one-3d-scannerprinter.html
The da Vinci 1.0 AiO all-in-one 3D printer plus scanner ships today for $799, setting this multi-featured printer virtually alone in a marketplace where even the most basic 3D printers can run over $1,000.
That’s Taiwan-based XYZPrinting’s business model — low priced, yet sophisticated, consumer-grade printers. For example, its first 3D printer released in April, the da Vinci 1.0, retailed for just $499. That compares to a MakerBot’s Replicator 3D printer, which retails for $2,899 and has roughly the same build capability.
A more moderately priced 3D printer, the Solidoodle Workbench Apprentice retails for $799, but it can’t print objects as large as the da Vinci, nor does it have a 3D scanner.
The advantage of a fully enclosed 3D printer is three-fold: it reduces noise created by the robotic print head moving back and forth, it protects the machinery inside and it can reduce the smell when using thermoplastics such as ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), which is notorious for its bad odor.
The printer is about 18-in. x 20-in. x 22-in. in size and weighs 60.6 lbs. While this is a desktop printer, it takes up a sizeable amount of room on your desk.
The front of the printer has a simple push button keypad for traversing a menu on a 2.6-in LCD black-and-white display.
The duplicate of the spinal cord model that the da Vinci created was impressive, capturing the overall size and basic features of the original. The resolution was good, even if you could still detect the hundreds of thin layers with the naked eye. Where it fell short was in fine detail. Many of the spaces between the vertebrae were filled in with material. On the other hand, someone with some CAD skill could manipulate the scanned image to include the latter features.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Make Flexible PCBs with Your 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/28/make-flexible-pcbs-with-your-3d-printer/
The last few years have seen great strides in budget printed circuit board manufacturing. These days you can have boards made in a week for only a few dollars a square inch. Flexible PCBs still tend to be rather expensive though. [Mikey77] is changing that by making flex circuits at home with his 3D printer. [Mikey77] utilized one of the properties of Ninjaflex Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) filament – it sticks to bare copper!
The TPE filament acts as an etch resist, similar to methods using laser printer toner. For a substrate, [Mikey77] lists 3 options:
.004″ thick “Scissor cut” copper clad board from Electronics Goldmine
.002″ thick pure copper polyester taffeta fabric from lessEMF.com
<.001″ Pyralux material from Adafruit, which is one of the materials used to make professional flex PCBs.
Make Flexible Circuit Boards Using A 3D Printer
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Flexible-Circuit-Boards-Using-A-3D-Printer/
You can etch flexible circuit boards using a 3d printer. They can be made of very thin copper clad board material or even conductive fabric.
Standard copper clad circuit board material (FR4) of any thickness, can also be etched using this method.
PLA, Nylon, ABS and most common filaments used for 3d printing do not stick to copper well enough to lay down a pattern that can be etched to create a circuit board. A fairly new elastomeric rubber filament is now available that sticks quite well to copper. It is called Ninjaflex. In fact, it sticks quite well to almost anything including acrylic, blue painters tape, and glass.
A circuit board pattern can be drawn in a free program like 123D Design and then extruded to a thin thickness and saved as an STL file. It can then be printed on top of a thin copper clad board or plated conductive fabric: step 1 pic. It can then be etched in the standard way with a Ferric Chloride solution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP Tiptoes Into 3D Printers
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324430&
Hewlett-Packard sketched out some of its plans for 3D printers and announced a novel 3D workstation geared for advanced hobbyists. HP’s Blended Reality initiative is strategic but still embryonic for the lumbering computer and printing giant at a time when the industry is in a land grab to stake out the gray space between digital and physical worlds.
HP released a whitepaper describing plans for 3D printers it hopes to ship in 2016. The HP Multi Jet Fusion systems leverage arrays of the company’s thermal inkjet modules in an effort to create printers 10 times faster and more flexible than today’s models.
The company also announced Sprout, a 3D workstation that integrates a scanner with a 3D depth sensor as well as a touch-screen display and touch-sensitive mat. Sprout will go on sale in early November for about $1,900.
HP is making versions of its 3D printers available to select partners and customers, but has no plans for a general release of products until 2016.
Technical white paper
HP Multi Jet Fusion technology
http://h10124.www1.hp.com/campaigns/ga/3dprinting/4AA5-5472ENW.pdf
HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology can offer new levels of part quality, 10 times faster and at breakthrough economics relative to similar systems in the marketplace today.
Current 3D printing machines could be categorized in two groups, machines that produce smooth parts with good detail, and machines that produce parts with good strength.
HP Multi Jet Fusion is a new technology built on decades of investment in HP’s assets in inkjet printing, inks and jettable agents, precision low-cost mechanics, and material science.
HP Multi Jet Fusion technology starts by laying down a thin layer of material in the working area.
Next, the carriage containing an HP Thermal Inkjet array passes from left-to-right, printing chemical agents across the full working area. The layering and energy processes are combined in a continuous pass of the second carriage from top-to-bottom. The process continues, layer-by-layer, until a complete part is formed.
Using HP Thermal Inkjet arrays with their high number of nozzles per inch, HP’s proprietary synchronous architecture is capable of printing over 30 million drops per second across each inch of the working area.
The long-term vision for HP Multi Jet Fusion technology is to create parts with controllably
variable — even quite different — mechanical and physical properties within a single part or among separate parts processed simultaneously in the working area. This is accomplished by controlling the interaction of the fusing and detailing agents with each other, with the material to be fused, and with additional transforming agents.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Prints World’s Best Inverter
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324418&
Three-dimensional printers were once a toy, then a curiosity, and now they’ve become a serious prototyping tool. Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) in Knoxville, Tenn., firmly believes that 3D printers will eventually become assembly-line manufacturing tools, and it’s building a portfolio of intellectual property (IP) to have them ready when that time comes.
“We are hoping that in just a few years from now someone will come up with a way to mass produce 3D printer designs,”
“I want to be the first to do this — a first-ever kind of deal,” Chinthavali told us. “Eventually we want to put the specs you want into our CAD file and print out an entire inverter for you.”
ORNL claims that its design would be impossible to manufacture in any other way, as a result of its using complex geometry to increase power density and reduce weight — packing a 30-kilowatt inverter into the palm of your hand.
“Some of the parts on the interior of the inverter are not manufacturable by any other means,” Chinthavali told us. “This inverter combines germanium semiconductors with silicon carbide — that is what makes it different.”
His group is also experimenting with DC-to-DC converters. Its overall vision is to print inverters and other devices 100% — which would mean printing the semiconductors, too, “which is not there yet, so we are going to continue to integrate as needed,” Chinthavali told us.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP Unveils Industrial 3D Printer 10X Faster, 50% Cheaper Than Current Systems
http://build.slashdot.org/story/14/10/29/1928225/hp-unveils-industrial-3d-printer-10x-faster-50-cheaper-than-current-systems
HP today announced an 3D industrial printer that it said will be half the cost of current additive manufacturing systems while also 10 times faster, enabling production parts to be built. The company also announced Sprout, a new immersive computing platform that combines a 23-in touch screen monitor and horizontal capacitive touch mat with a scanner, depth sensor, hi-res camera, and projector in a single desktop device. HP’s Multi Jet Fusion printer will be offered to beta customers early next year and is expected to be generally available in 2016. The machine uses a print bar with 30,000 nozzles spraying 350 million drops a second of thermoplastic or other materials onto a print platform.
HP embraces ‘blended reality,’ dives into 3D printing
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2840555/hp-embraces-blended-reality-dives-into-3d-printing.html
With new hardware and an immersive computing platform, HP vows ‘to forever change the landscape of 3D printing’
Sprout allows users to scan physical objects into a virtual platform that then combines multiple applications for development. Those objects can then be sent to a Multi Jet Fusion printer to be created on the fly.
The Sprout platform also has a collaborative capability so multiple developers or artists can work on that same project at the same time. HP released a software development kit for Sprout today.
The Sprout platform is not designed to interact exclusively with the new 3D platform, but will serve more as an artistic and engineering design tool.
The printer, Weisler said, can produce fully functional parts with more accuracy, finer details and smoother surfaces. It can also manipulate part and material properties, including form, texture, friction, strength, elasticity, electrical and thermal properties, beyond other current 3D print processes.
“We’ve overcome the barriers of speed, cost and quality and we’ve set the foundation for material innovation to truly realize the potential of 3D printing,” Weisler said. “It really is a catalyst for the next industrial revolution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP’s 3D Print Breakthrough Could Push Rivals ‘Out of Business’
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2014/10/29/hps-3d-print-breakthrough-could-push-rivals-out-of-business/
After years of tinkering in the labs, Hewlett-Packard finally is making a big bet on 3D printing. Although HP is targeting a crowded market, the company’s inkjet technology — announced today — looks so revolutionary to analyst Terry Wohlers that he predicts “it could even put some other companies out of business.”
Factory bosses around the world are intrigued by the potential for 3D printing, which rapidly fuses together layer after layer of plastics or other materials, until a full-fledged object is created. In recent years, pioneers such as Stratasys and 3D Systems have transformed this technique from a science-fair curiosity into a mainstream manufacturing technique. In the auto and aviation industries, 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) helps prototype all kinds of parts. In dentistry and jewelry, 3D printing is part of everyday production, especially for intricate, customized items.
Dion Weisler, HP’s head of printing and personal systems, calls 3D printing “an opportunity to create the next industrial revolution. It’s that profound.” Analysts at IDC International estimate that global spending on 3D printers, supplies and services will total a relatively modest $2.7 billion this year. But they expect long-term growth of 29% a year — far beyond the usual trend lines in manufacturing. Bullish analysts at Morgan Stanley foresee even faster annual growth of 34%, or more than $20 billion in sales by 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP dives into 3D printing with Multi Jet Fusion
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/hp-unveils-multi-jet-fusion-3d-printing/
The tech giant makes its long-awaited move into 3D printing — but machines using its technology won’t be widely available until 2016.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Autodesk puts up $100M fund for 3D printing companies
https://gigaom.com/2014/10/30/autodesk-puts-up-100m-fund-for-3d-printing-companies/
Autodesk is seeking both hardware and software companies to receive a chunk of the fund, with an eye on fostering the 3D printing company as a whole.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Speaker
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/01/making-a-speaker-with-resin-magnets-and-wire/
http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Speaker/?ALLSTEPS
Tomi Engdahl says:
French Appropriate Audiences project has modified 3d-printer to automatic tattoo machine:
appropriate audiences
http://appropriateaudiences.net/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D PRINTED GUNS: THIS time it’s for REAL! Oh, wait – no, still crap
It turns out you CAN make a real gun … from steel and gun parts
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/06/3d_printed_guns_this_time_its_for_real_oh_wait_no_still_crap/
The tight barrel fit means that the expanding gases cannot leak past the bullet and thus they impart a lot of their energy to the projectile. It also means that the barrel must be strong too, to resist the high gas pressures generated inside it.
Pretty much none of this can work in a gun made of 3D printed plastic. The chamber cannot be strong enough, the barrel cannot be strong or tight enough, and the mechanism holding the cartridge base in place cannot be robust enough. That’s why 3D printed guns are crap.
The “Atlas .314″ attempts to solve this problem by including a steel barrel and chamber as part of the cartridge.
There is a notional plastic barrel in Crumling’s accompanying 3D-printed “gun” as well, with pretend rifling to comply with US gun law, but it is the steel tube of the Atlas which does the work; the “gun” has become nothing more than a holder with a striker mechanism for popping the cap
Of course the Atlas cartridges, being made of steel rather than crappy laminated plastic, cannot be 3D printed at home. Crumling makes them using a lathe — a machine tool. Ignorant journalists are excited by the fact that once fired the cartridges can be refilled with powder, fitted with a fresh primer and a new bullet, and used again: but this is also true of normal spent brass. Thrifty gun fanciers have been recycling their cartridge cases time out of mind.
So — amazingly — it turns out yet again that with nothing more than machine tools, steel and some specialist manufactured parts YOU CAN MAKE A GUN. As indeed you have always been able to. If like Mr Crumling you insist on using 3D-printed plastic for one of the important functions, it will be a crappy and dangerous gun: Crumling’s .314 Atlas weapon will lack striking power, range and accuracy compared with a proper gun with a proper rifled barrel and breech mechanism, and will badly injure anyone foolish enough to be behind it when it goes off.
nothing has changed here. Plastic 3D printing remains a stupid and impractical way to make any important part of a gun
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low-Cost 3D-Printed Prosthetic Hand To Be Tested On Amputees In Ecuador
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/11/06/2345254/low-cost-3d-printed-prosthetic-hand-to-be-tested-on-amputees-in-ecuador
The hand costs just $270 to manufacture, making it a small fraction of the cost of a typical prosthetic of this type.
Low-cost 3D-printed prosthetic hand to be tested on amputees in Ecuador
http://www.gizmag.com/3d-printed-prosthetic-hand/34615/
Through 3D-Printed Prosthetic, Illinois Students Lending a Hand in Ecuador – See more at: http://engineering.illinois.edu/news/article/9730#sthash.V9HDI6Aj.dpuf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printing In Metal with a MIG Welder
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/07/printing-in-metal-with-a-mig-welder/
Whenever the question of metal 3D printers comes up, someone always chimes in that a MIG welder connected to a normal 3D printer would work great. A bit of research would tell this person that’s already been done, but some confirmation and replication is nice. A few students at TU Delft University strapped a welder to a normal, off-the-shelf 3D printer and made a few simple shapes.
This project builds on the work of [Joshua Pearce] et al. at Michigan Tech where an MIG welder and delta bot was used to lay down rather complex shapes on a metal plate substrate. The team at TU Delft used a cartesian bot – a Prusa i3 – for their replication because of the sheer mass of moving a metal build plate, firebricks, and welder around.