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:
3D-printed PCBs and more
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/all-aboard-/4440905/3D-printed-PCBs-and-more?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20151130&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20151130&elq=89e127d101ae443d83b293b8defda113&elqCampaignId=25918&elqaid=29534&elqat=1&elqTrackId=034788bd689e4757b446ccb62eafe54a
Two companies showed 3D printers that can spit out small printed circuit boards and others including Qualcomm showed advances putting electronics on plastic substrates at the annual IDTechEx conference in Santa Clara.
“We see 3D printing contributing to the vision of a trillion-sensor world,” said James Stasiak, a distinguished technologist in printing technology at Hewlett Packard Inc.
A combination of traditional electronics with 3D printing of nanomaterials on new kinds of substrates will enable ten-cent transistors needed for the future Internet of Things, Stasiak said in a keynote. He pointed to the room-sized YieldJet inkjet printer from Kateeva Inc. (Newark, Calif.) that printed OLEDs as well as research printing with DNA and other biological materials.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thermal analysis of SO packages
http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4440910/Thermal-analysis-of-SO-packages?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20151130&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20151130&elq=89e127d101ae443d83b293b8defda113&elqCampaignId=25918&elqaid=29534&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ba165721c1294d968b0702f40d188c9a
Throughout the electronics industry, submicron feature size at the die level is driving package component sizes down to the design-rule level of the early technologies. Today’s integrated circuit (IC) package technology must deliver higher lead counts, reduced lead pitch, minimum footprint area, and significant reduced volume, which has led to semiconductor manufacturers developing the small outline package (SOP), surface-mount memory packaging.
SOP packages support the trend toward miniaturization by consuming one-third to one-half the volume of earlier packaging alternatives. SOP components are a logical choice for the small form factor of handheld instruments, portable communication devices, laptop and notebook PCs, disk drives, and numerous other applications. The mechanical dimensions of the power SOP (PSOP) package, combined with a heat spreading thermal mass (copper slug), make it a good choice for office automation, industrial controls, networking, and consumer applications that generate internal heat and are exposed to stressful temperature conditions.
The PSOP leads are located on the long side of the package, which leaves two sides of the package open. The open sides of the package can be used to route traces under the component, conserving board layers and simplifying board layout. Compared to older versions, the packages can be placed much closer to each other and to other components on the board.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Laser Cut-and-Weld Makes 3D Objects
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/06/laser-cut-and-weld-makes-3d-objects/
Everybody likes 3D printing, right? But it’s slow compared to 2D laser cutting. If only there were a way to combine multiple 2D slices into a 3D model. OK, we know that you’re already doing it by hand with glue and/or joints. But where’s the fun in that?
LaserStacker automates the whole procedure for you. They’ve tweaked their laser cutter settings to allow not just cutting but also welding of acrylic. This lets them build up 3D objects out of acrylic slices with no human intervention by first making a cutting pass at one depth and then selectively re-welding together at another. And they’ve also built up some software, along with a library of functional elements, that makes designing these sort of parts easier.
There are going to be all sorts of limitations to this procedure that we haven’t quite thought through yet.
LaserStacker: Fabricating 3D Objects by Laser Cutting and Welding
http://hpi.de/baudisch/projects/laserstacker.html
LaserStacker allows users to fabricate 3D objects with the an ordinary laser cutter through a cut-weld-heal-release process. The key idea is to use the laser cutter to not only cut but also to weld. Users place not one acrylic sheet, but a stack of acrylic sheets into their cutter. In a single process, LaserStacker cuts each individual layer to shape (through all layers above it), welds layers by melting material at their interface, and heals undesired cuts in higher layers. When users take out the object from the laser cutter, it is already assembled.
The laser cutter produces the scissors in a single integrated process consisting of cutting all layers, welding the layers that should be connected, and healing the undesired cuts. When the user arrives at the cutter, the pair of scissors is already assembled. After removing the surplus material, the scissors are ready to be used to actually cut paper
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printering: Laser Cutting 3D Objects
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/30/3d-printering-laser-cutting-3d-objects/
3D printing can create just about any shape imaginable, but ask anyone who has babysat a printer for several hours, and they’ll tell you 3D printing’s biggest problem: it takes forever to produce a print. The HCI lab at Potsdam University has some up with a solution to this problem using the second most common tool found in a hackerspace. They’re using a laser cutter to speed up part production by a factor of twenty or more.
Instead of printing a 3D file directly, this system, Platener, breaks a model down into its component parts. These parts can then be laser cut out of acrylic or plywood, assembled, and iterated on much more quickly.
Fast Fabrication of 3D Objects by Substituting 3D Print with Laser-Cut Plates
https://hpi.de/de/baudisch/projects/platener.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cutting 3D Shapes on a Laser Cutter
http://retrotechjournal.com/2015/09/01/cutting-3d-shapes-on-a-laser-cutter/
When my local TechShop got a 120-Watt Epilog Fusion laser cutter, I knew it was time to try out something new. Being able to cut though fairly thick material made me wonder if it was possible to cut out 3D objects with the laser. Most laser cutters produce 2D output. They either cut and etch sheets of material in X & Y, or they cut and etch cylindrical objects (drinking glasses, etc) by turning them with a rotary axis which replaces the Y motion
In the past, I’ve sometimes used an indexing jig to turn the object and make XY cutting passes at various angles. What if I automated this rotation? Could I produce a 3D object by rotating the object and cutting out various 2D silhouette profiles? The process is limited buy the max cutting thickness of the laser.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Modular Desktop Photolithography
https://hackaday.io/project/4621-modular-desktop-photolithography
A powerful, and flexible tool that will allow inexpensive access to a variety of processes, from 3d printing to semiconductor fabrication.
I would put a pretty chunk of change that the core hackaday audience REALLY likes the integrated circuit. Who could blame them. In the half century since its invention, billions of people have had drastic improvements in their standards of living since its invention.
This all being said, there is one aspect of the integrated circuit that has proved to be problematic throughout the life of this technology that will only amplify as we attempt to bridge the digital divide. Integrated Circuits rely upon very large scale integration (VLSI) techniques in their manufacture, and historically, such equipment has been extremely expensive, with standard foundries costing in the range of billions of dollars, and getting more and more expensive with each new technological leap in transistor technology. It puts politically connected, profit seeking corporations in charge of what sorts of devices can be made, and as we’ve seen in the past few years with threats of backdoors and blackout buttons that cause us to loose control of our devices, this is terrible for everyone, especially the maker community.
But is there a solution? Is there a way we can regain control of the way our devices are made?
I would hope so, which is why I hope to develop a modular desktop photolithography device. As people like Jeri Ellsworth have shown, the main obstacle when it comes to making integrated circuits, the most difficult aspect for a DIY process is patterning.
My goal is to design a device that can pattern silicon wafers with minimum feature sizes of 2 micrometers that has a form factor that makes it convenient for use in both the home and maker spaces. The first circuits to be made with this device will probably only have a few dozen transistors (maybe even 100 if I’m ambitious)
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Scanning Entire Rooms with a Kinect
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/10/3d-scanning-entire-rooms-with-a-kinect/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing On Shims?
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/11/3d-printing-on-shims/
Forget to generate support material for your 3D printed part? Already a few hours in? Don’t cancel the print — you might be able to save it!
paused the print to build his own support material. He ended up taping down index cards to the bed around his object until they reached layer 13
Printing on Shims
An emergency hack saves a doomed print job.
https://dawes.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/printing-on-shims/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-Printing the Most Ornate Room
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/12/3d-printing-the-most-ornate-possible-room/
It’s no secret that we like 3D printing, but Artist and architect [Michael Hansmeyer] really likes 3D printing. So much so that he’s based his entire career around exploring the artistic possibilities of what he calls “computational architecture”.
http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/projects/projects.html?screenSize=1&color=0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arcus-3D – Full Color Filament Printer
Active mixing, fused filament fabrication 3D printer.
https://hackaday.io/project/3729-arcus-3d-full-color-filament-printer
ongoing effort to build a reliable active mixing filament printer. The general idea is loading CYMKW filament and actively combining them to produce any color. I can get a complete color change in approximately 20mm of 0.4mm extrusion.
The current design is based on a Beaglebone Black running Machinekit and some custom code. The interface is published as a network service and can be accessed locally or remotely with an Android, Windows, or Linux client.
Five stepper motors located on a floating carriage push 1.75mm filaments down short, nylon bowden tubes to a liquid cooled, PTFE lined cold-end.
The hot-end contains a very small custom machined impeller located right at the melt-zone of the 5 distinct incoming plastic streams.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thermostat for 3D Printer extruder head
https://hackaday.io/project/3911-thermostat-for-3d-printer-extruder-head
Rather than spend coin to replace my CNC’s TinyG board, I decided to use stuff I had lying around to control the extruder temperature
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smoothieboard 5xC
http://store.hackaday.com/products/smoothieboard5xc
CNC controller board for 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC mills, and other types of machines with minimal effort.
This is the one board to rule them all.
$169.97
5 Stepper motors drivers, 1/16 microstepping.
3 Big MOSFETS.
3 Small MOSFETS.
4 Thermistors for precise temperature control.
6 Endstop connectors.
Mini USB port.
Ethernet connector.
MicroSD slot.
The Smoothieboard 5xC is a high-end 3d printer and CNC control board. With 5x stepper motor drivers on board this well designed piece of electronics is capable of driving your dual extruder 3d printer, or 4 axis CNC machine quite happily.
The motor drivers on board are the well tested Allegro A4982 steppers which are soldered on to the PCB.
digital current control in the firmware!
The main difference with the Smoothieboard from your usual Ramps 1.4 controllers is the hugely powerful 96mhz Cortex M3, all that extra power means you get much more accurate delta movement calculations, and smoother curves and constant jerk motion planning. This additional power is the real reason for moving to a Smoothieboard, as devices aim for higher resolution and smoother results more processing time is needed to convert GCode to steps for the stepper drivers.
Of course a new controller requires a new firmware, and this is provided by Smoothieware, a very well architected open source firmware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers Print ‘Living’ Blood Vessels
http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/component/content/article/1104-mdb/news/23567
Using a 3D printer and a “bio-ink” made of materials compatible with the human body, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have successfully created structures with living cells and biomaterials. The material and environment are engineered to enable small blood vessels, including human capillaries, to develop on their own.
Initially, tubes are printed out of cells and other biomaterials to deliver essential nutrients to the surrounding printed environment. Eventually, the self-assembled capillaries are able to connect with the bio-printed tubes and deliver nutrients to the cells independently, allowing the structures to function like they do in the body.
Researchers say the precision and 3D structures made possible through bioprinting more effectively reproduce human physiology outside of the body
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mains Powered 3D Printer Heated Beds
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/16/mains-powered-3d-printer-heated-beds/
Converting mains voltage down to 12 or 24VDC to drive a heating element makes no sense. To get 120 watts at 12 volts requires thick wires that can handle 10 amps, whereas at 120V, tiny 1A wires will do. If you’ve ever felt the MOSFET that switches your heated bed on and off, you know it’s working hard to pass that much current. [Makertum] is of the opinion this is a dumb idea. He’s creating a 110 / 230 V, mains-powered heated bed.
Creating a PCB heat bed isn’t an art – it’s a science. There are equations and variables to calculate, possibly some empirical measurements by measuring the resistance of a trace, but Ohm’s Law is a law for a reason. If you do things right, you can make a PCB heat bed perfectly suited for the task. You can even design in safety features like overcurrent protection and fuses. It can’t be that hard. After all, your house is full of devices that are plugged into the wall.
However, there’s a reason we use 12V and 24V heated beds – they give us, at the very least, the illusion of safety.
Although a mains powered heated bed sounds scary for a hobbyist-built 3D printer, there are a number of positives to the design. It would heat up faster, thin down a few parts, and significantly reduce the overall cost of the printer
110 / 230 V~ PCB Heated Bed
A 500W PCB heated bed that runs from mains voltage
https://hackaday.io/project/8671-110-230-v-pcb-heated-bed
After the LOLB, this is my next little mains power adventure: A mains voltage heated bed that outputs 500 W of heat (3 minutes heatup time to 110 °C), works for 230 V~ and 110 V~, features a power indicator LED and has an onboard thermal fuse, just in case.
IMHO, it’s pretty much nuts to convert down mains voltage in a power supply to 12/24V just to drive a heating element, except that it „feels“ a bit safer. Also, it’s a false assumption, that a 12/24 V heated bed is actually safe, since in case of an unexpected malfunction it will still burn down your place – regardless of the voltage on the heating element. Using fuses, temperature feedback and considering failure scenarios cannot be omitted anyway.
Like many, I’m fed up with the common MK2B heated bed. It has about 1.2 Ω when wired in 12 V configuration and 4.8 when wired in 24 V configuration. Both times it outputs about 120 W of heat when driven by the appropriate voltage, resulting heatup times to print temperature of 10 to 20 minutes.
There are many benefits of a mains voltage heated bed: I will be driven directly from mains, skips the need for an expensive power supply and can be driven by a cheap low current SSR without heatsink. It’s also cheap and provides a structural support for your printing plate, be it glass, tufnol/garolite or PEI – which silicone heater pads do not do.
Thinking back and forth if it makes sense to have the board accommodate 230 V and 110 V AC for use in EU and US I came to the conclusion, that there are definitely many more 110 V 3D printers out there than 230 V, so omitting 110 V is not quite an option.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing and Book Binding
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/19/3d-printing-and-book-binding/
How exactly do you use 3D printing to assist in the extremely tedious and difficult art of leather book binding? It’s pretty simple actually — by 3D printing the title you want to emboss!
[Luc Volders] is a hobbyist book binder. He’s also recently gotten into 3D printing, by building his own Prusa I2, and even now, he’s working on building a Delta printer. Typically to do a relief or embossed title on a leather-bound book requires a lot of time — and it’s pretty easy to mess up.
Embossing print in bookbinding
http://lucstechblog.blogspot.nl/2015/12/embossing-print-in-bookbinding.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Hydraulics
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/20/3d-printed-hydraulics/
[Robert MacCurdy] at MIT wants to change how people think about hydraulics. Using fluid can be very useful in systems like robots, but it is often the case that the tubing that carries hydraulic fluid is not an integrated part of the overall design. [MacCurdy] and his colleagues have modified a 3D printer to allow it directly include hydraulic components as it prints.
The idea is simple. The team started with a printer that uses a liquid ink that is UV cured to produce solid layers. The printer has the ability to use multiple liquids, and [MacCurdy] uses hydraulic fluid (that does not UV cure) as one of the print materials.
The group has printed several structures including a gear pump.
How to 3-D-Print a Hydraulic-Powered Robot
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/544766/how-to-3-d-print-a-hydraulic-powered-robot/
A new way to 3-D-print hydraulic systems at the same time as the rest of a device significantly simplifies the process of making functional robots.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printing Objects Directly From Fallout 4
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/20/printing-objects-directly-from-fallout-4/
Fallout 4 was released about a month ago, and although we don’t have a ‘took an arrow to the knee’ meme like Bethesda’s last game, there are ample opportunities for cosplay and printing out deathclaws and mirelurks on a 3D printer. How do you turn files hidden away in a game’s folders into a real, printed object? It’s actually pretty easy and [Angus] is here to tell you how.
The files for Fallout enemies and items can be readily accessed with the Bethesda Archive Extractor, although this won’t give you files that a 3D printer can understand. You’ll get a .NIF file, and NifSkope can convert the files found in the Fallout archives to an .OBJ file any 3D modeling program can understand. The next step from there is taking the .OBJ file into Meshmixer and fixing everything with Netfabb. After that, it’s off to the printer.
Let’s Print! Fallout 4 – Deathclaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KR2kQcHCho
Tomi Engdahl says:
XTC-3D, the 3D print coating everyone is experimenting with
XTC-3D® High Performance 3D Print Coating
http://www.smooth-on.com/Epoxy-Coatings-XTC/c1397_1429/index.html
XTC-3D® is a protective coating for smoothing and finishing 3D printed parts. It does not melt plastic. Two liquids are mixed together and brushed onto any 3D print. Coating self-levels and wets out uniformly without leaving brush strokes. Working time is 10 minutes and cure time is about 4 hours (depending on mass and temperature). XTC-3D® cures to a hard, impact resistant coating that can be sanded, primed and painted. Adding colors and metal effects is easy.
XTC-3D® fills in 3D print striations and creates a smooth, high gloss finish. The need to post finish is almost eliminated.
Coat any 3D Print Surface: XTC-3D® can be applied to both SLA and SLS prints. It works with PLA, ABS, Laywoo, Powder Printed Parts and other rigid media. It also can be used to coat EPS, EPDM and urethane foam as well as wood, plaster, fabric, cardboard and paper
Tomi Engdahl says:
We know two things about [Hans Fouche]: he lives in South Africa and he has a gigantic 3D printer. His latest creation is an acoustic guitar. It may not sound great, but that’s the quality of the recording. It may not play great, but he can fix that with some acetone vapor. It would be very interesting to see 3D printing used in a more traditional lutherie context; this printer could easily print molds and possibly even something to bend plywood tops.
From: http://hackaday.com/2015/12/20/hackaday-links-december-20-2015/
This functional acoustic guitar was 3D printed in South Africa
http://www.htxt.co.za/2015/12/14/a-functional-acoustic-guitar-3d-printed-in-south-africa/
Tomi Engdahl says:
$20 Sip-and-Puff Mouse from E-Cig and 3D Printing
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/21/20-sip-and-puff-mouse-from-e-cig-and-3d-printing/
At Hackaday, we think the highest form of hacking is hacking for good. Sure, it’s fun to build robots and gadgets, and universal remotes. But it is even better to create things that make people’s lives better. In that spirit, we enjoyed seeing the Assistive Tech Challenge over on Thingiverse that ended last month. The winner was [0_o] who used 3D printing and an Arduino to produce a mouth-operated mouse for under $20.
Mouth Operated Mouse
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1090461
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D printing will revolutionize the MEMS production
Micro-Electromechanical instruments, namely MEMS circuits were already last year in a $ 12 billion business. Researchers at MIT have developed a technique for years, which, for example, gas sensors could print 3D technology. This would make MEMS are made on instruments up to a hundred times more affordable.
In the current MEMS production big problem is that it requires high-quality clean rooms, often with a vacuum chamber and in the process many high reactor temperatures. This makes the circuits very expensive to manufacture.
3D Printing ie. Preparation of increasing its contrast, occurs at room temperature or at most for’s moderate temperatures, and production farms required to clean the requirement such as a semiconductor manufacturing process.
MIT’s Laboratory for micro-system technologies, researchers have now suggested that 3D could be produced by printing a very low cost gas sensors. The tests of the thus prepared probe is less strict, and even faster than the corresponding one hundred times more paying semiconductor MEMS sensor.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3783:3d-tulostus-mullistaa-mems-tuotannon&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hand Drive
https://hackaday.io/project/7221-hand-drive
A wheelchair attachment that allows any wheelchair to be powered in a rowing motion. It is 3D printable, open source, and available to all.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pewter Casting with PLA
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/27/pewter-casting-with-pla/
Over on Hackaday.io, [bms.had] is showing his technique for 3D printing molds that he uses to cast (lead-free) pewter objects. The process looks simple enough, and if you have a 3D printer, you only need some lead-free pewter, a cheap toaster oven, and PLA filament. He’s made two videos (below) that do an excellent job of showing the steps required.
Even though the pewter is hot enough to melt the PLA, it doesn’t appear to be a major problem if you quench the piece fast enough. According to [bms.had], a slower quench will melt some PLA although that creates a smoother surface.
Creating the mold is simple (the videos use Tinkercad, although anything suitable for creating 3D models would work).
Metal Casting using 3D-Printed PLA Mould
Printing a PLA mould, use this to cast Pewter
https://hackaday.io/project/8934-metal-casting-using-3d-printed-pla-mould
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Effects of Color on Material Properties of 3D Printed Components
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/28/the-effects-of-color-on-material-properties-of-3d-printed-components/
The strength of object printed on filament-based 3D printers varies by the plastic used, the G-code used by the printer, the percent infill, and even the temperature the plastic was extruded at. Everything, it seems, has an effect on the strength of 3D printed parts, but does the color of filament have an effect on the stress and strain a plastic part it can withstand? [Joshua M. Pearce] set out to answer that question in one of his most recent papers.
The methods section of the paper is about what you would expect for someone investigating the strength of parts printed on a RepRap. A Lulzbot TAZ 4 was used, along with natural, white, black, silver, and blue 3mm PLA filament. All parts were printed at 190°C with a 60°C heated bed.
The printed parts demonstrated yet again that a RepRap can produce parts that are at least equal in material strength to those produced by a proprietary 3D printer. But what about a difference in the strength among different colors? While there wasn’t a significant variation in the Young’s modulus of parts printed in different colors, there was a significant variation of the crystallization of differently colored printed parts
The effects of PLA color on material properties of 3-D printed components
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860415000494
Five colors (white, black, blue, gray, and natural) of commercially available filament processed from 4043D PLA is tested for crystallinity with XRD, tensile strength following ASTM D638 and the microstructure is evaluated with environmental scanning electron microscope. Results are presented showing a strong relationship between tensile strength and percent crystallinity of a 3-D printed sample and a strong relationship between percent crystallinity and the extruder temperature.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Effects of PLA Color on Material Properties of 3-D Printed Components
https://www.academia.edu/19536314/The_Effects_of_PLA_Color_on_Material_Properties_of_3-D_Printed_Components
Tomi Engdahl says:
These crazy sonar gloves let the wearer feel distant objects, even in murky water
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/sonar-gloves-let-wearers-feel-out-of-reach-objects-under-water/
Inspired by the way dolphins navigate the ocean (aka echolocation), a group of Ph.D. candidates from Japan’s Tsukuba University recently developed an innovative sonar glove that allows the wearer to feel what’s underwater without actually grabbing something. Dubbed the IrukaTact, the makers of the glove hope the technology allows for the accurate location of victims during emergency situations involving flooding. Moreover, the developers also provide an online blueprint for anyone looking to 3D-print their own sonar glove — obviously, the electronics would still have to be provided.
Designed and tested by Aisen Carolina Chacin and Takeshi Ozu, the IrukaTact glove (iruka means “dolphin” in Japanese) uses a variety of pulsating water jets to create haptic feedback to any wearer. After the glove’s sonar detects objects under water, it sends a signal back to the glove which then begins applying pressure to necessary fingers via these water jets. If the glove gets closer to an object, the pressure intensifies, alerting the wearer of its proximity.
Under the hood, Chacin and Ozu outfitted their sonar glove with a MaxBotix MB7066 sonar sensor, three miniature motors, and an Arduino Pro Mini microcontroller board.
IrukaTact
[CollabProjectBase] by CollabProjectBase 4
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/kBM7ebBBaUN
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s New in 3D Printing, Part I: Introduction
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/whats-new-3d-printing-part-i-introduction?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
Tomi Engdahl says:
How 3D Printing is Being Used in Health Right Now
http://www.cta.tech/Blog/Articles/2015/August/How-3D-Printing-is-Being-Used-in-Health-Right-Now.aspx
Those closely following the 3D printing space know all about its immense potential to disrupt numerous established industries, from children’s toys to housing. Innovators in the field have been showcasing advancements at CES for years now.
The health space is one area where 3D printing could affect all of us in the most personal of ways. Take a look at some of the ways 3D printing is changing health and its prospects for the future.
We’ve already covered how 3D printing is being used to create customized prosthetics for humans and their best friends.
Another highly advanced application of 3D printing is in “bioprinting.” Around the world, there is a critical need for human organs for transplant, as well as tissue. Right now, organ transplants and tissue generation are difficult and expensive – but 3D printing could potentially offer an easier solution in the future.
Believe it or not, you may one day take 3D-printed medication.
There is hardly anything as important to our health as what we eat and drink. We’ve seen a number of experiments when it comes to 3D-printed food
Tomi Engdahl says:
32C3: 3D Printing on the Moon
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/03/32c3-3d-printing-on-the-moon/
How do you resist this talk title? You can’t! [Karsten Becker]’s talk about what kinds of 3D printers you’d use on the moon is a must-see.
How do you resist this talk title? You can’t! [Karsten Becker]’s talk about what kinds of 3D printers you’d use on the moon is a must-see.
But the main attraction of their mission is experimental 3D printing using in-situ materials. As [Karsten] says, “3D printing is hard…but we want to do it on the moon anyway.”
3D printing on the moon
The future of space exploration
https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7336-3d_printing_on_the_moon#video
3D printers are almost everywhere, but not on the moon yet. We want to change that and this talk gives you a little insight into the how and whys of 3D printing on the moon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Hovalin: Open Source 3D Printed Violin Sounds Great
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/02/the-hovalin-open-source-3d-printed-violin-sounds-great/
[Matt and Kaitlin Hova] have created The Hovalin, an open source 3D-printed violin. Yes, there have been 3D-printed instruments before, but [The Hovas] have created something revolutionary – a 3D printed acoustic instrument that sounds surprisingly good. The Hovalin is a full size violin created to be printed on a desktop-sized 3D printer. The Hovas mention the Ultimaker 2, Makerbot Replicator 2 (or one of the many clones) as examples. The neck is one piece, while the body is printed in 3 sections. The Hovalin is also open source, released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license.
Hovalin
An open source 3D printable acoustic violin
http://www.hovalin.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Controlled CNC / 3D Printer Hybrid
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Controlled-CNC-3D-Printer/
BuildersBot Fuses 3D Printing & CNC Milling Into One Builder’s Dream
The BuilderBot is an Open Design machine, that uses Open
Software and Open Hardware. It is a product of open projects such as the RepRap, Arduino and Repetier .
The objective of this instructable is to guide your way throw the entire making process of building a BuildersBot machine. An open design Arduino Controlled CNC Router that can also perform 3D printing.
The instructions will cover all areas such as design, mechanics, electronics and software.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sculptable Filament from Adam Beane Industries – Cx5 & Cx5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXPrm0-0EV8&feature=youtu.be
Sculptable 3D printing filament coming soon from Adam Beane Industries. Print your sculpture, finish with hot-sculpting and traditional sculpting techniques.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Computer Case Brings Sexy Back
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/03/3d-printed-computer-case-brings-sexy-back/
Using a mixture of 3D-printed plastic corners and a laser-cut acrylic top, bottom and sides, [Complx] was able to create a very pleasing design.
[Scratch Build] Node – 3D Printed Case
http://www.overclock.net/t/1537934/scratch-build-node-3d-printed-case
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 3D Printers of CES
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/06/the-3d-printers-of-ces/
Tomi Engdahl says:
EZ-Spin Motor Spins “Forever”
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/01/ez-spin-motor-spins-forever/
Now this isn’t a perpetual motion machine, but it’s darn close. What [lasersaber] has done instead is to make the EZ Spin, an incredibly efficient motor that does nothing. Well, nothing except look cool, and influence tons of people to re-build their own versions of it and post them on YouTube.
As the motor turns, a permanent magnet passes by the reed switch and it makes the circuit. All of the electromagnets, which are wound in series, fire and kick the rotor forwards. Then the reed switch opens and the rotor coasts on to the next position. When it gets there the reed switch closes and it gets a magnetic kick again.
Check out [lasersaber]’s website, this forum post, and a 3D model on Thingiverse if you want to make your own.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed RC Servo to Linear Actuator Conversion
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/24/3d-printed-rc-servo-to-linear-actuator-conversion/
RC servos are handy when you need to rotate something. You can even modify them to rotate continuously if that’s what you need. However, [Roger Rabbit] needed linear motion, but wanted the simple control afforded by an RC servo. The solution? A 3D printed housing that converts a servo’s rotation into linear motion.
How to Make a Linear Servo DIY for less thant 10 Dollars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn-BklfEho0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Polarizing 3D Scanner Gives Amazing Results
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/23/polarizing-3d-scanner-gives-amazing-results/
What if you could take a cheap 3D sensor like a Kinect and increase its effectiveness by three orders of magnitude? The Kinect is great, of course, but it does have a limited resolution. To augment this, MIT researchers are using polarized measurements to deduce 3D forms.
The Fresnel equations describe how the shape of an object changes reflected light polarization, and the researchers use the received polarization to infer the shape. The polarizing sensor is nothing more than a DSLR camera and a polarizing filter, and scanning resolution is down to 300 microns.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D printed robotic arm
https://hackaday.io/project/8914-3d-printed-robotic-arm
Description
-This project is for learning how to deal with real 3D design.
-How to control the kinematics of this design.
- try to tacle the problems facing the original design& innovate more effective designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Tourbillon Clock
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/11/3d-printed-tourbillon-clock/
3D printed clocks have been done before, but never something like this. It’s a 3D printed clock with a tourbillon, a creative way to drive an escapement developed around the year 1800. Instead of a pendulum, this type of clock uses a rotating cage powered by a spring. It’s commonly found in some very expensive modern watches, but never before has something like this been 3D printed.
[Christoph Lamier] designed this tourbillon clock in Autodesk Fusion 360, with 50 printable parts, and a handful of pins, screws, and washers. The most delicate parts – the hairspring, anchor, escapement wheel, and a few gears were printed at 0.06 layer height. Everything else was printed at a much more normal resolution with 0.1mm layer height.
Because nearly the entire clock is 3D printed, this means the spring is 3D printed as well.
3D-printed Watch with Tourbillon – How it’s made
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go8woPGOggg
Tomi Engdahl says:
Powerful Crossbow is Almost Entirely 3D Printed
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/12/powerful-crossbow-is-almost-entirely-3d-printed/
As it turns out, it’s not feasible to print an entire crossbow yet. But [Dan]’s crossbow build does a good job of leveraging what a 3D printer is good at. Most of the printed parts reside in the crossbow’s trigger group, and the diagrams in the write-up clearly show how the trigger, sear and safety all interact.
http://diydudes.com/3d-printed-crossbow/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking Chipped 3D Printer Filament On The Da Vinci Printer
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/12/hacking-chipped-3d-printer-filament-on-the-da-vinci-printer/
XYZ Printing has been selling 3D printers for years now with one very special feature not found in more mainstream printers. They’re using a chipped filament cartridge with a small chip inside each of their proprietary filament cartridges, meaning you can only use their filament. It’s the Gillette and ink jet model – sell the printer cheap, and make their money back on filament cartridges.
Last week at CES, XYZ Printing introduced their cheapest printer yet. It’s called the da Vinci Mini, a printer with a 15x15x15 cm build volume that costs only $269. Needless to say, a lot of these will be sold. A lot of people will also be disappointed with chipped filament cartridges in the coming months, so here’s how you defeat the latest version of chipped filament.
http://www.wb6cqa.com/2016/01/hacking-xyz-davinci-jr.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing Metal from Rust
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/14/simplifying-metal-3d-printing-by-complicating-it/
It seems backwards, but engineers from Northwestern University have made 3D printing metal easier (and eventually cheaper) by adding extra production steps to the procedure.
The Northwestern team still lays down layers of powder, but glues the layers together with a quick-drying polymer instead of fusing them with a laser. Once the full model is printed, they then sinter it in one piece in an oven.
A new way to print 3-D metals and alloys
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-d-metals-alloys.html
A team of Northwestern University engineers has created a new way to print three-dimensional metallic objects using rust and metal powders.
While current methods rely on vast metal powder beds and expensive lasers or electron beams, Northwestern’s new technique uses liquid inks and common furnaces, resulting in a cheaper, faster, and more uniform process. The Northwestern team also demonstrated that the new method works for an extensive variety of metals, metal mixtures, alloys, and metal oxides and compounds.
“This is exciting because most advanced manufacturing methods being used for metallic printing are limited as far as which metals and alloys can be printed and what types of architecture can be created,”
Conventional methods for 3-D printing metallic structures are both time and cost intensive. The process takes a very intense energy source, such as a focused laser or electron beam, that moves across a bed of metal powder, defining an object’s architecture in a single layer by fusing powder particles together. New powder is placed on top on the previous layer, and these steps are repeated to create a 3-D object. Any unfused powder is subsequently removed
Northwestern Engineering’s new method completely bypassed the powder bed and energy beam approach as well as uncouples the two-step process of printing the structure and fusing its layers. By creating a liquid ink made of metal or mixed metal powders, solvents, and an elastomer binder, Shah was able to rapidly print densely packed powder structures using a simple syringe-extrusion process, in which ink dispenses through a nozzle, at room temperature.
Despite starting with a liquid ink, the extruded material instantaneously solidifies and fuses with previously extruded material, enabling very large objects to be quickly created and immediately handled.
Then, with collaborator David Dunand, the James N. and Margie M. Krebs Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, the team fused the powders by heating the structures in a simple furnace in a process called sintering, where powders merge together without melting.
“By uncoupling the printing and the sintering, it appears that we have complicated the process,” Dunand said. “But, in fact, it has liberated us as each step is much easier separately than the combined approach.”
The team imagines that many disciplines could benefit from customized, quickly printed metals. The new method could be used for printing batteries, solid-oxide fuel cells, medical implants, and mechanical parts for larger structures, such as rockets and airplanes. It could also be used for on-site manufacturing that bypasses the sometimes slow-moving supply chain.
Instead of one laser slowly working its way across a large powder bed, Shah and Dunand’s method can use many extrusion nozzles at one time. Their method potentially can quickly 3-D print full sheets that are meters wide and can be folded into large structures. The only limitation is the size of the furnace.
Another innovative component of their process is that it can be used to print metal oxides, such as iron oxide (rust), which can then be reduced into metal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Four copter created with a 3D printer
Printing three-dimensional structure is already commonplace. American Voxel8 is bringing 3D printer, which can create even four helicopters including the internal wiring.
Voxel8 company Developer’s Kit 3D Printer enables the production of prototypes of three-dimensional electronic devices thermoplastics and silver ink with simultaneous printing. A single material that has been going on for a long time, but the latest craze is at the same time made more material printing.
The company can be printed silver ink and cured at room temperature, and it is 5000 times more conductive than lead pastes and filaments, which are currently used in such manufacture. Voxel8 the materials can be printed three-dimensional antennas, connectors and converters in ways that were previously impossible.
Printer technology made possible a resolution of 200 microns and a conductor strip width of 250 microns. The company developed a silver ink resistivity is without heat treatment record 5.00 x 10 -7 Ω-m. Print Solution is based on a Harvard University research printed materials.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/01/13/nelikopteri-syntyy-3d-tulostimella/
Tomi Engdahl says:
KeysForge will give you printable key blueprints using a photo of a lock
Smartphone photo of lock keyways enough to produce ready-to-print CAD drawings
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/18/keysforge_will_give_you_printable_key_blueprints_using_a_photo_of_a_lock/
Hackers have been gifted with an online web service that can produce blueprints for 3D printed keys from nothing more than a photograph of a lock.
The KeysForge application developed by an academic trio drastically simplifies the complexities in developing keys, allowing amateurs to snap a photo of a lock and have the respective key 3D printed.
University of Colorado infosec assistant professor Eric Wustrow and two colleagues revealed the work at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg last month.
“We made an automatically generating 3D model program [which] takes a single picture of the keyway (lock) and produces a model in CAS (computer assisted design),” Wustrow says, adding that a smart photo photo will suffice.
“You can then take that model and print it on a 3D printer or ship it off to Shapeways or whatever.
keysforge
https://keysforge.com/
This website demonstrates a tool that generates a CAD model of a key blank from a single picture of a lock. This model can then be 3D printed cheaply in either plastic or metal from a number of services.
Such a tool can be used to get around restricted keyways, a defense currently employed by locksmiths and designers to prevent a wide range of attacks including bumping, impressioning, privilege escalation, and teleduplication.
What is this?
This is a tool that can produce a 3D printable CAD model of a key blank (or with cuts if provided) from a single picture of the lock face.
Why publish this tool?
While it is possible that this website will aid attackers, we believe there is greater benefit in demonstrating to both lock designers and the public just how inexpensive these attacks are with modern tools. In addition, allowing a larger audience to use the tool may help defenders discover particular features of keyways that make them difficult to produce with this method, further assisting lock designers that want to defend against this technology.
What attacks are enabled by 3D printing?
3D printed keys can be used to enable privilege escalation attacks, where an attacker with access to a low-level change key can cheaply derive the master key for a system. This attack requires access to key blanks, which are difficult to obtain for restricted keyways.
In addition, 3D printing can provide easier access to bump keys and can allow restricted keyway keys to be copied, either with direct access to the original key or by taking pictures of them remotely.
What can we do to defend against 3D printed keys?
Electronic locks or other non-mechanical locks (such as magnetic locks like EVVA MCS) may defend against attacks enabled by 3D printed keys, although they may have their own weaknesses. For example, electronic locks may be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle or remote code execution attacks.
What if the tool doesn’t work on my image?
The tool attempts to infer the keyway outline automatically, however, sometimes it does this incorrectly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sub $300 CNC, If You Have a 3d Printer
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/25/sub-300-cnc-if-you-have-a-3d-printer/
[Allted] has designed a CNC machine that you can print yourself; adding conduit, bearings, and the standard vitamins to bring it to life. The CNC machine uses a mechanical design similar to an etch-a-sketch, though instead of the maze of pulleys and cable it uses four stepper motors to do the X and Y translation. The machine looks to be about as accurate as a Shapeoko, and is able to handle light cutting in aluminum.
The coolest part is the extensibility of the printer.
Mostly Printed CNC / MultiTool
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:724999
Tomi Engdahl says:
KeysForge will give you printable key blueprints using a photo of a lock
Smartphone photo of lock keyways enough to produce ready-to-print CAD drawings
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/18/keysforge_will_give_you_printable_key_blueprints_using_a_photo_of_a_lock/
The KeysForge application developed by an academic trio drastically simplifies the complexities in developing keys, allowing amateurs to snap a photo of a lock and have the respective key 3D printed.
University of Colorado infosec assistant professor Eric Wustrow and two colleagues revealed the work at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg last month.
“We made an automatically generating 3D model program [which] takes a single picture of the keyway (lock) and produces a model in CAS (computer assisted design),” Wustrow says, adding that a smartphone photo will suffice.
keysforge
https://keysforge.com/
What is this?
This is a tool that can produce a 3D printable CAD model of a key blank (or with cuts if provided) from a single picture of the lock face.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Replication Prohibited:
Attacking Restricted Keyways with 3D Printing
https://keysforge.com/paper.html
Several attacks against physical pin-tumbler locks require access to one or more key blanks to perform. These attacks include bumping, impressioning, rightsamplification, and teleduplication. To mitigate these attacks, many lock systems rely on restricted keyways and use blanks that are not sold to the general public, making it harder for attackers to obtain them. Often the key blank designs themselves are patented, further discouraging distribution or manufacture by even skilled machinists.
In this paper we investigate the impact that emerging rapid prototyping—or 3D printing—tools have on the security of these restricted keyway systems. We find that commodity 3D printers are able to produce key blanks and pre-cut keys with enough resolution to work in several commonly used pin-tumbler locks and that their material is strong enough to withstand the requirements to perform the aforementioned attacks
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s New in 3D Printing, Part II: the Hardware
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/whats-new-3d-printing-part-ii-hardware?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Prosthetic Arm
Worked with e-NABLE to custom design a 3D printed arm for 7 year old girl
https://hackaday.io/project/9361-3d-printed-prosthetic-arm
Worked with e-NABLE to custom design an arm prosthetic for a 7 year old girl. Basic designs available as open source files through e-NABLE but required fitting. Plaster cast girl’s amputation near her elbow and 3D scanned the casting. Once her amputation was in digital format I used this file in AutoDesk Inventor and Meshmixer to customize e-NABLE’s R.I.T. arm through multiple fitting iterations and modifications. Printed design using AirWolf and Makerbot printers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printer Tool: Set Your Extruder Steps With Ease
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/27/3d-printer-tool-set-your-extruder-steps-with-ease/
I have an old Prusa i2 that, like an old car, has been getting some major part replacements lately after many many hours of service. Recently both the extruder and the extruder motor died. The extruder died of brass fill filament sintering to the inside of the nozzle (always flush your extruder of exotic filaments). The motor died at the wires of constant flexing. Regardless, I replaced the motors and found myself with an issue
The hotend, driver gear, extruder mechanics, back pressure, motor, and plastic type all work together to set how much plastic you can push through the nozzle at once. Even the speed at which the plastic is going through the nozzle can change how much friction that plastic experiences. Most of these effects are somewhat negligible. The printer does, however, have a sort of baseline steps per mm of plastic you can set.
The goal is to have a steps per mm that is exactly matched to how much plastic the printer pushes out. If you say 10mm, 10mm of filament should be eaten by the extruder. This setting is the “steps per mm” in the firmware configuration. This number should be close to perfect.
The problem comes in measuring the filament that is extruded.
I have come up with a little measuring device you can make with some brass tubing, sandpaper, a saw (or pipe cutter), a pencil torch, solder, and some calipers.
Adjust the Steps per Millimeter Based on This Measurement
Open up your firmware, find the section where you set your steps per mm and write it down. Take the length of filament you expected to be dispensed and divide it by the actual filament extruded (the number on your caliper). Multiply this by the steps per mm setting you wrote down. This gives you your new steps per mm. Replace the old steps per mm with the newly calculated one and upload the firmware.
So we know that despite careful measurement, filament extrusion varies based on many factors, and you can ‘sorta’ tune this by eye. Why go through all the trouble of making this tool and getting it super exact? When it comes to tuning any machine, you want to eliminate as many unknowns as possible and then tune the remaining.