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.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Desktop Metal reveals how its 3D printers rapidly churn out metal objects
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/25/desktop-metal-reveals-how-its-3d-printers-rapidly-churn-out-metal-objects/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
Desktop Metal revealed pricing and other details for its 3D printers today which can make objects out of hundreds of different alloys including steel, aluminum, titanium and copper.
Desktop Metal calls its core technology “microwave enhanced sintering.” The company’s printers put down layers of metal and ceramic powders that are mixed in a soft polymer.
Once a mixed-media item is printed, it goes into a furnace where it is rapidly cooked. Heat burns off the polymer. Gases are filtered by charcoal.
Meanwhile, the metal is fused together but at a temperature that won’t make it melt and lose its shape.
Wherever ceramic was laid down in a printed design, metal remains separated and doesn’t fuse.
Earlier metal 3D printers using lasers and high heat have been used in aerospace, defense, industrial and automotive manufacturing, especially, and to create medical devices, implants and other small parts.
The broader additive manufacturing industry generated just $5.1 billion in revenue last year, according to Wohlers Report 2016.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Blender and Python to 3D print a dress
https://opensource.com/article/16/12/blender-python-3D-dress
The opening ceremony at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio featured snowboarder Amy Purdy wearing a 3D printed dress, wearing prosthetics printed from the same material as the dress, and dancing with a Kuka robotic arm.
The dance was a statement about the merging of the human spirit and technology. “The backstory, which mainstream media passed over, was the critical role open source software played in the making of the dress: it was created using Blender and Python.
When I started writing code for manipulating 3D objects in Euclidean space I began wishing I had taken at least Algebra 1, but I somehow skipped that part of high school. Fortunately, all of that can be learned from free video tutorials. About six months after I wrote my first line of computer code, I created my first cloth engine from scratch using Numpy. I gave a presentation at the Blender conference in Amsterdam on this. Everyone said it was an amazing achievement
So many people in the open source community were doing amazing things I never would have dreamed of and they were all sharing their ideas, assets, and even source code freely.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing by Python scripts in Blender – Takuro Wada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onZpxZr4qxU
3D Printing by Python scripts in Blender
https://www.blender.org/conference/2015/presentations/157
Talk about 3D modeling for 3D print by Python scripts in Blender.
I will talk about actual 3D modeling cases using python scripts in
Blender for 3D print and have basic tutorial to make 3D model using
python script in Blender (Using programming technic, you can create
generative models which can not be made by your hand). Also I’d like
to talk about tips you have to care about in modeling for 3D print.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Axial Compressor
An axial compressor that is was designed to be produced inexpensively
https://hackaday.io/project/21569-3d-printed-axial-compressor
I didn’t have $4k to shell out for a hobby engine. So I started on the long quest to build one. Two years later, I’m on my sixth iteration and am hoping that it’s the last (fingers crossed).
To start off with, this is just the compressor, not a jet engine. A jet engine is comprised of a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine. I built this to be run with an electric motor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Fast 3D Printing Technology Creates Furnitures in a Tank Full of Gel
http://interestingengineering.com/fast-3d-printing-technology-creates-furnitures-tank-gel/
Milano Design Week 2017 hosted the unveiling of a new, innovative 3D printing experimental process called Rapid Liquid Printing.
This new 3D printing technology is fast-producing, calibrated for large-scale production, and uses real-world and industrial-grade materials.
This new 3D printing technology is fast-producing, calibrated for large-scale production, and uses real-world and industrial-grade materials.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3DWriter
Use your 3D Printer with a pen to write letters, birthday cards etc
https://hackaday.io/project/19357-3dwriter
I couldn’t find any small programs that i could use to write letters using my 3D Printer as a plotter so i wrote one. After mucking about with different fonts i found a font set called the Hershey fonts. These are the only fonts used in this application since they are primarily stroke based fonts rather than outline fonts that every other program i tried had.
Video demo over on youtube https://youtu.be/yK_YGwMRR40
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low Cost, Open Source, LCD based SLA 3D Printer
https://hackaday.io/project/21461-low-cost-open-source-lcd-based-sla-3d-printer
An open, superior, low cost alternative to FDM 3D printing that takes advantage of high res LCD technology and modern curable resins.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: RepRap Helios
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/07/hackaday-prize-entry-reprap-helios/
Did you know that most of the current advances in desktop consumer 3D printing can be traced back to a rather unknown project started in 2005? This little-known RepRap project was dedicated to building Open Source hardware that was self-replicating by design. Before the great mindless consumerization of 3D printing began, the RepRap project was the greatest hope for Open Source hardware, and a sea change in what manufacturing could be.
While the RepRap project still lives on in companies like Lulzbot, Prusa, SeeMeCNC, and others, the vast community dedicated to creating Open Hardware for desktop manufacturing has somehow morphed into YouTube channels that feature 3D printed lions, 3D printed Pokemon, and a distinct lack of 3D printed combs. Still, though, there are people out there contributing to the effort.
[Nick Seward] is famous in the world of RepRap. He designed the RepRap GUS Simpson, an experimental 3D printer that is able to print all of its components inside its own build volume.
[Nick] is designing a new kind of RepRap, and he’s entered it in the Hackaday Prize. It can print most of its own component parts, it has an enormous build volume, and it’s unlike any 3D printer you’ve seen before. It’s a SCARA
RepRap HELIOS
https://hackaday.io/project/21355-reprap-helios
RepRap HELIOS is a highly printable SCARA 3D printer. It has an outrageous print area and can print on almost any flat surface.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Powerful, Professional Brushless Motor from 3D-Printed Parts
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/08/powerful-professional-brushless-motor-from-3d-printed-parts/
Not satisfied with the specs of off-the-shelf brushless DC motors? Looking to up the difficulty level on your next quadcopter build? Or perhaps you just define “DIY” as rigorously as possible? If any of those are true, you might want to check out this hand-wound, 3D-printed brushless DC motor.
There might be another reason behind [Christoph Laimer]’s build — moar power! The BLDC he created looks more like a ceiling fan motor than something you’d see on a quad, and clocks in at a respectable 600 watts and 80% efficiency. The motor uses 3D-printed parts for the rotor, stator, and stator mount. The rotor is printed from PETG, while the stator uses magnetic PLA to increase the flux and handle the heat better.
600 Watt, 3d-printed, Halbach Array, Brushless DC Electric Motor
http://www.instructables.com/id/600-Watt-3d-printed-Halbach-Array-Brushless-DC-Ele/
This is a very powerful, 3d-printed brushless DC electric motor. It has 600 Watts, and performs with more than 80% efficiency. The main components like rotor and stator can be printed with a common FDM-printer. Magnets, copper wire, and ball-bearings are ordinary components. The magnets of the rotor are arranged as Halbach Array. The motor runs with a standard ESC widely used in different RC-applications (plane, drone, car).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printing bones on a DIY powder bed 3d printer
https://hackaday.io/project/21447-printing-bones-on-a-diy-powder-bed-3d-printer
This project focuses on using building a budget powder bed 3d printer capable of printing bones, and creating the needed ink and powder.
This project focuses mostly on creation of materials needed for printing with hydroxyapatite a printer to go with it. This project will be divided in two parts. First one being construction of a 3D powder bed printer, and second one being creation of materials. As hydroxyapatite is quite expensive and 3d printed bones being quite useless on a regular basis I will try to make all material concepts usable with other materials (eg. ceramics and metal powders hopefully).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Use of Photonic Crystals Replaces Dyes, Pigments in 3D Printing
https://www.designnews.com/materials-assembly/use-photonic-crystals-replaces-dyes-pigments-3d-printing/120415607256729?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170510.tst004t
Inspired by structural color found in nature, researchers have developed a way to use photonic crystals to achieve color for 3D printing without the use of synthetic dyes and pigments.
Inspired by structural color found in nature, researchers at the University of Colorado have developed a way to achieve color for 3D printing without the use of synthetic dyes and pigments.
Instead, a team in the Miyake Research Group at the university has used photonic crystals to create structural color by using polymers that self-assemble to nanostructures during 3D printing that reflect specific colors, said Bret Boyle, a graduate student in the Miyake Research Group at the University of Colorado.
“Thermoplastic build materials composed of dendritic block copolymers were designed, synthesized, and used to additively manufacture plastic parts exhibiting structural color,” Boyle and co-researchers—including Professor Garret Miyake, who leads the research—wrote in an abstract for a paper they published on their work in the journal ACS Nano .
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Guy Fixed His Teeth By 3D Printing His Own Plastic Braces For $60
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/this-guy-fixed-his-teeth-by-3d-printing-his-own-plastic-braces-for-60/
On his blog, Dudley wrote that he was an unlikely combination of two things: He was broke, but had access to a high-quality 3D printer through his university. He took full advantage of this.
The process wasn’t exactly easy.
Orthoprint, or How I Open-Sourced My Face
http://amosdudley.com/weblog/Ortho
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new 3D printing technology uses electricity to create stronger objects for manufacturing
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/10/a-new-3d-printing-technology-uses-electricity-to-create-stronger-objects-for-manufacturing/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
“FDM typically has been plagued by a de-lamination problem,” the company’s president and CTO Blake Teipel told TechCrunch this week at Rapid. “It’s a layer-by-layer printing process, so you get an inherently weak bond between the layers. What we’re doing is reheating and post heating that plastic, creating a much larger heat affected zone in the plastic part. It makes the part stronger in all directions and between all those layers.”
The resulting process, according to the company, creates a part that’s around 95-percent as strong as one created with injection molding. Not perfect, but most of the way there.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The First Open Source 3D Printer Filament
https://www.open-electronics.org/the-first-open-source-3d-printer-filament/
Aleph Objects, Inc., the company behind LulzBot 3D printers, has announced the launch of the world’s very first Certified Open Source Hardware 3D Printing Filament.
Aleph Objects and IC3D worked closely together on the development of the project, beginning by opening up IC3D’s ABS filament. IC3D has released a 16-page white paper, now available on GitHub, detailing their filament manufacturing process, parameters, material grades, and much more. By doing so, the company has blown the door open on what, until now, has been the secretive process of filament manufacturing.
While there are plenty of open source 3D printers and software programs, filament has been a stubbornly proprietary area of 3D printing until now.
https://github.com/IC3DPrinters/filament-extrusion/blob/master/Open%20Source%20Filament/IC3D%20Open%20Source%20ABS%203D%20Printing%20Filament%20Documentation%20Rev0.pdf?utm_source=phplist198&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=Aleph+Objects+and+IC3D+Disrupt+3D+Printing+Materials+at+RAPID%2BTCT+2017
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing A Synthesizer
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/12/3d-printing-a-synthesizer/
Before there were samplers, romplers, Skrillex, FM synths, and all the other sounds that don’t fit into the trailer for the new Blade Runner movie, electronic music was simple. Voltage controlled oscillators, voltage controlled filters, and CV keyboards ruled the roost. We’ve gone over a lot of voltage controlled synths, but [Tommy] took it to the next level. He designed a small, minimum viable synth based around the VCO in an old 4046 PLL chip
http://blog.tommy.sh/posts/hello-f0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Transparent 3D Printing?
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/13/transparent-3d-printing/
Transparent plastic is nothing new. However, 3D prints are usually opaque or–at best–translucent. [Thomas Sanladerer] wanted to print something really transparent. He noticed that Colorfabb had an article about printing transparent pieces with their HT filament. [Thomas] wanted to try doing the same thing with standard (and cheaper) PETG, which is chemically similar to the HT. Did he succeed?
You can get lots of clear plastic filament, but the process of printing layers makes the transparency turn cloudy, apparently mostly due to the small gaps between the layers. The idea with the HT filament is to overextrude at a high enough temperature that the layers can fuse together.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monoprice Releases Their Mini Delta Printer (On Indiegogo)
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/17/monoprice-releases-their-mini-delta-printer-on-indiegogo/
In the year since the release of the MP Select Mini printer, Monoprice has been hard at work bringing costs down, reworking designs, and creating an even less expensive printer. Now, it’s out.
Is this still a $150 printer? Not quite: the ‘early bird’ price is $159 with free shipping and August delivery, and a regular price of $169 plus $10 shipping with September or October delivery. There’s also a bundle for $279 that includes the printer, 2kg of filament, and a software package.
The first time we saw this tiny printer was way back in January at CES. It looked to be an extremely capable printer; the only question was if Monoprice could produce it and get it out the door. This would be a tall order; this printer comes with NEMA 17 stepper motors, a heated bed, a 32-bit controller board, and has WiFi enabled.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3d printed gearbox for small dc motors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSto7soM3mw
Gearbox 1/16 ratio
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2227131
Tomi Engdahl says:
Self-assembling Polymers Support Silicone 3D Prints
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/18/self-assembling-polymers-support-silicone-3d-prints/
We all know what the ultimate goal of 3D printing is: to be able to print parts for everything, including our own bodies. To achieve that potential, we need better ways to print soft materials, and that means we need better ways to support prints while they’re in progress.
That’s the focus of an academic paper looking at printing silicone within oil-based microgels.
Self-assembled micro-organogels for 3D printing silicone structures
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/5/e1602800.full
Tomi Engdahl says:
Josef Prusa: Multi Material Extruders for Amazing Color Prints
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/23/josef-prusa-multi-material-extruders-for-amazing-color-prints/
The Prusa i3 Mk 2 is the hotness in consumer-grade, quality 3D printing right now. And things just keep getting more interesting. We caught up with Josef Průša at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend to see the multi-material extruder in its final form. It’s an upgrade to the Mk 2 which allows a single hot end to print in four different materials, be it different colors or different types of filament.
In the past, common approaches for multi-material printing used a separate hot end for each material. But the big flaw in that design is the added complexity. With more than one hotend you need extremely precise calibration so that the nozzle heights (Z axis) are exactly the same and the X/Y alignment between the heads match.
Prusa Research sidesteps this issue by using a single head. Four Bowden tubes all connect in a 4-way splitter on the print head. When it’s time to switch materials the head travels to another part of the bed and purges the remains of the previous material before returning to the print with the new filament.
The printer itself starts at $699 and the multi-material upgrade is $299.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/3d-printed-lego-my-freshly-calibrated-prusa-i3
Tomi Engdahl says:
The sky is the limit for new low-cost 3D printer
http://www.umu.se/english/about-umu/news-events/news/newsdetailpage/the-sky-is-the-limit-for-new-low-cost-3d-printer.cid280127
[2017-03-07] Sliperiet at Umeå Arts Campus is in the process of making a 3D printed Tower of Babel using a novel hanging printer. This offers a low-cost solution and increased flexibility to print large volumes.
A new type of 3D printer has been demonstrated at Sliperiet, Umeå Arts Campus. Suspended on thin fishing lines, ‘Hangprinter’ is currently making a Tower of Babel as part of the +Project innovation initiative. The machine’s innovative spiderlike set up does not depend on a box, frame or rails; the printer can instead be attached to any stable surface, opening up a number of opportunities.
“As far as I know, the HangPrinter is the only 3D printer of its kind. There are parallel cable-driven robots and other cable-driven 3D printers, but the HangPrinter is unique in that all the parts except the energy source are mounted on the mobile device, and that it can use existing structures – in this case the walls – as a frame,” says Torbjørn Ludvigsen, inventor of the HangPrinter.
“The frame or box was almost half the cost of the final 3D printer, and I thought I could do without it.”
“With a 3D printer unconstrained by a set frame or box, prints can become as tall as whatever it can be suspended from, while the horizontal print area is unconstrained by a set frame,”
Torbjørn Ludvigsen proved its feasibility with a first prototype last year and has been improving the method and device ever since. The printer can be put together for around EUR 200, a fraction of the cost of other large format printers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Practical Enclosure Design, Optimized for 3D Printing
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/24/practical-enclosure-design-optimized-for-3d-printing/
[3D Hubs] have shared a handy guide on designing practical and 3D printing-friendly enclosures. The guide walks through the design of a two shell, two button remote control enclosure. It allows for a PCB mounted inside, exposes a USB port, and is optimized for 3D printing without painting itself into a corner in the process. [3D Hubs] uses Fusion 360 (free to hobbyists and startups) in their examples, but the design principles are easily implemented with any tool.
One of the tips is to design parts with wall thicknesses that are a multiple of the printer’s nozzle diameter. For example, a 2.4 mm wall thickness may sound a bit arbitrary at first, but it divides easily by the typical FDM nozzle diameter of 0.4 mm which makes slicing results more consistent and reliable.
CAD Modeling #1 – Enclosures
https://www.3dhubs.com/knowledge-base/cad-modeling-1-enclosures
Tomi Engdahl says:
Metal 3D Printing: Insta-Layers
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/29/metal-3d-printing-insta-layers/
Selective Metal Sintering is cool but slow. Fear not, a technology that was initially developed to smooth and pattern laser beams is here to save the day, according to a new paper by Lawrence Livermore researchers.
In a paper titled “Diode-based additive manufacturing of metals using an optically-addressable light valve,” the researchers lay out a procedure for using an array of high-powered laser diodes among other things to print a whole layer of metal from powdered metal at one time. No more forward and backward, left and right. Just one bright flash and you’re done. Naturally, the technology is still in its infancy, but huge 3D printed metallic parts are something we’ve always hoped for.
According to [Matthews], the first author of the paper, the mojo of the process comes from a customized laser modulator: the Optically Addressable Light Valve which functions similarly to liquid crystal-based projectors but can handle the high energies associated with powerful lasers.
While it’s true that now is the time for direct metal 3D printing, it appears that for the time being the average hacker is stuck with alternative methods for printing metal.
Diode-based additive manufacturing of metals using an optically-addressable light valve
https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-25-10-11788
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oddly Satisfying – Twist Containers
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/30/oddly-satisfying-twist-containers/
One of the great strengths of 3D printing is that it makes creating objects with certain geometries much easier than it would be with traditional subtractive machining methods. Things like thin-walled perfect spheres or objects with wild undercuts become trivial to make. A great case in point is these amazing 3D-printed twist vases.
Files to make the vases are available on MiniFactory, including a trend-riding fidget toy based on the same concept.
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/MakeAnything
Tomi Engdahl says:
Additive + Subtractive = One Powerful Machine
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/31/additive-subtractive-one-powerful-machine/
It says it right on the title of the video below: it was bound to happen eventually. It’s only natural that somebody would stick a 3D printer extruder on the business end of a CNC machine. The long-awaited convergence of additive and subtractive manufacturing is here.
OK, that may be overstating things a bit, but we think [Chris DePrisco] is on to something here. Given the considerable investment he’s made in his DIY CNC machine, an enormous vertical machining center that looks a little like a homebrew Bridgeport, it was a no-brainer to take advantage of the huge XYZ stage. Mounting the Titan Aero extruder
Putting a 3D Printing Head on the Mill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEyL6cVWlo4
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 Things Repaired by 3D Printer – AWESOME IDEAS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBfAh9iID3I
Anyone else just destroying appliances in order to gather parts for your projects? I hope someone found this video inspiring to repair stuff using 3D printers. CAD is key to sketch up the parts you need. Fusion360 is free for students, but anyone can download Tinkercad for free: https://www.tinkercad.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing – Vaginas, Robots, & 3D Printers – 3D Nuggets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdR6nP4m0QY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Polymaker Polysher Review – 3D Printing with No Layer Lines using Polysmooth?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdtFj-jK-ig
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: 3D Printed Mini-Lathe
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/31/hackaday-prize-entry-3d-printed-mini-lathe/
Lathes can be big, powerful, dangerous machines. But sometimes there’s a call for making very small parts out of soft materials, like plastic and wood. For jobs like this, you could use something like this 3D printed mini-lathe.
The benefits of 3D printing a tool like this are plentiful. The design can be customized and refined by the end user; [castvee8] notes that the machine can be made longer simply by increasing the length of the lead screw and guide rails. The machine does rely on some metal parts and a motor; but the real power here is that if you can’t source the exact components, you can always customize the files to suit what you have on hand.
3D printed manual mini Lathe
Small and basic 3D printed lathe for small projects.
https://hackaday.io/project/20089-3d-printed-manual-mini-lathe
Another small 3D printed machine I designed and built for making. It is a simple design to make and build and allows you to make when you finish building it!
This machines inexpensive build cost(about 25$ total) allows everyone to make and use one. Putting tools into every makers hands helps everyone.
No custom PCBs to make-all off the shelf electronics/parts.
Super simple to use and make what you want. Make parts for projects, hobbies, costumes etc.
Work in woods, plastics and hard foams. Happy turning!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Got an F in art class? This 3D clay printer is for you
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/3d-clay-printer-gives-bowls-vases-21st-century-spin/
Over the past several years, the number of materials it’s possible to 3D print with has exploded. Here’s one we’ve not come across before, though — clay.
This addition to the 3D-printing universe is thanks to the arrival of ClayXYZ, an innovative new additive manufacturing tool for the sculpture and pottery set. Allowing you to create anything from intricate vases and bowls to masks and models, it’s a great idea — and something any self-respecting maker is going to want to add to their home studio.
There are a few particularly neat things about the promise of this 3D printer. One is the fact that it uses basic modeling clay, which makes it incredibly easy to find suitable printing material for.
Precision for the printer’s XY axis is 15 microns, while the Z axis is 5 microns, and the nozzle layer precision is between 0.2 and 0.8mm.
The other nifty part is reusability. Provided you haven’t baked your finished piece in a kiln, the malleability of clay means you can simply add water and reuse the material.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The first open source 3D printer filament
https://opensource.com/article/17/5/open-source-3d-printing-filament?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
IC3D’s new open source plastic filament for 3D printers means libre options for the entire 3D tool chain.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Desktop Metal reveals how its 3D printers rapidly churn out metal objects
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/25/desktop-metal-reveals-how-its-3d-printers-rapidly-churn-out-metal-objects/
Desktop Metal revealed pricing and other details for its 3D printers today which can make objects out of hundreds of different alloys including steel, aluminum, titanium and copper. In terms of quality, the parts produced by Desktop Metal systems compare to injection-molded items, says the startup’s CEO and cofounder Ric Fulop
Tomi Engdahl says:
Saving A Part-Way-Through Failed 3D Print
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/03/saving-a-part-way-through-failed-3d-print/
This will be an experience shared by all 3D printer owners; a long print is mostly done, and something goes wrong. Result: most of the print and a heap of plastic vermicelli, or worse still, a print with an obviously offset layer in it.
[Simon Merrett] had a large part running on his printer, and 2.5 hours in to a 3 hour print the nozzle caught the edge of what he had already done, and as a result he was extruding into thin air (He told us in his tip email that his machine build was the likely culprit). Being fortunate enough to see it happening, he was able to hit the stop button in his Repetier software and bring the calamity to a swift halt.
How he rescued the situation is an interesting tale which he’s recorded in the screen capture video we’ve placed below the break, it involved using a spreadsheet to analyse the G-Code and remove the lines for the part he had already printed before inserting a new set of Z-axis dimensions to start the remaining section of print from the bed upwards. A few further fixes, and he was able to print the rest of his part, which he could then glue to the unfinished top of the section he had already printed.
3D Print Regain – Gcode Editing to the Rescue!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFSNYqddBEA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fidget Tri Spinner
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1936727
Tomi Engdahl says:
Formlabs Announces a Desktop SLS 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/05/formlabs-announces-a-desktop-sls-3d-printer/
Formlabs have just announced the Fuse 1 — a selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printer that creates parts out of nylon. Formlabs is best known for their Form series of resin-based SLA 3D printers, and this represents a very different direction.
SLS printers, which use a laser to sinter together models out of a powder-based material, are not new but have so far remained the domain of Serious Commercial Use. To our knowledge, this is the first time an actual SLS printer is being made available to the prosumer market. At just under 10k USD it’s definitely the upper end of the prosumer market, but it’s certainly cheaper than the alternatives.
Meet the Fuse 1
https://formlabs.com/3d-printers/fuse-1/
The industrial power of selective laser sintering on your benchtop, starting at .
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s first 3D-printed car showcased at PLASTEC East
https://www.designnews.com/3d-printing/world-s-first-3d-printed-car-showcased-plastec-east/99419160156917?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170606.tst004t
The world’s first 3D-printed electric car rolls onto the PLASTEC East show floor this month. The Strati, developed by Local Motors (Chandler, AZ), took just 44 hours of additive manufacturing and 10 hours of subtractive milling to produce. Vehicle assembly required fewer than 50 parts.
When the Strati first debuted in 2015, Clare Goldsberry described the proprietary manufacturing process in PlasticsToday:
“The first phase is additive. Made from ABS plastic reinforced with carbon fiber, the current model of the Strati takes approximately 44 hours to print 212 layers. The end result is a completed 3D-printed car structure.
The second phase is subtractive. Once 3D printing is complete, the 3D-printed car structure moves to a Thermwood CNC router that mills the finer details. After a few hours of milling, the Strati’s exterior details take shape.
The final phase of 3D-printed manufacturing is rapid assembly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The IP Of The Infinite Build Volume 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/06/the-ip-of-the-infinite-build-volume-3d-printer/
Last week, the Blackbelt 3D printer launched on Kickstarter. What makes the Blackbelt 3D printer different than any other 3D printer on Kickstarter? This printer has an infinite build volume. It’s built for continuous production. As long as you have a large enough spool of filament, this printer will keep producing plastic parts with no downtime in between. The Blackbelt is a truly remarkable and innovative machine. Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but it’s designed for production and manufacturing, not some guy tinkering in his garage.
However, the Blackbelt 3D website includes two words that have sent the 3D printer community into an uproar. ‘Patent Pending’ is something no one in the community wants to see given the history of the industry and a few poor decisions from the first movers during the great 3D printer awakening of 2010. The idea of an infinite build volume printer that allows for continuous production is not new;
[Bill Steele] first demonstrated his unnamed infinite build volume printer at Rapid 2016 and at the Midwest RepRap Festival in March of 2017. However, unbeknownst to everyone, [Andreas Bastian] of Autodesk has been working on a similar device for years. The Lum Printer is effectively the same machine as demonstrated by [Steele]; a conveyor belt bed over a tilted XY extrusion plane allows for prints of unbounded length.
The Blackbelt 3D is still patent pending, and we don’t have any idea of what is claimed by these patents. However, Blackbelt was kind enough to share that they are only claiming, “the belt material, an adjustable angle for the extrusion plane, and G-Code manipulation.” For an Open Source implementer of the infinite build volume printer, everything else is fair game.
Although the Blackbelt patent will cover a variably tilted bed, the belt material, and a method to transform G-Code so any slicer can use this printer, that doesn’t mean the idea of an Open Source, infinite volume printer is out of the question. The only thing anyone needs to do is simply build one with a permissive license.
This is a challenge to the entire 3D printing community. Come up with a printer design that uses a bed tilted 45 degrees to the print plane, and find a suitable belt material. The rewards will be enormous.
http://blackbelt-3d.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
[Steele] has uploaded his own G-Code Shifter. The G-Code problem for a tilted bed printer is solved, and it’s Open Source.
Tilted Conveyor FDM Printer Post Processor
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2358314
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: DIY LCD based SLA 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/07/hackaday-prize-entry-diy-lcd-based-sla-3d-printer/
Resin-based SLA 3D printers are seen more and more nowadays but remain relatively uncommon. This Low Cost, Open Source, LCD based SLA 3D Printer design by [Dylan Reynolds] is a concept that aims to make DIY SLA 3D printing more accessible. The idea is to use hardware and manufacturing methods that are more readily available to hobbyists to create a reliable and consistent DIY platform.
[Dylan]’s goal isn’t really to compete with any of the hobbyist or prosumer options on the market; it’s more a test bed for himself and others
Low Cost, Open Source, LCD based SLA 3D Printer
https://hackaday.io/project/21461-low-cost-open-source-lcd-based-sla-3d-printer
An open, superior, low cost alternative to FDM 3D printing that takes advantage of high res LCD technology and modern curable resins.
SLA 3D printing is the big brother to FDM 3D printing; its faster, more accurate and enables printing of more complexed geometries. One of the draw backs to desktop SLA 3D printing is time spent printing. Like FDM, compact desktop machines trace out every contour (inner and outer) of ever layer and we all know what that is like – its fascinating to to see a machine in action the first time but it gets pretty old when you hit the 13th hour of the print! One might argue that DLP projector based SLA printers are the superior technology to rule the FDM machine but DLP projectors are expensive, have to be modified to remove the UV filter and the bulbs have limited life span. Not to mention they are pretty big.
Enter this project… Unlike FDM, using an LCD screen allows one to project a complete profile of a layer. This saves an enormous amount of time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Improving Mister Screamer; an 80 Decibel Filament Alarm
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/07/improving-mister-screamer-an-80-decibel-filament-alarm/
The Basic Concept
The idea is that if a 3D printer is attended (but not under constant supervision) and the operator is prepared to swap filament rolls when needed, then there is no need for the printer to perform any “smart” duties such as pausing the print. As long as there is a means of triggering an alarm when filament has run out, the operator can do everything needed to keep the machine printing uninterrupted, and the printer itself doesn’t even need to know
Tomi Engdahl says:
TORLO is a Beautiful 3D Printed Clock
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/08/torlo-is-a-beautiful-3d-printed-clock/
What if you could build a clock that displays time in the usual analog format, but with the hands moving around the outside of the dial instead of rotating from a central point? This is the idea behind TORLO, a beautiful clock built from 3D printed parts.
TORLO
a 3d printed electromechanical clock
https://hackaday.io/project/25309-torlo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Printing Bones
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/08/hackaday-prize-entry-printing-bones/
You would be forgiven to think that 3D printing is only about rolls of filament and tubs of resin. The fact is, there are many more 3D printing technologies out there. Everything from powders to paper can be used to manufacture a 3D model. [Jure]’s Hackaday Prize entry is meant to explore those weirder 3D manufacturing techniques. This is a printer that lays down binder over a reservoir of powder, slowly building up objects made out of minerals.
The key question with a powder printer is exactly what material this printer will use. For this project, [Jure] is planning on printing with hydroxyapatite, a mineral that makes up about 70% of bones by weight. Printing bones — yes, they do that — is quite expensive and has diverse applications.
Printing bones on a DIY powder bed 3d printer
https://hackaday.io/project/21447-printing-bones-on-a-diy-powder-bed-3d-printer
This project focuses on using building a budget powder bed 3d printer capable of printing bones, and creating the needed ink and powder.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mini Delta 3D Printer in Action at the Monoprice Booth
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/08/mini-delta-3d-printer-in-action-at-the-monoprice-booth/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Radiation Patterns
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/11/3d-printed-radiation-patterns/
Radiation patterns for antennas can be utterly confusing, especially when presented in two dimensions, as they usually are. Fear not, [Hunter] has your back with 3D printed and color-coded radiation patterns.
To that end, [Hunter] simulated several different antenna structures, cleaned up the models for 3D printing, and 3D printed them in color sandstone, and the end result is beautiful. By printing in colored sandstone through Shapeways, [Hunter] now has roughly walnut-sized color-coded radiation patterns they can hold in their hand. To save others the work, [Hunter] has posted his designs on Shapeways at Ye Olde Engineering Shoppe.
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/ye-olde-engineering-shoppe
Tomi Engdahl says:
Big Slew Bearings Can Be 3D Printed
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/12/big-slew-bearings-can-be-3d-printed/
Consider the humble ball bearing. Ubiquitous, useful, and presently annoying teachers the world over in the form of fidget spinners. One thing ball bearings aren’t is easily 3D printed. It’s hard to print a good sphere, but that doesn’t mean you can’t print your own slew bearings for fun and profit.
As [Christoph Laimer] explains, slew bearings consist of a series of cylindrical rollers alternately arranged at 90° angles around an inner and outer race, and are therefore more approachable to 3D printing. Slew bearings often find application in large, slowly rotating applications like crane platforms or the bearings between a wind turbine nacelle and tower.
Slew Bearing, parametric Design with Fusion 360
by TheGoofy, published Jun 9, 2017
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2375124
Tomi Engdahl says:
PrusaControl: The Beginner’s Slicer
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/12/prusacontrol-the-beginners-slicer/
There are two main applications for managing 3D prints and G-Code generation. Cura is a fantastic application that is seeing a lot of development from the heavy hitters in the industry. Initially developed by Ultimaker, Lulzbot has their own edition of Cura, It’s the default software packaged with thousands of different printers. Slic3r, as well, has seen a lot of development over the years and some interesting hacks. Do you want to print non-planar surfaces? Slic3r can do that. Slic3r and Cura are two sides of the CAM part of the 3D printing coin, although Cura is decidedly the prettier side.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Additive Manufacturing Enables Microwave Components for Space Applications
http://www.mwrf.com/materials/additive-manufacturing-enables-microwave-components-space-applications?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20170615_MWRF-001_825&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=11614&utm_medium=email&elq2=09546ba8893d42fb9f0a813a7b6ac012
3D printing techniques can be used to build RF/microwave components for demanding space applications, offering benefits like reduced mass.
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, enables the fabrication of objects through the deposition of material in order to obtain fit-for-purpose hardware. This differs from traditional subtractive processes, where material is removed from larger, semi-finished products. Like many new manufacturing processes, 3D printing arose from the merging of previously existing technologies: The coming together of computer-aided-design (CAD), inkjet nozzles, and automated machine systems.
Additive manufacturing can also be adopted for in-orbit manufacturing onboard the International Space Station (ISS) for both plastics and metals. NASA has a plastic 3D printer on the ISS today (Fig. 1). In February 2016, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) successfully proved on the ISS the “Portable On-Board Printer 3D” (POP3D; Fig. 2), as a technology demonstration for long-term manned exploration missions.
As on the ISS, manned missions could carry 3D printers to ensure full self-reliance, as they fly for months or years from Earth with limited resources. No need to bring a significant amount of spare parts (which will probably never be used): A large spare parts stock can be replaced with a printer and powders of most common materials to be printed if necessary into the failed part. Alternately, on-demand tools can be manufactured in-situ to disassemble and fix malfunctioning units.
3D printers are already used for the realization of mechanical and structural parts for space applications. Less obvious so far has been the use of 3D printers to manufacture passive microwave components and assemblies.
The European Space Agency, through development contracts with a number of European industries, has been pioneering the application of additive manufacturing for the production of microwave components. The adoption of this new manufacturing technology for the production of RF space components is justified by the increasing complexity of satellite payloads.
The European Space Agency is promoting in Europe a number of R&D activities on additive manufacturing of RF/microwave components and assemblies. One specific additive manufacturing technique, Selective Laser Melting (SLM), was applied to the implementation of bandpass filters, with the aim of reducing losses (high effective filter resonator Q) and achieving high dimensional accuracy
With additive manufacturing, high-quality aluminium parts can be produced with an approach known as additive layer manufacturing (ALM). Using this technique, single-piece microwave components made from aluminum—including filters, couplers, and waveguide runs—were produced.
To summarize, the specific advantages of additive manufacturing techniques for space-borne microwave components and assemblies are:
Quick turn-around of early prototypes
Reduced delivery times in production
Mass reduction
High assembly integration
Interfaces (flanges, connectors, cables, or waveguide runs) reduction
Overall cost reduction.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Mechanical Laser Show with 3D-Printed Cams and Gears
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/15/a-mechanical-laser-show-with-3d-printed-cams-and-gears/
Everyone knows how to make a POV laser display — low-mass, first-surface mirrors for the X- and Y-axes mounted on galvanometers driven rapidly to trace out the pattern. [Evan Stanford] found a simpler way, though: a completely mechanical laser show from 3D-printed parts.
Mechanical Laser Show
device that projects a pattern by quickly moving a laser. all mechanical, 3d printed, hand powered
https://hackaday.io/project/25447-mechanical-laser-show
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Graphene in Bulk the Easy Way: Electrochemical Exfoliation of Graphite
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/annealing-plastic-for-stronger-prints/
Much fuss has been made over the strength of 3D printed parts. These parts are obviously stronger in one direction than another, and post processing can increase that strength. What we’re lacking is real data. Luckily, [Justin Lam] has just the thing for us: he’s tested annealed printed plastics, and the results are encouraging.
The current research of annealing 3D printed parts is a lot like metallurgy. If you put a printed part under low heat — below the plastic’s glass transition temperature — larger crystals of plastic are formed.
Annealing 3D Printed Plastics: Sous Vide Style
http://justinmklam.com/posts/2017/06/sous-vide-pla/