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:
Acetone Smoothing Results in Working Motor
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/20/acetone-smoothing-results-in-working-motor/
Here’s something only ’90s kids will remember. In 1998, the Air Hogs Sky Shark, a free-flying model airplane powered by compressed air was released.
Since [Tom Stanton] is working at the intersection of small-scale aeronautics and 3D printing, he thought he would take a swing at building his own 3D printed air motor. This is an interesting challenge — the engine needs to be air-tight, and it needs to produce some sort of usable power. Is a standard printer up to the task? Somewhat surprisingly, yes.
Compressed Air Engine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1-UTlnjeVg
Tomi Engdahl says:
Recycler by 3DBear
Open-source sustainability for schools & all DIY enthusiasts
http://3dbear.io/recycler
The accumulation of plastic waste is a global environmental problem. It is estimated that approximately 8 million tons of plastic waste will enter the ocean every year. In order to make a global difference we must change the way we look at plastics and with that in mind Arcada University of Applied Sciences and 3DBear have teamed up for this project to develop a solution.
“With 3D printing, some of our raw material usage problems can be solved. This recycler project is a good start needed to enter the practical ways of circular economy, and it is assembled in an easy-to-use package for other ecodesigners!”
As the world changes to embrace new technologies like 3D printing, and new problems like resource scarcity and waste accumulation, 3DBear is looking into the future. Our open-source recycler project is a student-led initiative meant to change the way we look at plastic waste in our communities, while providing a resource to the growing local ecosystem of 3D printers and makers among us.
“Our vision is that plastic is not waste, but is a raw material. We decided to open our technology for everyone, open source thinking is essential.”
— Kristo Lehtonen, 3DBear CEO
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s hardest steel is 3D printed
http://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/tekniikka/metalli/maailman-kovin-teras-on-3d-tulostettua-kaytossa-ero-on-valtava-6689530
Tomi Engdahl says:
Peer Review In the Age Of Viral Video
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/29/peer-review-in-the-age-of-viral-video/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rubies Are a 3D Printer’s Best Friend
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/30/rubies-are-a-3d-printers-best-friend/
Watching a 3D printer work always reminds us of watching a baker decorate a cake. Gooey icing squeezes out of a nozzle and makes interesting shapes and designs. While hot plastic doesn’t taste as good as icing, it does flow easily through the printer’s nozzle. Well… normal plastic, anyway. These days, advanced 3D printers are using filament with wood, metal, carbon fiber, and other additives. These can provide impressive results, but the bits of hard material in them tend to wear down metallic nozzles. If this is your problem and you are tired of replacing nozzles, you should check out the Olsson Ruby Nozzle.
Ruby, in this case, isn’t just a name. The nozzle has a small bit of ruby with a 0.4mm hole in the center — or they have a few other sizes. We suppose diamond would even be better, but ruby is so much more affordable.
http://olssonruby.com/the-olsson-ruby/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3v coin powered Articulated Mini Lamp
This is a 3d printed mini led lamp ran on a 3v coin battery.
https://hackaday.io/project/28403-3v-coin-powered-articulated-mini-lamp
This is My LED mini articulated lamp. The lamp is a fully functional light source that runs off of a 3v coin battery. There is an on/off switch for saving power.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Makerbot Labs Pivots to New Target Audiences by Opening Its 3D Printer Software
https://www.designnews.com/materials-assembly/makerbot-labs-pivots-new-target-audiences-opening-its-3d-printer-software/112937408557918?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=2300&elq_cid=876648
It’s a tall order to serve both the DIY community and the small industrial prototyping community simultaneously, as both groups have very different needs and value sets. Still, new 3D printing solutions must be a mix of both to be successful.
Manufacturers such as MakerBot (once a card-carrying member of the “3D Printer in Every Home” hype), now a subsidiary of 3D printer giant Stratasys, have refocused their efforts in more realistic directions outside the consumer sphere. The company is now tailoring its Replicator+ and MakerBot Print models for different audiences (as are other small 3D printer companies) in an effort to find new niches rather than rely on a consumer market that doesn’t exist and (if it did) was too broad to serve well in the first place.
“The ‘consumer’ market is sort of a mystery — the result of some contradictory definitions being applied to it,” Josh Snider, public relations manager for MakerBot, told Design News. “On one hand, you have the garage-based hardware hackers and cosplay designers, who are highly technical personas that likely have some CAD and fabrication skills. On the other, you have unskilled home users, the chef or lawyer, looking to 3D print a replacement dishwasher knob or custom cup holder for their car. Do these vastly different users really belong to the same ‘consumer’ market?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Print Yourself A Flame Thrower
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/05/3d-print-yourself-a-flame-thrower/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Cheap Can A 3D Printer Get? The Anet A8
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/08/how-cheap-can-a-3d-printer-get-the-anet-a8/
The short answer: something like $200, if your time is worth $0/hour. How is this possible? Cheap kit printers, with laser-cut acrylic frames, but otherwise reasonably solid components. In particular, for this review, an Anet A8. If you’re willing to add a little sweat equity and fix up some of the bugs, an A8 can be turned into a good 3D printer on a shoestring budget.
That said, the A8 is a printer kit, not a printer. You’re going to be responsible for assembly of every last M3 screw, and there are many. Building the thing took me eight or ten hours over three evenings. It’s not rocket surgery, though.
$200 and Twelve Hours of Labor
The Anet A8 itself is a kit, and you’re looking at a few nights of assembly before it even resembles a 3D printer. Some of this is educational and fun, but other parts of the build are pure tedium. Just peeling the protective film off of the many, many laser-cut acrylic frame parts took me two and a half hours one evening. And if that doesn’t sound like fun, just wait until you start fiddling the myriad M3 nuts into those cursed acrylic T-shaped bolt slots. Ugh. But you grit your teeth, take your time, and you get through it
Tomi Engdahl says:
Holography-based 3D printing produces objects in seconds instead of hours
https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/08/holography-based-3d-printing-produces-objects-in-seconds-instead-of-hours/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
3D printers are useful devices for all kinds of reasons, but most have a critical weakness: they simply take a long time to actually make anything. That’s because additive manufacturing generally works by putting down an object one microscopic layer at a time. But a new holographic printing technique makes it possible to create the entire thing at once — in as little as a second or two.
But what if you shined multiple weaker lasers through the resin, none of which was powerful enough to cure it except when they all intersected? That’s the technique developed by a team led by researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
In this case, the three beams of light must be carefully patterned to only intersect with each other and produce that constructive interference in the exact points that need to solidify. And once that pattern is set, it only takes a handful of seconds to actually complete the process of curing the resin
The advantages are plenty: you could, for instance, produce structures with other structures freely moving inside of them, like gears in a gearbox. There’s no need for support structures underneath overhangs
It’s still a bit crude compared with what comes out of most commercial 3D printers, but that’s to be expected — this is really just a proof of concept in a lab.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT Is Building a Better 3D Printer
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/09/mit-is-building-a-better-3d-printer/
Traditional desktop 3D printing technology has effectively hit a wall. The line between a $200 and a $1000 printer is blurrier now than ever before, and there’s a fairly prevalent argument in the community that you’d be better off upgrading two cheap printers and pocketing the change than buying a single high-end printer if the final results are going to be so similar.
The reason for this is simple: physics. Current printers have essentially hit the limits of how fast the gantry can move, how fast plastic filament can pushed through the extruder, and how fast that plastic can be melted. To move forward, we’re going to need to come up with something altogether different. Recently a team from MIT has taken the first steps down that path by unveiling a fundamental rethinking of 3D printing that specifically addresses the issues currently holding all our machines back, with a claimed 10-fold increase in performance over traditional printing methods.
New 3-D printer is 10 times faster than commercial counterparts
New design may open new opportunities for 3-D-printing technology.
http://news.mit.edu/2017/new-3-d-printer-10-times-faster-commercial-counterparts-1129
MIT engineers have developed a new desktop 3-D printer that performs up to 10 times faster than existing commercial counterparts. Whereas the most common printers may fabricate a few Lego-sized bricks in one hour, the new design can print similarly sized objects in just a few minutes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MakeX announces the first 3D-printing backpack
https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/11/makex-annoucnes-the-first-3d-printing-backpack/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Volumetric 3-D printing builds on need for speed
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-volumetric-d.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
MorphoSource
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20171214-new-overt-archive-will-contain-over-20000-free-3d-printable-vertebrate-models.html
We’ve reported before on the ways in which educators and researchers of biology, natural history, and many other animal-based fields, have been able to take advantage of the growing accessibility of 3D printing. In combination with 3D scanning, the technology enables all kinds of creatures, including fossilized ones, to be easily modelled in physical form to a very high degree of accuracy. A collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation has used 3D technology to establish a huge library of over 20,000 vertebrate anatomies, and this library will be freely accessible, for research, education or any other purpose.
Stuart says:
Should you decide have one old electricity motor lying in you can easily develop a straight forward disk
sander.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Airplane Engine Runs on Air
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/27/3d-printed-airplane-engine-runs-on-air/
One of the most important considerations when flying remote-controlled airplanes is weight. Especially if the airplane has a motor, this has a huge potential impact on weight. For this reason, [gzumwalt] embarked on his own self-imposed challenge to build an engine with the smallest weight and the lowest parts count possible, and came away with a 25-gram, 8-part engine.
The engine is based around a single piston and runs on compressed air. The reduced parts count is a result of using the propeller axle as a key component in the engine itself.
Model Aircraft Styled Air Engine, Experimental
http://www.instructables.com/id/Model-Aircraft-Styled-Air-Engine-Experimental/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fast 3D Printing with Raspberry Pi — But Not How You Think
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/26/fast-3d-printing-with-raspberry-pi-but-not-how-you-think/
Although we tend to think of 3D printers as high-tech toys, most of them are not especially powerful in the brain department. There are some exceptions, but most 3D printers run on either an 8-bit Arduino or some Arduino variant with a lot of I/O. There are a few 32-bit boards, but if you grab a random 3D printer, its brain is going to be an 8-bit AVR running something like Marlin or Repetier. It isn’t uncommon to see a Raspberry Pi connected to a printer, too, but — again, in general — it is a network interface that handles sending G-code to the 8-bit controller that runs the stepper motors. Would it make more sense to do things like parse G-code, map out curves, and set accelerations in the relatively powerful Raspberry Pi and relegate the 8-bit AVR to just commanding motors and heaters? [KevinOConnor] thinks so, and he wrote Klipper to prove it.
Klipper is mostly written in Python and it does most of the functions of traditional 3D printing firmware. It communicates with the onboard microprocessor by providing a schedule of when to do what tasks. The microprocessor then handles the timing and things like motion control for the axes and extruder. Klipper can control multiple microprocessors with no trouble and keeps them in synchronization, so you could have a processor for your extruder and one for each stepper, for example. You can use Klipper with a Cartesian machine, a delta, or a Core XY-style printer.
Klipper is a 3d-printer firmware
https://github.com/KevinOConnor/klipper
Welcome to the Klipper project!
This project implements a 3d-printer firmware. There are two parts to this firmware – code that runs on a micro-controller and code that runs on a host machine. The host software does the work to build a schedule of events, while the micro-controller software does the work to execute the provided schedule at the specified times.
Klipper is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your 3D Printer Could Print Stone
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/27/your-3d-printer-could-print-stone/
Most of our 3D printers print in plastic. While metal printing exists, the setup for it is expensive and the less expensive it is, the less impressive the results are. But there are other materials available, including ceramic. You don’t see many hobby-level ceramic printers, but a company, StoneFlower, aims to change all that with a print head that fits a normal 3D printer and extrudes clay.
The concept isn’t new. There are printers that can do this on the market. However, they still aren’t a common item.
StoneFlower claims the design is open source, although looking at the document, it seems almost too simple, so we wonder if anyone will reproduce it.
Ceramic 3D Printing KIT
https://www.stoneflower3d.com/
We intoduce Ceramic 3D Printing KIT, the first commercial product, launched by the StoneFlower team. The KIT includes the robust lignt-weight and easy-to-use print head (equipped with Auger extruder) and powerful motorized syringe pump for direct volumetric clay feeding. Being installed in the “standard” desktop 3D Printer, this KIT lets everyone to print with clay or porcelain. The KIT can be upgraded with a small syringe to experiment with pulp, wax, or even food, make custom jewelry from metal clay, automatically deposit glases on ceramics, paints on canvas or soldering paste on PCBs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Try This for 3D Printing Without Support
https://hackaday.com/2017/12/29/3d-printing-without-support-2/
Have a look at the object to the right. Using a conventional fused deposition printer, how would you print the object? There’s no flat surface to lay on the bed without generating a lot of overhangs. That usually requires support.
In theory, you might be able to print the bottom of the sphere down, but it is difficult to get that little spot to adhere to the bed. If you have at least two extruders and you are set up to print support material, that might even be the best option. However, printing support out of the same material you are printing with makes it hard to get a good clean print. There is another possibility. It does require some post-processing, but then again, not as much as hacking away a bunch of support material.
A Simple Idea
The idea is simple and — at first — it will sound like a lot of trouble. The basic idea is to cut the model in half at some point where both halves would be easy to print and then glue them together.
In Practice
Starting with an OpenSCAD object, it is easy to cut the model in half. Actually, you could cut it anywhere. Then it is easy to rotate half of it so the cut line is at the bottom of each part. That doesn’t solve the alignment problem nor does it help you clamp when you glue.
The trick is to build a flange around each part. The flanges mate with a few screws after printing so alignment is perfect and bolts through the flange holes can keep the parts together and immobilized while your glue of choice sets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huge 3D Printer Ditches Lead Screw for Belt Driven Z Axis
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/04/huge-3d-printer-ditches-lead-screw-for-belt-driven-z-axis/
The vast majority of desktop 3D printers in use today use one or more lead screws for the Z-axis. Sometimes you need to think outside of the box to make an improvement on something. Sometimes you need to go against the grain and do something that others wouldn’t do before you can see what good will come out of it. [Mark Rehorst] had heard the arguments against using a belt drive for the Z-axis on a 3D printer build:
The belt can stretch, causing inaccurate layer height.
If power fails, gravity will totally ruin your day.
He decided to go for it anyway and made a belt driven Z axis for his huge printer. To deal with the power loss issue, he’s using a 30:1 reduction worm gear on the drive — keeping the bed in one place if power goes. And after a few studies, he found the belt stretch was so minimal that it has no effect on layer height.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Upgrading a 3D Printer with OctoPrint
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/03/upgrading-a-3d-printer-with-octoprint/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Propellers Take to the Skies
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/06/3d-printed-propellers-take-to-the-skies/
In the world of drones, propeller choice is key to performance. Selecting the right props can have a major effect on things like flight time, vibration, and a whole host of other factors. Thinking it might be fun to experiment, [RCLifeOn] decided to 3D print some props and head out for a flight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6wfctAFrvw&feature=youtu.be&t=8m33s
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing Wearables with a Net
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/06/3d-printing-wearables-with-a-net/
If you want to build wearables, you need to know how to sew, right? Maybe not. While we’re sure it would come in handy, [Drato] (also known as [RobotMama]) shows how she prints designs directly on a net-like fabric. You can see a video of the process below.
there’s really nothing particularly special about the printer. The trick is to print a few layers, pause, and then insert the fabric under the printer before resuming the print
Print on Fabric | Nr 1: V Neckline or Necklace
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2423561
This is first design in a series for the project “Print on Fabric”. It can be used as a necklace or as decor for your fashion as V neckline.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You Got a 3D Printer, Now What?
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/10/you-got-a-3d-printer-now-what/
Given the incredibly low prices on some of the models currently on the market, it’s more than likely a number of Hackaday readers have come out of the holiday season with a shiny new desktop 3D printer. It’s even possible some of you have already made the realization that 3D printing is a bit harder than you imagined. Sure the newer generation of 3D printers make it easier than ever, but it’s still not the same “click and forget” experience of printing on paper, for instance.
In light of this, I thought it might be nice to start off the new year with some advice for those who’ve suddenly found themselves lost in a forest of PLA.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monoprice Mini Delta Review
https://hackaday.com/2017/08/21/monoprice-mini-delta-review/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aluminum No Match For 3D Printed Press Brake Dies
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/14/aluminum-no-match-for-3d-printed-press-brake-dies/
If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, you can scratch “Doing small-scale manufacturing of ultralight aircraft” off your list right now. Turns out there’s no money in it. At least, not enough money that you can outsource production of all the parts.
So how does one do in-house manufacturing of aircraft with a bare minimum of tools?
When [Brian Carpenter] of Rainbow Aviation needed a very specific die to bend a component for their aircraft, he decided to try designing and 3D printing one himself.
He reasoned that since he had made quick and dirty dies out of wood in the past, that a 3D printed one should work for at least a few bends before falling apart.
But even after bending hundreds of parts, wear on the dies appears to be nearly non-existent. As an added bonus, the printed plastic dies don’t mar the aluminum pieces they are bending like the steel dies do.
So what’s the secret to printing a die that can bend hundreds of pieces of aluminum on a 20 ton brake without wearing down? As it turns out…not a whole lot.
In fact, the 3D printed die worked out so well that they’ve now expanded the idea to a cheap Harbor Freight brake.
3D Printed **Press Brake Dies* *That Really Work**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-fTY5L5uu0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Win Big Prizes With Repairs You Can Print
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/16/win-big-prizes-with-repairs-you-can-print/
Another month, another contest, and this time we’re looking for the best 3D printed repairs you’ve built.
The Repairs You Can Print Contest on Hackaday.io is a challenge to show off the real reason you bought a 3D printer. We want to see replacement parts, improved functionality, or a tool or jig that made a tough repair a snap. Think of this as the opposite of printing low poly Pokemon or Fallout armor. This is a contest to demonstrate the most utilitarian uses of a 3D printer. Whether you fixed your refrigerator, luggage, jet engine, vacuum cleaner, bike headlight, or anything else, we want to see how you did it!
Repairs You Can Print Contest
https://hackaday.io/contest/32812-repairs-you-can-print-contest
Repair something through 3D printing, win prizes. We’re looking for replacement parts, tools, and custom jigs that get the job done!
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing a Better Quadcopter Frame
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/15/3d-printing-a-better-quadcopter-frame/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Iro3d 3D Prints in Powdered Metal
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/15/iro3d-3d-prints-in-powdered-metal/
Printing with plastic and even resin is getting fairly common. Metal printing, though, is still in the realm of the exotic. A company called Iro3D is aiming to change that with a steel printer that you can buy in beta for about $5000. That seems steep when you can get plastic printers for under $200, but it is sheer bargain basement for something that can print in real metal.
Of course, there’s a catch. The printer doesn’t create a solid metal object right away. What it does is prepares a crucible using sand and metal powder. You then place the crucible in a kiln and what comes out is the final product.
3D Printing Metal with the Iro3D Desktop Metal 3D Printer – Solid High Carbon Steel Parts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FkzLs7cLes
Tomi Engdahl says:
You Could Soon Be Manufacturing Your Own Drugs — Thanks To 3D Printing
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/18/01/19/0120227/you-could-soon-be-manufacturing-your-own-drugs—-thanks-to-3d-printing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
Forget those long lines at the pharmacy: Someday soon, you might be making your own medicines at home. That’s because researchers have tailored a 3D printer to synthesize pharmaceuticals and other chemicals from simple, widely available starting compounds fed into a series of water bottle — size reactors. The work, they say, could digitize chemistry, allowing users to synthesize almost any compound anywhere in the world.
You could soon be manufacturing your own drugs—thanks to 3D printing
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/you-could-soon-be-manufacturing-your-own-drugs-thanks-3d-printing
Forget those long lines at the pharmacy: Someday soon, you might be making your own medicines at home. That’s because researchers have tailored a 3D printer to synthesize pharmaceuticals and other chemicals from simple, widely available starting compounds fed into a series of water bottle–size reactors. The work, they say, could digitize chemistry, allowing users to synthesize almost any compound anywhere in the world.
“It could become a milestone paper, a really seminal paper,” says Fraser Stoddart, a chemist and chemistry Nobel laureate at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who was not involved with the work. “This is one of those articles that has to make [people] sit up and take notice.”
3D printing already has a broad reach. It’s used to make everything from shoes and car parts to blood vessels and guns. In recent years, chemists in Australia and Europe have jumped into the fray, using the benchtop devices to create small-scale chemical reactors.
But Leroy Cronin, a chemist at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, was looking for a stand-alone device. He wanted to broaden the ability of nonspecialists to make drugs and other chemicals, in essence “democratizing” chemistry in much the same way MP3 players did for music, by turning songs into a digital code that can be played by any device with the right software.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adidas joins Carbon’s board as its 3D printed shoes finally drop
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/18/adidas-joins-carbons-board-as-its-3d-printed-shoes-finally-drop/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
In its three and a half years of existence, Carbon has become a leading light in the industry-wide push to bring 3D printing to manufacturing. The company’s proprietary CLIP tech has sped up the process of additive manufacturing by leaps and bounds. It’s also found the perfect partner in Adidas, whose Futurecraft 4D shoes are about as good a poster child for the tech as one could possibly ask for.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Zipper Box
Broke the zipper on your coat? Print a fix.
https://hackaday.io/project/34269-3d-printed-zipper-box
A replacement zipper box designed in OpenSCAD. You can adjust the size in the supplied source code. It will take longer for your printer to warm up than to print one.
A few years ago, the zipper box broke off my son’s new winter coat. I poked around the local craft shop for a replacement, but didn’t like the looks of any of the offerings. The zipper itself is plastic, so I figured why not print a fix? I threw together a design in OpenSCAD, and after a few iterations, it seemed to fit pretty well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Beats MIXR repair
https://hackaday.io/project/35188-3d-printed-beats-mixr-repair
Reviving a set of headphones with some CAD work and 3D printed parts
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Desk Harnesses the Power of Fusion 360 and McMaster-Carr
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/23/3d-printed-desk-harnesses-the-power-of-fusion-360-and-mcmaster-carr/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print Contest
https://hackaday.io/contest/32812-repairs-you-can-print-contest
Repair something through 3D printing, win prizes. We’re looking for replacement parts, tools, and custom jigs that get the job done!
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT’s New Ink Recolors 3-D Printed Objects After They’ve Been Printed
https://www.wired.com/story/mit-colorfab-process
If you want to see the future of 3-D printing, ask Stefanie Mueller for a demo. A computer scientist at MIT, Mueller’s work has involved projects like developing a laser-cutting system to make delicate, 3-D printed origami. Now, Mueller and a team at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab are introducing a new kind of 3-D printable ink that makes it possible to recolor 3-D objects after they’ve been printed.
The method, called ColorFab, combines a 3-D printing interface and a special type of 3-D printable ink that changes colors when activated by light. Together, the system makes it possible to dynamically change and customize an object’s appearance many times. “This basically works in the same way as an E Ink display,” says Mueller.
In the ColorFab interface, users can create a 3-D model of the object they want to print along with a layer of Mueller’s color-changing ink on top.
The special sauce is the ink. Mueller’s formula combines a base dye, a photo initiator, and dose of photochromic ink, or ink that can change colors when activated by light at a certain wavelength.
Right now, the recoloring process takes about 20 minutes
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Battery Pack Keeps Old Drill Spinning
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/29/3d-printed-battery-pack-keeps-old-drill-spinning/
The greatest enemy of proprietary hardware and components is time. Eventually, that little adapter cable or oddball battery pack isn’t going to be available anymore, and you’re stuck with a device that you can’t use.
The drill was still in great shape and worked fine, but he couldn’t power the thing. Rather than toss a working tool, he decided to 3D print his own battery pack.
Replacement Battery for Ryobi 7.2v Drill
https://hackaday.io/project/38597-replacement-battery-for-ryobi-72v-drill
This old drill is still handy for light use around the house, but the NiCd battery pack is long dead. Why not use 4x AA NiMH cells in it?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: Take a deep breath thanks to a 3D printed fume extractor
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/29/take-a-deep-breath-thanks-to-a-3d-printed-fume-extractor/
[Zander] when he decided to build his own flexible hose fume extractor that he intends to use for anything from soldering to chemistry experiments.
Multi Attatchment Fume Extractor
http://www.instructables.com/id/Multi-Attatchment-Fume-Extractor/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: Fixing a Chewed Up Remote
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/01/repairs-you-can-print-fixing-a-chewed-up-remote/
But [Alex Rich]’s Bose radio remote discovered another failure mode: imitating a dog chew toy. Rather than fork out $90 for a replacement, [Alex] undertook a 3D-printed case to repair the chewed remote. He put an impressive amount of reverse engineering into the replacement case, probably expending much more than $90 worth of effort.
Chewed up remote repair
https://hackaday.io/project/34266-chewed-up-remote-repair
Dog chewed up old remote so I painstakingly designed and 3d printed a new case.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: Racing the Clock for a Dishwasher Fix
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/31/repairs-you-can-print-racing-the-clock-for-a-dishwasher-fix/
No matter how mad your 3D printing skills may be, there comes a time when it makes more sense to order a replacement part than print it. For [billchurch], that time was the five-hour window he had to order an OEM part online and have it delivered within two days. The race was on — would he be able to model and print a replacement latch for his dishwasher’s detergent dispenser, or would suffer the ignominy of having to plunk down $30 for a tiny but complicated part?
As you can probably guess, [bill] managed to beat the clock. But getting there wasn’t easy, at least judging by the full write-up on his blog.
Fixing a Broken Frigidaire Dishwasher Dispenser
https://hackaday.io/project/34790-fixing-a-broken-frigidaire-dishwasher-dispenser
Our dishwasher broke and we modeled and 3D printed a part to fix it well before it could be delivered.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Engineering Analysis Of Plastic-Dissolving Lubricant
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/31/the-engineering-analysis-of-plastic-dissolving-lubricant/
Over the years, E3D has made a name for themselves as a manufacturer of very high-quality hotends for 3D printers and other printer ephemera. One of their more successful products is the Titan Extruder, a compact extruder for 3D printers that is mostly injection-molded plastic. The front piece of the Titan is a block of molded polycarbonate, a plastic that simply shouldn’t fail in its normal application of holding a few gears and bearings together. However, a few months back, reports of cracked polycarbonate started streaming in.
The first suspect was incorrectly manufactured polycarbonate
After a few tests with various bearings, the culprit was found: in some of the bearings, the lubricant mixed with the polycarbonate to create a plastic-degrading toxic mixture.
This test resulted in some seriously messed up plastic.
Only some of the bearings E3D used caused this problem, a lesson for everyone to keep track of your supply chain and keep records of what parts went into products when.
The short-term fix for this problem is to replace the bearing in the Titan with IGUS solid polymer bushings. These bushings don’t need lubricant
The long-term solution for this problem is to move back to proper bearings, but changing the formulation of the polycarbonate part to something more chemical resistant. E3D settled on a polymer called Tritan from Eastman
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: The Zipper Box
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/31/repairs-you-can-print-the-zipper-box/
[Ted] figured the coat was done for. He thought about replacing the zipper entirely, but that was going to be a lot of work. He cast a forlorn look around his workshop and his gaze fell upon the 3D printer in the corner. I can rebuild it! He thought. I have the technology! He was off to design a new box in OpenSCAD and had sturdy ABS replacement zipper box in no time.
3D Printed Zipper Box
Broke the zipper on your coat? Print a fix.
https://hackaday.io/project/34269-3d-printed-zipper-box
Tomi Engdahl says:
MEDICAL & DENTAL
THE SPOTIFY OF DRUGS? LEE CRONIN’S PICK AND MIX 3D PRINTED LAB KIT
https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/spotify-drugs-lee-cronins-pick-mix-3d-printed-lab-kit-127655/
3D printed drugs have, by some, been heralded as the future of pharmaceuticals. But, what if, instead of limiting the drugs by their ability to be 3D printed, we could use 3D printers to fundamentally changed the way they are made?
A new study from the University of Glasgow has demonstrated how chemical synthesis is possible with desktop 3D printers.
“The chemist now becomes a digital designer,” explains Cronin,
Baclofen muscle relaxant is used simply as a proof of concept in the study. The real value of the process will be in ability to make the hard-to-get compounds that have so far stayed in the lab.
“Digitization of multistep organic synthesis in reactionware for on-demand pharmaceuticals”
Tomi Engdahl says:
hot wheels printable 3D models
http://m.yeggi.com/q/hot+wheels/?s=tt
Batmobile in Hot Wheels Scale
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/batmobile-in-hot-wheels-scale-28653
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printering: Printing Sticks for a PLA Hot Glue Gun
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/05/3d-printering-printing-sticks-for-a-pla-hot-glue-gun/
When is a hot glue stick not a hot glue stick? When it’s PLA, of course! A glue gun that dispenses molten PLA instead of hot glue turned out to be a handy tool for joining 3D-printed objects together, once I had figured out how to print my own “glue” sticks out of PLA. The result is a bit like a plus-sized 3D-printing pen, but much simpler and capable of much heavier extrusion. But it wasn’t quite as simple as shoving scrap PLA into a hot glue gun and mashing the trigger; a few glitches needed to be ironed out.
An advantage was that only the outside of my hollow model was a presentation surface; the inside could be ugly. A hot glue gun is worth considering for a job like this.
Will a Glue Gun Melt PLA?
According to the RepRap Wiki entry for PLA, it softens around 60 °C to 65 °C and melts around 180 °C to 220 °C. Will a glue gun do the job? To find the answer to this question, I manually pushed a bundle of scrap PLA filament through a small desktop glue gun that I didn’t mind ruining. The glue gun was a hobby unit made for lower-temperature glue sticks. The small hobby unit eventually melted the PLA but only barely; the PLA came out more like softened putty. Based on this teardown of a cheap hobby glue gun the operating temperature is expected to be around 150 °C, which isn’t enough to really melt PLA properly.
After a bit of research, I purchased an economical high-temperature glue gun that claimed 80 W and an operating temperature of up to 208 °C.
To feed my new glue gun I needed a cylinder 11 mm in diameter and at least 5 in long. Happily, 3D printers exist for the sole purpose of turning 1.75 mm filament into other shapes and sizes. It felt a little strange to use a 3D printer simply to turn 1.75 mm diameter plastic into 11 mm diameter plastic, but in about an hour I had printed a high (75%) infill 11 mm x 150 mm cylinder of PLA for testing.
That first stick of PLA was enough to show that the 80 W glue gun was able to melt and extrude PLA acceptably; the only hitch was a ten to fifteen minute warmup in my cool workshop, compared to only five minutes or less for hot glue.
However, a problem was revealed. The feed mechanism for the glue gun
the PLA “glue stick” was smooth and hard, and the feed system could not properly bite into it.
The solution was a small change to the 3D model for the glue stick. Adding a series of angled notches to the cylinder model allowed the raised arm to latch and push perfectly.
With an 80 W glue gun doing the melting, and the notches in the cylinder of PLA allowing the feed system do its job when the trigger was pulled, molten PLA flowed easily and with excellent control
Is There Really Any Welding Happening?
A true weld results when the material of the joint and both pieces meld together to become one. That clearly isn’t the case. There is some melting together happening, but it’s superficial at best. Nevertheless, the result easily passes a “tug test”.
Lessons Learned
A small hobby glue gun reliably softened but did not melt PLA. A glue gun made for higher-temperature hot glue melted PLA acceptably.
Does The PLA Glue Gun Do the Job?
My large multi-piece 3D print was a big hollow object with thin pieces fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle, and using the PLA glue gun to quickly and efficiently stick those 3D-printed pieces together with no need for clamping was better than expected.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: A Little Love for the Glove Box
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/05/repairs-you-can-print-a-little-love-for-the-glove-box/
A few years ago, [Brieuc]’s car blew a fuse. He went to replace it, which unfortunately means removing the entire glove box. In his haste to get his baby back on the road, he accidentally broke one of the clips that holds the glove box on the dashboard.
. Since there was still one good clip, he used it to design and print a strong ABS replacement.
This is a great example of the one-off utility of 3D printers.
3D printed car part
https://hackaday.io/project/44338-3d-printed-car-part
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: Model Coal Car Fix
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/05/repairs-you-can-print-model-coal-car-fix/
When [Phil]’s father received his Lincoln coal car from eBay, it was unfortunately damaged, and incapable of dumping properly. Instead of throwing it away, a replacement part was developed and 3D printed. The part was iterated on until the coal hopper could dump and retract smoothly.
Lionel Coal Car Replacement Part
I used my 3D printer to replicate a part of an old, hard to find, model train car.
https://hackaday.io/project/36532-lionel-coal-car-replacement-part
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairs You Can Print: Fixing a Rat-Attacked Mic Cord
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/05/repairs-you-can-print-fixing-a-rat-attacked-mic-cord/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairing a Wounded Mantis
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/05/repairing-a-wounded-mantis/
Apparently, the microscope itself worked fine, and beyond some scratches and dings that accumulated over the years, the only serious issue was a completely shattered mount. Luckily he still had the pieces and could get a pretty good idea of what it was supposed to look like. After what we imagine was not an insignificant amount of time in Fusion 360, he was able to model and then print a replacement.
The replacement part was printed on a Tronxy P802M in PLA. Even at 0.3mm layer height, it still took over 10 hours to print such a large and complex component. A few standard nuts and bolts later, and he had a drop-in replacement for the original mount.
MANTIS MICROSCOPE REPAIR
Repair of a Mantis microscope using 3D printing
https://hackaday.io/project/40375-mantis-microscope-repair
Tomi Engdahl says:
Locally Sourced: PLA Adhesive
https://hackaday.com/2018/02/07/locally-sourced-pla-adhesive/
When I first started getting into 3D printed projects that would require final assembly from multiple parts, I wanted to make sure I had an adhesive that would really hold up. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than spending 10’s of hours printing and assembling something, only to have it fall apart because my adhesive wasn’t up to the task. So I spent a lot of time trolling 3D printing message boards and communities trying to find the best way of gluing PLA. It should come as no surprise that, like everything else in the world, there are a ridiculous number of opinions on the subject.
Weld-On #16: Designed for PLA Adhesion
As expected, this glue preformed very well.
Loctite Super Glue Gel: Strong and Fast
When tested under load, the Loctite Super Glue Gel survived past the breaking point of my test pieces just like Weld-On #16.
Gorilla Super Glue: Reasonably Strong But Hard to Apply
In the load test, Gorilla Super Glue did quite well, breaking at 87 lb.
Loctite Plastics Bonding System: Not For PLA
Performance in the load test was the poorest out of all the glues, the bond broke at only 50 lb. To be fair there might be other types of plastic that this product works well on, but PLA is certainly not one of them.
DAP Rapid Fuse: Weak But Longer Working Time
HDX Super Glue: Extremely Strong and (Too) Fast
In what was probably the biggest surprise of this test however, the basic HDX Super Glue did not fail under the load test.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I still think that Weld-On #16 is the best PLA adhesive I’ve personally used.
That being said, the performance of the Loctite Super Glue Gel really surprised me. Truth be told, I feel a little foolish having used this glue for so long in other applications and only now trying to use it on printed parts.