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:
https://hackaday.com/2020/09/24/plaster-annealing-3d-prints-for-strength/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers have demonstrated a new 3D-printing method that will make it easier to manufacture and control shape-shifting soft robots.
Video Friday: Researchers 3D Print Liquid Crystal Elastomer for Soft Robots
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/video-friday-3d-printed-liquid-crystal-elastomer
Tomi Engdahl says:
High School Student Designs a Portable Battery-Operated 3D Printer
https://www.hackster.io/news/high-school-student-designs-a-portable-battery-operated-3d-printer-7549ce4a1caf
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/j1bstf/for_my_high_school_summer_project_i_designed_and/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printering: Wash Parts Better And Make Solvent Last Longer
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/06/3d-printering-wash-parts-better-and-make-solvent-last-longer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Portable Printer Is A Top Notch High School Project
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/07/portable-printer-is-a-top-notch-high-school-project/
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/j1bstf/for_my_high_school_summer_project_i_designed_and/g6zo49n/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Aerogels Proven for Small-Scale Use in Microelectronics
Researchers develop a new method to 3D print the thermal insulating materials for precision engineering.
https://www.designnews.com/materials/3d-printed-aerogels-proven-small-scale-use-microelectronics
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arc Metal Powder Printer
https://hackaday.io/project/174408-arc-metal-powder-printer
In this project I want to build a metal powder printer that uses an arc instead of a laser.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2020/10/23/digivalmistus-tuo-tehtaisiin-3d-tulostuksen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/26/worlds-smallest-benchy-shows-off-what-3d-printing-can-do-for-microswimmers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/27/take-this-3d-print-post-processing-method-with-a-grain-of-salt/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bringing High Temperature 3D Printing To The Masses
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/28/bringing-high-temperature-3d-printing-to-the-masses/
Despite the impressive variety of thermoplastics that can be printed on consumer-level desktop 3D printers, the most commonly used filament is polylactic acid (PLA). That’s because it’s not only the cheapest material available, but also the easiest to work with. PLA can be extruded at temperatures as low as 180 °C, and it’s possible to get good results even without a heated bed. The downside is that objects printed in PLA tend to be somewhat brittle and have a low heat tolerance. It’s a fine plastic for prototyping and light duty projects, but it won’t take long for many users to outgrow its capabilities.
The next step up is usually polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG). This material isn’t much more difficult to work with than PLA, but is more durable, can handle higher temperatures, and in general is better suited for mechanical parts. If you need greater durability or higher heat tolerance than PETG offers, you could move on to something like acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), or nylon. But this is where things start to get tricky. Not only are the extrusion temperatures of these materials greater than 250 °C, but an enclosed print chamber is generally recommended for best results. That puts them on the upper end of what the hobbyist community is generally capable of working with.
But high-end industrial 3D printers can use even stronger plastics such as polyetherimide (PEI) or members of the polyaryletherketone family (PAEK, PEEK, PEKK). Parts made from these materials are especially desirable for aerospace applications, as they can replace metal components while being substantially lighter.
These plastics must be extruded at temperatures approaching 400 °C, and a sealed build chamber kept at >100 °C for the duration of the print is an absolute necessity. The purchase price for a commercial printer with these capabilities is in the tens of thousands even on the low end, with some models priced well into the six figure range.
Engineering Challenges
Put simply, a machine that supports these so-called engineering plastics needs to be an amalgamation of a traditional 3D printer and an oven. But of course, therein lies the problem. The printer itself, especially of the type and quality that we’ve become accustomed to at the desktop level, wouldn’t survive in such an environment.
NASA’s experiment showed that it was possible to modify an existing open source desktop 3D printer to print high temperature engineering plastics, and they even showed it could be done relatively economically. But nobody would say that bootstrapping this way was an ideal solution. There was too much duplicated effort involved in the conversion, as the engineers had to specifically undo design choices originally made by LulzBot. Even so, the experiment did create a valuable baseline for other projects that want to start from scratch.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programmable Filament Gives Even Simple 3D Printers Multi-Material Capabilities
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/gadgets/programmable-filament-gives-even-simple-3d-printers-multimaterial-capabilities
Tomi Engdahl says:
By suspending tiny flakes of graphene and other 2D materials in jet inks, a team of researchers can 3D print complex circuits.
Graphene-Based Jet Inks Lead to 3D Printing Breakthrough for Complex “Sandwich” Electronics
https://www.hackster.io/news/graphene-based-jet-inks-lead-to-3d-printing-breakthrough-for-complex-sandwich-electronics-8ee38827635d
By suspending tiny flakes of graphene and other 2D materials in jet inks, a team of researchers can 3D print complex circuits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Huge DIY CoreXY 3D Printer Cost Less Than $500 to Build
Joshendy was able to construct this huge 3D printer, with a 300 mm (11.8 inches) cubed build volume, for just $500.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-huge-diy-corexy-3d-printer-cost-less-than-500-to-build-f6655ff6cf8c
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists 3D print microscopic Star Trek spaceship that moves on its own
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/us/star-trek-3d-microscopic-spaceship-scn-trnd/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
This 3D-Printed Guitar Doubles as a Light Show Machine That Can Be Turned Up to 11
We’ve seen plenty of 3D-printed guitars over the years, but Joshendy’s hexagonal honeycomb electric guitar stands out.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-3d-printed-guitar-doubles-as-a-light-show-machine-that-can-be-turned-up-to-11-570794800308?14c4f36143b4b09cbc320d7c95a50ee7
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lite3DP S1 Is a Tiny, Arduino-Based Resin 3D Printer
This new MSLA resin 3D printer is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.
https://www.hackster.io/news/lite3dp-s1-is-a-tiny-arduino-based-resin-3d-printer-5ae25b84b4bf
SLA printing can actually refer to a few different technologies. The original stereolithography technology, which was actually the very first patented 3D printing process, used a laser to cure photosensitive resin. The Lite3DP S1 has much more affordable and common masked stereolithography (MSLA) technology. MSLA works by shining bright UV LEDs through an LCD screen that blocks the light from reaching the portions of the resin that shouldn’t be cured. The quality, or XY resolution, is largely a function of the resolution of the LCD screen used and the size of that screen. The Lite3DP S1 has an XY resolution of 0.14mm. That isn’t anything to write home about, but the resulting detail is likely better than what your FFF 3D printer can achieve.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RealSexyCyborg and Creality Team Up to Bring You Continuous 3D Printing
3DPrintMill, now Kickstarter, is a new 3D printer that features a groundbreaking conveyor belt print bed that automatically ejects parts.
https://www.hackster.io/news/realsexycyborg-and-creality-team-up-to-bring-you-continuous-3d-printing-8a0b51987e6c
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2600net/permalink/2904561813100258/
This 3D-printed rocket could soar into space by 2021.
https://www.facebook.com/374959786306231/posts/1056824654786404/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-printed diorama scenery: FFF technology for scale modelers
https://blog.prusaprinters.org/3d-printed-diorama-scenery-fff-technology-for-scale-modelers_40303/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=traffic&utm_content=20201206_3d-printed-diorama&fbclid=IwAR2uB1JNK5xTTvdTzohpZvO3d0TjPqmTn5VBBfi5DpIKEGwllYviZ0kbfbM
The SLA 3D printing technology is usually the first one that comes to mind when you think about scale modeling hobby. Of course, the level of tiny details, which could be rendered by printers such as our Original Prusa SL1, is hard to match. On the other hand, many hardcore scale modelers may undervalue or dismiss the FFF (FDM) technology altogether, based either on a bit outdated experience (what cheap FFF printers were capable of 5-8 years ago) or unrealistic expectations. Of course, FFF cannot compete with the SLA directly. No matter how hard you try, it won’t produce a half-decent 1/72 or 1/48 scale machine gun, cockpit seat, or radial engine. Does it mean the technology is irrelevant for scale modelers? Not at all!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Creality’s New Wi-Fi Cloud Box Is an Affordable Alternative to OctoPrint, But Is It Worth Using?
https://www.hackster.io/news/creality-s-new-wi-fi-cloud-box-is-an-affordable-alternative-to-octoprint-but-is-it-worth-using-6f80491f70d7
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Air Filtration System Makes 3D Printers a Bit Safer
Mike Buss augmented his 3D printer with an Arduino-based setup that filters air and detects flames.
https://www.hackster.io/news/diy-air-filtration-system-makes-3d-printers-a-bit-safer-083a080f3403
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.prusaprinters.org/the-great-recap-of-2020-prusa-research_43456/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This “4D Printing” Nozzle Can Embed 3D-Printed Objects with Shape-Changing Fibers
A University of Maryland team has developed a new 4D printing nozzle that morphs to embed oriented fibers into extruded material.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-4d-printing-nozzle-can-embed-3d-printed-objects-with-shape-changing-fibers-60b2cee47f6e
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://3dprint.com/151348/barilla-pasta-3d-printer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.saveur.com/3d-printers-pasta-barilla/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://thespoon.tech/barilla-backed-blurhapsody-to-launch-3d-pasta-printing-e-commerce-service-in-2019/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/02/10/3d-printer-laser-cutter-cnc-yes-please/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-tulostuksen teollinen läpimurto saavuttamassa vihdoin Suomen – voi jopa tuoda tehtaita takaisin maailmalta
Uusien tuotantotapojen uskotaan mullistavan teollisuustuotannon tulevaisuudessa.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11782958
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/31/bugatti-concept-car-shows-3d-printed-strength/
Tomi Engdahl says:
One thing some of us here in the United States have always been jealous of is the WAGO connectors that seem so common in electrical wiring everywhere else in the world. We often wonder why the electrical trades here haven’t adopted them more widely — after all, they’re faster to use than traditional wire nuts, and time is money on the job site….
https://hackaday.com/2021/02/15/print-in-place-connectors-aim-to-make-wiring-easier/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Around the world, construction companies are experimenting with building small concrete homes. In India, this could mean better housing for millions. In the US, the #tinyhouse movement could get a boost.
3D Printed Home Technologies Scaling Up Around the World
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/green-tech/buildings/3d-printed-homes
In December 2020, Larsen & Toubro Construction in India 3D-printed a concrete, ground+1, 65-square-meter model residential building at their test facility in Kanchipuram. Larsen & Toubro used COBOD’s robotic 3D construction printers with a concrete mix developed in-house by L&T.
It was, to be clear, only a proof of concept. But the dwelling (pictured above) is also a sign of developments to come.
Printing with concrete is a complicated matter. The concrete must flow fluidly enough to be extruded through the printer, it must be quick-hardening and strong enough to take the load of subsequent layers, and it must be able to bond sufficiently between those layers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electroplating 3D Printed Parts For Great Strength
https://hackaday.com/2021/03/01/electroplating-3d-printed-parts-for-great-strength/
Resin 3D printers have a significant advantage over filament printers in that they are able to print smaller parts with more fine detail. The main downside is that the resin parts aren’t typically as strong or durable as their filament counterparts. For this reason they’re often used more for small models than for working parts, but [Breaking Taps] wanted to try and improve on the strength of these builds buy adding metal to them through electroplating.
Both copper and nickel coatings are used for these test setups, each with different effects to the resin prints. The nickel adds a dramatic amount of stiffness and the copper seems to increase the amount of strain that the resin part can tolerate — although [Breaking Taps] discusses some issues with this result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp_EOxEyNHs
Tomi Engdahl says:
HDMI to Gardena connector – easier to print
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3360960
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11860-eristeita-selluloosasta-3d-tulostamalla
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/03/08/3d-printing-90-deg-overhangs-with-non-planar-slicing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/03/ford-and-hp-teamed-up-to-drive-down-plastic-waste/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printer As Robot: The Functograph
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/03/3d-printer-as-robot-the-functograph/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tokyo Restaurant Offers 3D-Printed Sushi Tailored to Your Health Needs
By Madeleine Muzdakis on August 20, 2020
https://mymodernmet.com/3d-printed-sushi-singularity/
A new Tokyo restaurant called Sushi Singularity offers 3D-printed sushi that’s “hyper-personalized” to each guest’s health and nutrient needs. Scheduled to open this year, this restaurant by Open Meals (a Japanese company dedicated to facilitating a new food revolution) aims to revolutionize sushi by digitizing its ingredients, designs, and flavors. In addition to the restaurant’s alternative method to food preparation, guests are required to submit biological samples (via a health test kit) when making a reservation. Biometric and DNA data gathered from these custom kits will inform a personalized nutrient infusion. The encoded sushi, customized to each guest’s nutrient needs, is then artfully produced by 3D printers and laser technology.
Sushi Singularity is a Japanese restaurant set to open in Tokyo that aims to revolutionize sushi and the restaurant experience by 3D-printing meals.
Customers who make reservations will have to submit a kit with biometric samples to determine what nutrients should be in their meal.
The menu of 3D-printed sushi will be tailored to each guest’s health profile.
Sushi Singularity showcased its upcoming 3D-printed Sushi on the opening day of the Trade Show at the South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin
USA: Tokyo brings 3D-PRINTED SUSHI to SXSW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRMcPnEuFbo
Tomi Engdahl says:
3-D printed sushi is now a reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zEuzBh4Mq8
A Japanese company called Open Meals drew crowds at South by Southwest Festival when its 3-D sushi printer made its debut.
3D-printed sushi? Japanese company brings restaurant idea to SXSW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aqkyZxUjhc
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/7000-rpm-on-a-3d-printed-gearbox/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/fertilizing-plants-with-a-custom-3d-printed-pump/
Tomi Engdahl says:
You Can Now Download and 3D Print 18,000 Famous Sculptures and Artifacts
https://mymodernmet.com/3d-print-sculptures-scan-the-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Used Plastic Bags Turned Into Useful Objects with a Standard 3D Printer
Researchers from MIT have developed an innovative technique to recycles plastic bags into useful objects with a standard 3D printer
https://www.hackster.io/news/used-plastic-bags-turned-into-useful-objects-with-a-standard-3d-printer-c50e05295335
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/13/less-stinky-resin-two-ways/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/12/3d-printed-transistor-goes-green/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Did you know that it’s quite easy to 3D print musical instruments?
Especially wind instruments and noisemakers, such as recorder or kazoo. Not only is the print quick and easy, but it also allows you to adapt it to your taste or needs. And it actually works. Read our latest blog post and print out your own Darth Vader flute!
3D print a Recorder, an Ocarina or a Kazoo – print a musical instrument!
https://blog.prusaprinters.org/3d-print-a-recorder-an-ocarina-or-a-kazoo-3d-pritned-musical-instruments_49390/
Woodwind instruments have been with us for as long as we can remember. In fact, the “Neanderthal flute” found by Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Turk in 1995 is estimated to be between 43 and 67 thousand years old, making it the oldest known musical instrument.
Woodwinds produce sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge. Despite the name, though, they can be made from any material, not just wood.
Because of the very simple concept and no need for additional hardware, woodwinds are perfect for our first steps into 3D printing of musical instruments. Let’s get started!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smooth 3D Prints With Alcohol
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/14/smooth-3d-prints-with-alcohol/
There was a time when most 3D printers used ABS, which is a great plastic for toughness, but is hard to print with since it tends to warp. Worse still, it stinks and the fumes may be bad for you. Most people have switched over to printing in PLA these days, but one thing you might miss with this more forgiving plastic is vapor smoothing with acetone; a smoothed print doesn’t show layer lines and looks more like plastic part that didn’t go through a nozzle.
[Major Hardware] likes the look of vapor smoothed parts, but doesn’t like working with ABS and acetone fumes, so he’s started using Polysmooth. As you can see in the video below, the results look good, but be warned that the filament is relatively pricey. Plus you need to use a $300 machine that atomizes your alcohol into a mist. We feel certain you could do the same thing for less since it appears to just be like a humidifier, but we’d also suggest being careful putting flammable substances in a consumer-grade humidifier and certainly don’t use a vaporizer.
SMOOTHING 3D prints with isopropyl alcohol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swxp6LFpPhg
Ive done some 3d print smoothing with acetone and I love the result, however I dont really like printing with ABS. For most of the stuff I do I dont need the improved resilience. Also ABS smells and loves to warp when printed without an enclosure. I wish you could smooth PLA, well this isnt PLA but the printing experiance was pretty darn close. This is Polysmooth and it was specifically designed to be easy to print and smoothable with simple isopropyl alcohol. Lets see just how easy smoothing 3D prints can be.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Print Your Own Flexures
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/22/print-your-own-flexures/
Game developer and eternal learner [David Tucker] just posted a project where he’s making linear flexures on a 3D printer. Tinkerer [Tucker] wanted something that would be rigid in five of the six degrees of freedom, but would provide linear motion along one axis. In this case, it is for a pen or knife on a CNC flatbed device.
Putting the flex on flexures
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/22/print-your-own-flexures/
A unique way to add linear motion to a 3D print without using any external hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/25/3d-printed-mecanum-wheels-for-hoverboard-motors/