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 says:
UK Cops Fear Gun; Pointlessly Seize 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2013/10/25/mills-and-lathes-apparently-illegal-in-the-uk/
Above, according to the greater Manchester Police force, is a 3D printed gun. Well, the rozzers say it’s merely a trigger for a gun. In part they’re actually correct; it is a trigger. For a spring-loaded extruder for the Makerbot Replicator.
For the past few days, the media has been abuzz about the first seizure of a 3D printer (a Makerbot Replicator 2) in Manchester, UK during a raid on suspected gang members. Assistant Chief Constable [Steve Heywood] says, “We need to be absolutely clear that at that this stage, we cannot categorically say we have recovered the component parts for a 3D gun.” The seized 3D printer parts are being sent to ballistics experts to determine if a random piece of plastic can be used in the manufacture of handguns.
But plans for 3D printed guns are available, making it easy for anyone to fabricate their own gun
Yeah, and Hackaday made one. There were a lot of problems with those 3D printer files.
Here’s what you do: every time someone mentions 3D printed guns, say, “You can build an even better gun with a combo mill/lathe that costs the same as a 3D printer. Equal skill is required to operate both machines. Do you intend to ban the sale or use of machine tools?”
Tomi says:
HHH: Sniffing Proprietary CNC to Hack in G-Code Support
http://hackaday.com/2013/10/25/hhh-sniffing-proprietary-cnc-to-hack-in-g-code-support/
Tomi says:
Converting a Mill to CNC
http://hackaday.com/2013/10/25/converting-a-mill-to-cnc-2/
Have a mill that you’d like to automate? Perhaps you can gets some ideas from the work [James] recently finished. Using familiar NEMA 23 stepper motors (the same motors used in the RepRap), he hacked his Proxxon MF-70 mill for CNC control. Adding a Sanguino and the stepper controllers from other projects, [James] got a working machine for minimal investment.
Tomi says:
Low Cost Filament Extruder
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/01/low-cost-filament-extruder/
Here’s a great low cost filament extruder solution. It uses basic parts available from any hardware store, and a few 3D printed ones — estimated cost is well under $100.
It’s very similar to the Lyman Filament Extruder, but can be built for even less money.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video: 3D Printing Gets Spooky
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=269310
Here’s a spooky way to demonstrate the power and creativity of 3D printing. Take a look at this video that shows what 3D printing can bring to a scary Halloween costume.
“We put it together as a project to bring awareness of the technology in a subject that is familiar to everyone — like Halloween,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: Latest 3D Printing Materials Include Nickel Alloy
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=269201&cid=nl.dn14&dfpPParams=ind_183,industry_auto,industry_aero,industry_consumer,industry_machinery,aid_269201&dfpLayout=article
A new 3D printing material that’s resistant to heat and corrosion debuted at the K 2013 trade fair and conference in Germany last month. Its manufacturer, EOS, also introduced two new plastic materials in the company’s PrimePart line for creating industrial final production parts: a PEBA 2301 and a flame-retardant PA 12.
NickelAlloy HX, for use in the EOSINT M 280 metal system, is a nickel-chrome-iron-molybdenum alloy that has fairly high operating temperatures compared to other metals
The alloy’s wrought and cast forms are usually solution annealed, but parts made with this laser-sintered version have high strength and elongation. They are processed with 20-micron-thick layers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineers Reinvent Metal 3D Printing
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=269091&cid=nl.dn14
Engineers are reinventing 3D printing and additive manufacturing (AM). I don’t mean the engineers at big 3D printer and AM companies, but independent engineers and engineering students in university labs. They’re reinventing software that specifies materials selection, the functions included in a 3D printer, and even new methods of how 3D printers work.
Now engineers have invented a method for 3D-printing solid metal parts with jetted liquid metal, not the typical powder metals used in selective laser sintering (SLS).
Vader Systems, a father-and-son startup, has developed a prototype machine using liquid metal jet printing (LMJP), a term coined by John Priest at the University of Texas in the late 1990s, Scott Vader, the company’s chief engineer, told us.
Like many other engineers who’ve reinvented 3D printing, the Vaders couldn’t find a 3D printing process that did what they needed at the price they could afford.
The Vaders found some good work in LMJP had been done in the late 90s. LMJP has several advantages over powder-bed technology, which was developed for prototyping. Metal powders are expensive: materials must have high purity to make precise spherical powders that are carefully graded, a challenging process. Other techniques for producing metal production parts usually require multiple stages of sintering and heat treating. But Vader Systems aims to make machines that can do quick turnaround, one-step, full-strength aluminum parts. Eventually, that may include other metals such as gold, silver, and copper.
Although the process requires a controlled droplet size, LMJP machines can use unprocessed, commodity-priced raw materials instead of highly refined powders. This helps keep prices down. The first machine has one nozzle, but subsequent machines can have multiple nozzles to boost throughput. Individual nozzles are not expensive, so LMJP is easily scalable.
So far, no one else has made an LMJP machine beyond the laboratory stage, said Zachary.
Vader Systems’ method produces droplets of molten aluminum through electromagnetics. “The current nozzle has a 400-micron orifice and we’re working on a 50-micron orifice,” Zachary said.
“Molten metals are really difficult to work with,” Scott told us. “Temperatures can get up to 800°C inside the print head.” Molten aluminum is very corrosive, so newer, high-end ceramic materials are needed.
Unlike some engineers reinventing 3D printing, the Vaders won’t be using Kickstarter because of its $10,000 price limit. Eventually, the later low-end machine might be priced around that figure.
The Vaders will price that at somewhere between $20,000 and $100,000.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: The 5 Coolest 3D-Printed Things
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1365&doc_id=269182&cid=nl.dn14
Given the sudden recent influx of articles into our design and technology news feeds, many consider 3D printing a recent industry trend, even though it is now 30 years old. Charles Hull, co-founder of 3D Systems, invented the 3D printing process in 1984 following years of researching and developing concepts, printing designs, and processes.
In the last 10 years, many breakthroughs have been featured across the web, including the self-replicating printer made by the RepRap Project and the 3D bioprinter created by Dr. Gabor Forinca’s technology, which helped Organovo create the 3D printed blood vessel.
Some of the breakthroughs are very impressive, and some inspiring and innovative inventions have been created using 3D printing technology. Some have been created by people using small printing units such as the 3Doodler and the Peachy Printer, which was funded through the social funding program Kickstarter. Other printers include the $299 Printrbot Simple and the Buccaneer. These devices may be a big investment, especially for those who want to try out the technology in their homes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-Printing ‘Encryption’ App Hides Contraband Objects In Plain Sight
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/11/04/3d-printing-encryption-app-hides-contraband-objects-in-plain-sight/
If 3D printing companies and government agencies hope to police the spread of dangerous or pirated digital shapes, their task is about to get much more complicated.
Late last month Matthew Plummer-Fernandez, the 31-year-old creative technologist for Goldsmith College’s Interaction Research Studio at the University of London, released what he’s calling ‘Disarming Corruptor,’ a piece of free software designed to distort 3D-printable blueprints such that only another user with the app and the knowledge of a certain key value can reverse the distortion and print the object. That means any controversial file–say, a figurine based on Mickey Mouse or another copyrighted or patented shape, or the 3D-printable gun created earlier this year known as the Liberator–could be ‘encrypted’ and made available on a public repository for 3D-printing blueprints like the popular site Thingiverse without tipping off those who would try to remove the file.
“I was confronting all these taboos showing up in 3D-printing around copyrighted material and 3D-printed weapons, and I think these services are leaving their users out to dry,” says Plummer-Fernandez. “I wanted to think of a way to circumvent these problems.”
His answer was Disarming Corruptor, which distorts shapes based on an input value from zero to 100, such that the changes can be reversed by anyone who knows that value.
Plummer-Fernandez encourages users to upload disguised files to Thingiverse, tagging them with the letters “DC” to show that they’ve been altered with his tool.
With only 101 possible keys, however, the “encryption” Disarming Corruptor offers isn’t remotely secure. Anyone can try enough keys to quickly find the one that produces a contraband object. Plummer-Fernandez points out that the technique can be repeated on the same shape to make it more difficult to crack the code, but he admits that his tool isn’t meant to truly encrypt shapes as much as to obscure and disguise them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
At This Spa, Watch 3-D Printers Create a City While You Soak in the Tub
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/11/visit-this-post-apocalyptic-spa/
Jonathan Schipper latest project, called Detritus, is a creepy installation where a custom built, room-sized 3-D printer crafts a miniature world in decay. Jonathan Schipper
the robot is suspended from the 40-foot ceilings and deposits a specially formulated saline paste onto a 12 ton desert of salt, and is programmed to build a desolate landscape filled with ruined buildings, trashed tires, and discarded objects.
“It’s human nature to want to be in control, but this piece will never be fully controllable,” Shipper says.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT Whizzes Create an Amazing New 3-D Printing Technique
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/09/hyperform-formlabs-thinking-inside-the-box/
Hyperform translates 3-D CAD models into paths that are populated with a chain of rings that act like pixels. Each link in the chain has a specialized notch that allows it to be assembled like a Lego kit, in this case creating a chandelier. Photo: Marcelo Coelho
Tomi Engdahl says:
McDonalds ponders in-store 3D printing for Happy Meal toys
Would you like to supersize that molten plastic? (the toy, not the cheeseburger)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/06/mcdonalds_considers_3d_printing/
McDonalds is considering installing 3D printers in its stores to produce the pocket-sized toys which are a key part of their Happy Meals.
The burger corp’s UK IT director, Mark Fabes, said he was looking at potential applications of 3d printing – and one was whether it could be used to produce the toys which are bundled in McDonalds’ Happy Meals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video: What 3D Printing Can & Can’t Do
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1395&doc_id=269366&cid=nl.dn14&dfpPParams=ind_186,industry_machinery,bid_22,aid_269366&dfpLayout=blog
A 3D printer can create parts of virtually any geometry, but engineers need a solid grasp of the technology to make the investment in it worthwhile, experts concluded at a recent industry gathering.
”What you can accomplish is only limited by the designers’ creativity, and what they can incorporate into a CAD model,” Bryan Dods, manufacturing technology executive for GE Energy, told Design News last week. “But it’s not a matter of just putting the model in and having a perfect part come out. There’s pre- and post-processing that needs to be done.”
Over the past few years, they said, 3D printing has grown fast. Industry analyst Wohlers Associates told attendees that it expects the market for 3D printers to jump from $2 billion today to $6 billion in 2017 to $10.8 billion in 2021. The technology, which enables printers to make three-dimensional solid objects from digital models, has captured the imaginations of manufacturing engineers, as well as hobbyists, said Wohlers consultant Tim Caffrey.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Laser Origami!
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/07/laser-origami/
One of our tipsters just sent us a link to some fascinating videos on a new style of rapid prototyping — Laser Origami!
The concept is fairly simple, but beautifully executed in the included videos. A regular laser cutter is used to cut outlines of objects in clear lexan, then, by unfocusing the laser it slowly melts the bend lines, causing the lexan to fold and then solidify into a solid joint.
Depending on the part you are designing, this method of rapid prototyping far exceeds the speeds of a traditional 3D printer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: Urbee Developer Shooting for 290 MPG
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1366&doc_id=269396&cid=nl.dn14
Urbee, the 3D-printed car that has attracted international attention, now has a new task to conquer — driving from New York to San Francisco on just 10 gallons of gas.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Update: The Best Things to Come Out of a 3D Printer
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=262309&cid=nl.dn14
It seems as if everything these days is being 3D printed. We have seen many different items — bathing suits, shoes, and even guns and cars — 3D printed and it is truly transforming how we are making things.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GE experimenting with ’3D painting’ to repair metal parts
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/07/ge-experimenting-with-3d-painting/
Everyone is already all over this whole 3D printing thing. But 3D painting? It’s a much emptier field. GE is experimenting with such a technology called “cold spray” that slowly builds up layers of metal by spraying metal powder at extremely high velocities. Instead of recreating works of art, the process is used to repair worn metal components, adding years or potentially decades to their life span. Unlike 3D printing which is severely limited in the size of the objects it can create, 3D painting is only limited by the spread of its spray.
Tomi Engdahl says:
First 3-D-Printed Metal Gun Shows Tech Maturity
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/robotics/industrial-robots/first-3dprinted-metal-gun-shows-tech-maturity
The world’s first 3-D–printed metal gun aims to prove a point about the reliability of 3-D printing technology. But its makers don’t plan on revolutionizing the manufacture of firearms by making the process available in every household.
The metal pistol made by Solid Concepts, a 3-D printing service based in Austin, Texas, represents a working 3-D–printed version of the famed 1911 pistol originally designed by John Browning. Solid Concepts created almost all parts of the classic gun through direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), an industrial 3-D printing process used to make metal parts in aerospace manufacturing and for surgical implants. (The gun’s springs were made separately.)
The metal pistol made by Solid Concepts, a 3-D printing service based in Austin, Texas, represents a working 3-D–printed version of the famed 1911 pistol originally designed by John Browning. Solid Concepts created almost all parts of the classic gun through direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), an industrial 3-D printing process used to make metal parts in aerospace manufacturing and for surgical implants. (The gun’s springs were made separately.)
“When we decided to go ahead and make this gun, we weren’t trying to figure out a cheaper, easier, better way to make a gun,”
The 3-D–printed pistol proved both sturdy and accurate during mounted and handheld firing tests
But the 3-D–printed weapon that Solid Concepts built can’t be replicated by any DIY gunsmith attempting to do so with a 3-D printer costing less than $10,000. That’s an important point that Solid Concepts emphasized at the very beginning of its blog post about its achievement.
“The industrial printer we used costs more than my college tuition (and I went to a private university)”
In other words, the Solid Concepts gun still requires expensive, industrial-grade equipment that most DIY enthusiasts or homeowners can’t afford. That makes the metal gun very different from the plastic guns of Defense Distributed, a Texas group that has developed an open-source design for guns intended for manufacture using home 3-D printers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing With Metal… At Home!
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/07/3d-printing-with-metal-at-home/
[Bam] from the LulzBot forums has successfully printed metal using his 3D printer and a Budaschnozzle 1.1 hot end. Well, solder to be specific — but it’s still pretty awesome!
He’s making use of 3mm solder purchased from McMaster (76805a61), which has a blend of 95.8% tin, 4% copper and 0.2% silver. It took quite a few tries to get it extruding properly
During our research we found another user from the RepRap blog who has also been experimenting with printing low-melt point alloys — and he’s even successfully created an Arduino compatible Sanguino board using the printer!
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new approach to printing metals
http://blog.reprap.org/2011/06/new-approach-to-printing-metals.html
There have been numerous attempts to print conductors.
Whilst I’ve been able to print a basic circuit from solder, we were unable to achieve the resolution to produce anything but the most simplistic circuit board.
Months ago I blogged about using Nickel Carbonyl powder for exactly this purpose. What I didn’t blog about was an experiment I did mixing the nickel with a low melting point alloy. When molten resulting semi-solid material had significant viscosity and effects of surface tension seemed minimal.
My first alloy was 69.9% tin 29.2% bismuth and 0.9% indium (wt. %). Per kilogram the cost of the material was about £90 and I converted it to filament using the same casting trick.
After the initial success, this is where the onslaught of problems began. Something I did not anticipate was that the alloy began to dissolve the brass nozzle due to solubility effects after very little use.
More Printed Circuitry
http://blog.reprap.org/2012/04/some-more-printed-circuitry.html
One of the main problems I previously had was solubility. Running molten metals were acting as solvents for my heated nozzle – resulting in the nozzle slowly dissolving during a print.
Previously the plastic and metal were printed on separate machines. Anyway, I’ve heavily modified my X carriage to take one Bowden extruder (for the plastic) and one “standard” extruder for the metal such that I can (in theory) do one shot printing.
I printed the above about a month or so ago. The plastic housing contains a female hole for supporting an ATMEL644P PDIP chip, as found in our Sanguino electronics. The metal tracks are housed within 0.7×0.25 rectangular channels.
Here is a stab at the Arduino compatible Sanguino board (albeit simplified).
AFS Manager SQL says:
Superb website. Many beneficial data listed here. I’m giving it to some associates ans in addition expressing inside delicious. Not to mention, thanks a lot on the attempt!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why You Shouldn’t Care About The All-Metal 3D Printed Gun
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/08/why-you-shouldnt-care-about-the-all-metal-3d-printed-gun/
Solid Concepts, one of the world’s largest rapid prototyping outfits, just printed a gun. Unlike previous 3D printed guns like the Liberator, this 3D printed version of an M1911 is made out of metal. It’s a real gun, with rifling in the barrel – something the Liberator doesn’t have – and has the look and feel of what the US military has been using as a service pistol for decades.
The Solid Concepts 1911 was made using the selective laser sintering process, using a combination of stainless steel and nickel-chromium alloys. Every single part of the gun, save for the spring, was 3D printed without any machining. It’s an impressive feat of rapid manufacturing
Here’s why you shouldn’t care.
Solid Concepts business is to make things using rapid prototyping.
The printer used to manufacture this printer is an EOS SLS printer that costs many tens of thousands of dollars.
This is just a neat little advertisement, that’s it. Someone at Solid Concepts realized if they made a gun using 3D printed parts, it would be picked up by blogs and wire services. They were right. It’s an excellent demo of what Solid Concepts’ capabilities are, but that’s just about it. You’re still not able to manufacture an M1911 on a desktop 3D printer, and even if you could, you could set up a machine shop in your garage and end up with a similar product for less money.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Velcro
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/08/3d-printed-velcro/
[Rich]‘s “ElastoStraps” are printed with Makergeek’s Flexible PLA, and the entire device works surprisingly similar to other hook and loop fasteners with a registered trademark. The design is up on Thingiverse, and since the object was designed with OpenSCAD, the 3D printed Velcro can also be opened up in the Customizer
Tomi says:
World’s first 3D-printed metal gun ‘more accurate’ than factory-built cousin
Don’t worry, you can’t make one of these at home
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/08/first_3d_printed_gun_more_accurate_than_commercially_produced_equivalent/
The world’s first 3D-printed metal gun has been produced – and we’re told it’s more accurate than its factory-made counterpart, but also much more expensive to manufacture.
The printed gun – a .45 caliber M1911 designed by legendary gunsmith John Browning and still in use by some US armed forces – was manufactured by 3D-printing specialists Solid Concepts using publicly available plans.
3D printing in plastics may be simple enough for home use, but metals are something else entirely. Once a design has been completed, four powerful lasers are used to fuse layers of powdered metal in the desired shape, layer by layer. The final object is then heat-treated and polished before use.
This isn’t the kind of kit you can have in your garage. The power requirements alone are well over what is available in residential neighborhoods and the printer itself is very expensive. But the cost is coming down fast, McGowan said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Building Circuit Boards With an Inkjet Printer
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=269470&cid=nl.dn14&dfpPParams=ind_183,industry_consumer,aid_269470&dfpLayout=blog
The body of engineering knowledge combined with the Internet can lead to quick expertise in any area.
A team from the University of Tokyo, Japan have created a way to print conductive ink onto a piece of paper from an everyday inkjet printer. This would allow hobbyists, engineers, or researchers a cheap, fast, and reliable way to quickly create and test PCB designs.
Overall, the team’s work has shown us that printed circuits can be a reality soon. Teams working in labs can take advantage of the rapid prototyping it will allow as well as a hobbyist working from home. The technology may also be integrated with 3D printing or pick-and-place machines, which would open a whole new door in the electronics world. My intuition is that we will be seeing more of this technology soon and being applied in many more situations and applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
System Bits: Nov. 12
Using 3D printers to print lithium-ion micro batteries
http://semiengineering.com/system-bits-nov-11/
When thinking about 3D printers, most people probably think about creating small plastic parts or prototypes. 3D printing now can be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand.
The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet providing enough stored energy to power it.
To make the microbatteries, a team based at Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign printed precisely interlaced stacks of tiny battery electrodes, each less than the diameter of a human hair.
Manufacturers traditionally have deposited thin films of solid materials to build the electrodes.
The scientists realized they could pack more energy if they could create stacks of tightly interlaced, ultrathin electrodes that were built out of plane. For this they turned to 3-D printing.
They have designed a broad range of functional inks that have useful chemical and electrical properties. And they have used those inks with their custom-built 3-D printers to create precise structures with the electronic, optical, mechanical or biologically relevant properties they want.
Inks developed for extrusion-based 3-D printing must fulfill two difficult requirements. They must exit fine nozzles like toothpaste from a tube, and they must immediately harden into their final form.
In this case, the inks also had to function as electrochemically active materials to create working anodes and cathodes
The electrochemical performance is comparable to commercial batteries in terms of charge and discharge rate, cycle life and energy densities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MakerBot wants to put a 3D printer in every US public school
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57611935-235/makerbot-wants-to-put-a-3d-printer-in-every-us-public-school/
The 3D-printing company is “on a mission,” according to Chief Executive Bre Pettis. In an initiative supported by the White House, MakerBot is turning to crowdsourcing to fund the scheme.
MakerBot wants to put a 3D printer in every school in the United States, and it’s drumming up support from the industry and general public to make it happen.
“Instead of waiting for someone to create a product for you, you can create your own,” he said. “It can change the whole paradigm of how our children will see innovation and manufacturing in America.”
With the initiative launching Tuesday, individuals and corporations can donate funds using DonorsChoose.org, a crowdsourcing site for teachers. Pettis wants those in communities around America to contribute to their local schools. Meanwhile, MakerBot is offering significant discounts to lower the price point of the 3D printing machines.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multiple Raspberry PI 3D Scanner
http://www.instructables.com/id/Multiple-Raspberry-PI-3D-Scanner/
I am a big Arduino and Raspberry PI fan and also love 3D printing. I wanted to be able to make a 3d model of my kids and started investigating how to build a 3d scanner. I found a lot of solutions out there, but the problem with most of them is that the subject would have to sit still for a while… well I think it would be easier for me to invent a spaceship that can fly to mars then inventing a solution for my 2-year old son to sit still
So none of those solutions where going to work.
Then I noticed the Raspberry PI and PI camera combination. A “fairly” affordable module, that already is ethernet connected, so I could do the triggering of the cameras using the network and an easy way to download all the images to a centralized place. So my Project (and investment) started
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printing Printed Circuit Boards
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/12/printing-printed-circuit-boards/
We really respect the old timers out there and their amazing ways of crafting PCBs; they used black tape on clear acetate sheets to create single layers of PCBs with a photoetching process. Now creating a PCB is a simple matter of opening up a CAD package, but like the old timers we’re still dealing with nasty chemicals or long shipping times from China.
The EX¹, a new robot on Kickstarter – hopes to change that. They’ve created a PCB fabrication process that’s as simple as printing something with an inkjet printer. Just put in a piece of substrate – anything from Kapton to acrylic to fabric – and in a few minutes you have a single-sided PCB in your hands.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: 3D Printing Is Cheap & Green for Plastics
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=269539&cid=nl.dn14
In what might seem like an intuitively non-obvious conclusion, a recent study finds that 3D printing is both cheaper and greener than traditional factory-based mass manufacturing and distribution. At least, it’s true for making consumer plastic products on open-source, low-cost RepRap printers.
A team led by Michigan Technological University’s Joshua M. Pearce conducted preliminary lifecycle analyses of three small plastic objects: a child’s building block, a spout for a watering can, and a citrus juicer.
The study, published in an open access article in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, found that the advantages of 3D printing over traditional manufacturing were mostly due to two major differences. First, the amount of material used for each object is much lower with 3D printing, partly because it’s additive manufacturing and partly because fill composition can be easily changed, leading to more efficient shape design and even less material in items that don’t need mechanical strength. Second, because 3D printing occurs at the point of use, there’s no high costs or environmental impact of shipping products long distances from countries with low labor rates to distant countries that buy the end product.
The study concluded that the total energy demand of manufacturing plastic products can be reduced 41 to 64 percent and emissions can be reduced a similar amount when using PLA with less than 25 percent. Results were even better, at 55 to 74 percent, when using a solar photovoltaic-based distributed electricity generation system, since solar PV systems can be scaled to match existing loads. Reductions were not as great for the products made with ABS, since it requires higher temperatures for the print bed and extruder.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP Unveils Designjet 3D Printer
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=269606&
3D printing won’t stop advancing or peppering the tech news scene on a daily basis, which is why the introduction of a high-end 3D printer from HP does not shock us.
The company has incorporated the Stratasys Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) tech in its new Designjet 3D printer. It is another ABS plastic deposition machine for the pile of options out there. Coming in at around $17,500, it’s in the higher end of the consumer level, likely placing it out of the choice of options for most.
Within the last 10 years, 3D printing capabilities expanded to include finished-product manufacturing of plastics, ceramics, and metals.
It is not a surprise that other leading companies are using 3D printing behind the scenes. General Electric, BMW, Ford, and Boeing use 3D technology to enhance their assembly lines. BMW uses 3D printing to custom design small parts that connect its larger, mass-produced pieces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ATF Tests Show 3D Printed Guns Can Explode
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/11/14/210258/atf-tests-show-3d-printed-guns-can-explode
“The ATF has been testing 3D printed guns over the past year and, not surprisingly, has found that depending on the thermoplastics, 3D printers and CAD designs used, some can explode on the first attempt to shoot them.”
“The tests were published at a time when a law passed in 1988 banning the sale of guns made entirely of plastic is set to expire next month.”
Tomi says:
Microsoft Releases ’3D Builder,’ A 3D Printing App For Windows 8.1
http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/15/microsoft-releases-3d-builder-a-3d-printing-app-for-windows-8-1/
Out today from Microsoft is a 3D-printing application called 3D Builder that will help the amateur set dig into 3D printing, provided that they 1) have a Windows 8.1 machine, and 2) have a Windows 8.1-ready 3D printer.
So, it’s a small group. But that’s just fine. Every technology has an incubation phase apart from the mainstream, and 3D printing is only now enjoying public awareness, let alone mass adoption.
Windows 8.1 was designed to support 3D printing in an almost gimmick that’s cool instead of moonshotty, due to the falling price of consumer-grade 3D printers, such as what MakerBot produces. MakerBot will support Windows 8.1 this year, if you didn’t know.
Tomi says:
Sen. Chuck Schumer Seeks To Extend Ban On ‘Undetectable’ 3D-Printed Guns
http://politics.slashdot.org/story/13/11/18/018244/sen-chuck-schumer-seeks-to-extend-ban-on-undetectable-3d-printed-guns?
“The New York senator Chuck Schumer says he is seeking an extension of the law before it expires on 9 December. Schumer said the technology of so-called 3D printing has advanced to the point where anyone with $1,000 and an internet connection can access the plastic parts that can be fitted into a gun. Those firearms cannot be detected by metal detectors or x-ray machines.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: Seismic Shifts in 3D Printing Materials
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=269675&cid=nl.dn14&dfpPParams=ind_183,industry_auto,industry_aero,industry_gov,industry_machinery,industry_medical,bid_27,aid_269675&dfpLayout=blog
This is the third blog in an occasional series on 3D printing and additive manufacturing (AM).
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D printing: ‘Third industrial revolution’ or a load of old cobblers?
A solution looking for a problem, naysayers moan
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/20/3d_printing_revolution/
Readers of The Register with their fingers on the throbbing technopulse of innovation will have noticed that – if the hype is anything to go by – 3D printing is about to redefine paradigms, rewrite/defenestrate/burn textbooks and give the unwashed masses the power to print iPhone covers at will, thereby shaking the whole notion of industrial manufacturing to its very foundations.
Lest there be any doubt that the technology is the future right now, if not sooner,
London Digital and Creative Fusion’s Andrew Sirs-Davies said: “3D printing is at the forefront of what people are increasingly describing as the third industrial revolution.”
Whether or not the 3D printer is the spinning jenny of the 21st century remains to be seen, but it’s currently parading atop a bandwagon onto which world+dog are eager to jump.
Hungry channel suits have been advised to fill their bellies at the 3D buffet, while across the Pond, US outfit Makerbot is eyeing a world domination plan to get its “Replicator 2″ into schools, in order to “change the whole paradigm of how our children will see innovation and manufacturing in America”.
All well and good, although the current state of small “domestic” 3D printers shows there’s a way to go before you can print out granny’s titanium hip replacement in your bedroom.
Hang on, circuit boards? We’re intrigued
Even when we look at the high end of the 3D printing market, there’s a feeling among some that it’s just a solution looking for a problem. We recently reported on custom-fit titanium horseshoes designed to showcase the “endless possibilities” of additive manufacturing.
According to some commenters, there’s nothing here which couldn’t be done by employing a farrier, a wax mould and some hot metal.
3D printing ain’t cheap, but it’s cheaper than the alternatives for one-offs.
Back on Earth and within mere mortals’ terrestrial budgets, meanwhile, Cartesian Co. is set to release its EX¹ printer.
Having tin-rattled its way to a healthy $119,399 down at (you guessed it) Kickstarter, the Aussie outfit will soon offers funders the ability to “3D print circuit boards, layering silver nano particles onto paper or any suitable surface to rapidly create a circuit board”.
Sure, you can etch your own PCBs, or get a few examples knocked up in China, or ask your local blacksmith to forge you a couple, but we reckon the EX¹ – if it lives up to its potential – really will be revolutionary in its niche market.
No one can foretell whether 3D printing will spark a mass market revolution, so we’re not yet sure if in 30 years time we’ll be boring our grandchildren with tales of “when I was a lad there were things called factories, and you bought things in shops”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Liquid Metal Printer Lays Electronic Circuits on Paper, Plastic and Even Cotton
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/521871/liquid-metal-printer-lays-electronic-circuits-on-paper-plastic-and-even-cotton/
A simple way to print circuits on a wide range of flexible substrates using an inkjet printer has eluded materials scientists. Until now.
Today, Jing Liu and pals at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry in Beijing say they’ve worked out how to print electronic circuits on a wide range of materials using an inkjet printer filled with liquid metal. And they’ve demonstrated the technique on paper, plastic, glass, rubber, cotton cloth and even an ordinary leaf.
The new technique is straightforward. The magic sauce is a liquid metal: an alloy of gallium and indium which is liquid at room temperature. They simply pump it through an inkjet printer to create a fine spray of liquid metal droplets that settle onto the substrate.
The droplets rapidly oxidise as the travel through the air and this oxide forms a surface layer on each drop that prevents further oxidisation. That’s handy because the liquid metal itself does not easily adhere to the substrates.
That looks to be a useful development.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft demos 3D scanning mobile app in hopes of making it easier to 3D print
http://gigaom.com/2013/10/31/microsoft-demos-3d-scanning-mobile-app-in-hopes-of-making-it-easier-to-3d-print/
The app would compete with Autodesk 123D Catch, but build design files in a slightly different way.
You have a 3D printer, but you don’t want to drop an additional $1,000 on a 3D scanner to start creating digital models of real-life objects. What do you do?
The camera in your phone actually makes for a decent scanner. Microsoft Research debuted an application for mobile phones this week that builds a digital 3D model from imagery gathered while you pan your phone around an object.
The scientists said that as 3D printing becomes more popular, people will not be satisfied working with existing designs that can be downloaded from sites like Thingiverse. Instead, they will look to recreate objects they already see around them.
The software works by sending the object scan to the cloud, where it is constructed into a 3D shape. After about half a minute, it is sent back to the user’s phone, where they can then save it or send it to a 3D printer.
“If you have scanned somebody’s face, you can print out a cup with the face, for yourself or as a gift for a friend,” Gu said in the release.
Microsoft hasn’t said if or when it will release the software to the public and what kinds of phones will be compatible. If they do release it, it would directly compete with Autodesk 123D Catch, an app that creates 3D models from photos snapped by the user.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3-D Scanning Made Tangible for the Masses
http://blogs.technet.com/b/inside_microsoft_research/archive/2013/10/30/3-d-scanning-made-tangible-for-the-masses.aspx
In recent months, 3-D printing has leapt into the popular vernacular.
Such printers have plummeted in price and mushroomed in popularity. The result is that what seemed a distant dream has suddenly become a tantalizing reality. The question for many quickly is morphing from “What could they do?” to “What can I do?”
“When people want to fabricate something, determining what kind of thing is a key problem. Our technology can enable people to use the mobile phone in their pocket to scan anything and make it real.”
That represents nothing less than a once exclusive technology teetering on the verge of mass availability.
“Currently,” Cai explains, “only professional photographers with professional equipment can build 3-D content. The common user cannot. But with the popularity of the 3-D printer and 3-D games, the need for 3-D content is now emergent. If we can find an easy way for common users to create 3-D content by themselves, we can imagine that, in the next five years, everybody will be able to create 3-D content.
The researchers certainly have done their part to make it easy enough, deploying a solution that uses a client-plus-cloud strategy. It all starts with the user performing a quick scan by using a mobile phone to scan around an object of interest.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printering: Wherein ABS Is Dangerous
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/20/3d-printering-wherein-abs-is-dangerous/
A lot of the ‘prosumer’ – for as much as I hate that word – 3D printers out there like the Makerbot Replicator and countless other Kickstarter projects only officially support PLA filament. This has a few advantages from a product development standpoint, namely not necessitating the use of a heated build plate. There are other reasons for not supporting ABS and other filaments
The main crux of the Buccaneer team’s decision not to support ABS is as follows:
We spoke to our legal counsel about it and they told us that if we officially support a certain “material” type then our printer has to go through massive certification to prove that it is totally safe to use or we will/can get sued badly.
The issue isn’t with the ABS itself – LEGO are made of ABS and kids chew on blocks all the time. The issue comes from the decomposition of ABS when it is heated.
“Being around molten ABS decreases your sense of smell”
“ABS will do things to your lungs, liver, and kidney, but it’s not permanent.”
Oh cool, something actually applicable to 3D printers. These researchers went into an “office space belonging to a company who specializes in 3D printer education, training, and sales.”
With the printers off, there were about 2000 particles per unit measured. With PLA printers, there were about 7000 particles per unit measured. With ABS, there were about 25000 particles per unit measured.
ABS produces a lot more ultrafine particles than PLA.
For RepRappers concerned about these ultrafine particle emissions, the obvious solution would be to simply put a printer in a plastic box and run an exhaust vent outside. That’s the cheapest and easiest means of effectively ridding your workspace of ultrafine particles, but for any commercial printer it’s a non-starter. Would you really buy a normal, 2D inkjet printer that required you to run an exhaust line outdoors?
The other obvious solution to this problem of ultrafine particles would be to simply put an air filter on a printer.
Well, no. In one of the studies investigating the ultrafine particle emissions of 3D printers, the researchers found squirting ABS generates a whole lot of these particles down to about 15 nanometers. That’s tiny. To put that in perspective, the human HIV virus is about 90 nanometers. HEPA filters are only guaranteed to filter out particles larger than 0.3 micrometers, or 300 nanometers. It’s like shooting a bullet through a chain-link fence
Finally, considering the biological effects of printing with ABS, there simply isn’t enough data.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4D Printing Self-Assembled Shapes Using Shape Memory Plastics
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=269747&cid=nl.dn14
Last spring we told you about MIT’s Skylar Tibbits, whose TED talk made the idea of 4D printing famous. The process self-assembles a 3D-printed object underwater using Stratasys’s materials and its Objet Connex 500 Multi Materials inkjet 3D printer.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have combined 3D printing on the Objet Connex multi-material 3D printer with making shape-memory composites, calling that process 4D printing.
By incorporating shape memory polymer fibers into a matrix of the 3D printer’s composite multi-materials, an object can be printed in one shape and change its shape later, such as self-assembling into a cube.
In the article, the team describes how they designed and printed flat laminate materials that can be thermomechanically programmed to form a variety of complex, three-dimensional shapes, such as twisted, coiled, and bent strips of material, or sheets that fold themselves into cubes or various curves. When the material is heated again, these assembled shapes can then be returned to flat sheets.
An example application for the technology includes a flat solar panel that could change itself into a more compact shape for shipping, and then revert back after it’s received.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dinosaur Bone Damaged in WWII Revealed with 3D Printing
http://www.livescience.com/41350-dinosaur-bone-3d-printed.html
The identity of a mislabeled fossil damaged in a World War II era bombing has finally been revealed as part of an enormous long-necked plant-eating dinosaur.
To recreate the bone as it was before the bombing, the researchers took data from the CT scan and built a blueprint to 3D print the fossil. Three-dimensional printing is an emerging method in paleontology, with researchers using the tech to create perfect scale models of bones.
To do so, the researchers used a technique called laser sintering. In this technique, a laser is programmed to heat a plastic powder, melting it layer by layer into the desired shape. When the process was done, the unheated powder was brushed away, revealing a dino bone copy, accurate down to a micrometer (one-thousandth of a millimeter).
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you have access to a 3D printer you can own some of the relics from the Smithsonian. They’ve been 3D scanning some pieces in their collection and you can download the models.
http://3d.si.edu/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Philadelphia jumps the gun, bans 3-D-printed weapons
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/philadelphia-3-d-printed-gun-ban/
The City of Brotherly Love is now also the City of Not Shooting Your Neighbor With A Gun That Came From Your Computer.
Philadelphia became the first major American city to ban 3-D-printed guns Thursday.
It’s not clear how the city would enforce the ban, as 3-D printers are legal and any guns would presumably be printed behind closed doors.
3-D-printed guns have become something of a circus act since May, when Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed, then a law student, uploaded a video of himself firing a working gun whose parts came almost from a 3-D printer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Image of the Day: 3D printed body parts
3D printer used to create prosthetics
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Packaging_and_Hardware/Prototyping_Tools_Equipment_Services/Image_of_the_Day_3D_printed_body_parts.aspx
English consultancy Fripp Design is revolutionizing the way that prosthetics are manufactured. The company is using new machinery to their advantage, as they combine 3D printing and scanner technology.
Fripp Design’s approach to prosthetics painlessly uses photogrammetry, which takes pictures captured from an array of cameras and combines the end result into an editable CAD model. The files taken are referenced with MRI data and CT scans, to make sure that the prosthetics fit the person perfectly.
Project leader Tom Fripp stated that “in the case of a missing ear, we would scan the other ear and mirror, or we can image a family member or friend and use their geometry.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Look at This Lady’s Amazing 3-D Printed Selfie
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/11/look-out-snapchat-here-comes-the-3-d-printed-selfie/
designer Lorna Barnshaw is bringing back a bit of the novelty by creating a series of self-portrait sculptures using 3-D scanning apps and printers.
“I wanted to see how easy it was to replicate a small part of myself using only accessible tools and devices,” says Barnshaw. “Generating and materializing a digital representation of myself as though anchoring my digital existence in the physical world.”
Barnshaw started her experimentation using Autodesk’s 123D Catch app, inspired by its ability to capture dimensional data using her iPhone’s camera—and the fact that it was free and easily downloadable from the App Store.
She then turned to the Creaform 3-D scanner, a handheld device typically used to scan industrial equipment.
Finally, she tried Cubify Capture, a web-based application that generates models using video data
All of the 3-D data files were printed on ZCorp 3-D printers with few changes made by the artist.
Many have tried 3-D printing portraiture in the past, usually by scanning faces with a Kinect and producing the models in monochrome plastic, but Barshaw believes color is a critically important to capture a true portrait. “We see and experience the world in all its color, triggering the memories and emotions that make us human,” says Barnshaw. “Color is no doubt essential when replicating a human being.”
“With 3-D printers, we are no-longer limited by our screens, the digital world begins to merge and integrate itself into physical existence.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
For $300, You Can Buy a Stunning 3-D Printed Version of Yourself
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/this-company-will-transform-you-into-an-incredibly-detailed-3-d-printed-figurine/
Using the latest in 360-degree scanning and 3-D printing technologies, Twinkind, a new company based in Hamburg, Germany, will turn you, your loved ones, or your pets into a marvelously detailed little statues.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Look at These Crazily Realistic 3-D Printed Noses and Ears
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/11/dont-like-your-face-3-d-print-a-new-one/
Today, the victim of a traumatic injury has to pay upwards of $5,000 to have a prosthetic ear, nose, or lip fabricated and painted by an artist—a painful process that requires physical molds to be made of mutilated body parts and demands multiple fitting sessions over a period of months.
Fripp Design, a consultancy in Sheffield, England, is modernizing the process by taking advantage of 3-D printer and scanner technology.
Digital sculptors use that data and a library of 3-D modeled body parts to repair the damaged areas.
Capturing data was a challenge, but 3-D printing a flesh-like substance on machines better suited to brittle plaster statues proved even more difficult. “Post-processing is an integral part of any 3-D printer’s production process, and it is this area that we focused on with our prosthetics project,” says Fripp. His team used a ZCorp 3-D printer that can produce full-color parts, but replaced the stock build material with a custom formulated starch substrate. The resulting parts feature realistic skin color and are infiltrated with a medical grade silicone to add flexibility and robustness. “The models are only as fragile as you design them to be,” he says.
Patients in studies praise the quality of fit, speedy turnaround time, and minimally invasive scanning process
Tomi Engdahl says:
These 3-D Printed Dresses Are Lego Kits for Your Body
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/07/catherine-wales-3-d-printer-fashion-designer/
The idea of a wardrobe as an interchangeable set of building blocks is central to the line.
By moving away from traditional tailoring techniques, Wales was able to rethink what garments could be and how they were made. Instead of collecting measurements with a tape and refining them over a series of visits as the article of clothing took shape, Wales could capture perfect measurements with a 3-D scanner. As flexible manufacturing tools like 3-D printers become widespread, the whole ready-to-wear category may change or disappear altogether, requiring a new mindset and technical skills for fashion designers.
Unlike many fashion designers who incorporate 3-D elements in their work, Wales didn’t want to outsource the CAD modeling
Ultimately, Wales believes the global fashion industry, which can be constraining psychologically and damaging environmentally, could change for the better as we move closer to a machine assisted, bespoke model.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Motorola turns to 3D printing to bring its ambitious modular smartphones to life
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/22/motorola-turns-to-3d-printing-to-bring-its-ambitious-modular-smartphones-to-life/
Motorola’s futuristic smartphones now have an equally futuristic manufacturing method: 3D printing.
Motorola announced today that it’s inked a deal with 3D printing giant 3D Systems to put together its Project Ara smartphones, which the company announced last month.
Essentially a Lego take on hardware, Project Aura’s modular design will give owners almost complete control over their phones’ features, letting them swap out components without buying entirely new phones. That level of customization is perfect for 3D printing, which excels at letting companies manufacture custom items in small batches.