3D printed model of NASA’s rover

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.popsci.com/now-print-model-nasas-curiosity-rover-your-desk

Curiosity

3D-PRINT A MODEL OF NASA’S CURIOSITY ROVER FOR YOUR DESK

EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORKSPACES

If you always wanted your very own Curiosity Rover, but couldn’t afford the $2.5 billion to build and launch your own, don’t worry: NASA has your back.

NASA recently released the plans to 3D-print your own mini Mars rover. It may not be able to fire lasers, send back amazing science and pictures, but it will look really cute on your desk.

Curiosity Plans

The British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution have all made 3D models of artifacts from their collections available for printing. The National Institutes of Health is even in on the game, with biosciences-related models available for print.

But If you’re looking for more out-of-this world designs, check out NASA’s growing collection, which includes spacecraft classics like the Hubble Space Telescope and the Voyager probe, along with asteroids like Vesta, and of course, you can always print a wrench. Just like a real astronaut!

popsci.com

by Mary Beth Griggs | August 17, 2015

Objects that couldn’t be made before 3D printers existed!

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://gizmodo.com/objects-that-couldnt-be-made-before-3d-printers-existed-1718072112

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

Objects That Couldn’t Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

3D printing isn’t just for making unique stuffed animals or weird fake meat. It allows us to fabricate objects we never could with traditional manufacturing. Here are some of the incredible things we can print now, which were nearly impossible to make before.

Personalized Car Parts

3D printing can make car parts that are custom-built for the driver’s body and comfort: an ergonomic steering wheel, for example. Last month, Fortune reported Ford’s partnership with California-based 3D printing company Carbon3D. The automakers themselves can benefit from 3D printed parts, too. Instead of the ol’ Ford assembly line, engineers can make manufacturing and design more iterative with 3D printed materials, since prototyping suddenly becomes faster and cheaper and testing becomes more frequent and thorough.

You see, many products—from drinking cups to video game consoles to car parts—are created in a process called “injection molding.” That’s when a material, like glass or metal or plastic, is poured into a mold that forms the product. But with 3D printing, you can design a crazy object on your computer, and it can be turned into reality.

“3D printing bridges the gap between the digital and the physical world,” says Jonathan Jaglom, CEO of 3D printer manufacturer MakerBot, “and lets you design pretty much anything in digital form and then instantly turn it into a physical object.”

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

Lighter Airplanes

There have been lots of materials used to make planes lighter, and thus more fuel efficient and greener. But 3D-printed materials can cut weight by up to 55%, according to Airbus, which announced its involvement with 3D printing last year.

In February, Australian researchers unveiled the first 3D-printed jet engine in the world.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

3D-printed polymers often have “high strength to weight ratios,” says Kristine Relja, marketing manager at Carbon3D, the same company that’s working with Ford on the 3D-printed car parts. 3D-printed plane parts use that strength-to-weight ratio to their advantage. It gives them an edge over traditional materials, like the aluminum often found in seat frames.

“If the arm rest of each seat of a plane were replaced with a high strength to weight ratio part, the overall weight of the plane would drop, increasing fuel efficiency and lowering the overall cost of the plane,” Relja says.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

Detailed Molds of Your Jaw

Possibly the arena 3D printing handedly dominates is personal health. Our bodies are unbelievably individualized, idiosyncratic flesh bags filled with biological items uniquely shaped to each person. Since customization is so critical, especially in surgical implants, 3D printing can really shine here.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

Let’s start with dental trays: Those molds of your chompers that’re made with gross cement stuff that you have to leave in your mouth for minutes on end. They’re useful because they can help dentists and orthodontists create appliances like retainers or braces, and can give them a three dimensional, kinesthetic mold of your mouth.

Over at Stratasys, the 3D printing company that owns MakerBot, 3D-printed dental trays are going from CAD file to model, blazing trails in orthodontics. It gives orthodontists and dentists a cheap, accurate glimpse into a patient’s maw. It’s way easier than those nasty physical impressions with the cement, and way less gag-inducing.

Customized Surgical Stents

Stents are those little tubes surgeons stick in the hollow parts of your body—a blood vessel or artery, say—to hold it open and allow it to function properly. Usually, they’re mesh, but stents that are 3D-printed can have an edge, since they’re able to be customized more and are made with cheaper, flexible polymers that can dissolve safely into the bloodstream in a couple years.

At the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in the Detroit Medical Center, a 17-year-old girl was suffering from an aortic aneurysm, a potentially fatal heart condition that was discovered with a precautionary EKG. That’s when Dr. Daisuke Kobayashi and his team turned to 3D printing. A 3D printed model of her heart allowed the doctors to know exactly where to put stents in an otherwise delicate operation for a young patient.

In other cases, the surgical stents themselves are 3D printed: University of Michigan doctors have also implanted 3D-printed stents just above infant boys’ lungs to open their airways help them breathe normally on their own. The advantage of using 3D printing here is that doctors were able to create custom stents that could fit the kids’ individual anatomies, quickly and cheaply.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

Buckyballs

No, not the tiny magnetic choking hazards. We’re talking about models of Buckminsterfullerene, the molecule. It’s every chemistry teacher’s dream. 3D printers can produce tangible, big models of molecules. And they’re accurate, too. This type of complex geometry is really hard to pull off with injection molding. The closest thing we had before was basically popsicle sticks and Elmer’s.

3D printing not only helps us learn more about what molecules look like by making lifesized models of them—it also helps us make actual molecules. Earlier this year, Dr. Martin Burke at the University of Illinois led the construction of a “molecule-making machine”: It’s a machine that synthesizes small, organic molecules by welding over 200 pre-made “building blocks” and then 3D printing billions of organic compound combinations. This could “revolutionize organic chemistry,” the paper in the journal Science reported, significantly speeding up the process to test new drugs.

What’s cool about 3D printing is that it makes ambitiously designed objects way more feasible. Specifically, 3D printing can make those “complex geometries” that injection molding can’t: That is, stuff that’s in obscure shapes, like long twisty mobius strips or zillion-sided polygons.

Replacement Parts for Your Organs

3D printing can be used to make surgically-implanted hardware that protects or supports damaged organs. This could lead the way to custom repairs for damaged tracheas or windpipes, for instance. Sometimes part of a windpipe needs to be removed, but the two remaining ends need to be joined together—if they can’t be joined together, the patient may die.

3D bioprinting to the rescue! It can replicate the mechanical properties of the trachea. That’s right: a living, biological tracheal replacement can be made from a mix of 3D printing and tissue engineering. That’s what the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research did. They modified a 3D printer to use a syringe filled with living cells that produce collagen and cartilage. Within hours, bioengineered tracheas can be created on-the-spot quickly and cheaply. And that’s a key strength for 3D printing: fast prototypes.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

Organs and Bones

The most futuristic use of for these magical printers? They could, one day, create internal organs. That’s a literal lifesaver for folks who need an organ transplant. Also possibly available: eyes, blood vessels, noses, ears, skin, and bones. Even hearts.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

And this isn’t just science fiction. In 2013, medical company Organovo started selling 3D-printed liver tissue. It’ll be a while before a fully functioning liver can be printed, but it’s a big step in the right direction, even if it just means prototypes and experimental liver-like structures.

As if that wasn’t incredible enough, we can also create replicas of people’s existing internal organs. With the help of CT scan data, docs can whip up three dimensional, touchable copies of individuals’ guts, in all their nuanced, unique glory. This can help medical professionals better find tumors or other irregularities. (Not to mention it could possibly take the gross awesomeness out of biology class dissections.)

And already, companies are creating cheap, 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for kids. A whole generation is growing up with 3D printing — not just as a toy, but a vital part of their bodies.

Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed

gizmodo.com

by Bryan Lufkin | 8/11/15 4:34pm

Disney develops 3D printed 2-legged robot!

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150527-disney-develops-2-legged-3d-printed-robot-that-walks-like-an-animated-character.html

Disney develops 3D printed 2-legged robot that walks like an animated character

There are just a few companies in the world that need no introduction, and Disney is one of them. After all, who didn’t grow up watching Disney classics? But did you know that Disney does more than shoot box office hits, record terrible catchy songs and avoid theme park-related lawsuits? They also have an active Research Department charged with creating actual, rather than digital, creations which can be used for throughout the Disney imperium. And the department’s latest achievement is impressive: recreating the walking movements of animated characters in bi-pedal robots, which they have done using 3D printing technology.

As three scientists attached to the department in Pittsburgh – Seungmoon Song, Joohyung Kim and Katsu Yamane – explain, they set out to develop robotics that can be used to make Disney’s theme parks and toys more realistic and magical. After all, fit young heros from Disney’s movies and TV shows don’t exactly perform well when moving as stiffly as paraplegic grandmothers. ‘Creating robots that embody animation characters in the real world is highly demanded in the entertainment industry because such robots would allow people to physically interact with characters that they have only seen in films or TV. To give a feeling of life to those robots, it is important to mimic not only the appearance but also the motion styles of the characters,’ they write.

But this isn’t easy. As they write in an article entitled ‘Development of a Bipedal Robot that Walks Like an Animation Character’, the field of robotics struggles to capture life-like movement. ‘The main challenge of this project comes from the fact that the original animation character and its motions are not designed considering physical constraints,’ they write. And of course trying to tackle quirky and fast animated characters is even more difficult, as they movements are not typically designed to be physical correct. ‘[But in recent years] animation characters have evolved to be more realistic. Using computer graphic techniques, we can design 3D characters, and generate more natural and physically plausible motions with them.’

And you might be surprised to learn that their solution is somewhat similar to what you and I would do for a project: just 3D print it and add some servo motors. Of course it isn’t quite so simple, but to capture the exaggerated gait and movement of animated characters they first 3D printed leg components to match the structure of their potato-like character, which you can see in the clip below. ‘We start from animation data of a character walking. We develop a bipedal robot which corresponds to lower part of the character following its kinematic structure. The links are 3D printed and the joints are actuated by servo motors,’ they explain. All these parts were 3D printed using Stratasys’ Object 260 Connect 3D printer in RGD525 material.

Of course these need to be very specifically angled and positioned to ensure that 3D movement can be recreated. And Trajectory optimization software does most of the rest. ‘Using trajectory optimization, we generate an open-loop walking trajectory that mimics the character’s walking motion by modifying the motion such that the Zero Moment Point stays in the contact convex hull,’ they write. Now this process is more difficult than it sounds, but for a full description of data extraction and installing the mechanics you’ll have to dive into the full scientific article here.

But the results are obvious, though not perfect. The robot can definitely walk well, but doesn’t reproduce the digital models perfectly and has a tendency to wobble. ‘When we play back the optimized trajectory, the robot wobbles forward. It is because the robot does not produce the motion perfectly. For example, the stance leg flexes more and scuffs the swing foot at the beginning and end of the swing phase. This causes the swing foot to push against the ground and the stance foot to slip, which results in unstable walking,’ the scientists write.

One solution for this is slowing down the process. ‘We observed that the robot slips less as we play back the optimized motion slower, and the resulting walking looks closer to the optimized walking,’ they write, but conclude that the system just isn’t working optimal for now. While there are few options for more progress – including investigating structural materials and replacing 3D printed parts – it looks like we’ll have to wait a few years before running into mechanically-sound walking Disney characters at Disney world.

3ders.org

by Alec | May 27, 2015

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150527-disney-develops-2-legged-3d-printed-robot-that-walks-like-an-animated-character.html

3D printing skin!

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32795169

Skin

L’Oreal to start 3D printing skin

French cosmetics firm L’Oreal is teaming up with bio-engineering start-up Organovo to 3D-print human skin.

It said the printed skin would be used in product tests.

Organovo has already made headlines with claims that it can 3D-print a human liver but this is its first tie-up with the cosmetics industry.

Experts said the science might be legitimate but questioned why a beauty firm would want to print skin.

L’Oreal currently grows skin samples from tissues donated by plastic surgery patients. It produces more than 100,000, 0.5 sq cm skin samples per year and grows nine varieties across all ages and ethnicities.

Its statement explaining the advantage of printing skin, offered little detail: “Our partnership will not only bring about new advanced in vitro methods for evaluating product safety and performance, but the potential for where this new field of technology and research can take us is boundless.”

A scientist with skin cells

It also gave no timeframe for when printed samples would be available, saying it was in “early stage research”.

Experts were divided about the plans.

“I think the science behind it – using 3D printing methods with human cells – sounds plausible,” said Adam Friedmann, a consultant dermatologist at the Harley Street dermatology clinic.

“I can understand why you would do it for severe burns or trauma but I have no idea what the cosmetic industry will do with it,” he added.

3D-printed livers

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has pioneered the field of laboratory-grown and printed organs.

It prints human cells in hydrogel-based scaffolds. The lab-engineered organs are placed on a 2in (5cm) chip and linked together with a blood substitute which keeps the cells alive.

Organovo uses a slightly different method, which allows for the direct assembly of 3D tissues without the need for a scaffold.

It is one of the first companies to offer commercially available 3D-printed human organs.

Last year, it announced that its 3D-printed liver tissue was commercially available, although some experts were cautious about what it had achieved.

“It was unclear how liver-like the liver structures were,” said Alan Faulkner-Jones, a bioengineering research scientist at Heriot Watt university.

Printing skin could be a different proposition, he thinks.

“Skin is quite easy to print because it is a layered structure,” he told the BBC.

“The advantages for the cosmetics industry would be that it doesn’t have to test products on animals and will get a better response from human skin.”

But printed skin has more value in a medical scenario, he thinks.

“It would be a great thing to have stores of spare skins for burn victims.”

References:

bbc.com

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32795169

3D printing industry to quadruple by 2020

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.rt.com/business/253785-3d-printing-industry-growth/

Reuters / Pichi Chuang

Wave of future: 3D printing industry to quadruple by 2020

3D printing can produce almost everything from human stem cells to a car,and is at its most popular in the industry’s 29–year history. It has grown by 35.2 percent in 2014 and is expected to become a $20.2 billion global industry by the end of the decade.

The global industry for 3D printing, or additive manufacturing as it is sometimes called, was worth $4.1 billion last year, following a 34.9 percent growth on 2013, according to Wohlers Report 2015. The industry has experienced a compound annual growth rate of 33.8 percent over the last three years.

It’s impossible to find another industry with more than 25 years of experience that could have such kind of growth, says consultancy founder Terry Wohlers, who has been tracking the growth of the additive manufacturing industry since the 1980s.

The 3D printing technology industry began in 1986, and was worth just $295 million in 1995. The worldwide market for 3D printers, associated materials and services is expected to grow by 56 percent this year to $5.2 billion compared with $3.3 billion in 2014, according to the data from research firm Canalys.

“As we expected, the 3D printing market has grown substantially over the past few years. We have seen improving print speeds, a wider range of materials and new forms of additive manufacturing methods,” Joe Kempton, Canalys research analyst says. He pointed to the increase in vendors from Asia, which is taking on dominant existing markets, such as Germany and the US.

3D printing is a technology which allows designing objects using software and then manufacturing using a layering technique. It is a prototyping process where a real object is created from a digital 3D-model, which can be a scan of 3D images or can be drawn using computer-assisted design or simply can be downloaded from the internet. People in 3D printing usually say “If you can draw it, you can make it”.

An estimated 526 additive manufacturing (AM) systems were sold in 1995 from 15 system manufacturers located in the US, Germany, and Japan. In 2014, 49 system manufacturers in 13 countries produced and sold an estimated 12,850 industrial 3D printing systems. Last year hundreds of mostly small companies worldwide produced and sold nearly 140,000 desktop 3D printers that sell for less than $5,000 each.

Promising future

3D printing, combined with the internet, can rewrite history say experts. Now everything can be downloaded and printed at home. Additive manufacturing allows people to print real-life products and part replacements in their home or office. The only requisite is a 3D printer which allows printing the object in three dimensions, and printing materials such as plastics, waxes, ceramic, and metal. However, the process is a long one, it takes hours or even days to print a 3D model and often a tiny error can make the entire print useless. The high cost of a 3D printer is also a big drawback for the individual home user; home 3D printers today vary in price from £300 to £3,000.

READ MORE: Wi-Fi EYE: Scientists developing 3D-printed eyeballs with filters & camera

The 3D printing revolution is expected to continue and to challenge not only traditional manufacturing but also to have a remarkable effect on automotive, medical, and other industries. Sixty-seven percent of manufacturers are already using 3D printing according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

One of the most important applications of 3D printing is in the medical industry. With 3D printing, surgeons can produce mockups of parts of their patient’s body which need to be operated on. Almost everything from aerospace components to toys will be possible to build with the help of 3D printers. 3D printing is also used for jewelry and art, architecture, fashion design, art, architecture and interior design.

3D printers will continue to fall in price and improve in speed and quality. The aerospace, automotive, and medical sectors will continue to be the major revenue drivers going forward over the next five years, according to Canalys.

With 3D printing, companies can now experiment with new ideas and numerous design variations with no extensive time or tooling expense. General Electric, Boeing, and BMW have already invested millions of dollars into the technology which is considered by some as the most interesting of our time.

References:

rt.com

http://www.rt.com/business/253785-3d-printing-industry-growth/

4D printing vs 3D printing

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/4d-printing-is-cooler-than-3d-printing-and-why-that-means-the-end-of-ikea-flatpacks-20150420-1mp2aj

Professor Marc in het Panhuis holds a 4D printed valve that can change shape.

4D printing is cooler than 3D printing, and why that means the end of IKEA flatpacks

Just as you got used to the idea that toys, homewares, even guns can be built with 3D printers, the next phase is upon us. Researchers, including Australians, are already building objects with 4D printing, where time becomes the fourth dimension.

“4D printing is in essence 3D printed structures that can change their shape over time,” said inventor and engineer Marc in het Panhuis​. “They’re like transformers,” he says.

And their applications will be limitless. Imagine medical devices that can transform their shape inside the body, water pipes that expand or contract depending on water demand and self-assembling furniture.

Professor in het Panhuis’ team at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, located at the University of Wollongong, have just built an autonomous valve that opens in warm water and closes in cold water.

The valve is made out of four types of hard or soft hydrogels – networks of polymers – fabricated at the same time using a 3D printer.

Inside the valve’s structure a series of actuators respond to hot or cold water to open and close the valve.

While the valve’s shape change is activated by water, other 4D printed devices transform by shaking, magnets or changes in temperature.

“It’s a widely expanding field,” Professor in het Panhuis said.

“You can buy jewellery that’s 3D printed and changes shape when you put it on,” he said.

US inventor Skylar Tibbits, who runs MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab and coined the term 4D printing, is exploring 4D printing to manufacture furniture that can build itself.

“Rather than receiving a flat-pack and getting your screwdriver out, what he’s postulating is what if you just add a bit of water to it and it assembles itself,” Professor in het Panhuis said.

While its early days, the group are more advanced in their designs of pipes that can change their capacity, expanding and contracting when water demands increase or drop off.

The military is another industry interested in objects that can change shape or self destruct,Mission Impossible style.

“When armies are on the battlefield they leave a lot of electronics behind. What if you could make 3D printed electronics that [once the soldiers leave] undergo transient behaviour once they become too hot, or too cold, or too wet so they completely disappear so the enemy can’t use any of your materials,” Professor in het Panhuis said.

In 2012 DARPA researchers created implantable medical device that could deliver anti-microbial treatment to a wound site but would dissolve when no longer needed.

The electronic devices were made of ultra-thin silicon, magnesium and silk that could dissolve in the body, reducing the risk of a secondary site infection.

smh.com.au

by , Science Editor | April 22, 2015

‘Membrane based’ 3D printer

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://3dprint.com/54864/super-fast-3d-printer/

pang1

Student Creates Super Fast ‘Membrane Based’ 3D Printer – Prints 40 x 40 x 100 mm Objects at 10 Microns in 12 Minutes

It is truly amazing how quickly the 3D printing space is developing. Just two weeks ago we stood stunned as a company called Carbon3D unveiled a new breakthrough 3D printing process called CLIP. This process can supposedly print objects 25-100 times faster than other SLA 3D printers. Then just a week after that, Gizmo 3D unveiled another super fast SLA-based 3D printer which looks to challenge Carbon3D as far as speed and resolution go. Then just earlier this week we reported on a Chinese company, called Prismlab, which has shown off their incredibly fast SLA line of 3D printers, rumored to be able to print 2,712.27 cm3 of material per hour.

Now, 3DPrint.com has discovered yet another super fast SLA 3D printer created not by a large company, but by a college student named Bo Pang. Pang, a University of Buffalo student, majoring in Industrial Engineering, and graduating with a degree of Master of Science in May, has been researching 3D printing for the past 2 years.

It was also 2 years ago that Pang got the idea of creating a “continuous 3D printing process,” one which could greatly speed up 3D printing in general. The printer Pang has created was designed and fabricated last summer, and it’s just now that he is unveiling it to the world.

“Our machine is mostly similar with Carbon3D’s, but there is one important way in which we are very different,” Pang tells 3DPrint.com. “The Carbon3D machine uses an oxygen-permeable window to create a ‘dead zone’ (a thin layer of uncured resin between the window and the object). This dead zone guarantees the part can grow without stopping, and this is the key to the CLIP process. For our machine, we don’t use that oxygen-permeable window, but we instead use a special membrane to create that thin layer of uncured resin. There are 2 advantages of this special membrane. First, this membrane is much less expensive than the oxygen-permeable window, as it only costs about 1/100 of the price of the oxygen-permeable window. Second, this membrane is very easy to mold, meaning we can make this membrane almost any shape we want.”

photo (3)

So how fast is Pang’s innovative new 3D printer? Very! Featuring a relatively small build volume, it can print with an incredible X-Y axis resolution of 15 microns, and a Z-axis resolution of just 10 microns. He was able to 3D print a miniature Eiffel Tower measuring 10 x 10 x 20 mm in just 7 minutes and 26 seconds, a cubed truss measuring 7 x 7 x 7 mm in just 2 minutes and 7 seconds, and a larger 40 x 40 x 100 mm Eiffel Tower in just 12 minutes and 6 seconds (seen on videos provided).

photo (5)

While Pang’s invention is quite impressive, he is still working out some issues that his new system is experiencing.

“There are still some short-comings, and I guess even Carbon3D can’t solve this problem now,” Pang tells us. “The continuous process can print truss structures very well because there is a very small suction force for these prints. But for solid parts, like a cylinder, this process doesn’t perform well. When you’re printing solid parts, the suction force between part and the bottom of the tank will be extremely large. How to overcome this force is the key to printing solid parts. We just got an idea today for a solution to this problem, but we need time to test it. I believe we can figure it out soon.”

As for the cost of creating this unique 3D printer, Pang tells us he would estimate that it costs much less than $3,000. As for when he would plan to bring this printer to market, that still remains up in the air. Currently he just considers it a research project, but says that if he can obtain the right resources, he will consider mass production. He also said that he may consider using crowdfunding in order to raise money for the project.

photo (2)

Without a doubt, this is another super fast 3D printer that could challenge the likes of Carbon3D. While the build volume is pretty small, Pang tells us that he thinks that with some calibration he can expand this quite a bit. His next project is to attempt to 3D print a part measuring 50 x 50 x 140 mm in dimensions.

part size (2)

Pang himself is set to graduate from the University of Buffalo this May, and he has hopes of finding a job somewhere related to 3D printing. He feels that he has a very in-depth knowledge of the technology and could help many companies looking for someone with an interest and education in the field.

“I mainly focus on design, as well as build and calibrate new concept 3D printers, especially for the hardware and testing part,” Pang tells us. “I am also skilled in CAD software and hand-on skills. I have enthusiasm within the realm of 3D printings, I really hope I can work in this area for my whole career.”

Certainly any employer would be lucky to obtain the experience and knowledge that Pang has to offer. If anyone has any interest in speaking to Pang about a job opening, you can contact him via phone at (716) 435-7766, or on his LinkedIn account.  (Note: the test was initially started on an EnvisionTec 3D printer, which Pang tells us is a very reliable printer).

What do you think about Pang’s new 3D printer? Will this be something that revolutionizes the desktop 3D printing space? Discuss in the Super Fast SLA 3D printer forum thread on 3DPB.com.

photo (4)

photo (6)

pangfeatured

3dprint.com

by  | APRIL 2, 2015

3D printed fractals!

Posted on by Malta 3D Printing

Fascinating Fractals Replicated To The Finest Detail

http://3dprint.com/50133/3d-printed-fractals-2/

manfractals6
The Beauty of Math! These 3D Printed Fractals Will Blow Your Mind
When I was in school, I admittedly was not a fan of mathematics. It was just something about numbers that turned me away. While my grades held up, and I never failed a single math class, I must admit that when I finally graduated, I never missed the subject. However, not everyone feels the same. Mathematics can be fascinating to others, especially when geometric figures called fractals are involved.

Fractals are curves or geometric figures made up of parts which have the same statistical character as the whole. They are mysteriously found in nature as are they in many man-made formations and objects. For one man, named Jérémie Brunet, fractals have always been fascinating.

“Fractals have fascinated me since the 80s when I was a teenager,” Brunet tells 3DPrint.com. “My father offered me a book entitled ‘The beauty of fractals’ which I still cherish to this day. I used to program fractals on my early computers and draw them by hand. About 5 years ago, a new generation of 3D fractals emerged from a collaborative work onfractalforums.com and I became hooked again.”

Image copyright: Coandco

One day, Brunet stumbled upon Shapeways and immediately it became evident that he had to “give physical substance to these strange mathematical creatures.”

“I like to push the boundaries of fractal art, and 3D printing was the perfect technology to that end,” Brunet explains. “To me, they are a way to visualise the beauty of nature, the elegant laws of the universe and the emergence of complexity through simple rules and fundamental ingredients. Today, creating 3D printed fractals still represents many challenges, as these objects bear infinite details by definition, but my passion is to keep on pushing the limits in the 3D fractals domain.”

Currently Brunet has about a hundred different fractals available for various prices on his Shapeways shop. Some are priced at under $10, while others are hundreds of dollars. They range from large plastic 3D prints to smaller pieces of jewelry made of precious metals like gold, silver, and bronze. Brunet relies on Shapeways, opting not to print his designs on desktop FFF-based 3D printers, simply for the fact that those machines can’t provide him with the intricate details needed.

Image copyright: Coandco

“I like to try all the possible colours and materials at my disposal,” he tells us. “I’m sure that one day, affordable and fine resolution metal desktop 3D printers will be available, then I’ll probably invest.”

As for designing his individual fractals, they require a lot of hard work and time. The workflow is complex, involving the exportation of voxel stacks fromMandelbulb3D, which is a freeware fractal generator. The stacks are then combined into a triangle mesh in a process referred to as a “marching cubes” algorithm, and then they are post-processed and optimized in Meshlab. Recently Brunet has begun using another software package called Incendia EX, which provides a special feature that allows exporting directly to STL files.

manfractals8

Brunet tells us that, while he sells quite a few of his fractals on Shapeways, he really has spent more on buying them himself than he has earned through sales. He hopes to break even one of these days, perhaps this year or next. Regardless, his 3D printed fractals are gaining him quite a bit of attention.

“Most recently, one of my sculptures has been shown at the Brown Symposium at Southwestern University in Texas as part of an art exhibit dedicated to 3D printing called ‘What Things May Come‘. Even if this is just a hobby, my next large scale project in 3D printing is to collaborate on the build of a massive 3D printed fractal temple for the Burning Man festival in Nevada, hopefully in 2017. Stay tuned!”

Even though I don’t have an interest in mathematics, like Brunet does, I certainly have an appreciation for the designs that he has created. I may just end up buying a few of his incredible fractals for myself. What do you think about Brunet’s fractals? Have you purchased any yourself? Discuss in the 3D Printed Fractals forum thread on 3DPB.com. Also be sure to check out Brunet’s YouTube channel, as well as some additional photos below.

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3DPRINT.COM
by  | MARCH 11, 2015

3D printed eyelash curlers – something for ladies!

Posted on by Malta 3D Printing

Ladies – Are You Frustrated With Your Eyelash Curlers? Look No Further.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/01/voir-creations/

A Biologist Gets Into 3D Printed Eyelash Curlers Custom-Made For Every Womans’ Eyes

This is an exhaustive solution to a (physically) small problem.

Biologist Adele Bakhtiarova had never been able to find an eyelash curler that fit her. She struggled with finding one that could reach out to the very last eyelashes on the edges of her eyes. She tried dozens of eyelash curlers. But they would pinch her skin or crimp the lashes into an ‘L’ shape instead of a proper curl.

So after working at Halcyon Molecular, a Founders Fund-backed startup that was trying to find a way to cheaply and quickly sequence the full human genome, she started working on a solution as a side project.

It was a 15-month endeavor. She learned how to design hardware in CAD, then found 3D-printing facilities in the East Bay to prototype some designs and built a mobile app.

The end result is $25 eyelash curler that she will 3D print to custom fit your eyes. It comes paired with a mobile app that you can use to scan your eye profile and then send data to her company Voir Creations, which will make a 3D model of your face. She’s currently in the process of raising $30,000 on Kickstarter to test if there’s consumer interest.

It may feel small. But more broadly speaking, there’s this question of whether 3D printing can usher in an era of mass customization.

We’ve seen a few beauty-related products already. Grace Choi debuted the Mink last year at TechCrunch Disrupt NY. It’s a printer that will make your own custom shades of make-up. I’ve also written about more serious, custom-printed health care products like YC-backed Standard Cyborg, which incorporates 3D printing into making custom fit prosthetic legs.

SOCIAL.TECHCRUNCH.COM
by  | Mar 1, 2015

First 3D printed jet engine

Posted on by Malta 3D Printing

Meanwhile Down Under, Scientists Build the World’s 1st 3D Printed Jet Engine!

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4187229.htm

World’s first 3D-printed jet engine created by Australian researchers
Australian engineers create world’s first 3D printed jet engine.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Forget trinkets and toys – 3D Printers have now entered into the realm of jet engines.

Yes, Australian engineers have created the world’s first ever 3D printed jet engine.

Their work has attracted the attention of Boeing, Airbus even the chief scientist of the US Air Force and the researchers expect it will lead to cheaper, more fuel-efficient jets.

Some even see it as a potential saviour for the manufacturing industry.

From the Australian Air Show in Avalon, here’s the ABC’s science reporter, Jake Sturmer.

(Sound of F18 jets flying overhead)

JAKE STURMER: The cutting edge of military technology is on display here at the air show.

But it’s Amaero Engineering’s tiny booth that’s gathering a large amount of attention.

AIR SHOW VISITOR: Oh, might want show my son that. He’ll be impressed.

JAKE STURMER: Amaero’s CEO, Dr Robert Hobbs, and researchers at Monash University have created the world’s first 3D printed jet engine.

In reality, the breakthrough opens the door for engineers to make and test parts in days instead of months.

(Question to Robert Hobbs) What does that mean in dollar terms? Is that cheaper engines? Is that more efficient engines?

ROBERT HOBBS: Yeah. Particularly- Well, both actually, but particularly more efficient engines because it allows them to go through the development cycle much more quickly.

JAKE STURMER: It all started two years ago when French aerospace giant Safran challenged the researchers to make a 3D printed version of one of their old jet engines.

They passed with flying colours, shaving weight off the turbines in the process.

They’re now working on top secret prototypes for Boeing, Airbus and defence contractor, Raytheon.

There are potentially massive deals on the table and it’s all made in a lab in the suburbs of Melbourne.

(Sound of 3D printer working)

The small garage-sized facility is home to the world’s largest printer of its kind.

Technically known as additive manufacturing, it uses a high powered laser to fuse powdered nickel, titanium or aluminium into the shape of objects.

Monash University’s Vice-Provost for Research, Professor Ian Smith, says the potential is virtually limitless.

IAN SMITH: It’s opened the door. We’re only scratching the tip of the iceberg. We’ve talked about how it can be useful in the aerospace industry, we see enormous applications in the biomedical industry.

For, for example, if you’re unfortunate enough to have one of those serious car accidents, you can be scanned in the scanner, that information can then be taken to a 3D printer and while you’re in the operating table we can print those precise body parts that you might need.

JAKE STURMER: Spare parts for people and potentially cars too – a chance to stave off a decline in manufacturing.

IAN SMITH: We’ve all heard the demise of the motor industry and that’s bad but I think the real impact has been the demise of the supply chain industry that supports that motor industry.

We would like to think that revolutionary disruptive technologies like this, can take the place of some of the more traditional industries, and we can build new industries or we can regenerate existing industries with these kinds of technologies.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The ABC’s science reporter Jake Sturmer speaking to Monash University’s Professor Ian Smith.

ABC.NET.AU
by Jake Sturmer | Thursday, February 26, 2015 08:26:36