toys – Malta 3D Printing

3D Printing Brings Imaginative Children’s Drawings to Their Playrooms

Now kids can bring their made-up monsters to life with MOYUPI.

Did you ever make up some fantastical creatures as a kid that you wished existed as actual toys? Maybe you tried to put your parents to work helping you mold them out of clay? MOYUPI promises to make kids’ creatures even more real through the magic of 3D printing and a little hand-painting.

The company uses digital modeling software to prepare your creature (or MOYUPI) for 3D printing, and then renders them in kid-friendly, durable ABS plastic. Due to the rudimentary nature of color 3D printing and the creators’ desire to precisely follow directions, color is carefully added to the designs by hand. MOYUPI can be rendered in three different sizes (15cm, 10cm and 7cm) and two types of boxes designed by Brazilian artist and illustrator Mayra Magalhães, and can also be shipped without paint so kids can do it themselves.

The limitations of 3D printing that the creators have encountered also happen to sync up fairly well with many children’s drawings; for example, irregular shapes are considered ideal for making a MOYUPI, but stick figures and other designs below a minimum thickness can’t be accepted. The MOYUPI project also encourages children to be original, as the creators can’t print licensed characters like Spongebob or Elsa (but they can print designs inspired by them).

“A team composed by artists… is the opportunity to get creative in the design process,” said MOYUPI founder Juan Ángel Medina in an email. “‘How did the kid imagine his Moyupi?’, ‘is that an arm or a horn?’, ‘is this element part of the shape or just something drawn on it?’. These questions aren’t always easy to answer, so we need to put our minds in a kid-like state to imagine what the kids wanted to portray and design it in the most accurate way.”

So what’s the big-picture mission with MOYUPI? The young team of six designers says they are interested in donating a portion of the company’s proceeds to organizations: “ASPACE, ALES, PÍDEME LA LUNA and ASPERGER, each one linked to one of MOYUPI mascots.”

An early-bird special allows backers who pledge $34 or more to receive a small MOYUPI figure as well as a Maxi Pack; a special XXL size (30 cm high) for $114 will also only be available during the special Kickstarter campaign. A variety of other configurations, some geared toward multiple kids and families, should be a great opportunity for kids and adults alike to unleash their creativity.

“The material I would like to use for the Moyupi is a rubber-like one, in order to make them even more friendly and resistant. That’s a possibility we are currently researching,” said Medina. Stretch goals also include a video game, YouTube series and research into making posable, articulated figures: all promising ideas for a kids’ brand.

psfk.com

by RACHEL PINCUS | 17 JULY 2015

3D Printed RayGun Shoots 7 Rubber Bands!

Posted on 20/08/201507/09/2015 by aneczka2307

http://3dprint.com/62498/3d-printed-rubber-band-raygun/

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This 3D Printed RayGun Shoots 7 Rubber Bands in Quick Succession

Creativity is endless when a skilled 3D artist is provided with a 3D printer, allowing him/her to turn their virtual models into tangible, real life products. The technology has brought to life some incredible inventions and innovations which have greatly enhanced the lives of others. At the same time, 3D printing has also allowed for these creative minds to have a little fun in fabricating things that would have only been dreamt of a few years ago.

For one freelance 3D artist, named Aiman Akhtar, who specializes in modeling characters, 3D printing allowed him to create a toy gun unlike anything we’ve seen before. Akhtar, who writes a monthly column for 3D World Magazine on the topic of 3D printing, seems to thoroughly enjoy the challenges that come with designing new products.

“Every month, I challenge myself to print something I have no clue how to make, then figure it out and take the readers on the journey with me. In the past months I’ve created an iPhone case, bobbleheads, fully articulated characters, 3D printed trophies, eyewear, and am currently tackling jewelry and wearables,” Akhtar tells 3DPrint.com.

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When you think of 3D printing, there are a ton of designs out there for objects that are cool to look at, but only a small percentage of the objects out there are actually functional. One of Akhtar’s latest projects was for something that not only is fully functional, but something that is a ton of fun to play with as well. He designed and 3D printed a rubber band raygun.

“I recently moved to Los Angeles and decided to visit the Rose Bowl Flea Market which takes place bi-weekly in Pasadena,” Akhtar told us. “There, on display, I saw some hand made, wooden, rubber band shooters and instantly knew I had to make my own custom 3D printed version. That’s the great thing about 3D printing, inspiration can come from anywhere and it’s the fastest way to go from an idea to a prototype. I took the toy apart that night and started redesigning it for 3D print.”

To design the gun, Akhtar searched around the internet for photo references of other raygun designs. He then used Photoshop to sketch out his various ideas. Once he had come up with an idea that satisfied him, he used ZBrush to sculpt the shape what he needed, before exporting it as an OBJ file into MODO to start building its functional parts. After all of the parts were designed, the models were brought back into ZBrush to key them all together, before exporting each part out as a separate STL file.

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In all, there were 21 separate pieces that needed to be 3D printed, including the trigger, hammer, barrel, sights, grip, internal keys, and more. Akhtar tells us that he could have easily 3D printed it in just five or six parts, and even perhaps as a single object, but he had a desire to make it as colorful as he could. Breaking it down into many individual pieces allowed him to do so.

Surprisingly, Akhtar doesn’t own a 3D printer himself. Instead, for this project, he used 3D Hubs to find an affordable printing service close to his home.

“I landed upon a small buiness called Cybertech, and submitted an order though 3D Hubs to their print lead, Israel Pena,” Akhtar tells us. “I gave clear specifications and color notes on how I wanted each part printed, and Israel took care of the rest. He used a MakerBot 5th generation, switching out the various color plastic spools as specified.”

After receiving the parts back, Akhtar put them together but found that the trigger was not flexible enough. It was too weak to stop the hammer, and upon trying to fire the gun, it snapped off. He quickly redesigned the trigger, and just as quickly had the new design printed out by Cybertech. He tells us that it “worked brilliantly” after receiving and assembling the revised trigger. It can shoot up to 7 rubber bands in quick succession, and it is one of the most beautiful toy guns you will ever see.

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The complete detailed tutorial on making this gun can be found in 3D World Magazine, issue 194, which can be purchased through iTunes or ordered as a physical copy through MyFavouriteMagazines. What do you think about this incredible design? Discuss in the 3D Printed Rubber Band Raygun forum thread on 3DPB.com.

3dprint.com

by EDDIE KRASSENSTEIN | MAY 5, 2015

3D printed LEGO

Posted on 23/03/201518/08/2015 by Malta 3D Printing

Introducing ‘Uberblox’, the Modern Equivalent of Lego!

http://www.gizmag.com/uberblox-modular-construction-set-…/…/

A 3D CNC router (computer controlled cutting machine) assembled from UberBlox, which is a new Lego-like metal construction and prototyping kit (Photo: UberBlox)

Uberblox: The Lego of the 3D printer age?

As cool and wonderful as Lego is, those plastic bricks can be tricky to handle if you want to step up from mere constructive play into serious custom-built prototyping. UberBlox hopes to fill that gap. It’s a metal construction set and prototyping system with a single-connector locking mechanism and a variety of control boxes for accommodating whatever computer connection or automation needs a project might have.

“It is difficult to make automated machines without years of developing skills and know-how,” UberBlox Systems founder Alex Pirseyedi tells Gizmag. “You need to know about technical design principles, not to mention the skills required to fabricate and assemble parts accurately to make such complicated machines work.”

UberBlox was born of the need for a solid, easy-to-use modular system that enables makers to build and test their robots, 3D printers, smart systems, and other computer-programmed automated machines. Pirseyedi notes that, while the traditional plastic building block sets “are great for quickly and easily making something,” they can’t handle the kind of rigidity and accuracy these automated machines require. UberBlox, he argues, bridges the gap by combining the lower barrier of entry of something like Lego with the higher technical needs of a typical maker.

“Even with today’s readily available aluminum T-slot mechanisms, you still need to cut, drill, mill, fit, re-try, re-cut, [and] deal with a huge number of choices for connecting parts,” explains Pirseyedi. “And [you have to] do all this accurately with tools and equipment that you may not necessarily have easy access to or know how to operate properly. UberBlox eliminates all that. You simply imagine a machine idea within the context of the system, and you start assembling parts, mostly with a single small tool. The supporting electro-mechanic, electronic, and software components then help you bring it to life.”

As for specific examples of what UberBlox might be helpful to produce or prototype, Pirseyedi has suggestions. The big one his team is pushing is 3D printing, with much of the marketing material revealed so far showing how the kit can become a functioning 3D printer. If you really just want a 3D printer, of course, you can buy one preassembled or packaged in a more tailored kit. But UberBlox is for the curious. It’s targeted at people who “have a desire to make their own so that they can learn engineering and technical skills as well as be able to tweak their system however they like,” says Pirseyedi.

Moreover, he adds, UberBlox allows for quick and easy testing of new design ideas for either entire 3D printing systems or portions of them, which is a popular pursuit of many in the maker community, without getting bogged down in the fabrication process. “After all, that is one of the reasons we’ve had such an explosion in interest in low-cost 3D printers in the past couple of years,” he says.

Besides 3D printers, the system could also “easily” be used to build loads of different types of robots, including manipulator arms, rovers, and humanoids, as well as laser cutting and engraving or CNC milling and routing machines.

It isn’t clear yet exactly what parts will be included in UberBlox kits, but they will include both basic blocks and reconfigurable parts, such as motors, moving components, electronics, and “Brain-Box” controllers for do-it-yourself boards, such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi. It sounds like there’ll be multiple configuration options, but the UberBlox team is keeping the details quiet on this and pricing until it launches a Kickstarter campaign later this month.

The upcoming UberBlox Kickstarter will also reveal how the connection mechanism works, and if it surpasses its goal the team may be able to develop a 3D software tool designed specifically for drag-and-drop assembly of virtual UberBlox parts to aid in the design process. Regardless of any stretch goals, the team will release 3D models of UberBlox parts to backers “at some point in time” so that they can play around with them in their CAD or 3D modelling software of choice.

GIZMAG.COM

by Richard Moss | February 15, 2015

Top 5 weirdest things made by 3D printer!

Posted on 23/03/201514/08/2015 by Malta 3D Printing

This is your Sunday read!

Our latest blog post takes a look at the top 5 weirdest things that can be made with a 3D printer! Ranging from sex toys to guns, this blog is not for the faint of heart!

http://malta3dprinting.blogspot.com/…/top-5-weirdest-things…

Top 5 Weirdest Things to 3D Print

We’ve heard the stories about the life-saving organs created by 3D printers. We’ve shed a tear reading about prosthetic limbs produced to help amputees, marveled at the houses built by 3D printers and sat in awe as we read about NASA’s zero-gravity printer.

Let’s not forget 3D printing’s dark side, capable of producing dozens of weird, wonderful and even dangerous products.

Join us for a wild ride filled with a list of strange products printers can produce. Parental discretion is advised.

1) Sex Toys

The popular movie ‘Neighbors’ starring Zac Efron and Seth Rogen featured a Bukobot 3D printer which printed out dildos. That’s right – for all the different beneficiary products 3D printing can produce, sex toys are in the mix too.

SexShop 3D allows owners of 3D printers to create dildos, plugs or vibrators at any size for only $5. As usual free alternatives exist, and Markerlove are more than happy to push the boundaries of the open-source community.

It’s not only male body parts that are being printed.

This Motherboard article claims that a 26-year old teacher from New York felt a sense of empowerment after scanning and printing her own vagina.

In related events, a Japanese artist also scanned her vagina, but she used the data to 3D print a boat.

What an exciting time we live in – we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried. She was subsequently arrested for allegedly distributing ‘vagina selfies’. Oh the woes of being a misunderstood artist!

2) Drones

3D printing has conquered both land and sea, and is now becoming a master of the sky. Ever heard of a perosnal UAV?

Short for unmanned aerial vehicle, these lightweight machines are slightly different to their cousins that drop bombs from high altitudes. Attach a camera to them, learn how to fly one and you’ve got yourself a unique perspective for filming live events, sports matches or even home-made films and documentaries.

The video above provides a detailed explanation of the hand-launched UAV, created by ateam at the University of Virginia for the Department of Defense. Speeds can reach an impressive 120mph, at the cost of quickly draining the battery.

Eventually, 3D printed drones could be irreplaceable in recon missions. The ability to 3D print a new one and have it up and running within a few hours makes it extremely desirable.

Supposedly, the world’s first 3D printed drone was designed and built across the pond, in Southampton. The SULSA drone can be assembled within 10 minutes and is comprised of only 14 parts.

Hopefully, hobbyists won’t use these to spy on their neighbors.

3) A Fetus

Wait… what? There’s actually a good explanation for this.

For those overzealous mothers out there who would like to hold their babies before they’re even born, a 3D printed plastic fetus is probably the closest they’ll get.

Think of it as a souvenir for 9 months of struggling.

If you’re ready to fork out about 100,000 Yen (€683), you can cuddle up to your plastic fetus as much as you like. Fasotec and the Hiroo Ladies Clinic in Tokyo are the ones responsible for the ‘Shape of an angel‘ service.

The impressive Biotexture technology is used to render the 3D data, after which a high-end resin printer begins to dual print the mother’s transparent womb and the fetus’ body.

Fasotec have been in the industry for over 30 years, so if there’s anyone you should trust to print your fetus, it’s definitely them.

4) Drug Paraphernalia

Malta 3D Printing doesn’t condone the use of drugs, but we’ve always got an eye open for unusual, niche products. A novelty item if there ever was one, a 3D printed bong is sure to have stoners out there saving up their weed money.

Besides water pipes, other paraphernalia like grinders, ash catchers, splash guards, pipes and cleaners can also be printed.

With the infinite customization options available to users, you may be smoking out of a skull-bong modeled from your own head soon enough.

5) Guns

In case you’ve been living under a rock, 3D printed guns have been around for more than a year now. Originally, they would malfunction and explode upon being fired, but their development has since improved.

As of yet, nobody is known to have been killed by a 3D printed gun, but a Japanese man was arrested forthe possession of printed firearms.

Most cannot fire more than a few rounds. It is sobering to imagine thepotential dangers of such a product, created by the same machine which is about creating, not destroying.

Contrary to the Daily Mail’s fear-mongering article which implies that anyone can 3D print a gun, they are in fact very hard to make. As anyone with experience in the world of 3D printing could tell you, printing a complex, functioning product is far from easy. On top of that, building something which requires multiple pieces that can fire live rounds makes it an even tougher nut to crack.

Luckily, most of 3D printing personnel we’ve met aren’t hell bent on spreading anarchyby promoting the proliferation of plastic guns.

MALTA3DPRINTING.BLOGSPOT.COM

by Martin Calleja Urry | 22 November 2014