Scott Elliot of the SD300 blog came up with a great idea: print Gem holders for homemade gemstones. Well, not exactly homemade, but home-etched. You see, he happens to have a C02 laser with which he’s able to engrave tiny patterns onto the gemstones. He’s discovered the best results are obtained from engraving “lab grown… Continue reading 3D Gem Holders
Usage
Fabricating UAVs
UAVs, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, seem to be slowly taking over air forces around the world. It turns out that a key contributor to some of these vehicles is Laser Sintered parts. Many parts can be fabricated using this technology, and they are “stable in hot environments and are tough, pliable, and robust in harsh… Continue reading Fabricating UAVs
A Trophy for Materialise
Materialise was selected to produce trophies for the Moto GP in Sachsenring and Formula 1 race in Budapest. The design was made by Antonio Pio Saracino at the request of Eni, who needed a new interpretation of their traditional six-legged dog logo. Saracino’s ethereal design is quite amazing, and of course, impossible to build using… Continue reading A Trophy for Materialise
3D Printed Chairs
Freedom of Creation has produced another set of amazing furniture, this time by Dutch designer Bram Geenen. The design of the Gaudi stool (pictured) and a matching chair was done mathematically, where the curves and internal structure were determined by the distribution of various forces. From design, the furniture was produced by laser sintering. These… Continue reading 3D Printed Chairs
Wearable 3D Fashion
Iris van Herpen’s startling clothing designs are worn even by Lady Gaga – but now Ms. van Herpen has used 3D print technology to produce some totally awesome items exhibited at the Amsterdam International Fashion Week in July. The “Crystallization” collection included the amazing top seen above. We especially like the back view (click for… Continue reading Wearable 3D Fashion
Hydrocolloid Printed Food
Researchers from Cornell University have been exploring a new angle on food printing: the use of hydrocolloids. What the heck is that? From their paper: Using a novel combination of hydrocolloids (xanthium gum and gelatin) and flavor agents, texture and flavor can be independently tuned to produce printing materials that simulate a broad range… Continue reading Hydrocolloid Printed Food
Print a Viewfinder for your Canon DSLR
That’s just what Marc Schreibman did after taking a course in fabrication. After a “5-6 hour print”, he had a new LCD viewfinder in his hands. It wasn’t easy, however: I took many measurements of the camera body and LCD screen, designed it in Rhino 3D, and printed it out on a 3D printer.… Continue reading Print a Viewfinder for your Canon DSLR
World’s Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned
John Morewood managed to get his NextEngine 3D Scanner HD near the world’s fastest motorcycle (360.913 mph / 580.83 kph, holy cow!), the ACK Attack Streamliner, and grab a scan. Hopefully, the beast was not at speed during the scan. This was not just a routine scan, as John says: The size of the… Continue reading World’s Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned
Objet Organizes a Dental System
3D printer manufacturer Objet has joined dental scanning provider 3Shape to create an integrated workflow solution specifically for dental restorations. The solution links 3D models produced by 3Shape’s dentist-focused scanning equipment and software directly into Objet’s Eden 3D printers. According to Avi Cohen, Head of Medical Solutions at Objet Geometries, the solution: includes special… Continue reading Objet Organizes a Dental System
Erik’s Wedding Topper
Netherlands-based personal fabrication researcher Erik de Bruijn recently got a chance to link his research area with personal life by creating a wedding cake ornament on his 3D printer for his own wedding! The project involved searching Google 3D Warehouse (unsuccessfully), preparing a 3D model (available on Thingiverse) and printing both pieces (bride and groom… Continue reading Erik’s Wedding Topper
Sintering the Moon
We just finished reading a paper describing the viability of using microwaves to fuse lunar soil (regoilith) into solid shapes, in the hopes of creating an effective way of building lunar structures for future astronauts and their bases. The chemistry and process are fascinating. It seems that most of the lunar regolith was formed… Continue reading Sintering the Moon
Print Some Legs and Make Them Whole Again
One of the most interesting applications of 3D printing is medical uses. We’ve written about many different medical applications, ranging from printed tissue, to replacement bones. Today we ran across Alison Lewis’s wonderful post describing her experience encountering custom printed prosthetics for amputees. The procedure was to scan the patient’s surviving leg and through… Continue reading Print Some Legs and Make Them Whole Again
Breeding RepRaps
The premise behind the RepRap project is to build a machine that can reproduce itself. While it’s not quite able to accomplish that task entirely, it can produce a great many of its own parts. That’s exactly what’s going on at the University of Washington, where they seem to have set up a “RepRap… Continue reading Breeding RepRaps
Materialise Replicates King Tut!
The Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City has a unique addition to its display of Tutankhamen artifacts: King Tutankhamen himself! Or at least a very precise replica of his mummy. Artist Gary Staab was commissioned to prepare the replica, and he turned to 3D service Materialise for assistance. Using their sophisticated Mimics… Continue reading Materialise Replicates King Tut!
Do You Need an Atomic Force Microscope?
Sure, everyone needs an AFM! But what is it? From Wikipedia: Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy, with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the optical diffraction limit. The precursor to the… Continue reading Do You Need an Atomic Force Microscope?
EOS Focuses on Medical Applications
Commercial Laser Sintering giant EOS has been focusing on the medical market recently, using their SLS expertise to produce a variety of solutions. EOS uses several plastic approaches, including laser-sintered nylon for “disposable, customized operating devices such as drill guides for knee and hip replacements”. They’re also developing “PEEK HP3”, which is a “a… Continue reading EOS Focuses on Medical Applications
Solido – Up Close
Fabbaloo has obtained 3D print samples from printer vendor Solido, including the dramatic skeleton hand above. Solido uses a unique plastic sheet printing technique in which successive sheets are glued and cut, eventually building up to an object. This process certainly produces a lot of waste plastic – but don’t fear! You can send the… Continue reading Solido – Up Close
3D Bone Puzzle: Solved
There’s some interesting work taking place at the British Royal Infirmary, where 3D technology is being used to improve the process of rebuilding highly complex joint fractures. These complex fractures are very difficult to repair due to the myriad of tiny pieces that must be precisely placed back in their original locations in order… Continue reading 3D Bone Puzzle: Solved
Specialized 3D Bikes
Those ultra-cool bikes from manufacturer Specialized made from carbon fibre just don’t appear. They’re designed very carefully – using 3D printing technology. The process begins when Specialized engineers design a bike using a 3D modelling tool. Their objective is to produce something that not only is technically brilliant, but also looks good. The entire… Continue reading Specialized 3D Bikes
3D Printed Gloves
Fabbing superstar Janne Kyttanen of Freedom of Creation has been commissioned to produce unique white 3D printed gloves, as shown here. The gloves were commissioned by the Design Hub Barcelona, are will be on display from 15 June 2010 to 28 February 2011 in at the Fabrication Laboratory exhibition. According to DHUB: The objects… Continue reading 3D Printed Gloves
Printing the Moon
We saw a few posts recently proposing to use the D-Shape outdoor printer to be modified for printing a lunar base. That’s an enticing and challenging possibility, but why not print the Moon on Earth while we await real lunar exploration? That’s exactly what space enthusiast Howard Fink did, as you can see in the… Continue reading Printing the Moon
Hexapod Emerges from 3D Printer
Matt Bunting is a student who’s been interested in building robots for many years. Finally at the University of Arizona he was able to do so, partly by using the University’s Dimension 3D printer. The very complex leg assemblies were printed in eleven hours, using a great deal of support material. The design was such… Continue reading Hexapod Emerges from 3D Printer
uPrinting Arms
Tiberius Arms is a small company specializing in the design and manufacturing of advanced pneumatic weapons. You may have used similar weapons on the paintball grounds, but they’re also used by the military for training and police forces as a “less than lethal” weapon. Tiberius has been producing weapons since their first product, a sniper… Continue reading uPrinting Arms
Changing Prosthetics Forever
Daniel Terdiman of CNET news writes a long article describing how 3D printing is “changing prosthetics forever”. We’ve written several articles in this area over the past two years, and now it’s become visible in CNET. Terdiman explains how the combination of amputee soldiers’ needs, 3D scanning, 3D printing and individual manufacturing have opened… Continue reading Changing Prosthetics Forever
Converting the Camaro
What do you do if you live in Australia and want an American muscle car? It’s difficult if they’re not sold locally, so you’d have to purchase them in the US and ship them over the Pacific. But then you run into the problem of orientation: the US cars are designed to drive on the… Continue reading Converting the Camaro
MCOR Prints A Car
MCOR’s Matrix 300, the 3D printer that prints in plain paper, was recently used by design students from London’s Royal College of Art to produce a vehicle design, shown above. The MCOR Matrix is unique among 3D printers due to its use of paper as a print material, resulting in extremely inexpensive (and recyclable) media.… Continue reading MCOR Prints A Car
Wallpaper’s 30 Concept Houses
Wallpaper commissioned 30 concept houses for the 4th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam. They felt their exhibit would best show the concepts by having actual 3D models on display. The DMC (Digital Manufacturing Centre) London produced these models for 30 different architectural clients for the exhibition. 3D design files were obtained from the architects and… Continue reading Wallpaper’s 30 Concept Houses
3D Collaboration Puts 700 Year Old Monolith In Your Hands
We’ve all seen the enigmatic Easter Island monoliths called Moai, erected for mysterious purposes by long departed pacific islanders some 700ish years ago, and we find them quite intriguing. They were also very interesting to Mark Ganter of Open3DP, who wanted to 3D print one. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a readily available dataset containing a 3D… Continue reading 3D Collaboration Puts 700 Year Old Monolith In Your Hands
Animation with 3D Printing
It has been done before, with Coraline, but now a post from Creative Review walks us through how the title sequence for Dutch TV programme “Het Klokhuis” (“The Apple Core”) was created. The process involved printing numerous objects corresponding to frames of the sequence, which were then placed on a mini-stage and recorded. Animation… Continue reading Animation with 3D Printing
3D Printed Kitchen
This week has seen several articles on Food Printing, and today we can tell you that not only can the food be printed, but so can the Entire Restaurant! Instructables Restaurant is the first open source restaurant in the world. Everything you see, use and eat is downloaded from instructables.com. It’s an experiment in internet… Continue reading 3D Printed Kitchen
Dental Scanning
We’ve all been to the dentist (you have gone, haven’t you?) and from time to time we need to get replacement teeth or portions thereof. The dentist makes you bite into rubber or plastic moulds to capture the 3D shape of the required parts and then sends it off for custom manufacturing. But Is there… Continue reading Dental Scanning
3D iPhone Covers Now Available
We wrote last month about Freedom of Creation’s venture into printing with the MCOR paper-based 3D printer. They were playing with some rather colourful iPhone covers. Now you can buy iPhone covers from their online store, but these are not from the MCOR and are instead merely Laser Sintered Polyamide. We prefer the Double… Continue reading 3D iPhone Covers Now Available
Flying With Objet
Objet 3D printing technology is being used at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering to produce a Robotic Samara – a micro unmanned aerial system (UAS). The school focuses on advanced propulsion, composites and hypersonics for potential alternate modes of flight for military applications: Micro/Nano Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are… Continue reading Flying With Objet