The Guardian reports on just-in-time fabbed titanium bone replacements. But that’s not what the story is really about. Siavash Mahdavi faced the problem of producing 3D objects that were both strong and light for robotics applications, where power is limited but robust limbs are also required. Simply making hollow objects was not sufficiently strong, so… Continue reading Tailor-Made Bones… by an AI
europe
Fabbing Fabrics
Technothreads is an exhibition taking place in Dublin, Ireland from 26 April to 25 July 2008. The purpose of the exhibition is to offer a glimpse into the future of fabric, both from a design and technical point of view. From their website: Conceptual Couture concentrates on the use of science by fashion designers at… Continue reading Fabbing Fabrics
Zapped by ZapFab!
A tipster put us onto a new 3D print service: ZapFab. This Manchester, UK-based business is a bit different than your run-of-the-mill “send us your 3D file and we’ll print it” operation. They offer not only the printing process, but also have a highly usable user-generated library of pre-made designs of various types. Fabbaloo readers… Continue reading Zapped by ZapFab!
DesktopFactory Wins Netxplorateur Award
The French Netxplorateur Forum has selected DesktopFactory as the recipient of their Netxplorateur of the Year award. DesktopFactory is one of only 10 of the 100 initiatives to receive the award. Cathy Lewis, CEO of DesktopFactory, said: “It is clear that Desktop Factory will forever change the way we think of ‘printing’ – from an… Continue reading DesktopFactory Wins Netxplorateur Award
3D Printing Assists Cardiac Procedure
As usual, inventive minds are developing innovative uses for 3D printing. This time European medical technicians developed an “anatomically correct 3D rapid prototyping model” of a patient’s heart in an STL file. They then used a 3D printer (Zcorp 510) to punch out the model. Why do this? Because they were then able to easily… Continue reading 3D Printing Assists Cardiac Procedure
Psychological Experiment Uses Fabbing
3D printing is being used to manufacture custom objects for psychological experiments. The shapes are of typical objects, but they are not robust enough for normal use, since most 3D printers today cannot produce objects of sufficient strength. However, the psychological experiment involves subjects merely touching the objects to identify them by shape. This use… Continue reading Psychological Experiment Uses Fabbing
Stratasys Focuses
Stratasys, makers of the interesting FDM 900MC digital manufacturing system, have dropped marketing of the Arcam line of devices. They had been marketing the European-based Arcam products, which apparently specialize in printing 3D metal objects. What does this mean? We think that the strongly increasing demand for non-metallic printing (which appears to be more mature… Continue reading Stratasys Focuses
More 3D Figurine Services
There seems to be a sudden outbreak of services for printing 3D figures lately. Fabjectory has been around for a while, but the blogosphere was lit up on Figureprints just a few days ago. Now I find another one: a German service called “Fabidoo”. No English on their site, but thanks to the miracle of… Continue reading More 3D Figurine Services
3D Printing… on PAPER!
This one is a total surprise to me. I thought I had heard of all techniques for 3D printing – until today, when I read Deelip Menezes’ blog, where he pointed out Ireland-based Mcor Technologies. They make a 3D printer that uses paper as media: The Mcor Matrix desk top modeler can produce ready… Continue reading 3D Printing… on PAPER!
RedEye Goes European
RedEye RPM is opening a new “European rapid prototyping and direct digital manufacturing center in Leuven, Belgium.” RedEye is a sub of Stratasys, which produces high-end 3D printing equipment. RedEye provides 3D printing services to engineering firms and manufacturers for low-volume runs, presumably using current Stratasys hardware – possibly including that new FDM 900mc device.… Continue reading RedEye Goes European