3D printer
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MIT researchers have developed a rapid 3D-printing technique that uses liquid metal
Researchers at MIT have developed a rapid 3D-printing technique that uses liquid metal instead of polymer resin. This process allows for the complete creation of large aluminum parts, such as chair frames, in minutes.
Researchers printed a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons for the first time
Researchers at ETH in Zurich, a public university, along with a US-based startup affiliated with MIT have printed a robotic hand complete with bones, ligaments and tendons for the very first time. This represents a major leap forward in 3D printing technology.
Researchers 3D-printed a fully recyclable house from natural materials
The University of Maine's BioHome3D is made entirely of sustainable wood fibers and bio-resins.
NASA's latest space station cargo includes a 3D printing system for lunar soil
NASA's newest space station cargo mission has delivered a 3D printer that could help print habitats from Moon and Mars soil.
Cakewalk3D lets your regular 3D printer decorate food
You’d have to be a real foodie to drop a few thousand dollars on a dedicated food printer, but what if you could transform a regular 3D printer into one for a fraction of that? That’s the premise behind Cakewalk3D, a new Kickstarter project that promises to let you print designs on cakes, appetizers and more on the cheap.
3Doodler's latest 3D printing pen lets pros draw with metal and wood
3Doodler has introduced a Pro+ 3D printing pen that can draw metal, wood and even nylon.
NASA backs demo that will 3D-print spacecraft parts in orbit
NASA is expanding its efforts to bring 3D printing to space. The agency has given Made In Space a $73.3 million contract to demonstrate the ability to 3D-print spacecraft parts in orbit using Archinaut One (shown above), a robotic manufacturing ship due to launch in 2022 or later. The vessel will fly aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket and 3D-print two 32-foot beams on each side, with each unfurling two solar arrays. The completed arrays could produce up to five times more power than the solar panels you normally find on spacecraft this size, NASA said.
Man 3D prints dart gun to protest weapon blueprint law
In the wake of recent shootings, many Americans think the US needs at least slightly stricter gun laws. However, when it comes to 3D-printed weapons, one maker begs to differ. Peter Alaric built a 3D-printed dart gun to make a point about proposed State Department laws banning weapon blueprints on the internet. Calling President Obama "our Fuehrer," he said "this gesture of protest further proves the obvious futility of attempting to regulate speech and ban simple mechanical objects." His creation fires 40mm blowgun darts via a piston and rubber bands, and can even hold accessories like laser sights.
Tiny 3D-printed drill is powered by a hearing aid battery
We've seen teeny-tiny 3D printers before, and now we're getting pint-sized creations to match. An ingenious engineer from New Zealand set out to make the world's smallest cordless drill, and the result is pretty remarkable. The tiny tool measures just 17mm tall, 13mm long and 7.5mm wide, with a 0.5mm twist drill that can pierce soft objects. Creator Lance Abernethy designed the outer shell in Onshape with a regular drill for reference, before printing it with his trusty Ultimaker 2 3D printer. It's powered by a hearing aid battery and connected with wiring stripped from a headphone cable. The hardest part, unsurprisingly, was assembling all of the parts inside, because the wires kept breaking off and threatening to short-circuit the battery. Needless to say Abernethy pulled through, giving Borrowers everywhere an ideal power tool for their next home renovation.
Watch these artists 3D print animation into reality
Why 3D print a computer animation? 'Art' is a good enough reason for us, and that's exactly what drove Dutch artists to put a hundred frames into a single mind-bending installation. Using an Ultimaker 2 3D printer and liberal amounts of glue and string, artists Job, Joris and Marieke squeezed all the cells from a short animation (below) into a single mise-en-scene. At a glance, you can see the fate of the teal-hued hero as he vaults off a cup and into a vase, with each detail (including a bouncing ball and shattered cup) faithfully reproduced in PVC. If you want to feel like you're inside a computer where time has lost all meaning, it'll be exhibited at Amersfoort's Kunsthal museum on March 29th.
Of course there's a band with 3D-printed instruments at CES
Because how could there not be, right? You have 3D systems to thank for this one.
New 3Doodler 3D printer pen gets slimmer and prettier
Remember the 3Doodler? A pen that lets you draw in the air with plastic -- basically a hand-held 3D printer. Well, the fine folks at WobbleWorks are back with an all-new 3D Doodler that's improved in just about every way possible. Most notably, this thing is tiny. It's just a quarter of the size of the first-gen device. Really, it's not much bigger than a large permanent marker at this point. And it's not much heavier either: At 50g (1.77 ounces) it's just half the weight of the original. But the improvements don't stop there. This pen is also quieter and uses less power. The latter part is especially important since the company is also debuting the JetPack (along with other accessories), a portable battery that lets you doodle with PLA or ABS plastic for between two and three hours while you're on the go. The new, aluminum-clad pen adds a double click for continuous flow (so you don't have to just hold the button down the whole time) and has two speed options depending on what you're drawing.
How 3D printing brings 'Skylanders' to life
Toys for Bob's Skylanders franchise isn't the only "toys to life" game in town anymore and Paul Reiche, co-founder and studio head, is well aware of the deep-pocketed competition. "We recognize that we've got Disney with Infinity and Nintendo with Amiibo and, you know, they have entered into this world with their own products. And it's really our job to make sure that, through innovation, we're leaders," he says. The franchise, which lets players control virtual versions of their RFID-equipped figurines in-game, was the first to successfully merge physical toys and video gaming as part of a new crossover entertainment category. Given that penchant for innovation, it's no surprise that the studio has now fully embraced 3D printing as a means of streamlining its in-house creative process.
Your old iPhone would make an amazing, musical lamp
It's October, which means there's a good chance you have a spare last-gen iPhone laying around and aren't quite sure what to do with it. You could sell it, of course, but if you feel like hanging on to it for sentimental purposes, you could always use it as a fancy ultra-modern musical lamp. With an at-home 3D printer and the help of Kwambio, you can do just that. Kwambio is a new web platform on which designers can sell their designs to anyone with a capable 3D printer. It just launched, and while the number of people who have a 3D printer at home is just starting to ramp up, one designer on the service has created a simple iPhone accessory that lots of people are going to love. In short, it's an elegant, simple arm that holds your iPhone. While in its nook, the phone can used as a lamp by turning on the flashlight feature, and since the bottom of the iPhone remains exposed, it can remain plugged into a charging cable and can even pump out some Spotify or iTunes music over Wi-Fi. According to Kwambio, the lamp -- which was designed by Ivan Zhurba -- can fit the iPhone 4/4s and 5/5c, and a version for the new iPhone 6 is already on the works. It's probably one of the best ways to repurpose an old iPhone I've ever seen. Now I just need to invest in a 3D printer to make it a reality.
Amazon now lets you customize and buy 3D-printed products
3D printing has made low-volume manufacturing of highly personalized products both affordable and accessible, but first you need a printer. A number of businesses have sprung up to bridge that gap -- investing in printers so you don't have to -- and now Amazon has opened up a dedicated storefront on its US site to connect customers with these sellers. The themed portal is stocked with over 200 products at launch, from jewelry to homeware to toys, that companies will print to order. Many can be also be customized, whether that simply be choosing a different color or tweaking numerous features of a design. You can also preview a 3D mockup of your creation before you buy, and now if you'll excuse us, we've got bobbleheads to order.
Recreate Marcel Duchamp's lost chess set with your 3D printer
Conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp was known for his "readymades," which declared everyday objects to be works of art -- most notably "Fountain," a public urinal on a pedestal. Duchamp was also something of a chess obsessive and created both an ornate tabletop set and a travel version, the latter of which he wanted to mass-produce. The first of the pair, however, was thought to have been lost to a private collector, so no-one would ever again be able to play with it at least, until now.
The Ekocycle Cube 3D-prints recycled plastic, is backed by will.i.am
Who isn't making 3D printers these days? We've seen countless models hit the market, but the new Ekocycle Cube from 3D Systems may be the first to boast backing from both a beverage maker and a celebrity. Coca-Cola and will.i.am have been collaborating on the sustainability initiative dubbed Ekocycle since 2011, and at CES this year the artist shared his passion for 3D printing and other emerging tech. As the latest announcement in the eco-friendly campaign, the new printer uses post-consumer plastic to create a variety of designs. It's not the first attempt at make 3D-printing a bit greener, but with some star power and the clout of 3D Systems behind it, the Ekocycle Cube definitely looks to be the highest-profile one to date.
Machine ridicules nature by turning fruit juice into fruit
3D printing with meat and sugar is fine, but where's the food for the more health conscious futurists among us? Cambridge based design studio Dovetailed might have the solution, after developing hardware that can print fruit, or at least, a close approximation. Droplets of fruit juice and alginic acid are dropped into a bath of calcium chloride, which causes them to form a gelatinous ball. By repeating this action several times, molecular gastronomists chefs are able to build them up into structures that kinda look like berries. We're not sure if we'd be able to switch this out for our regular apple-per-day, but hell, it's better than a diet entirely comprised of burgers and delicately-crafted candy.
Foodini is a 3D printer for everything from burgers to gnocchi
Who wants a 3D printer for just candy when you can have one that prints a five-course dinner instead? That's the idea behind Foodini, a new 3D printer that takes fresh ingredients and turns them into a culinary masterpiece. The device can do things like make custom ravioli, your own unique crackers or cookies, or even an intricate dark chocolate vase (if you just have to print candy). Its creations are made by filling the printer's "food capsules" with fresh ingredients and then inputting a recipe for the device to create. Foods can be printed in just a few minutes and eaten right away (if they're made from pre-cooked materials) or cooked after printing. Foodini is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter to manufacture its first run of the printers. $1,000 gets you in line to get one in January 2015, and a $2,000 investment can have you throwing your first printed dinner party by October of this year.
BigRep's ONE can 3D print full-sized pieces of furniture
While consumer 3D printers are cheaper and more efficient than ever before, their small size often means designers are limited to creating hand-sized models and figurines. With the launch of its open-source ONE printer, German studio BigRep is looking to expand things quite significantly, by letting you print your own full-sized pieces of furniture. With a build volume of 45 x 39 x 47 inches (that's 46 cubic feet), BigRep's machine can fashion things out of the usual plastics, but can also be tweaked to print using a mixture of wood fibers and polymers, as well as Laybrick, a sandstone-type filament. If you fancy crafting a new side table for your home or office, the ONE will set you back a hefty $39,000 -- just make sure you have plenty of spare room in your garage.
