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Tiny 3D-printed retro TV set plays B-movies for your Barbies
The Philco Predicta television is a 1950s design icon and one of the most easily recognizable television models in history, what with its detached picture tube and nearly flat screen. Unfortunately, finding a working example these days is nearly impossible -- that is, unless you 3D-print one yourself like the crafty geniuses at FormLabs have. The team first printed the miniaturized case using the Formlab Form+1 and clear resin, then stuffed an Adafruit 2-inch LCD screen into it and loaded the Sci-Fi classic "The Man from Planet X" into its memory.
Here's another high-speed 3D printer that creates objects in minutes
If Carbon3D's capability to print out objects 25 to 100 times faster than usual is the reason why you can't wait for it to come out, then you'll love this machine, too. An Australian company has announced it's also working on a super speedy printer called Gizmo 3D. It creates objects out of liquid resin by printing layers from the top to the bottom without breaks. This occurs within the vat of liquid resin itself: the build plate or the bottom of the vat was designed to slide downward, revealing more of the shape as its moves.
Researchers can now 3D-print nose cartilage in 16 minutes
Doctors have been employing 3D-printed tissue for years now. But even though the hype around 3D bioprinting has raised expectations that it will save lives and shorten donor wait lists, fully functional printed organs are not feasible yet. While we won't be seeing blood pumping printed hearts any time soon, getting a new nose could become easier.
Autodesk's new app lets kids design their own toys
3D printers can build anything from prosthetics and musical instruments to Hershey chocolates. But, even as the technology continues to make strides with materials (metal, concrete, etc.) and takes on full-fledged architectural projects, it seems to move further away from the reach of children. Tinkerplay, a new kid-friendly 3D printing app, makes it quick and easy for all age groups to design and experiment with minimal assistance.
Super-fast 3D printing takes its cue from 'Terminator 2'
In a sense, 3D printing as you know it is a lie -- it's really stacking a series of 2D layers on top of each other, rather than forming a single object. That's where Carbon3D might come to the rescue. It just unveiled a 3D printing technique, Continuous Liquid Interface Production, that creates true, contiguous 3D items by blasting a resin pool with bursts of light (which hardens the resin) and oxygen (which keeps it in a liquid state). As the Washington Post notes, the approach both looks like and was inspired by the shapeshifting T-1000 robot in Terminator 2 -- solid objects emerge out of an amorphous goo.
Here's how you make a 3D printing gun using Lego
What do you do if you want to 3D print in any direction, but can't buy a pre-made pen like the 3Doodler? If you're Vimal Patel, you build your own. He melded a hot glue gun with a powered Lego mechanism (really, Technic) to extrude filament in any axis. To call it bulky would be an understatement, but it works -- as you'll see in the video below, it can produce fairly complex objects as long as you have a keen eye and a steady hand. And if you want to try it, you can. Patel has posted his Lego Digital Designer file for the 3D printing gun, so it shouldn't be too hard to replicate the invention at home.
Scientists 3D print cartilage to repair damaged windpipes
Believe it or not, scientists aren't yet finished discovering new ways to 3D print body parts. A team at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has developed a 3D printing technique that lets them produce cartilage for repairing damaged tracheas, better known to you and I as windpipes. They use an off-the-shelf 3D printer (in this case, a MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental) to create a scaffold for the cartilage out of the same PLA filament you'd use for everyday 3D printing projects. After that, they cover the scaffold in a mix of chondrocytes (healthy cartilage cells) and collagen, 'baking' it in a custom bioreactor to make sure the cells grow properly.
3D-printed music scores help the blind feel every note
It's increasingly apparent that schools can do exceptional things when you give them 3D printers. Need proof? The University of Wisconsin's Mechanical Engineering department is using its advanced selective laser sintering printer to make a wide range of intricate projects, including 3D music scores for the blind. The creation replaces Braille (which sometimes omits crucial details in music) with extruded versions of the same notes you see on regular sheets -- you can interpret those arpeggios in the same way as any other performer, rather than learn a separate system. The university is still refining the concept, so it may take a while before blind virtuosos are using 3D sheets in concerts. You'd need an easy way to mass-produce them, for one thing. If the technology pans out, though, it could open doors for vision-impaired artists. [Image credit: Scott Gordon]
The International Space Station is now making 3D-printed tools
It's official: you can "upload" tools to space. Following its earlier test run, the International Space Station has used 3D printing to make a ratchet based on instructions sent from Earth. It's not exactly a sophisticated implement, but it underscores the advantages of letting astronauts print their own gear. NASA and Made In Space (the company behind the printer) designed, tested and manufactured the ratchet in less than a week -- even if a conventional part was ready to go, it would have had to wait days or weeks for a ride on a delivery vehicle. Researchers will have to take a while studying the practicality of 3D-printed tools (including the effects of microgravity) before they're put into regular service, but it's easy to see a day where crews can always make the equipment they need. [Image credit: NASA]
Royal Mail wants you to 3D print gifts right before you ship them
Let's say you're in a real hurry to mail gifts this holiday -- so much so that you forgot to buy those gifts before you reached the post office. Are you stuck? Not if the UK's Royal Mail has something to say about it. The organization is teaming with iMakr on a trial program that lets you 3D print goods and promptly ship them afterward. You can bring in your own creations or, if you're in a real pinch, choose from ready-made designs ranging from the stamp magnet above (£5) to a wine cooler (£45).
NASA is 3D printing objects in space
At long last, 3D printing has conquered its final frontier: space. NASA has successfully printed its first 3D object aboard the International Space Station. It's just a tiny faceplate that identifies the printer maker (Made In Space), but it's both a symbolic milestone and a source of valuable feedback for tweaking the printer's output. For instance, NASA now knows that parts stick to the print tray more in microgravity than they do on Earth; it's possible that plastic layers bond differently in orbit.
Here's how to 3D print using mashed bananas
We've seen many people use food as 3D printer feed in the past, such as chocolates, candies and even ice cream. But can you imagine 3D printing anything using bananas? Sounds hard, if not, well, bananas -- but 3Digital Cooks' founder Luis Rodriguez Alcalde isn't one to shy away from a good challenge. So, for his latest project, he explored how to print out solid objects using banana mush and his self-designed extruder for 3D printers called PLYUMP. As you can imagine, pureed banana can't hold shape on its own, so Alcalde had to use potato starch as a thickener. His first attempt ended up lumpy and brownish, and honestly, quite terrifying to look at.
Europe's space agency is also sending a 3D printer to the ISS
The ISS will soon serve as home to not one, but two 3D printers, courtesy of the European Space Agency. It's a small cube that measures 10 inches on all sides, and it's slated to reach orbit in the first half of 2015 to coincide with Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's ISS expedition. The device, called Portable On-Board Printer or POP3D, was developed by Italy's ASI space agency to require very little power while creating objects through a heat-based process -- a technology different from what NASA's device uses. Aboard the ISS, it will be printing out biodegradable plastic components (it's unclear what those parts will be at this point), which will then be sent back to Earth for comparison against similar ones printed on the ground.
Modular 3D printer lets you add whatever tools you need
One of the biggest problems in 3D printing is anticipating the kind of equipment you'll need; if you suddenly have to print in ceramics, you may have to buy another machine. That won't be an issue if the Flux 3D printer gets off the ground. The crowdfunded device lets you swap in modules that accomplish any number of tasks; if you need to laser-etch wood or work with pastry, you just switch components. It's not a large printer, but it includes a 3D scanner and lets you replace some parts if they break.
3D printing is venturing beyond plastic and into your home
When you think of what 3D printing can do, you probably imagine simple plastic models and parts -- clever, but not exactly revolutionary. If you ask Dovetailed's Vaiva Kalnikaite and Make's Anna Kaziunas France, however, they'll tell you that 3D printers can accomplish much, much more. Dovetailed's 3D-printed fruit is just the start of what you can do with food, for example. Kalnikaite told Engadget Expand guests that 3D printing offers not just extra creativity with how you present meals, but a way to change the meals themselves. Do you like the taste of bananas, but not their texture? You could print food that offers everything you like, and nothing you don't. This could be particularly helpful if you have a food allergy, since you could enjoy food that was previously off-limits.
The Big Picture: building a 3D-printed moon base
Did the European Space Agency's concept of a 3D-printed moon base seem too outlandish? Don't worry -- the institution has just posted a video (below) that sheds more light on the subject. The colonization mission would revolve around a robotic rover that converts moon dust into a 3D-printed protective layer for an inflatable habitat; after three months, the living space would be safe enough for human settlers. It'd even have windows to provide some natural lighting. This is just a research exercise at present -- it'll likely be years before the ESA can put a base like this on lunar soil. Still, it's clear that the agency's vision of extraterrestrial colonization is more than just a passing fancy.
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.
The iBox Nano 3D printer is almost as cheap as it is tiny
We've seen our share of 3D printers 'round these parts, but the iBox Nano could be one of the smallest yet. Its creators claim that the gizmo is not only the most diminutive resin printer, but also the most affordable in addition to being the word's quietest and lightest 3D printer to date. It achieves these bullet points in a few ways, namely by using LEDs instead of a DLP bulb for light (cuts down on size and noise) and acrylic parts for the actual printer body. The end result is a box measuring 4 x 3 x 8 inches and weighing in at three pounds. What's with going small, though? Well, the inventors say that, statistically, folks who buy bigger (and costlier) 3D printers tend to only print smaller objects anyway -- this is a matter of calculated efficiency.
Arduino's new 3D printer lets you modify just about everything
If you're a fan of Arduino's tinker-friendly approach to computing, you'll be glad to hear that it's now extending that open philosophy to 3D printers. The company has teamed up with Sharebot to unveil the Materia 101, a small (5.5 inches by 4 inches) printer that's built to be both friendly to beginners and very accessible. You can modify the code on the underlying Arduino Mega mini-PC, of course, but you also have access to the full schematics of the printer -- you can upgrade it or even make your own, if you have the know-how and parts. Arduino hasn't said when it plans to ship the Materia, but it'll be available both as a build-it-yourself kit (priced under $800) and fully assembled (under $1,000).
UPS now lets you use 3D printers in nearly 100 US stores
UPS' experiment with in-store 3D printers apparently went off without a hitch -- the shipping service has expanded the availability of 3D printing services from six test markets to nearly 100 locations across the US. While the hardware is still concentrated in a relatively small batch of cities, such as New York and Chicago, there's now a much better chance that a shop near you has the gear for printing everything from prototypes to one-of-a-kind phone cases. There's no word of any additional rollouts at this stage. However, it's reasonable to presume that more stores will get on-the-spot object making if it proves popular with crafters nationwide.
