3D printing

Neat. Now my question is how does that 3d printed paste compare to other methods of manufacture in areas say like strength and durability?

World's first rotary 3-D printer-cum-scanner unveiled at AAAS meeting: "Nanyang Technological University's (NTU Singapore) start-up Blacksmith Group today launched the world's first compact 3D printer that can also scan items into digitised models.

Named the Blacksmith Genesis, this user-friendly device allows users without much knowledge of 3D software to scan any item, then edit the digitised model on the computer and print it out in 3D.

The all-in-one 3D printer and scanner whose production was financed through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.com, was unveiled today at the American Association Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in San Jose, California."

WATCH: This 3D-printed arm costs just $300, and kids really, really love it: "Bionic arms have improved incredibly over the past 10 years. Just yesterday, it was announced that three men had chosen to amputate their arms as a result of nerve damage, and replace them with mind-controlled prosthetics. Researchers have even managed to create devices that allow amputees to feel what they're touching with their new limbs.

But the only problem with this amazing technology is that it's expensive - prosthetics can cost anywhere from US$20,000 - 100,000, and often it can only be produced by specialists. Which is where this cheap, 3D-printed arm comes in. As Derek Muller from Veritasium shows in the video above, by taking a simple idea and applying the latest in 3D printing, researchers from the University of Central Florida have managed to build a sophisticated bionic arm that costs just $300 to make. And kids absolutely love it."

Impressive. Two of the things I'd hoped to see with 3D printing are both there: customizability (like the Frozen arm), and lowering costs.

edited 28th Feb '15 6:31:33 AM by BonsaiForest

Edible Growth: 3D-Printed Living Food That Grows before You Eat It

At first I thought "Is this one of those things people do just to prove that they can?", but after watching the video, I can see that these are things that people eat anyway. This is just an apparently very unique way to grow such food. Actually pretty impressive.

Scientists are 3D-printing tiny human brains: "Researchers from the University of Wollongong in Australia are 3D-printing their own artificial human brains in the lab, in an ambitious project that sounds like something out of science fiction.

Using human stem cells, the team is growing specific brain cell types, such as neurons, onto 3D brain-like scaffolding. The hope is that their model will allow them to properly understand the mechanics of human-specific diseases, such as schizophrenia, and also investigate potential treatments. After all, animal models can only tell us so much."

I wonder how well that would work - if they could induce the diseases?

Robobrains when?

3D printing living tissue can potentially end transplant waiting lines, just make a cell culture from the patient, wait a few weeks or months BAM a new healthy and 100% compatible organ ready for transplant.

You don't need 3d printing for that. They already have successfully grown some body parts on collagen scaffolding including a successful transplant. They even managed to grow a heart. Sadly from what I recall they could not get the heart to beat though.

This new device recycles plastic bottles into 3D-printing material: "Whether a fad or an integral part of our future, 3D printers are sure making an impact, but not always in the way we want. When you print something, you're going to end up with little plastic corners and ends that are trimmed off and discarded because they're too small to reuse. Think about how many 3D printers there are in the world and how many things they're printing every day, and that's a whole lot of waste that can only really end up in landfill.

So three engineering physics students at the University of British Columbia in Canada have invented the ProtoCycler, a device that can grind up all kinds of waste plastic into a beautiful clean spool of plastic filament that can be used in a 3D printer. We're talking anything - plastic bottles, 3D-printing cut-offs, takeaway food containers. If your kids leave their LEG Os out one too many times for you to tread on with your bare feet... throw them in too. It works just like a juicer, which you can see in the video below."

A nice way to get extra materials. Good idea.

And I seriously doubt 3D printing is a fad. At the very least, businesses will want to use them. There likely won't be "a 3D printer in every house" to use a hopeful quote I see a lot, but neither are they a fad that will die out.

edited 16th Mar '15 6:20:14 AM by BonsaiForest

Considering the US military is investing in 3D printers to ease the logistical burden on their troops, I don't think it just a passing fad.

Besides, doing so would also change the cheap goods production, since markets like the US or Europe would just need to get the raw materials or recycle. No need to import anything from sweatshops from China.

It's certainly no fad, though we're not all going to be printing our own cars at home either. The tech's certainly surprised me in many ways.

Speaking of which, found where my college keeps our 3-D printer. It's technically in an art lab but I don't think anyone's gonna stop me...

Ours in my college isn't working, but the first thing they printed was, well of all the things, a dong.

I'd just take some 3D models of Warhammer figures to bypass the prohibitive costs associated with tabletop wargaming.

I'm really not surprised that'd be the first thing to get printed

I'm looking to print some miniatures for D&D stuff. Maybe some extra troops for my risk set too, we lost a few infantry guys.

To my knowledge my college doesn't have one.

Revolutionary 3-D printing technology uses light and oxygen to synthesize materials from a pool of liquid: "A 3-D printing technology enables objects to rise from a liquid media continuously rather than being built layer by layer as they have been for the past 25 years, representing a fundamentally new approach to 3-D printing. The technology allows ready-to-use products to be made 25 to 100 times faster than other methods and creates previously unachievable geometries that open opportunities for innovation not only in health care and medicine, but also in other major industries such as automotive and aviation."

I'd like to know how practical this is for a wide range of applications. Can it build houses, for instance? I imagine there are both pros and cons.

Cheap, fast and clean

Building houses with 3D printers.

The process of 3D printing houses and its applications

edited 17th Mar '15 4:15:58 PM by AngelusNox

It CAN build houses. Probably more expensive than normally built ones though, and they can't lay electrical stuff or plumbing properly.

Well I don't know about the US housing prices but laying the foundation of an entire house leaving only the roof, plumbing and the wiring to be made for just 5.000 USD is cheap.

$5? sounds a bit too good to be true.

And while that may SOUND like a deal, re-doing electrical once all the walls are already up is a pain in the ass. I can't imagine doing the plumbing. Just the manpower costs involved would put a crimp on the benefits.

edited 17th Mar '15 5:14:06 PM by Joesolo

I believe Angelus meant five thousand (though whether that's a typo or he's just from a country that punctuates numbers like that, I don't know).

Then perhaps the houses can be designed with this infrastructure in mind ahead of time.