3D printing

Could possibly build it where there's removable wall sections for the electrical. Or print piping for all the wires. Make us electricians miserable but it would work for the owner fine. Plus extra hours so win win I suppose :P

There are actually printing methods being designed that automatically lay down electrical wiring. Though I imagine 3D printing for houses will be designed to enable practical wiring placement.

How exactly does the printing process go. How viable would it be to print with all the holes for wiring and such, stop the printing before thouse gaps are sealed up, lay the wiring then resume the printing?

My guess is that they lay the walls, halls and pillars first and then apply a second wall over them covering the pipes and wires.

If this is done with the 3D printer or by masons is another story, but as far as I've witnessed, it isn't uncommon to build concrete or brick houses structures first and then add the pipes and wires, but then the whole purpose of the technology is to provide cheap houses quickly, which would also make it more convenient in places that are lacking infrastructure like power lines or plumbing since they wouldn't have to worry with those and just deliver a livable house.

http://www.cracked.com/article_22366_printing-arms-5-ways-3d-printing-helping-third-world_p2.html

Funny enough I've already written a paper discussing the possibilities of 3D printing for a college assignment, mostly discussing the medical possibilities of 3D printing. It is good to see the technology is being put to good use.

As soon as we solve the energy issue, the singularity will be pretty damn close.

For whatever reason, I didn't click on that. I really should have. Cracked is blocked at work, so I'll have to use my smartphone.

EDIT: Now I know why I didn't click it. It's because almost the entire thing is about 3D printing prosthetics, whereas I already know about that and wanted to learn about other things.

edited 25th Mar '15 8:21:13 AM by BonsaiForest

3D printed cars

One company has a car that's limited to 25mph, and not all parts are 3D printed. The other has a car that's limited to 40mph, and still not all parts are 3D printed, but more of them are. The cars cost way less to make than normal cars do.

Exciting developments, I gotta say.

Want a quick 3-D copy of something? Camera chip for smartphone provides superfine 3-D resolution: "Imagine you need to have an almost exact copy of an object. Now imagine that you can just pull your smartphone out of your pocket, take a snapshot with its integrated 3-D imager, send it to your 3-D printer, and within minutes you have reproduced a replica accurate to within microns of the original object. This feat may soon be possible because of a new tiny high-resolution 3-D imager."

Wow. They're really pushing this technology. Even if 99.9% of people never use this feature, it's a great feature to have be built right in, and will be a big boon to those who 3D print.

And will allow for easy peasy wide-scale copyright infringement. :P

what is next? Humanity becomes sane?

3D-printed aerogels improve energy storage: "A new type of graphene aerogel will make for better energy storage, sensors, nanoelectronics, catalysis and separations.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have made graphene aerogel microlattices with an engineered architecture via a 3D printing technique known as direct ink writing. The research appears in the April 22 edition of the journal, Nature Communications.

The 3D printed graphene aerogels have high surface area, excellent electrical conductivity, are lightweight, have mechanical stiffness and exhibit supercompressibility (up to 90 percent compressive strain). In addition, the 3D printed graphene aerogel microlattices show an order of magnitude improvement over bulk graphene materials and much better mass transport."

Bioprinting in 3-D: Looks like candy, could regenerate nerve cells: "Researchers are working on 3-D bioprinting synthetic tissue that could help regenerate nerve cells in patients with spinal cord injuries."

GE engineers make engine using additive manufacturing process: "GE engineers have been getting firsthand insights about additive manufacturing as applied to jet engines. News of their success in 3D-printing a mini-jet engine has gathered some attention. The team made a simple 3D-printed engine that roared at 33,000 rotations per minute, said a report. The team who built it are at GE Aviation's Additive Development Center outside Cincinnati. The focus there is on techniques in additive manufacturing for making 3D structures by melting metal powder layer upon layer.

GE Aviation's site (GE Aviation provides jet and turboprop engines, components and integrated systems) reviewed the additive approach, and where it departs from past methods. 'Unlike traditional manufacturing methods that mill parts from a slab of metal, additive manufacturing 'grows' parts directly from a CAD file using layers of fine metal powder and an electron beam or laser. The result is complex, fully dense parts without the waste, manufactured in a fraction of the time it would take using other methods,' said a recent post on the site.

The team pooled their skills as technicians, machinists and engineers. 'We wanted to see if we could build a little engine that runs almost entirely out of additive manufacturing parts,' said one of the engineers. 'This was a fun side project.'"

This probably will allow more exotic engine designs to become viable.

Very neat engine.

Yes, we've already started the designs for the DMLM parts in the new engines. Not much I can say about them due to proprietary restrictions but they're rather complicated.

edited 15th May '15 5:18:02 AM by Jaustin89*

Real and 3-D printed shells ability to withstand pressure: "Engineers analyzed seashells to see how their shapes contribute to their remarkable strength. By modeling the average mollusk's mobile habitat, they are learning how shells stand up to extraordinary pressures at the bottom of the sea. The goal is to learn what drove these tough exoskeletons to evolve as they did and to see how their mechanical principles may be adapted for use in human-scale structures like vehicles and even buildings."

Injured Sea Turtle Gets A 3D-Printed Jaw: "This loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) has got his bite back with the help of a 3D-printed, medical-grade titanium beak.

Weighing 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and named Akut-3, the sea turtle was found after being mutilated in a boating collision. Quickly brought into the Sea Turtle Research Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Dalyan, Turkey, he was nursed back to health. However, to be able to properly fend for himself back in the wild, the staff at the center quickly realized his jaw would need to be rebuilt.

The center contacted BTech Innovation, a Turkish company that makes customized medical prosthetics and implants – usually for humans. Eager to take on the challenge for a reptile in need, BTech used CT scans of Akut-3 to custom-produce a brand new metal jaw for him to chomp away with once more."

edited 19th May '15 10:16:31 PM by rmctagg09

The thing I am most excited about, by far, is 3D printing houses. Imagine housing costs plummeting. It would be great.

Don't count on it. It has less to do with construction cost and more to do with how the market is run and property values.

What do you mean?

Making houses is cheap, their market price and the terrain isn't.

Why is that? Specifically?

Because everyone wants to live close to where they work, buy groceries, etc.

And there's the cost of the assorted infrastructure (plumbing, electricity, roads etc). It may vary from place to place, but locally for new developments, the developer is the one responsible for putting in the roads at least (or at least footing the bill) and this cost gets passed on to the buyer as part of the cost of the land.

Stretchable, biocompatible hydrogels with complex patterning for tissue engineering: "Researchers have developed a new way of making tough—but soft and wet—biocompatible materials, called "hydrogels," into complex and intricately patterned shapes. The process might lead to injectable materials for delivering drugs or cells into the body; scaffolds for regenerating load-bearing tissues; or tough but flexible actuators for future robots, the researchers say."