Items tagged with 3D printing
Some may think it strange to design and build an entire PC and custom enclosure dedicated to running a 20-year-old screensaver, but I can explain. Retro computing fans and well-seasoned enthusiasts may remember that the superlative Defender of the Crown first hit the Amiga in 1986. Four years old at the time, and eight years away from getting my first PC, I had no idea what I was missing. I figured it out a few years and a couple of computers later though, when I stumbled upon the Serene Screen Marine Aquarium. This classic screensaver from the late 90s was created by the legendary artist of Defender of the Crown and more, Jim Sachs. Serene Screen’s combination of beautiful fish and technology...
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The Raspberry Pi is a very cheap developer board that can be used for many different types of electronics projects and has been around for years, advancing through multiple iterations. During the coronavirus outbreak, we've seen fun projects and lifesaving devices created using the cheap single-board computer. Sales of the Raspberry Pi have boomed during the coronavirus outbreak hitting 640,000 units in March. That 640,000 units sold figure is the second-biggest month for sales of the Raspberry Pi since the device first hit the market. Some of the record number of Pi sales would have been made even if the coronavirus wasn't an issue, but many buyers are taking advantage of the cheap developer...
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Researchers at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus were having a problem with a 3D printer they use in the lab. The device itself was working fine, but the resin material used to print the objects they needed in the lab was incredibly expensive at nearly $500 per liter. The team was in the process of looking for a cheaper alternative when one of the researchers analyzed the resin material and determined that it was similar to fats that were found in ordinary cooking oil. The team says that breakthrough led them to begin work to see if they could turn cooking oil into a resin for 3D printing. The next part was reaching out to fast food restaurants around the university to find someone...
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3D printing has increased in popularity over the last few years. These printers have been used in a wide variety of environments, including classrooms, labs, and homes. Many are now looking to 3D printing for industrial purposes, and these kinds of projects require a massive printer and a large amount of resources. One university may be able to provide all the necessary products for large scale 3D printing -- The University of Maine -- which just unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer. This 3D printer will be capable of printing objects up to 100-feet long. It can print objects up to 70-feet long in its current state, but a new building will be constructed to house its full configuration....
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There is hope that one day in the perhaps not-too-distant future, organ donors will not be needed. Not because the human race is going extinct (thought that's certainly a possibility), mind you, but because scientists have achieved a medical breakthrough by producing the world's first 3D printed heart, using a patient's own cells. Image Source: Tel Aviv University via Advanced Science One of the reasons why this is such a big deal is because heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States. For patients who find themselves with end-stage heart failure, a transplant is the only option. Donors are obviously in short supply, compared to the number of people who...
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Traditional 3D printing that is commonplace today can often take a very long time to create an object. This is because the printer must complete one layer at a time, sometimes requiring hours or at times days to complete the entire printing process. However, a team of scientist and engineers led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new 3D printing process that uses lasers said to be hologram-like to create an entire 3D object in just seconds. The lasers create the objects inside a tank of liquid resin, and the new technique is called volumetric 3D printing. The team working on the project believes that volumetric 3D printing can overcome many of...
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It's very likely that 3D printers are going to be a big part of our future, but for the average user, today's desktop models typically command prices that are hard to justify. That's one thing that can't be said about the OLO 3D printer, however, as it costs a mere $100. And no, that's not an error. We're talking about a 3D printer that costs about the same as a couple of AAA games. OLO was first announced in October at the World Maker Faire in New York, where it earned itself an Editor's Choice award and accolades from media all over the world. Following that immense hype, it launched a Kickstarter campaign just a couple of days ago, and ended up exceeding its $80,000 goal in mere hours. As...
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You can create just about anything with a 3D printer these days. That includes guns, pancakes, and now a running shoe, courtesy of New Balance, which beat rivals Nike and Adidas to the punch. New Balance also got a major assist from 3D Systems, a company based in North Carolina that developed a new elastomer powder material called DuraForm Flex TPU. The special material makes up the shoe's midsole. Unlike other materials New Balance has played with in the 3D printing arena, DuraForm Flex TPU is fairly lightweight, coming in at just 40 grams more than a traditional foam midsole design. It's also strong and elastic, traits that make the new midsole design appropriate for running shoes. Simply calling...
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There's no doubt that 3D printing is one of the coolest technologies released over the past decade, and given all we've seen from it up to this point, there's also no doubt that it's going to be a big part of our future. While today's 3D printers are still limited in what they can do, they've already been capable of creating usable exoskeletons for those who need them, and that's beyond cool. But, we're still at the beginning of what will be possible with 3D printing. Earlier this year, we learned of an advanced printer that would allow its users to print in multiple colors, and overall, that's a big advance in the technology. Now, though, researchers at MIT have delivered a prototype for something...
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It's hard to argue that 3D printing is awesome, but one thing that seems to be widely agreed-upon is that printing in just a single color can get a bit boring after a while. In time, printers that will allow you to create multi-color objects are sure to trickle down to the mainstream, but with The Palette, there's soon to be a stopgap solution. As seen in the shot above, The Palette isn't a 3D printer itself, but rather an add-on. In effect, it acts as a proxy between your existing 3D printer and different-colored filaments. As a project prints, The Palette will feed the appropriate color filament through, allowing you to turn something bland into something really cool looking. An example: Note...
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Paper printing? That's old-school. Today, the popularity surrounding 3D printing is immense, and it's even gone on to spawn other sorts of interesting printing scenarios, such as printing fabrics and soft objects. While so far, it's mostly been a select few who've taken advantage of 3D printing, technological advances and dropping prices will begin to make it more widely available - even to kids. Autodesk's Ember 3D printer That could happen sooner than later thanks to a partnership that just kicked off between Autodesk and Mattel. Based off of its Spark 3D printing platform, Autodesk is going to be releasing a couple of new apps that will help make 3D design and printing easier than ever so...
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The latest milestone in Amazon’s quest to get products to your door faster is going to involve trucks that can print items on the way to your house. Amazon filed a patent this week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that envisions delivery trucks bearing 3D printers, rather than boxes. The patent lays out a fairly simple plan. A customer places an order, which is directed to a local Amazon truck. “A manufacturing apparatus can be selected to manufacture the item based on the 3D manufacturing instructions,” the patent abstract reads. At that point, the truck heads to your house with your 3D-printed components in tow. The potential for such an operation...
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It really goes without saying that 3D printing is awesome, but whether or not a printer is going to be a common sight in our homes down the road is yet to be seen. Unlike a paper printer, a 3D printer has far different uses, and most people might not have the need for something like that outside of experimentation. This is something that Amazon realizes well, and its just-launched '3D Printing Store' is proof of it. Similar to eBay's 'Exact' store that we talked about last July, Amazon's 3D Printing Store will allow consumers to pick an item, customize it to their liking, and then place an order. Can't be bothered with the amount of effort required for that? Some premade items are being made...
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If you've been paying any attention to the 3D printing world over the past year or two, chances are good that you understand its potential, and its expected growth as time goes on. Really, 3D printing only hit the public consciousness a couple of years ago, but already it's been used for a number of interesting things, such as medical equipment and even toys - heck, it's even printed music (albeit primitively). According to Canalys, the sky's the limit, and from here-on-out, 3D printing will see a 45.7% growth each year, with it ultimately becoming a $16.2 billion industry by 2018. As impressive as that is, $16.2 billion is likely just the start. By that time, 3D printers will be more affordable...
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"Would you like a 3D printed toy with that?" That's a question that doesn't yet exist inside any McDonald's fast food restaurants, but give it time and it may become a mandatory query, at least when ordering a Happy Meal. In this day and age of the Internet of Things, society is becoming increasingly connected, and companies are harnessing technology in unique ways. What does this have to do with the golden arches? Mark Fabes, director of IT for McDonald's in the U.K., recently spoke at the Fujitsu Forum in Germany on the topic of the "disruptive customer" and his/her push for digital toys. McDonald's faces a new generation of customers, including kids being raised on digital gadgets like smartphones...
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The way spacecraft are built is about to change. Tethers Unlimited just received a $500,000 Phase II contract from NASA to continue its plans for robots that will use 3D printing to create spacecraft in space. If it succeeds, squeezing satellites and other spacecraft into rockets could become a thing of the past. NASA has helped fund development of SpiderFab, which plans to build spacecraft from materials delivered by rocket. Image credit: TUI The program, known as SpiderFab, relies on spider-like robots that print large components from materials that are sent to space via rockets. “On-orbit fabrication allows the material for these critical components to be launched in a very compact...
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With Windows 8.1 around the bend, Microsoft is taking the opportunity to add support to the OS for 3D printing. As Microsoft’s Gavin Gear explains in a blog post on the topic, printing in 3D with Windows 8.1 is much like printing in 2D (such as printing a document) right now. If it works as smoothly as Gear describes, 3D printing will be more streamlined process (and easier, it appears) in 8.1 than it is with third-party software right now. In fact, Windows 8.1 may even help those third-party programs improve the 3D printing process for you, too. The 3D printing process with the help of new Windows 8.1 support. Image credit: Microsoft Right now, 3D printing typically involves several steps...
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Every so often, there's a product category that truly transcends, and you can tell from the get-go that it's going to have a massive impact on society if given enough time. 3D printing is one of those things. It has already taken off in the hacker / Maker-space, and there are plenty of Kickstarter success stories surrounding the world of 3D printing. Now, however, we're starting to see these devices cross over into the mainstream, and perhaps save a store that has become increasingly irrelevant now that Amazon, NewEgg and a host of other e-tailers exist. Office Depot has just announced that it will soon begin stocking the Cube and the CubeX, two 3D printers that have previously been available...
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Make no mistake: the world is 3D printing has become an incredibly interesting one, and one that's growing at breakneck pace. What was once a hobby for high-end science labs has quickly become a favorite amongst average consumers, and now, companies far and wide. Ford has just published a video showing an engineer building a vibrating shift knob using just a 3D printer and an Xbox 360 controller. The point? To create an intelligent shift knob that helps people learn how to drive a manual vehicle, and it also is designed to vibrate when one should shift in order to save the most fuel. It's built on Ford's OpenXC software platform, and it's a tremendous example of what's possible when it comes...
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Once in a while there's a sort of early confluence in technology, where the writing is on the wall for all to see and the opportunity so obvious that the big guns turn their sites to it. Back in the heyday of 3D graphics there were more manufacturers clamoring over each other in the space than you could shake a dynamically-lit, bump-mapped stick at. From chip suppliers to board partners and software developers, the market was teaming with growth and opportunity. We're about to turn the corner on the birth of a burgeoning new market and eventually everybody will want in on the action. 3D Printer support, native for Windows 8.1 When Microsoft stepped out and offered native support for...
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There was little doubt before about 3D printing having a real future, but at the moment, the industry is on fire. Mere weeks ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 8.1 would be natively supporting 3D printing, a major boon to those who need it. Today, we learn of yet another way that 3D printing is getting into the hands of consumers, albeit a little differently than the rest. With its "Exact" service, eBay is offering people who don't have access to a 3D printer the ability to make use of them - at least to some small degree. The company has partnered with Sculpteo, MakerBot and Hot Pop Factory to offer a variety of base designs, and using its mobile app (available only for iOS at the moment),...
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There are a slew of new features reportedly coming to Windows 8.1, formerly codenamed Windows "Blue." From the passionately requested Start/Boot to Desktop, to simple things like additional Live Tile sizes, to universal Bing search from within any app in Windows, Microsoft is planning a major-league update with this latest Windows 8 release. During Microsoft's BUILD developer's conference live stream opening keynote today, we picked up on a major feature addition that had us grinning ear to extruded ABS ear. As it turns out, Microsoft decided to bake 3D Printing support right into this Windows 8.1 update. Windows 8.1 will natively support 3D Printers with drivers and API support....
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