News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
As an industry, additive manufacturing (AM) is seeking to disrupt industrial production practices that have been dominated by injection molding for over a century. Today, we are closer than ever to that reality: sophisticated 3D printing technologies are proving to be a viable means for fulfilling new manufacturing philosophies centered on quick turnarounds and smaller-volume production.
3D printing technologies are enabling individuals and organizations all over the globe to cut back on production costs. As came to light recently, even the Pope has reaped the benefits of additive manufacturing, as members of his Swiss Guard will soon be trading in their expensive (and heavy) metal helmets for plastic 3D printed ones.
While we’ve always known turmeric to be a versatile spice—it’s great in curries and lattes!—we didn’t realize just how multi-use it could be. Now, however, thanks to a research initiative coming out of Washington State University (WSU), the benefits of using turmeric in the production of 3D printed ceramic bone scaffolds have become apparent.
As NASA launches (this morning) its InSight lander mission to study the Martian planetary interior and underground composition, 3D printing construction firm Apis Cor and architecture studios SEArch+ reveal they will participate in the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge contest, organized by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The main goal of the NASA competition is the promotion of additive technologies that are necessary to create an inhabited environment on Mars.
German large-format 3D printer maker BigRep continues to push the limits and boundaries of its 3D printing technology, introducing new ideas and concepts that can truly disrupt traditional manufacturing practices. The latest is a concept that appears to be quite feasible: a 3D printed airless bike tire that can actually be used on a normal bicycle.
nTopology Element is the first piece of CAD software to offer full importing and exporting of 3MF’s Beam Lattice extension, which was developed and ratified with nTopology’s direct involvement.
Although 3D printing promises a revolution in many industries, primarily industrial manufacturing, nowhere are the possibilities greater than in the field of product design and modular architecture. Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, of the cutting-edge San Francisco Bay Area-based design firm Emerging Objects, have developed remarkable techniques for printing architecture from a wide variety of powders.
A group of researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada have created a handheld 3D skin printer for treating deep wounds. The portable printing device, reportedly the first of its kind, is capable of precisely depositing layers of a bioink directly into a deep wound to help with the healing process.
Reuters, one the leading news agencies in the world, is reporting that General Motors is working with Autodesk to manufacture new, lightweight 3D printed parts that could help the automaker meet its goals to add alternative-fuel vehicles to its product lineup.
With today’s equipment, process development and process control are part of using metal additiv ...