News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Nano Dimension, a leader in the field of 3D printed electronics, announced today that it has supplied the first DragonFly 2020 system designated for 3D circuitry and PCBs. The supply was made to a leading defense company in Israel for evaluation purposes and is expected to be installed at the partner’s site in the coming days.
Powered by a chemical reaction controlled by microfluidics, 3D printed ‘octobot’ is a soft robot which has no electronics. A team of Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfluidics has demonstrated the first autonomous, untethered, entirely soft robot. This small, 3D-printed robot — nicknamed the octobot — could pave the way for a new generation of completely soft, autonomous machines. Soft robotics could revolutionize how humans interact with machines. But researchers have struggled to build entirely compliant robots. Electric power and control systems — such as batteries and circuit boards — are rigid and until now soft-bodied robots have been either tethered to an off-board system or rigged with hard components. The study’s authors include Robert Wood, the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Jennifer A. Lewis, the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) led the research. Lewis and Wood are also core faculty members of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Professor Lewis is also one of the leading researchers in the fields of bioprinting and 3D printing by pneumatic extrusion (she is a foiunder of Voxel8).
Jenny Chen of 3DHeals, on the Women in 3D Printing Blog, recently said that it is not the technology itself, as much as the people using it, that are driving innovation in 3D printing. That is absolutely true: the paradox is that while so many of us focus on the limits of desktop (and industrial) machines, the true limits are in our heads (and in materials). The Open Camera Project by YouTuber, blogger and 3D Printer Chat FB group administrator Anton Månsson shows exactly that we are just beginning to understand how we can fully exploit the capabilities of even a basic desktop 3D printer fed with PETG. “I’ve always loved filming and cameras,” Anton explains, “I love the idea of creating videos to educate and illustrate things going on. When combining this with a passion for gadgets i suddenly realized you have to cut corners to afford the “important” stuff. One of those things were to mount all the necessary parts around the camera. When moving from visual 3D-creation into more mechanical 3D-creation – he continues – I picked up on the fact that I have all these 3D printers at the Creative Tools office and wanted to create a 3D printable system that I could use instead of buying loads of expensive parts.” DSLR (and GoPro) camera accessories are extremely expensive. Even more so for rigs. And yet rigs are some of the products that can be 3D printed more efficiently. The biggest challenge – as is often the case -is designing them but through open source sharing, it may be enough for one person to begin and let everyone contribute to provide the community with several affordable designs. The most common systems use 15mm Diameter rods (aluminium or carbon fiber usually) that are offset by 60mm (center to center). The idea of a camera rig is to incorporate manually operated focus systems, as well as enabling one or more two persons to operate the camera easily. For low budget film and documentary use it’s common to use a shoulder rig that’s lets one operator rest the camera (and audio recording, light, batteries and more) on this shoulder and arms. This can be combined this with a “follow-focus system” (a knob that you twist to smoothly change focus, instead of turning the lens built-in focus ring). Given all the right tools, a camera operator is able to achieve a lot more with a smaller team (or even alone). “All of this gear is usually very expensive and my goal was to create a system that could be printed for under $100, to be open source, and to work with existing parts while being strong enough to handle a DSLR-camera.”, Anton says. The project is just beginning but it looks promising and there certainly are thousands of professionals out there – in the ever more competitive and low paying world of photography and videomaking – who can benefit a great deal from a significant cut to their accessories expenses list.
For the first time South Park super fans, technophiles and collectible geeks will be able to purchase some of their favorite South Park characters, previously unavailable in physical form, thanks to Source3. Source3, a startup founded by former Google and music industry executives specializing in digital content management, has launched a collector-inspired line of South Park characters presented in full-color 3D prints, featuring year-round introductions of new and old characters. South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have hand-signed a limited number of Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman figurines which select fans who purchase the full set on Shapeways will have an opportunity to win (see the store links for official rules). The product lineup also includes fan favorites like Candidate Garrison, Terrance and Phillip, Tweek and Clyde Frog. The Source3 team is thrilled to celebrate the 20th season of South Park in partnership with Viacom, South Park Studios, Brandgenuity, WhiteClouds, Amazon, and Shapeways. The goal of Source3 is to help large content distribution websites, such as popular 3D printing marketplaces like Shapeways, but also consumer product giants like Amazon, to meet the real needs of designers. “We started developing the platform and launching a private beta testing phase first of all for us to develop a better product,” says Source3’s Director of Marketing Tom Simon, whom I finally caught up with, in spite of the 10-hour time zone difference between us. “We also did it for us to be able to go back to potential distribution partners and say to them ‘look, I know your API doesn’t do this today but designers are asking for it, se we can help you develop that part of the API in order to meet the designers future requirements.” What Source3 promises is to let designers everywhere simply upload a 3D model file and a texture to be rendered for online visualisation. While that is happening, the designer accesses a screen that lets him or her set the title, insert all metadata information, select categories and add tag words. Once this phase is complete, all the designer has to do is select the marketplaces and e-tailers that s/he wants his or her product to be featured in and Source3 will do all the work. Personally, I know quite a few people that could already take advantage of this service, instead of manually uploading to Shapeways, i-materialise, 3DaGoGo, ToyFabb, Pinshape, Cults, Threeding, Shapetizer… “Once a month, a revenue report comes from each of these marketplaces. We look at it and distribute the money earned to the designers based on how well their products sold. Give us your Pay{al account and we’ll deposit the money, and if you want to see a detailed report, we can provide the number of products sold, where the buyers are located, etc.,” Tom explains. “So, we’re slowly opening up this ecosystem of distribution marketplaces… The next step is to get beyond that and get closer to the more traditional marketplaces, like Amazon, or Etsy, as what we’re doing on the backend as well is forming relationships with 3D printing partners like White Clouds. If we set up for example your ability to distribute at Etsy, once the product is purchased it would send a a request to White Clouds to get it manufactured on demand.” The bottom line is that Source3 is being created to enable designers to just focus on designing and not worry about distribution. The real “unicorn” that Source3 is chasing is a “derivative rights model”, working with top brands to create consumer products out of their IPs and distributing through all the 3D printing marketplaces that have been integrated into the network. As in the recent Capcom and Zverse collaboration for the Street Fighter videogame cover art, or the following one with CDbaby. In order to achieve this, Source3 combined the experiences of two different “souls”. Some of the founders come from a digital rights management company called RightsFlow, which was created to manage royalties and licenses for digitally distributed music content. They were there when Sean Parker presented the Napster project to Universal Music in 2001 and the company was later acquired by YouTube. Another part of Source3 comes from Geomagic, which was acquired by 3D Systems and saw what happened with the home 3D printing hype. With physical objects, everything is much more complex but there are services like 3D Hubs which, as Tom puts it, “are already very functional processes.” Others, like Autodesk Spark (which is one of Source3’s investors) are working to create the ecosystem for global digital manufacturing. This might not mean that giants of the toy or consumer product industry will see it as a threat but some of the smaller companies might. The digital manufacturing revolution is happening, preparing to manage it can only be beneficial for everyone. If I were a designer of 3D printable products, I would definitely give the beta a shot. Despite posing certain potential threats to brands and intellectual property, 3D printing also offers a wealth of benefits, including customization for the customer and zero inventory costs for the manufacturer, making 3D printing a potential win-win means of manufacturing. Kudos to Viacom and South Park Studios for embracing 3D technology via licensing and setting an example in the industry for other brands determining the best way to react to this promising, disruptive technology.
3D Printing Media Network partner, professional 3D designer and and well know 3D printing Youtuber Simone Fontana just released a new video on his FNTSMN YouTube Channel. In the video – which you can see below – just ahead of talking the little Ultimaker out of his stylish portable box, Simone also announced that he will be participating – with his 3D Design studio 3DNA – to INSOMNIA58, the UK’s largest gaming festival. Simone, who has made a name for himself for his skills and intuitions in creating realistic 3D printed props from some of the biggest gaming IP’s around, including games from Bethesda and Blizzard, is participating to the event together with CoolerMaster UK. He will be at the PC accessories manufacturer’s stand designing and 3D printing live with his Ultimaker 2+ and the newly arrived Ultimaker 2Go. Sounds like a great way to combine two of 3D’s best applications: the virtual gaming world and the physical desktop additive manufacturing world. Simone was among the very first to see the value that 3D printing can being to videogames and videogame publishers, let’s hope the gaming giants will soon see it as well. Without further ado, check out the little Ultimaker at work in FNTSMN’s latest video
The low-cost, desktop 3D scanning segment is extremely varied, with DIY systems starting at a few hundred dollars and high end systems running into the thousands. Until supplies last (only a couple remaining at the time of writing), you are able to take advantage of a unique offer on eBay to get the reliable Rubicon 3D Scanner system at the unbeatable price of €299, thanks to an end-of-stock promotion from Rubicon 3D. Unlike most of its competitors, that use simple web-cam modules running in video mode, the Rubicon 3D Scanner uses an FPGA chip to control the Aptina MT9P006, 5 megapixel image sensor, which enables it to snap an image only when needed. In fact, while the main priority of a camera is to keep a steady frame-rate by sacrificing the image quality, the Rubicon 3D Scanner, through the use of a prolonged exposure, is capable of achieving a much higher quality image. The system designed by Rubitech is known to be at the same time capable of professional level perfromances and extremely easy to use: 3D scanning object becomes easy and fast and for everyone, making it a user favorite for fablabs, makers, workgroups, schools and universities all over Europe. The latest going out of stock promotion on eBay makes it the most affordable in its category currently on the market, representing a great opportunity to take a walk on the other side… of 3D printing.
Afinia has made their latest eBook available via their recent blog post. “Afinia 3D Printer-Equipped Artists: Stories of Success” is the fourth volume in their series of eBooks. It includes interviews and stories from artists using Afinia printers in various ways.
As a 3D printing writer based in South Korea I frequently have the chance to test and review new machines from around East Asia. While most are pretty good, I had the opportunity a while back to test the Cubicon Style from HyVision and absolutely fell in love with it. I was excited to discover others, outside of Korea, who were likewise thrilled with it too. 3Design in New Zealand is one of them This led me one night to a lengthy discussion on Twitter with a gregarious Kiwi named Robert Reid. Robert, as things would have it, is the CEO of 3Design (@info_3design), a New Zealand 3D printing company who had recently started to import the Cubicon. As I learned, 3Design was the first company in NZ to stock, sell, and service 3D printers fulltime. Other general merchandise retailers were selling some machines, but as Robert tells it, once you bought the machine and took it home…you were on your own. Having taken the lead in mainstreaming 3D printing in New Zealand, their path was littered with challenges. Many of the tasks they faced came from the fact that New Zealand’s economy is currently in flux, as the nation transitions from a traditionally agrarian economy, to one based on high technology. This presented some unique problems, so the first thing Robert and his crew did was to focus on building a 3D printing team of experts to assist their customers with whatever challenges they experienced. Robert noted that, “many of the big stores just didn’t realize that 3D printing, with all of its quirks, is about service and knowledge…not numbers.” The team members were all trained in CAD, Solidworks, Magics, and Rino. They also developed and provide 3D training courses for customers of all skills; from beginner to advanced levels. And for customers who need extra help, 3Design offers 3D printing services in-house, on a file-by-file basis and turns customer files into solid objects. Past clients have included architects, engineers, product designers, and fashion designers.
Named Cessna Denali, the Textron plane will have the largest cabin in its class—seating up to eight people—and an engine powerful and efficient enough to reach Chicago from Los Angeles or Miami from New York. Textron and GE Aviation, which developed the engine, brought the plane’s cabin and engine mock-ups to the EAA AirVentures airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where the announcement took place on Monday.
Hans Fouche’s Cheetah 3D Printer was on show at Decorex 2016 in Johannesburg South Africa for the first time. With it were some 3 meter tall pillars that were 3D printed in just 9 hours, along with some colorful and creative Bar Stools, with unique bottle shapes, hand painted by Sam, a talented artist from the I Make Makers Village of Irene. Fouche 3D Printing, Hans Fouche’s company, is now working with them, to turn the large size 3D prints of the Cheetah into some stunning decorative and display products, with the help of the Craftsman and Artists of the I Make Makers village, thereby advancing both the high tech 3D printing and traditional crafts, to the benefit of both parties. The objective of Fouche’s participation at Decorex was to show that the Cheetah, with a price of just $9,900 (US), and the fact that it prints using affordable ABS granules instead of filament, is clearly a market leader cost wise, and with it’s 1 cubic meter print volume, it represents a true bargain for the large size 3D Printer segment. “We know that we have a unique product,” Fouche stated. “We hope and trust that it will provide jobs, change the way that products are manufactured- small batches that require less storeage, and that it will inspire creativity! We use at least 25kg pellets a month. That is at least $80 worth of plastic. To do that with filament would cost $625, with spools priced at $25.” The Cheetah uses ABS granules as the raw product for filament, therefore cost per print is significantly lower. Cost per kilo is less than $4/kg for ABS granules. As standard, Fouche uses a 3mm nozzle in order to achieve a 0.5 KgHour flow rate. 1mm, 2mm, 4mm, 5 mm, and 6mm nozzles are also available.