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I think plastics are highly combustible. It might have a couple of jet-fuel issues.Airbus Explores Building Planes With Giant 3D Printers
Airbus Explores Building Planes*With Giant 3D Printers*- Updated With Video - Forbes
It wouldn't fucking surprise me by 2050 we're building our homes and cities this way.The concept plane by Airbus to be made circa 2050 with a 3D printer
[Updated with video, below] We already know that 3D-printing has revolutionized the way we can make everyday objects from Lego pieces, to guitars, and from car bodies to artificial livers. But the scale of this change could be much, much bigger if the printers themselves scale up enough to incorporate structures as large as airplanes.
Bastian Schaefer, a cabin engineer with Airbus, has been working for the last two years on a concept cabin that envisions what the future of flight would look like from the passengers perspective. From that came a radical concept: build the aircraft itself from the ground up with a 3D printer thats very large in deed, ie. as big as an aircraft hangar. That probably sounds like a long shot, since the biggest 3D printers today are about the size of a dining table. But the Airbus design comes with a roadmap, from 3D-printing small components now, through to the plane as a whole around 2050.
Why use 3D printing at all? Airbus parent EADS has been looking into using the process, known as additive layer manufacturing, for making aircraft for some time because its potentially cheaper, and can result in components that are 65% ligher than with traditional manufacturing methods. Airbus concept plane is also so dizzyingly complicated that it requires radical manufacturing methods: from the curved fuselage to the bionic structure, to the transparent skin that gives passengers a panoramic view of the sky and clouds around them.
It would have to be about 80 by 80 meters, said Schaefer of the eventual, yet-to-be-created 3D printer. This could be feasible.
3D printing technology has been around for a while and there are plenty of innovators pushing it in extraordinary ways. Some of the biggest structures have come from Enrico Dini, the man behind British company Monolite UK, who has worked for years using 3D printing technology to mould sand and an inorganic binder into large, house-like structures. Dini has claimed that his 3D printer, known as the D-Shape, is the largest in the world.
Among the biggest challenges in scaling up 3D printing are money and regulation. Dini struggled to finance his large-scale printing projects because of the global financial crisis; his story is told in the forthcoming documentary The Man Who Prints Houses.
Airbus meanwhile needs its designs to pass through stringent aircraft regulations before it can use the process to make plane components. One reason to start small: by the end of this year Airbus will have updated certain cabin brackets for the A380, making its super jumbo the companys first commercial plane to use 3D-printed components. New models of Airbus Eurofighter Typhoon, a military jet, already contain non-structural parts of its air-conditioning unit that have been 3D printed, Schaefer said.
I think plastics are highly combustible. It might have a couple of jet-fuel issues.Airbus Explores Building Planes With Giant 3D Printers
Airbus Explores Building Planes*With Giant 3D Printers*- Updated With Video - Forbes
It wouldn't fucking surprise me by 2050 we're building our homes and cities this way.The concept plane by Airbus to be made circa 2050 with a 3D printer
[Updated with video, below] We already know that 3D-printing has revolutionized the way we can make everyday objects from Lego pieces, to guitars, and from car bodies to artificial livers. But the scale of this change could be much, much bigger if the “printers” themselves scale up enough to incorporate structures as large as airplanes.
Bastian Schaefer, a cabin engineer with Airbus, has been working for the last two years on a concept cabin that envisions what the future of flight would look like from the passenger’s perspective. From that came a radical concept: build the aircraft itself from the ground up with a 3D printer that’s very large in deed, ie. as big as an aircraft hangar. That probably sounds like a long shot, since the biggest 3D printers today are about the size of a dining table. But the Airbus design comes with a roadmap, from 3D-printing small components now, through to the plane as a whole around 2050.
Why use 3D printing at all? Airbus parent EADS has been looking into using the process, known as additive layer manufacturing, for making aircraft for some time because it’s potentially cheaper, and can result in components that are 65% ligher than with traditional manufacturing methods. Airbus’ concept plane is also so dizzyingly complicated that it requires radical manufacturing methods: from the curved fuselage to the bionic structure, to the transparent skin that gives passengers a panoramic view of the sky and clouds around them.
“It would have to be about 80 by 80 meters,” said Schaefer of the eventual, yet-to-be-created 3D printer. “This could be feasible.”
3D printing technology has been around for a while and there are plenty of innovators pushing it in extraordinary ways. Some of the biggest structures have come from Enrico Dini, the man behind British company Monolite UK, who has worked for years using 3D printing technology to mould sand and an inorganic binder into large, house-like structures. Dini has claimed that his 3D printer, known as the D-Shape, is the largest in the world.
Among the biggest challenges in scaling up 3D printing are money and regulation. Dini struggled to finance his large-scale printing projects because of the global financial crisis; his story is told in the forthcoming documentary “The Man Who Prints Houses.”
Airbus meanwhile needs its designs to pass through stringent aircraft regulations before it can use the process to make plane components. One reason to start small: by the end of this year Airbus will have updated certain cabin brackets for the A380, making its super jumbo the company’s first commercial plane to use 3D-printed components. New models of Airbus’ Eurofighter Typhoon, a military jet, already contain non-structural parts of its air-conditioning unit that have been 3D printed, Schaefer said.
I'm sure murkas owners have big plans to create things that kill people more efficiently with them. Gotta stay #1!!!When I said that this could charge our economic system, I wasn't kidding.
Lets All 3D Print Our Houses, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
It's like the holy grail of TED talks!
By Kelly Faircloth 1:45pm
Is there anything 3D printers wont wholly revolutionize? Theres the gun trade and illicit narcotics market, theres the fine art of burrito making, and now, Atlantic Cities reports, a USC professor is working on a means of using them to wholly disrupt the construction business. Thats righthe proposes that we jettison prefab construction for just straight 3D printing your next home.
These still highly theoretical houses would be constructed/printed in layers, based on a computer program, with features like plumbing built in. Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis estimates that a 25,000-square-foot home could be built in as little as 24 hours. (Well, its not like the robots are making a daily rate and therefore see any need to drag the process out.)
Heres the TEDx talk where he works through all this:
What we are hoping to generate, he explains, are dignified, at a fraction of the cost, at a fraction of the time, far more safely, and with architectural flexibility that would be unprecedented. He argues that this is one of the most promising solutions for the worlds many slums built of makeshift materials in poor conditions.
If you look up TED Talk in Wikipedia, pretty sure this is tossed out as a theoretical example.
That sounds great, but its also way more likely anyone commercializing this technology would make it into something a lot like a 21st century Levittown for the globes rising middle class. Sure, theyll be snazzy and whimsically shaped, but theyll be churned out quickly on vast tracts of landtypically called sprawl.
You know where this would be incredibly helpful, though? Colonizing Mars. Quick, someone get Elon Musk on the phone.
Lets All 3D Print Our Houses, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? | Betabeat
Build a custom home in 20 hours using a giant 3D printer
Build a custom home in 20 hours using a giant 3D printer | DVICE
3D printing seems to be everywhere these days, but usually it's just for making small machines or mechanical parts. Now a professor from the University of Southern California says that we need to think bigger, and has developed a system to print entire buildings in less than a single day.
Contour Crafting uses what is essentially a giant 3D printer that hangs over the space the home will occupy, building up the walls using layers of concrete. The machine can add plumbing and electrical wiring as it goes, leaving a completed shell needing just windows and doors to complete. There are even ways to robotically paint the walls and add tiling to floors and walls.
Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis say that Contour Crafting will allow for low cost housing that's cheap and fast to build, with far lower labor costs, and with less chance of construction workers being injured in the process. He sees it being especially valuable for eliminating slums in developing countries and for areas ravaged by earthquakes or other natural disasters, but says the process can be adapted for more luxurious homes and even large buildings.
Because the design is determined by a computer program, custom architectural features can be added or changed with a few clicks of a mouse, so you don't end up with a house identical to all your neighbors.
This technology is very intriguing to me. There seems to be nearly limitless possibilities.
I'm sure murkas owners have big plans to create things that kill people more efficiently with them. Gotta stay #1!!!When I said that this could charge our economic system, I wasn't kidding.
Let’s All 3D Print Our Houses, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
It's like the holy grail of TED talks!
By Kelly Faircloth 1:45pm
Let’s All 3D Print Our Houses, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? | Betabeat
Build a custom home in 20 hours using a giant 3D printer
Build a custom home in 20 hours using a giant 3D printer | DVICE
This technology is very intriguing to me. There seems to be nearly limitless possibilities.
I saw a video of one for around 18 grand. I figure about five more years and they'll be on the desktop on a very small scale. Maybe print up a broken plastic piece for an appliance or replacement part for a car, some plates, cups, forks....crap like that. You'll have to be a genius to do the programming yourself so your masters will still make out like a bandit by letting you purchase the "part" online and you print it out on your own rig using your own materials(and warranty).
The only thing it'll cost them are designers and bandwidth.
Futurism combined with global warming is the new leftie religion. It has all the elements of a religion and the most important part is faith. You gotta have faith or you would dismiss the radical claims and the si-fy crap outright.
The transition to a fully automated manufacturing process that will make things very low cost, this transition will be harsh on the general public. Unemployment will be huge for a time. It will be critical to not leave otherwise hard-working people in the dust, but beyond that, I amnot sure how this ting will be managed with less pain.
But once we get past that transitional difficult phase, we are gold, methinks.
Read more at: PayPal founder bankrolls 3-D printed meatPayPal founder bankrolls 3-D printed meat
August 20, 2012
by Nancy Owano (Phys.org) -- A Missouri-based company may have an impact on environmental issues raised by nations of meat-eaters and populations bearing the brunt of world hunger with an alternative, bioprinted meat. According to the company, Modern Meadow, creating “a strip of edible porcine tissue using print-based tissue engineering approach” is “scaffold-free,” in that it does not rely on artificial material to form the desired structure. The company founders aspire to develop lab-grown meat as a source of animal protein and to benefit from a technology with great market potential. The company, aptly named Modern Meadow, is founded by Gabor Forgacs and Andras Forgacs.
Bioprinted meat is a concept that is not a rarity for scientists interested in technologies for creating medical-grade tissue. Modern Meadow is taking off from what it knows about regenerative medicine and 3-D printing to explore this edible solution. The basic idea is layering cells, rather than inks, into a structure using print technology. Gabor Forgacs has already made a name in the area of research looking at regenerative medicine. As the scientific founder of Organovo, which has been recognized for its work in bioprinting, he set out to show that if cells are precisely placed with the proper natural developmental cues, they could self-assemble into fully formed, functional tissue. The idea is that via computer-aided design and high precision, one can recreate the micro-architecture of human tissue. Similarly, the company says that mixtures of cells of different types layered in a specific structure is a feasible way to produce edible meat. According to a statement from the company, “We anticipate that this Phase I application will result in a macroscopic size (~2 cm x 1 cm x 0.5 mm) edible prototype and will demonstrate that bioprinting-based in vitro meat production is feasible, economically viable and environmentally practical.”
Environmentalists do not disagree that engineering meat in a lab poses advantages. Lab-grown meat would not produce the methane that cows emit; animals would require less water and grain; pasture lands would benefit as well. Modern Meadow co-founder Andras Forgacs has called the hamburger an environmental train wreck. The venture is backed by Thiel’s foundation via its Breakout Labs, which is a revolving fund to promote scientific and technological innovation. Successful grantees return a modest royalty and warrant stake to Breakout Labs. The exact dollar amount of the donation is not given, but the announcement dated August 15 said “To date Breakout Labs has awarded a total of nine grants, of up to $350,000 each." More information: www.breakoutlabs.org/uploads/media/BOLAugustRelease_2012-8-14_01.pdf
Right now, the people in the US are reproducing at less than replacement rate. Hopefully, this will be the trend worldwide. It already is in most industrial nations.
Were we able to bring down the world population in this manner to less than 2 billion, and continue to develop our technology in the interum, Homo Sap would will have achieved a utopia that prior generations could not even imagine. In fact, in most ways, we already have.
We have created some problems, global warming, over population, in doing so, but the life I live, compared to that of only three generations ago, is utopian. And that is the case for most of us in the industrial world.
US Army Deploys 3D Printing Labs to Battlefield | Expedition Lab Afghanistan | LiveScienceSoldiers who need fixes to battlefield gear or new technologies must usually wait months before U.S. military labs send anything over. The U.S. Army hopes to speed up that rate of battlefield invention by sending mobile labs packed with futuristic 3D printing technology to Afghanistan.
The first of the $2.8 million mobile labs — each a 20-foot shipping container holding the latest manufacturing tools — deployed to Afghanistan in July, according to Military.com. They represent the new effort by the Rapid Equipping Force to deliver battlefield equipment as fast as possible to soldiers in the loneliest outposts.
Two engineers can work together inside each mobile lab to use 3D printers and Computer Numerical Control Machining systems to create parts from plastic, steel and aluminum on the fly. That means soldiers have access to specialized expertise if they ever have ideas or come up with battlefield innovations. [US Soldiers Make Real 'Predator' Machine Gun Pack]
ExOne unveils new, faster 3D printer - Pittsburgh Business TimesThe Ex One Co. (known as ExOne) released its latest 3D printer, which offers seven times the volume output of current machines, Monday at the International Manufacturing Technology Show taking place this week in Chicago.
ExOne, which both offers additive manufacturing as a contract service and builds the machines, unveiled the M-Flex 3D Printing System, a 3D metal printer, the company said in a written statement. The machine is designed to make metal parts for the mining, automotive and energy sectors. One of the main innovations of this machine is its faster build speed, the company said.
3D printers create items by putting down thin layers of material and building an item up layer-by-layer. With the M-Flex it takes roughly 30 seconds per layer compared to current technology of 1 1/2 minutes per layer.
“We’ve made tremendous strides in 3D printing in the last decade and what our machines can do today is simply remarkable,” said Dave Burns, president of ExOne, in a written statement. “We are printing engine castings for helicopters and replacing broken pumps in oil fields in days — not months.”
The machine can be used for short runs or prototyping, the company said.
SOUTH Africa is building the world’s fastest and largest prototype threedimensional (3D) printer that will use powdered titanium to make aircraft components as part of a programme to accelerate development of efficient manufacturing of high-value components.
If engineers can commercialise the technology successfully, the machine will revolutionise manufacturing — making energy-intensive, wasteful processes such as machining obsolete.
Components manufactured by a 3D printer could save millions for original equipment manufacturers such as airlines.
In 3D printing, or additive layer manufacturing as it is known to the engineering world, parts are formed by layering material in thin wafers and — according to their precise, required shape — welding these layers using lasers.
The machine being developed is 10 times faster than any equivalent machines available, Wouter Gerber, Aerosud’s programme leader for process development at its innovation and training centre, said on Thursday.
The components produced by the printer will be as much as 46 times larger than anything other metal-based 3D printers are able to produce, said Aerosud engineer Marius Vermeulen.
The prototype being built by Aerosud in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) National Laser Centre, will be an extension of the existing joint venture between the two technology companies — known as Aeroswift.
"We are focused on manufacturing the system between now and March," Mr Vermeulen said.
On Thursday, Airbus said it would join the project to test the prototype’s ability to fabricate large, complex aerospace components. Airbus’s introduction as a partner is an important development for the project, as it will allow the programme to test the viability of components for inclusion in aircraft production in future.
The joint venture between Aerosud and the CSIR has benefited from the government’s investment in research. The R37m that will fund phase one had come from the state, Mr Gerber said.
Beeuwen Gerryts, a chief director in the Department of Science and Technology, said about R200m had been invested in researching titanium beneficiation.
SA building fastest and largest 3D printer
by Nicky Smith, 14 September 2012, 06:30 | 2 Comments
SA building fastest and largest 3D printer | Telecoms & Technology | BDlive
SOUTH Africa is building the worlds fastest and largest prototype threedimensional (3D) printer that will use powdered titanium to make aircraft components as part of a programme to accelerate development of efficient manufacturing of high-value components.
If engineers can commercialise the technology successfully, the machine will revolutionise manufacturing making energy-intensive, wasteful processes such as machining obsolete.
Components manufactured by a 3D printer could save millions for original equipment manufacturers such as airlines.
In 3D printing, or additive layer manufacturing as it is known to the engineering world, parts are formed by layering material in thin wafers and according to their precise, required shape welding these layers using lasers.
The machine being developed is 10 times faster than any equivalent machines available, Wouter Gerber, Aerosuds programme leader for process development at its innovation and training centre, said on Thursday.
The components produced by the printer will be as much as 46 times larger than anything other metal-based 3D printers are able to produce, said Aerosud engineer Marius Vermeulen.
The prototype being built by Aerosud in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Researchs (CSIRs) National Laser Centre, will be an extension of the existing joint venture between the two technology companies known as Aeroswift.
"We are focused on manufacturing the system between now and March," Mr Vermeulen said.
On Thursday, Airbus said it would join the project to test the prototypes ability to fabricate large, complex aerospace components. Airbuss introduction as a partner is an important development for the project, as it will allow the programme to test the viability of components for inclusion in aircraft production in future.
The joint venture between Aerosud and the CSIR has benefited from the governments investment in research. The R37m that will fund phase one had come from the state, Mr Gerber said.
Beeuwen Gerryts, a chief director in the Department of Science and Technology, said about R200m had been invested in researching titanium beneficiation.
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel technology that can fabricate, in mere seconds, microscale three dimensional (3D) structures out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels. Near term, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory. Long-term, the goal is to be able to print biological tissues for regenerative medicine. For example, in the future, doctors may repair the damage caused by heart attack by replacing it with tissue that rolled off of a printer.
Reconstruction of a 390 million year-old multiplacaphoran … easy when you know how. Credit: Jakob Vinther/University of Texas at Austin When you think 3D you probably imagine the cinema and popcorn, or that fancy TV you've just blown the kids' university fees on. What you probably don't think – unless you're a particular breed of palaeontologist – is molluscs. And certainly not printing them out in 3D.
But this practice, strange as it seems, is becoming increasingly common, with some startling applications. A recent study by University of Texas researcher Jakob Vinther and colleagues is a wonderful example of the high-tech tools many modern palaeontologists use to understand fossils. This study, on a primitive group of molluscs, employs a number of different techniques – traditional observation, high resolution CT scanning, computer reconstruction and DNA-based dating methods – to better understand the evolutionary relationships and biology of this fossil group.
And, yes, some 3D printing. The animals Vinther and colleagues describe a new species in an extinct group called the multiplacophorans. These are molluscs (a larger group that includes mussels, squid and snails) which had a shell on their back, split into 17 plates.
