Latest in 3D Printing Thread

[dilloduck]

Coming to a printer near you: Electronics manufacturing
Coming to a printer near you: Electronics manufacturing | Cutting Edge - CNET News

At PARC, researchers are developing a new technology for printing everything from transistors to smart labels to semiconductors.

inks---specially concocted inks. Everyone needs to carry the inks around with them just in case.

Who said everyone will be carrying these around? Simply you will need to set this up with the right kind of "materials" to make this work. This is a step forward from the tech currently being used.

and the downside of this technology is ?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Printed electronics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

File:ComplementaryTechnologies.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technology - Polyera Corporation

There are also limitations with printed and flexible electronic devices. In particular, inorganic materials allow for higher-resolution fabrication (and thus smaller feature size), meaning that more circuitry can be packed into a given area. Furthermore, inorganic materials often have better performance characteristics such as higher mobility for transistors and higher efficiency for solar cells. The differences are summarized in the table below:

 

[ScienceRocks]

Shapeways introduces a soft plastic for 3D printing

Shapeways, one of the biggest names in 3D printing, is adding a new squishy plastic material called Elasto Plastics to its available printing options. This new material offers some interesting applications for anything wearable, specifically for sandals and other kinds of footwear.

The material is off-white in color, and quite a bit more flexible than most other printable materials. Shapeways says that it has a "rough, grainy finish." It is also claimed to be quite strong, as long as it's printed with features greater than 5 mm in thickness.

Shapeways introduces a soft plastic for 3D printing

 

[flacaltenn]

Coming to a printer near you: Electronics manufacturing
Coming to a printer near you: Electronics manufacturing | Cutting Edge - CNET News

At PARC, researchers are developing a new technology for printing everything from transistors to smart labels to semiconductors.

inks---specially concocted inks. Everyone needs to carry the inks around with them just in case.

Who said everyone will be carrying these around? Simply you will need to set this up with the right kind of "materials" to make this work. This is a step forward from the tech currently being used.

I can see where this adds a new bag of tricks for 3D fabrication of mechanical assemblies, but it is a step SIDEWAYS in terms of electronics fabrication. To be able to add an optical limit switch or an LED or a microphone preamp inside a manufactured part is a nifty trick. But this will not supplant in any form the traditional means of packing transistors and electrical elements on substrates or chips.

The millions of transistors in even the smallest Integrated Circuits are the product of exotic materials, lithography down to fractions of light wavelength, and multiple layers of vapor deposition.

Just makes the complexity of fully assembled 3D mechanics a whole lot better when you can embed SIMPLE pieces of electronics into the design. Largely in places that will be inaccessible for assembly after the part comes off the printer.

 

[Mr. H.]

Can we 3-D print us a new President?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Printing innovations provide tenfold improvement in organic electronics

5 hours ago

Printing innovations provide tenfold improvement in organic electronics
The neatly-aligned blue strips are what provide greater electric charge mobility. The Stanford logo shown here is the same size as a dime.
SLAC and Stanford researchers have developed a new, printing process for organic thin-film electronics that results in films of strikingly higher quality.

Through innovations to a printing process, researchers have made major improvements to organic electronics – a technology in demand for lightweight, low-cost solar cells, flexible electronic displays and tiny sensors. The printing method is fast and works with a variety of organic materials to produce semiconductors of strikingly higher quality than what has so far been achieved with similar methods.

Read more at: Printing innovations provide tenfold improvement in organic electronics

 

[ScienceRocks]

‘Anti-Gravity’ 3D Printer Uses Strands to Sculpt Shapes on Any Surface

http://singularityhub.com/2013/06/0...uses-strands-to-sculpt-shapes-on-any-surface/

3D printers build objects by cross-section, one layer at a time from the ground up—gravity is a limiting factor. But what if it wasn’t? Using proprietary 3D printing materials, Petr Novikov and Saša Jokić say their Mataerial 3D printing system is gravity independent. The duo’s method allows a robotic arm to print objects on floors, walls, ceilings—smooth and uneven surfaces.

Novikov and Jokić invented their system (patent pending) in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. It uses a thermoplastic that cures on contact with the air, not unlike the 3Doodler, a Kickstarter project that places an extruder in human hands to draw 3D forms on the air.

In contrast to the 3Doodler, Novikov and Jokić’s system is a software-controlled 3D printer. Carefully timing the arm’s movement with the thermoplastic’s setting time allows the apparatus to make self-supporting structures on the spot. The machine moves methodically to allow the material to set (the video is sped up 3X), but it can make strands of varying thickness by changing the speed. Users can produce strands in color by injecting dyes (in CMYK) throughout printing.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You’ll Be Able to Buy a 3D Printer at Staples by the End of June

You?ll Be Able to Buy a 3D Printer at Staples by the End of June | Singularity Hub

Though industrial firms have used additive technologies in rapid prototyping for years, the tech is still fresh and growing in the consumer segment. The latest sign of the 3D printer home invasion? Retail office supply chain, Staples, says they’ll sell the 3D Systems Cube 3D Printer online and in retail stores by the end of June.

The $1,300 Cube connects to your home PC over Wi-Fi, allowing it to access and print 3D digital templates in plastic. The printer can print shapes that fit inside a cube 5.5″ to a side. Printing cartridges come in 16 colors which, along with other accessories, may also be purchased at Staples.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You’ll Be Able to Buy a 3D Printer at Staples by the End of June

You?ll Be Able to Buy a 3D Printer at Staples by the End of June | Singularity Hub

Though industrial firms have used additive technologies in rapid prototyping for years, the tech is still fresh and growing in the consumer segment. The latest sign of the 3D printer home invasion? Retail office supply chain, Staples, says they’ll sell the 3D Systems Cube 3D Printer online and in retail stores by the end of June.

The $1,300 Cube connects to your home PC over Wi-Fi, allowing it to access and print 3D digital templates in plastic. The printer can print shapes that fit inside a cube 5.5″ to a side. Printing cartridges come in 16 colors which, along with other accessories, may also be purchased at Staples.

 

[dilloduck]

‘Anti-Gravity’ 3D Printer Uses Strands to Sculpt Shapes on Any Surface

?Anti-Gravity? 3D Printer Uses Strands to Sculpt Shapes on Any Surface | Singularity Hub

3D printers build objects by cross-section, one layer at a time from the ground up—gravity is a limiting factor. But what if it wasn’t? Using proprietary 3D printing materials, Petr Novikov and Saša Jokić say their Mataerial 3D printing system is gravity independent. The duo’s method allows a robotic arm to print objects on floors, walls, ceilings—smooth and uneven surfaces.

Novikov and Jokić invented their system (patent pending) in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. It uses a thermoplastic that cures on contact with the air, not unlike the 3Doodler, a Kickstarter project that places an extruder in human hands to draw 3D forms on the air.

In contrast to the 3Doodler, Novikov and Jokić’s system is a software-controlled 3D printer. Carefully timing the arm’s movement with the thermoplastic’s setting time allows the apparatus to make self-supporting structures on the spot. The machine moves methodically to allow the material to set (the video is sped up 3X), but it can make strands of varying thickness by changing the speed. Users can produce strands in color by injecting dyes (in CMYK) throughout printing.

ah thermoplastic--very friendly to the environment.

 

[ScienceRocks]

‘Anti-Gravity’ 3D Printer Uses Strands to Sculpt Shapes on Any Surface

?Anti-Gravity? 3D Printer Uses Strands to Sculpt Shapes on Any Surface | Singularity Hub

3D printers build objects by cross-section, one layer at a time from the ground up—gravity is a limiting factor. But what if it wasn’t? Using proprietary 3D printing materials, Petr Novikov and Saša Jokić say their Mataerial 3D printing system is gravity independent. The duo’s method allows a robotic arm to print objects on floors, walls, ceilings—smooth and uneven surfaces.

Novikov and Jokić invented their system (patent pending) in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. It uses a thermoplastic that cures on contact with the air, not unlike the 3Doodler, a Kickstarter project that places an extruder in human hands to draw 3D forms on the air.

In contrast to the 3Doodler, Novikov and Jokić’s system is a software-controlled 3D printer. Carefully timing the arm’s movement with the thermoplastic’s setting time allows the apparatus to make self-supporting structures on the spot. The machine moves methodically to allow the material to set (the video is sped up 3X), but it can make strands of varying thickness by changing the speed. Users can produce strands in color by injecting dyes (in CMYK) throughout printing.

ah thermoplastic--very friendly to the environment.

well, plastic is good. As long as we recycle and don't throw it into the river/landfills. I don't see a problem.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Amazon Has a 3D Printer Section Now

3D printers just got a little more mainstream. Amazon has now opened its own 3D Printer page for the sale of printers and filaments so you can get all that jazz shipped right to your door with the greatest of ease.

Amazon is peddling the MakerBot Replicator 2, Afinia 3D Printer H-Series, 3D Systems' Cubify (not available), fabbster 3D Printer, Airwolf3D, and a couple of Chinese models as well as well as filament—both ABS and PLA varieties. You can also pick up books, CAD software, and other assorted parts there too.

It's just one small step to bigger 3d printer adoption; this doesn't make them any cheaper. But it's never been easier to pick one up if you're in the market.

Amazon Has a 3D Printer Section Now

 

[ScienceRocks]

3-D printing artificial bone

33 minutes ago by Denise Brehm

Researchers working to design new materials that are durable, lightweight and environmentally sustainable are increasingly looking to natural composites, such as bone, for inspiration: Bone is strong and tough because its two constituent materials, soft collagen protein and stiff hydroxyapatite mineral, are arranged in complex hierarchical patterns that change at every scale of the composite, from the micro up to the macro.

Read more at: 3-D printing artificial bone

 

[Mr. H.]

Is your name really Matthew?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Chinese Astronauts take Flight with 3D Printed Seats

Kyle Maxey posted on June 18, 2013 | Comment
Chinese Astronauts take Flight with 3D Printed Seats > ENGINEERING.com

china, space, seatLast week we reported on China’s launch of the Shenzhou 10 mission to the Tiandong space station. What we didn’t know at the time is that the space craft was carrying a 3D printed payload; it’s seats.

For the past 10 years China has been developing the technology for advanced space flight. Priority number one is making sure it’s astronauts get to and from the space station safely.

Since 1998 Professor Cui Guoqi, director of the Rapid Prototyping Research Center in Tianjin University, has creating 3D printed seats for Chinese space missions. Since China’s first manned spaceflight in 2003, each Shenzhou mission has been equipped with a custom made 3D printed seat.

 

[ScienceRocks]

3D printing tiny batteries

Phys.org) —3D printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.

Read more at: 3D printing tiny batteries

 

[ScienceRocks]

Ford creates sheet metal prototypes in hours instead of weeks


By David Szondy

July 8, 2013
Ford creates sheet metal prototypes in hours instead of weeks

Stamping sheet metal is an efficient form of manufacturing, capable of cranking hundreds or thousands of items an hour. The annoying thing is that making new stamping dies is a long, costly process. This is bad enough when it comes to retooling a factory, but creating prototypes for new products can leave designers waiting weeks. The Ford Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Michigan has taken a page from the 3D printing handbook and is developing a new way of forming sheet metal that allows designers to create prototypes in hours instead of weeks.

According to Ford, F3T introduces a high degree of flexibility into what is otherwise a time consuming process with the ability to produce a sheet metal prototype in three days. For some jobs, it can be a matter of hours.

Ford sees a great deal of potential in F3T. The company claims that it can not only make design work faster and cheaper, it can also make custom orders much easier, so bespoke car bodies would be much more common. In addition, Ford sees applications in the aerospace, defense, transportation and appliance industries.

 

[ScienceRocks]

3D-printing with liquid metal at room temperature

A new method for printing 3D structures and wires from liquid metal opens up possibilities for flexible and stretchable electronic connections.
3D-printing with liquid metal at room temperature | Crave - CNET
Amanda Kooser

by Amanda Kooser
| July 9, 2013 11:07 AM PDT

Somewhere on campus at North Carolina State University, an interesting thing happened. Researchers took a liquid metal alloy of gallium and indium at room temperature and made more than just a puddle. They made a 3D figure. They made a wire. They even made tiny letters. The remarkable occurrence was that it all held together.

The researchers have spent years developing a method of 3D-printing liquid metal at room temperature. The resulting paper, "3D Printing of Free Standing Liquid Metal Microstructures," was recently published in the journal Advanced Materials.

 

[ScienceRocks]

3D printable SLR brings whole new meaning to "digital camera"
3D printable SLR brings whole new meaning to "digital camera"

Further evidence that the list of things yet to be 3D printed is shrinking by the minute, Léo Marius has come up with a 3D printable SLR camera. Named OpenReflex, the camera includes a mirror viewfinder and a mechanical shutter release button. By using custom ring mounts, Marius says that more or less any lens can be attached.

 

[Mr. H.]

3D printable SLR brings whole new meaning to "digital camera"
3D printable SLR brings whole new meaning to "digital camera"

Further evidence that the list of things yet to be 3D printed is shrinking by the minute, Léo Marius has come up with a 3D printable SLR camera. Named OpenReflex, the camera includes a mirror viewfinder and a mechanical shutter release button. By using custom ring mounts, Marius says that more or less any lens can be attached.

Material costs are under $32. Wow.