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3D printed efforts on the red planet – Mars

“The key for living on Mars is to use the raw materials that are already there” said Bruce Mackenzie, founder of the Mars Foundation, an organization that aims to build and operate the first permanent settlement on Mars. Now, as it turns out, 3D printing can be an answer to this requirement. 3D Printers have become more sophisticated, easy to move and very fast. Also, a greater choice of engineering materials is now available for creating objects of choice.

Firstly, all an astronaut needs to take along will be a 3D printer with the right software library of tools and spare parts (plus some raw materials). It would probably cut fuel costs by a lot and the packing for the space trip will be easier than a business trip.

Engineers at Mars Foundation hare exploring the possibility of manufacturing oxygen and methane, the gases and fuels needed to craft plastics like polyethylene, polyester and epoxy. According to Mackenzie, plastics can be made from the raw material already found on Mars. Plastics make it possible to build at a low cost, and also create irrigation pipes or manufacturing gears locally. What is required is set up of industrial cutters and 3D printers, to make things out of Martian raw materials, to start making a variety of objects needed for shelters, greenhouses and even parts for new 3D printers. A Contour Crafting robot, can even manufacture structures as large as apartment buildings and hotels using locally available materials such as clay and plaster.

Let us see how soon we can see soon the civilization flourishes on the red planet!

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3D Printed Cars – Can they be mass produced?

We have heard reports about fully 3D printed concept cars making their appearance in major exhibitions and 3D printing events. Now, it seems the day is not far when we can see the 3D printed cars zooming next to us on the roads.

Major car manufacturers like Daimler and Ford are already trying to use 3D printing for prototyping car parts. Now a promising new 3D printed light weight car called Urbee is on the block.

A few years ago, KOR EcoLogic president Jim Kor unveiled Urbee, his vision for the future of energy-efficient cars that can be manufactured digitally. Urbee, was planned to be two-person car, a lightweight hybrid made of recyclable plastic and capable of reaching a speed of 70 mph running with a combination of electricity, and a biofuel like 100-percent ethanol.

KOR EcoLogic has partnered with Stratasys’s RedEye On Demand 3D printing business to fabricate a lightweight electric car that be on to the streets in about two years. The collaboration has successfully printed an Urbee prototype, Urbee 1, using Stratasys’s Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process.

The crucial body parts for Urbee were first developed as CAD files, and then printed using Stratasys’s RedEye on Demand service for rapid prototyping of the large exterior panels required to build a car. Amazing detail can be built into the 3D printed part, along with amazing accuracy, and the part starts out in the form of a continuous roll of plastic of round cross section. In this way, the FDM 3D printers tirelessly make parts, without any human intervention required from start to finish. Sounds interesting? Let’s wait for 2 more years then.

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Minockio lets you create 3D printed customized figurines

Ever wondered how a miniature version of your friend looks like? Did you ever wonder how you will look like, if you were ever shrunk to 1/100th of your current size? I am super excited to see a mini-Me. We need not keep imagining things any more.

Thai based company Minockio, launched a fascinating application which brings 3D printing much closer to the interest of general public. Minockio enables you to create “MINOCKIO”,  a cartoon version of any person. With the help of the software on the company’s website you can create a cartoon version of Yourself, your family and friends, your special someone or even a random cartoon  character from your imagination.

The software allows you to choose  various facial features such as  hair style, face type, eyes, mouth, nose , eyebrows, clothing and even the pose. ‘MINOCKIO’s which posses matte finish  are approximately 4 inches in size ,depending on the pose you select , are prices are around 140 USD + shipping and are shipped globally The company states that it takes around 15 to deliver your figurines.

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MOD-t, the cheapest 3D printer is here for us to grab

3D Printing is exciting and it is the future. But currently, very few can afford printing machines and expensive materials, not to mention the fact it is very complex to design and printing high quality products. New Matter could be the company that brings 3D printing the masses.

New Matter, a a year old startup backed by Idealab, has teamed up with the people from the legendary Frog Design studio to create a 3D printer for the masses. The result is a beautiful machine named Mod T, a 16-inch by 12-inch by 15-inch tall elegant 3D printer.

The MOD-t printer is not like other printers were an extruder that moves in X (left-right), Y (top-bottom parallel to the build platform) and Z axes (up-down). In MOD-T, the the build plate moves along both the X and Y axis and thereby only moving. This design change which is patent pending, reduced the number of part required, and made the printer more affordable, with a price of $249.

Low cost does not mean cheap, as the specs for MOD-t look impressive too. With a built-in WiFi, print speeds of 80mm per second, layer resolution range of 0.2 to 0.4mm, and a print dimension of four-by-six-by-five-inches, it prints out of Polylactic Acid (PLA) plastic and a fused deposition modeling technology.

New Matter is working on its software platform too. The company has a vision to create a community of designers, and also setup an online marketplace that will feature a library of custom designs that users can print directly to their machine.

The company launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign – with the goal of raising $375,000 over 35 days. The first units are expected to ship in Q1 2015, with full commercial availability.

With a lowest priced printer that boasts of high quality and a long term vision on the software side, MOD-T sure has a lot of competitors to engage with!

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ISO standards for 3D Printing

3D Printing industry is now relatively more mature, and is getting into the premises of the regulatory agencies. Canada, one of the 18 countries involved the ISO/TC 261 international standardization committee on additive manufacturing, will be working on setting standards for 3d printing. ISO/TC 261 was set up in 2011 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is working with the Bureau de Normalisation du Québec (BNQ) to help set international standards for additive manufacturing.

Speaking about the technology, John Walter, the chief executive officer of Standards Council of Canada said, “Additive manufacturing is revolutionizing the high-tech manufacturing field – facilitating the work of innovators with their designs, re-designs and prototypes”. BNQ director Jean Rousseau shares that ““BNQ is proud to partner with product manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, research centres, and governments to manage the SCC mirror committee’s work on additive manufacturing”, and emphasizes that “Advances in technology such as additive manufacturing require standards to set quality parameters and develop testing procedures,”

The rapid increase in applications of 3D printing in the cutting-edge sectors such as aeronautics, plastics, and metal fabrication, necessitates a need for standards governing a number of aspects, including terms and definitions, process chains (materials and software), testing procedures, quality parameters for primary materials and end products, and other basics.

 

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FDA’s Public Workshop to discuss 3D Printing regulations

3D Printing is no longer a hobbyist’s play. It has become a mainstream science thanks to the work of many innovators. The last few years have seen good amount of innovation in the field of 3D printing, with health care being one of the major beneficiaries of the same.

3D printers are being used for a variety of applications like to production of both internal and external medical devices, artificial implants, human tissues, hip joints and even skull implants. With the new technology being so pervasive in a variety of ways, it is very important for someone to keep a check and avoid any unfortunate developments. This is where the role of FDA (Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the overseeing authority for quality of drugs, devices and food supplies, is very important. The FDA has to assure the public that the new technology is not abused and used judiciously to save the lives of thousands of patients.

In this context, the USFDA has announced public workshop on “Additive Manufacturing of Medical Devices: An Interactive Discussion on the Technical Considerations of 3-D Printing” to discuss the technical considerations of 3-D Printing. It will take place on October 8 and 9, 2014, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the FDA’s White Oak Campus, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 31 Conference Center, the Great Room (Rm. 1503), Silver Spring, MD. The workshop is aimed at gathering comments from additive manufacturing companies, and medical device manufacturers on the problems, and solutions to those problems, that 3D printing will bring to the table.

Contrary to a typical regulatory agency which often comes up with restrictive policies, FDA’s proactive initiative to understand, create awareness and coordinate the positive impact of 3D printing in the field of health care is commendable.

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Intel lets you create your own customizable 3D printed Robot

Like many other companies that are all set to broaden their horizon with the 3D printing technology, Intel, the pioneer in chips and processors, seems to have decided to create new bench marks in consumer level robotics, with the help of 3D printing. Jimmy, the new 3D printed robot, will start a mini revolution.

The masterpiece was brought together with the collaborative efforts of Intel and Trossen Robotics. The demo version of this robot was flaunted by the company’s resident futurist Brian David Johnson at the Code Conference. The robot is a little white humanoid that could do tricks like walking, talking, tweeting as well as dancing. The model runs on Intel Edison, which basically is a low cost computer on a chip. The robot is an open source which allows developers to build their own apps and so users can easily download whatever software applications they want to run on their machines.

Intel plans to launch their fully customizable 3D printable robot kit to the market by the end of the year. The price would be as low as $1,600. This would be a small black robot (unnamed) which will be powered by Quark chip. This robot is fully printable except for some parts such as the actuators, motors, and other mechanical parts, these will be supplied by Intel. The hardware designs will be freely available online allowing anyone to access to a 3D printer to generate and assemble the basic parts. This kit will be available online at the website of 21stCenturyRobot.com. Jimmy on the other hand, is said to be priced at $16,000 which is powered by a Core i7 chip. Jimmy is more enigmatic than the prior cheaper version, as it walked onstage and introduced himself, shook a leg and then sat down during the demo.

Johnson compared this to mobile apps, which empowers the owners to make one piece of hardware do a wide variety of tasks. Johnson went on to say that “It’s like a Smartphone with legs”. Johnson also elaborated about the uniqueness of the project by saying that “Your robot will be completely different from mine; you customize it and program the artificial intelligence, not by having a PhD in robotics but by downloading apps.” Intel’s chief executive Brian Krzanich, also added that ‘Robots are coming, Like it or not! According to the claims made by Intel’s chief executive Brian Krzanich, the robot will be available for sale by the end of the year.

Intel executives also flaunted a proto-type “smart shirt” that is expected to replace a sensor mounted on an elastic band that could be worn by cyclists and other athletes. This “smart shirt” would connect a prototype Smartphone app, communicating real-time EKG data.

This fall, a book written by Johnson will be published named; ‘The 21st Century Robot’ will be released. The aim of this book is to inspire more students and makers to build their own robots. The prerelease version is already available free online.

With all these developments, Intel has made it clear that it plans to cruise into various sectors such as mobile space, inside notebooks, phones, tablets, and the galaxy of embedded devices known as the Internet of Things.

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The Canal House, Amsterdam – World’s first 3D printed house

Apart from the scenic beauty Amsterdam will have a lot more to offer. It is going to be the home of the first 3D printed house which is popularly known as ‘The Canal House’. With the entry of 3D printing in the building industry there will be a complete revolution. The building industry is considered to be one of the most polluting industries in the world but now with 3D printing there will be zero waste, the transportation cost will be reduced comparatively and at the end of it all, it can be melted down and recycled.

Architects in Amsterdam are all set to begin the construction of what they are calling as the first full sized 3D printed house. The architects who have taken the burden of building this house is the Dus Architects. They are using a large scale version of desktop 3D printer to build a Dutch Canal House having 13 rooms made of interlocking plastic. The printer creates large bricks from layers of molten plastic which builders can stack like Legos. These stacks of bricks will ultimately become the framework of each room. The construction work has already started and the duration of the project is estimated to be 3 years.

At present, at the site the construction is of only 3m high and a sample of the Canal House has been printed. The blocks that have been created as sample needs to be back filled with light weight concrete, which means that it is not as biodegradable as described by the conceivers. Nevertheless, the popularity of the project is very evident by the number of visits that have been made on the site. More than 2,000 people including the President of the United of America, Barack Obama have come to visit the site.

 

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Stratasys launches Wax printers for your Dentist

Stratasys is all set to expand the length and breadth of the business and their strategy towards achieving this is by branching out and creating new printers for niche markets. One of the niche markets that were targeted by Stratasys was the dental industry. Off late, Stratasys introduced two wax 3D printers which are capable of eliminating the need for the plaster casting. In short these printers allow the dentist or orthodontist to scan the mouth of the patient and then print out a 3D wax model of the mouth. They also can produce wax-ups for crowns, bridges and denture frameworks.

The Stratasys CrownWorx and FrameWorx 3D printers are claiming to be the highest precision wax 3D printers that are available.

Stratasys CrownWorx:

As the name suggests this printer is designed for creating crown, bridge and coping wax-ups. The printer uses wax deposition modeling (WDM) technology to jet micro-drops of TrueCast material that builds dental wax-ups, layer after layer. The TrueCast material is a firm yet flexible material that mimics real wax.

Stratasys FrameWorx:

The main purpose of this printer is to create a partial denture wax-up. Similar to the CrownWorx, it uses TrueCast material. The sole difference between the two is that FrameWorx uses a second material known as TrueSupport, this provides support during the 3D printing process of delicate wax-ups.

The costs of these printers are yet to be disclosed. However as per the announcements made by the company, the company aims to make them affordable for the small dental labs who are interested in updating their dental casting technology.