Tag: 3D Print Technology

From conquering the sectors like medical. Technology, manufacturing and education, 3D printing sets its eyes on the food industry.

A new pop-up restaurant named Food Ink., has come up with meals, comprising of 3D printed food. The founders of this restaurant are Antony Dobrzensky and Marcio Barradas, and they started this venture with help from a group of advisors.

The first venue was Venlo, Netherlands and was a hit. The next venue is London and the event there will be held from 25th July. The team aims to host this event in an array of places like Berlin, Barcelona, Tokyo, and New York.

Food ink. will showcase a meal of courses which will be 3D printed live and streamed live. What’s more, even the furniture and utensils will be products of additive manufacturing. 3d printed stools have been created for the event by the team’s design advisor Mamau Mani and were produced using Silkworm, an open source plug-in printer. It is called the Smoke stool.

Hummus, chocolate mousse, and other paste-like edible items can be used as the 3D printer ink., they call it the ’fine dining hacked’ experience and the food are served stylishly to elegant customers, and videos are made with scintillating music in the background.

The question here is what is the use of this technology in the food sector? As of now, this technology ‘food’ is just under the reach of the elite and it is difficult to review a food item without having to taste it. Also, should our bodies be consuming technology where there is abundant food available around at cheap prices? Well, this has to be well pondered upon.

The pop-up restaurant is indeed a great piece of innovation and as happens with all luxuries, they can just be enjoyed by the privileged few.

Source: 3dprint.com

3D Lab Print has printed many mini aircrafts like D printed RC Spitfire, the P51-D Mustang, and the Thunderbolt. 3D printing has added speed, usability, affordability and quality to an array of products and continues to do so. While people are still contemplating the idea of designing and assembling parts by 3D printing processes, the 3D Lab Print has yet again come up with a new innovation.

Stepan Dokoupil, the founder, is a Czech based designer, architect, and pilot who has developed a plane named Messerschmitt Bf 109T with a landing gear conversion kit. The work on the project is still ongoing and improvisations are done frequently to improve the functionality of the product.

The kit is priced at $10 and includes modified wings and rubber parts for the plane that are essential for the landing gear. Some files have to be downloaded for using the kit, they include-
• Step-by-step PDF/video user guide
• G-codes for i3 printers
• Files with start settings for Simplify3D, Cura, and MatterControl slicers
• Universal STL files
Materials required for this project are 3D printer, a Nozzle with 0.4mm diameter, a PLA filament, Minimum build volume of 195 x 195 x 150 mm (or 250 x 120 x 150), Heated bed (optional)

The Messerschmitt Bf 109T is a perfect example of the advanced additive technology where the wings and fuselage allow support and rigidity along with maintaining the low weight are ideal and exact air foil model are ideal features for a better landing.

The planes with the conversion kit, are easy to assemble and do not require any extra tool, except some glue for the assembling process. The aircraft can fly for 7 minutes or more at a speed of 150 khp and then a low stall speed which is easily achieved for a smooth and safe landing.

Source: 3dprint.com

Many corporations are taking the environmental-friendly path, to reduce their negative effect on the environment. One such big company Seimens, has invested billions of dollars in the development of clean energy and environment sustainable technologies.

Seimens Clean Energy Cente, is Seimen’s test combustion center that was installed at Ludwigsfelde, Germany, near Berlin. Its primary aim is to test the gas power turbine which is subjected to temperatures above 1500 °C and emitted less carbon dioxide than coal. Seimens claims that their 375-megawatt H-Class gas turbine is the best in the world.

This is an extremely slow process as the turbine components that are made of super alloys and cast with precision, take a long time to be manufactured and involve huge investments.

Researchers at Seimens collaborated with the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology experts to develop a process using selective laser melting to develop turbine vanes that would be subjected to the hot gas area of the turbine engine. These turbine vanes need to be tested for heat withstanding capacity for which they have to be precisely cast. Fraunhofer which has been into laser-based technology manufacturing for a long time now could master the art of developing the turbine parts with powder bed-based SLM, with much ease.

The gas turbines include gas vanes which are difficult-to-manufacture, huge structures involve complex manufacturing techniques. Seimens has simplified this process by adopting a new modular manufacturing method that involves making the parts separately and then combining the SLM parts with those parts that are made using traditional manufacturing methods.

SLM is an expensive technology that could be reserved for parts that cannot be manufactured using casting methods. This technology paves the way for a new production process where 3D technology can be combined with the old manufacturing methods.

Source: 3dprint.com

The biggest advantage of 3D printing is that it would cut down on the time taken in the manufacturing process. But even with this technology the assembly phase cannot be accelerated especially in the manufacturing of complex structures like airplanes and drones.

BAE Systems, the UK-based defense and aerospace giant, is getting it geared for the Farnborough International Airshow. The ideas of the researchers were welcomed about the future of aircraft. The scientists and researchers have envisaged a future where unmanned vehicles will be used widely, the execution of which would be largely based on chemistry and large chemical baths as concepts.

And these technologically advanced drones would be manufactured completely in just a few weeks.

This collaborative process would require joining hands with other tech companies and develop a powerful 3D printer called ‘Chemputer’. This 3D printer would work by manufacturing the drones at the molecular level. The raw materials would be introduced into the chemical baths and centrifugal forces would be applied. This could lead to the formation of planes and the same principles could be applied to developing bigger aircraft.

Lee Cronin, the Regius professor at the University of Glasglow, Founding Scientific chairman of the Cronin Group, PLC, said that they were at the point of developing exciting products through chemical applications. Creating small aircraft would lead to the conceptualization of developing real airplanes in future.

BAE Systems is positive that the aircraft and military equipment could be built using environment sustainable resources and experiments and processes have begun in this field. These ideas are channelized towards developing military and aerospace equipment, but the same concepts could be applied to the civil aviation industry. Chemical 3D printer could be eventually used to manufacture furnishings, cars, electronics and many more products.

Source: 3dprint.com

This is an interesting story about a cat that got a new life thanks to a dedicated team of vets and the 3 D technologies they used for treating the animal.

A cat was sleeping on a grinder machine to keep itself warm. But sadly it lost its 3 legs when the grinder machine became functional. A passer-by saw this cat and took it for treatment to a veterinary hospital.

A 12-hour surgery was performed by a veterinary surgeon Chen Yong, known as the Hulk Black Jack. The surgery was a success after which the cat’s life was saved and it started recuperating. The cat started eating a lot and growing in size and the doctors conducted an ultrasound in which it was found that the cat was pregnant. The doctors were touched by the cat’s motivation to live and decided to create prosthetic legs for it to walk on. The cat gave birth to 4 kittens after 2 months, but unfortunately, none of them survived. They were suffering from congenital heart disease due to malnutrition and lost their lives.

It was a setback for the dedicated medical team as well as for the poor cat. The same hospital was taking care of three young kittens that had lost their mother. This cat was elated to see these kittens and adopted them easily. She started taking care of the kittens like a mother and its health also improved slowly.

Seeing the high spirits of the cat, Chen Yong is now determined to create 3D printed prosthetic limbs for the cat so that it can move around comfortably. The cat has been named Yi Yi, and it was the effort of the team of doctors that the cat got a new lease of life.

Source: 3ders.org

10 -year old Eva from Paris, France has received a Ph.D. fellowship for a 3D robot she has developed. The robot is designed to make the streets of Paris look lively and catch the attention of people.

Eva submitted her application for the Paris Summer Innovation Fellowship. This is a two-week long program in which Ph.D. students from various fields like engineering, designing, sciences, and research, take part. This program is organized by the agency Five by Five.

In her application, Eva has expressed her desire to create the street art robot and confessed her difficulty in executing the plan. She further said that the streets of Paris are sad and she wanted to make them happy. She was learning the code on Thymio robots but was facing some difficulties and wanted help by the mentors in the program. Five by Five founder Kat Borlogan was extremely impressed on reading the little girl’s application.

Eva’s original design was itself very impressive with 3D printed large wheels and a chalk holder for the Thymio robot. Borlogan shared Eva’s project on Facebook and received more than 40,000 shares, and replied to Eva’s letter stating she was chosen as the first Summer Program fellow.

Borlogan stated in her letter to Eva that though the program did not mention of the participation of a 10- year old child, but since Eva had admitted of the difficulties she was facing in completing the project, they had decided to help her out.

The robotics company Thymio, would appoint their President as a mentor to guide Eva in completing her project. Apart from the guidance, the company would also be providing their latest robot model to Eva for executing her project. So, now the streets of Paris will be happy indeed.

Source: 3ders.org