This Week in 3D Printing

Week of 8/3/2015

This Week’s Contents

! In the News ! Research Insight of the Week ! 3D Prints of the Week

In the NewsSummary and Analysis of Headlines around 3D Printing

Israeli Air Force Begins Using 3D Printing Technology

A number of militaries around the world have recently began researching the role 3D printing could potentially have within everyday requirements such as replacement parts. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has recently announced joining the fray with the purchase of an industrial-scale 3D printer from a US 3D printer manufacturer. The IAF is seeking to produce a number of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) components via 3D printing. They will begin by printing plastic-based 3D prints up to a meter in length, but plan to switch over to metal parts in coming stages of implementation.

Source(s): 3Ders.org

Apple Files for Patent on Handheld 3D Scanning Stylist Tech giant Apple was issued a patent last week, entitled Texture Capture Stylus and Method, for a new type of stylus which can capture 3D data of objects for possible creation of 3D printable models. In other words, the stylus acts as a sort of 3D scanner, with the tip transmitting light onto a surface to act as a lens for a camera or image capturing device. The patent was originally filed in early 2014, and signals a potential entry point into the 3D printing word for the tech company.

Source(s): 3DPrint.com

Nike Develops 3D Printed Helmet to Keep Athletes Cool

A group of designers at Nike have unveiled a next-generation cooling system developed for U.S. Olympic champion and decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton. Any advantage that speed up recovery times for decathlon competitors can have a significant impact on an athlete’s performance. For Eaton overheating was a challenge, leading him to ask Nike why it felt great to pour a bottle of water over his head after a long run. It turns out that the head and face, according to Nike scientist, have two to five times more sensitivity than other body surfaces areas. The design team went about creating a specialized mask that would perfectly fit Eaton using 3D scanning and 3D printing. The team created a hood that retained cool water, while securely stay in place.

Source(s): 3Ders.org

3D Printing Changing the Lives of the Elderly It is no surprise that as people age, they begin to experience difficulty accomplishing simple everyday task. To address these problems, Japanese Designer Tatsuo Ishibashi has turned to 3D printed to create a line of products focused on assisting the elderly and people who suffer from diminished physical functions. In his shop, mizulabo, Ishibashi designs simple lightweight and low cost solutions to a variety of challenges. One example is a 3D printed tool that assists people to write with ballpoint pens, as well as a tool to help users remove caps and tabs from plastic bottles and cans. Ishibashi’s creations are a perfect example of the potential use of 3D printing to better lives. Source(s): 3DPrint.com

Using 3D Printing to Create a Battery Tester

3D printing can be used to solve a myriad of daily problems, large and small. There are countless examples of this on the internet. Most recently the Ruiz Brothers at Adafruit have taken this axiom to heart, releasing a array of useful projects for users of any skill level. Their most recent project was developing a simple 3D printed battery tester. The brothers sought to create an easy and useful project for beginning designers to showcase the ease and overall usefulness of 3D printing for everyday life.

Source(s): 3Ders.org

Breakthrough In self-assembly 3D Printing A research team led by Dr. Ido Bachelet at the Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University in Israel have developed an algorithm that allowed 18 tetrahedral bricks to self-assemble into a larger 3D cylinder. The team then found that high frequency vibrations can be used to aide bricks in self-assembling into a large 3D object, potentially changing the future of consumer product assemblies. The idea of self-assembly is that many small and disordered 3D printed parts combine on their own to create something much larger, allowing a variety of objects to be created from the same elementary building blocks. The next step of research will be refining how the parts stay in place to be used to assemble reliable and functional products. Source(s): 3Ders.org

Student Develops 3D Printed Drone to Monitor Crops

Farmers have been taking aerial readings of crops to monitor and improve crop yield since the down of aviation. Recently drones have been deployed to take the aerial readings, taking photos that display near-infrared readings of how plants are absorbing sunlight and their photosynthesis levels, data that can be used to verify the current health of their crops. The only problem is that these services are expensive, and therefore out of reach for most non-commercial farms. That is, until Quesney Nevarez, a Mexican electronics engineering student, began investigating how 3D printing and off-the=shelf parts can expand crop monitoring to lower income farmers. Nevarez worked on the project in Ottawa at a program that finds new applications for drone technology.

Source(s): 3Ders.org

Creating a Wind Powered USB charger with 3D Printer Anthony Dorsa, a sophomore mechanical engineering student at Binghamton University, has developed a 3D printed device that uses wind power to act as a USB charger. Dorsa was inspired by Makerbot’s Catch The Wind challenge, a competition among 3D designers to create a 3D printed model that harness the power of wind. After experimenting with a variety of wind turbine designs, Dora realized that smaller sized turbines typically require very little wind to start spinning, and that single directional turbines produced optimal power, while minimizing overall design complexity. He has since released his plans to the public, showcasing the overall potential of 3D Printers. Source(s): 3DPrint.com

Apple Announces Update to Enable Basic 3D Printer Support

This past week Apple announced an update to their Common Unix Printing Systems (CUPS). With the release of CUPS version 2.1, the Apple OS supports basic 3D printers. This is something that simply was lacking in previous CUPS versions. While the OS will only support basic 3D printers, with no built-in filters, it bodes well for mainstream adoption of 3D printers and 3D printing related devices, as more and more technology companies join the 3D Printing revolution.

Source(s): 3DPrint.com

Chinese Researchers Make Breakthrough in SLA 3D Printing Scientist from the Guangzhou Nansha Additive Manufacturing Technology Research Institute announced a new 3D printing technique that can be used to create detailed porcelain and other ceramic objects in mere minutes. Xu Xiaoshu, the Institutes director, argues that this new process represents a immense breakthrough in the field of traditional SLA 3D printing technology, resolving the three main issues that plague the SLA 3D printing process: high liquidity requirement of material, scraping pieces post print, and slow printing speed. The new technique will reduce cost, almost double 3D printing speed, and capable of printing high precisions objects of up to 800 by 400 mm. Source(s): 3Ders.org

Research Insight of the WeekQuantifying the 3D Printing Landscape

Chinese 3D Printing Market estimated to reach

$1.6 Billionby 2016.

Source: Researchmoz, 2015

3D Prints of the WeekShowcasing some of the most interesting applications of 3D Printing, from the amusing to the artistic to the innovative

3D Printed Exoskeleton for Stroke Victims

! Daniel Levy, a design engineer, has created a 3D printed open-source exoskeleton that helps stroke victims suffering from lack of finger movement regain mobility in their hands.

! Levy and a research team of four members created the device which uses the motion of the wrist to open and close the fingers.

! The team was inspired by a friend’s brother who suffered a spinal injury and was unable to regain hand function.

3D Printing Design for Platform Jack

! The Seattle-based company intentional3D has released Platform Jack, one of the most popular and most downloaded designs online.

! The company released a design which is printed in one single piece, that features several movable parts, and requires no support material, while at the same time acts as a fully functional product right off the 3D printer print bed.

! The Platform Jack essentially acts as a traditional ‘jack’, lowering and lifting a base with a set of arms by turning a threaded knob.