Creating figurines of your favorite video games characters can be easy. In-game models are ripe for full-color 3D printing. A lot of 3D printing companies offer that serivce. All you have to do is package the files correctly. Check out how.
Thousands of years ago, ancient cultures (Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus) used wooden splints wrapped with linen to secure broken bones. Hardened casts started popping up in different forms around 30 AD, incorporating anything from wax and resin, to seashells and egg whites, to flour and animal fat in an effort stiffen the bandages and set the bone more reliably. The process evolved over centuries until we arrived at the plaster bricks we put on our broken bones today, which offer superior support and customized fit to provide the best environment for healing. But casts can invite a host of nasty skin issues, itchiness, staph infections, and dermatitis into your life. Not fun. A splint, on the other hand, is removable and less itchy. However, in order to secure the fracture, its straps must be very tight, meaning a lot of throbbing, aches, and general pressure. But leave it to a mathematician with a broken wrist and 3D Systems technology to experiment with a wrist cast/splint (a “clint” or a “splast”). His mission: to quickly blend optimal support with comfort and removability.
In the previous installment of Prototypes that Last, we investigated several simple, powerful ways of predicting and improving the load limits of the parts you make. That’s pretty cool, but we have conveniently overlooked the fact that the elastic deformation of mechanical components can sometimes become a problem long before they suffer any sort of structural failure. Let’s pick up where we left off last week, and sort it out once and for all.
In partnership with NASA, Made in Space, Inc. recently announced that they’ll be sending one of their custom 3D printers to the International Space Station in August of 2014. The benefits of being able to print in space are clear: envision the potential lowering of NASA’s costs by granting crew members the ability to print new tools and replacement parts.
Translating basic concepts in engineering into surprisingly simple yet powerful parts design tips.
MIT researcher Skylar Tibbits recently revealed some of his fascinating work in the field of self-assembling structures, coined “4D Printing”. The four dimensions in question here aren’t all spacial — the “4D” aspect utilizes three spacial dimensions, in the form of 3D Printing, and an additional time dimension. The parts printed in this way are then submerged in water to facilitate self-assembly.
Last summer a student organization based out of the University of Washington, WOOF (Washington Open Object Fabricators), successfully created the world’s first 3D Printed Boat. The boat was printed on a large-format FDM printer, which was hacked together from a plasma cutter, and prints with post-consumer milk jugs.
