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3D printers soon to become affordable

One major factor still holding back 3D printing is the price of 3D printer. A good quality, automated 3D printer costs anywhere above 2000 USD which is way beyond the reach of many people. But with the launch of various new low cost 3D printers, this is going to change soon.

Two new 3D printers M3D Micro, MOD-t are soon to enter the market at price range of $349 and $149 respectively. M3D launched a kickstarter crowd funding campaign and it raised more than $3.4 million through the sale of more than 11,000 printers at price ranging from $199 to $299. When launched, the company’s Micro 3D printer will sell for $349 retail. To ensure the printer’s reliability and longevity, M3D micro uses an auto-leveling and auto-calibration system. Additionally, the company claims that Micro is the most space-efficient 3D printer and one of the most power-efficient.

Another company called New Matter has launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo and is offering their MOD-t 3D printer, which retails at $249 for $149 to the first 500 contributors. This is followed with the next 1000 sold at $199. The MOD-t uses a fused filament fabrication process and can create objects up to 6x4x5 inches. A two-axis motion system is used, limiting the way an object is built to up and down movements thereby limiting the price. It has built-in Wi-Fi, and the industrial design was by the well-known design firm Frog Design. New Matter intends to offer designing software and a curated marketplace for sharing built objects made by artists. New Matter strongly believes that an unified hardware and software experience is essential for people to explore and share their creations.

It is not only the price of the 3D printers that is coming down, even the price of the software to create 3D models is also coming down drastically. For instance, Autodesk announced an open source platform for 3D printing. Given the company’s position as a maker of modeling and design software, the move could boost this nascent industry of object printing. Autodesk will also introduce one 3D printer to act as a reference implementation for Spark thereby demonstrating the power of the Spark platform and setting a new benchmark for 3D printing user experience.

At the start of 2014, Adobe announced that its Photoshop software will soon begin supporting 3D printing. Also in January, 3D printer market MakerBot announced that DELL will be offering its 3D printers and scanners with DELL precision workshops. These are targeted at engineers testing product concepts, architects creating design models and start-ups toying with product designs. In November last year, Staples said it would start rolling out low-cost in-store 3D printing service, using the Mcor IRIS printer. Bringing the prices of 3D printers and their associated softwares down to the reach of a common man is very essential for the  industry to take off. And if one looks at initiatives taken by big companies to bring low cost products into market, one can clearly find that it is a matter of time before this 3D printing takes off in a big way.

Image Credit: Martin Abegglen (flickr handle: twicepix)

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A New Technique in 3d Printing: Light Directed Electrophoretic Deposition

The field of 3D printing is witnessing the addition of new technologies with each passing day. The researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory came up with an entirely new technique in the 3Dprinting industry. The brand new technique which is creating vibes in the market is Light Directed ElectrophoreticDeposition, a technique which is here to replace the old school techniques such as FDM, SLS, SLA, and Jetting.

This technology might be a relatively new concept in the 3D printing industry but the on electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was being used in the auto industry to prime the vehicles before painting them for nearly a decade now. The working of this concept is quite simple. The liquid primer is positively charged while the area that is to be painted is negatively charged. These two opposite charges create a bond between the two materials. This process is commonly used as a first coat primer on automobiles. Now, the process that has been developed by the researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory allows specific, pre-determined surface areas to be treated using the process of Light Directed ElectrophoreticDeposition.

This process uses photoconductive electrodes and DC electrical fields to pattern the surface. When the light comes in contact with the photoconductor surface the material builds up in the target area. This process allows 3D patterns to be made on multi-material composites on a large surface area having a fine resolution. Researchers used the Light Directed ElectrophoreticDeposition to produce an alumina ceramic-tungsten nano particle composite. Firstly the tungsten nano particles were deposited on the photoconductive surface. These particles were then illuminated with the help of a laser cut aluminum mask. Next a different shaped mask was used to deposit the ceramic material. Not before long the aluminum mask is replaced by a digitally projected mask similar to those that are found in the DLP television.

Many people are considering this as a break-through in the field of 3D printing. Andrew Pascall, who is a research engineer and a lead author, says that “We have presented a novel electrophoretic deposition technique based on using light to pattern materials on a photoconductive layer. This represents a large step in advancing electrophoretic deposition as a method of fabricating complex 3D patterned composites.”

The basic thing that the researchers have done is that they have given the traditional EPD a whole new dimension. Instead of depositing only one material across an entire surface, the light directed EPD allows the building up of material on top of the material and thus allowing the user to put on as many layers as they wish, which in turn created 3D objects. As per the experts in this field they feel that if this process is properly developed the 3D printing industry will scale up to new heights as with the use of this technique the objects will be extremely accurate and the process is a lot more faster than the once that already exist. The objects that are created by this technique will be a lot more accurate, this technology is being seen as helping the healthcare industry to build veins and arteries which are considered to be the more complex parts of a human body.

Image Credit: Rana Ossama (Flickr Handle: ranoush)

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3D Printing of Kidneys is not very far

One of the most significant contributions of 3D printing has been in the field of healthcare, printing of body parts, blood vessels, printing skin, the cartilage of the ear, and some success with more complex parts such as the bladder and uterus, now its 3D printing of kidneys. Kidney damage is the second largest problem that commonly exists among humans. If 3D printing of kidneys is successfully done then this might be one of the greatest contributions made by 3D printers in the field of healthcare.

A San Diego based bio-printing company, Organovo has partnered with the University of Queensland’s commercialization company, UniQuest in the hope of producing human kidneys with the help of 3D printers. Last year the research team at the University of Queensland headed by Professor Melissa Little and her team of stem cell researchers successfully grew tiny kidneys in a Petri dish. This collaboration was done to see how far the research can be pushed, everybody are keeping their fingers crossed for the day they will be able to bio-print kidneys. Organovo, is the producer of bio-ink which is a polymer in which cells are mixed which are essentially required to print vital body parts.

According to the estimates made by Professor Melissa Little, who is the team leader of this project said that the bio-printing if kidneys is something that would take another 20 years as kidneys are very complex organ in a human body. The kidney is a large organ with 35 different cell types, all of which has different functions. Apart from this there are many tubules which have to be lined up in the right way; these tubules make the kidney a much more complex organ than liver or even the heart. These complexities of the kidney make it very difficult to build.

The aim of the team is to bio-print artificial kidney for human but as for an initial goal the team considers the production of tiny kidneys in a laboratory setting which has already been done. These artificial 3D printed kidneys would enable better disease modeling and also help in the area of drug development. Little said, “The sad fact is that most new drugs fail during testing in humans and a big reason for that is that they turn out to be toxic to kidneys, if we can test a drug for kidney toxicity before applying it to human trials, we’ll save a lot of time, effort and money.”

Ian Walker, the minister of Science, information technology, innovation and arts at the University of Queensland (UoQ) said that the state has contributed a hefty amount of AU$1 million to support Little’s research. “One in three Australians are at risk of developing chronic kidney disease so what Professor Little accomplished last year was a hugely important development,” said Walker. “The agreement with Organovo, the world leader’s in 3D printing of human tissue, will optimize the cells created using Professor Little’s technology in order to print kidney tissues from them using 3D bio-printing,” he said.

This breakthrough has undoubtedly attracted a lot of international interest as the team at the UoQ is making progress in this area with leaps and bounds.

Image Credit: Hey Paul Studios (flickr handle: hey_paul)

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NASA will send this amazing 3D printer to Space

We are all fascinated by the lives of astronauts, going by the glamorous videos we get to see in science channels, with all of them floating in the air and doing strange things. Ever wondered about their needs will be, how they are able to stay in those capsules for months together and what happens in case of any technical glitches?

Space agencies like NASA spend billions of dollars to make the spare parts available on the space station in abundance, as they never know what they’ll need. In spite of this, there will be occasions where you need a tool and it is not available, leaving the astronauts to wait for weeks or months before they get the required replacement part to fix a machine there.. And, any small mistake might prove fatal at such a place.

Now, 3D printing is coming to the rescue in these complex situations. Any new part requirement can easily be designed from earth and transmitted to space, which can be used by the astronauts to print. NASA is planning to have a 3D printer in the space station, to give astronauts the ability to create custom parts exactly when they need them. A 3D printer can be handy in repairing space suits, printing extra bolts and nuts, and even some replacement parts which otherwise, should have to be sent from earth.

Made In Space is building a 3D printer for NASA to be used in ISS. The Mountain View-based startup firm which was founded in 2010, developed the first version of a printer for NASA in 2012. During the development phase, the printer was tested on parabolic flights, where brief episodes of near-weightlessness mimic the microgravity aboard the ISS.

Now, the printer passed its final NASA test ahead of schedule, which means the planned launch date forward by 3 months, from November to August. The printer will leave Earth aboard SpaceX’s fourth resupply mission to the ISS. Its first task aboard the ISS will be to print 21 test parts, video of which will be sent back to Earth and analyzed. Once the first task also becomes successful, Made In Space will focus its energies on increasing its build volume and adding new printing materials.

Image Credit: Les Chatfeld (flickr handle: elsie) Chriſtopher Chen(flickr handle: lumachrome

 

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Toyfabb, a 3D printing market-place for Toys

Since the start of the 3D printing hype from the last few years, 3d printing of toys has been the most common application of this technology. Many companies till now have been using 3D printing as a means to get their prototypes right. But, toys category can go beyond, and can be the first mass-market application of 3d printing.

We have seen several 3dprinting market places coming up in the last 2-3 years. But, a 3D printing online marketplace entirely dedicated to toys was not attempted by anyone, despite the large market and universal appeal for the concept. Now, Swiss based Toyfabb platform, founded by Jochen Hanselmann and Alex Schmid wants to fill this void, with a dedicated market place for 3D printable toy designs.

The platform supports English and German languages and offers full shop functionality for users and designers. You can buy and sell your 3D printable toy models on the website. Once a customer buys a model, the 3D Design files will be streamed securely to the customers’ 3d printer for one time use. The customers can print them in their own home printers or choose to employ the services 3d printing service companies like shapeways or imaterialise. Also, Designers can choose if they want customers to be able to download the STL file or stream the G-code securely to their home 3D printer.

The website’s immediate task is to expand its portfolio of 3D designs to attract more customers. to address this, they are running a contest along with the website’s launch, to call on designers to contribute by submitting their STL files. While the winner of each toy category will receive a $100 reward, all submitted designs can be sold through each designer’s personal shop page on the website. For each design sold, the designers will receive 70% of revenues.

Having used the tech for years for rapid prototyping in product development applications, many large toy companies will now be planning to take the next leap, and aim at a future shaped by 3D printing. However,  one concern will still be haunting them on selling digital models – copyright violation concerns. Let’s wait and watch!

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3D Printers Have Slashed Lead Times by 97%

Whale 3D
Whale 3D

3D printing is disrupting the traditional manufacturing methods in a big way, especially in hi-tech / custom product manufacturing where the parts aren’t mass produced. Many companies are embracing this 3D printing technology to cut down the lead times and costs. Below is one such company that used 3D printing to reduce lead time by a staggering 97% when compared to traditional manufacturing approach.

Whale, a leading manufacturer of electronic pump systems and gas / electric heating systems for mobile applications has cut lead times by almost 97% through implementation of 3D printers in its production of injection mold tools. Not only the lead time, the company also made huge cost savings compared to traditional methods of production.

The company is using an Objet350 Connex Multi-material 3D printer supplied by Stratasys and through this device the company is able to print injection mold tools in less than 24 hours. The 3D printed injection mold tools are printed using Stratasys’ Digital ABS material and feature distinct properties such as high temperature resistance and toughness. In traditional approach, it would take anywhere between 4-5 weeks to produce the same output and also would incur significant production costs. This led to significant slow down in the launch of new products and R&D.

In addition to the dramatic cost and time savings potential, Stratasys Digital ABS tools also enable companies to produce parts in the real end-product material, ready to test even in the prototyping phase. Customers can therefore make quicker test iterations and bring products to the market faster.

This is yet another application for 3D printing which will save companies time and costs over traditional manufacturing techniques. In some cases, 3D printing is completely replacing the traditional manufacturing process and in other cases, it is complimenting the traditional manufacturing process.

About Whale: Whale® is a well-known brand with a reputation built on decades of high quality design expertise. Whale® has led the way since way back in the ‘40s with ground breaking pump design through to recent innovation leaps in intelligent control electronic pump systems and gas / electric heating systems for water and space in recreational vehicles. Click here to find more information about Whale.

About Stratasys: Stratasys, Ltd. is a manufacturer of 3D printers and 3D production systems for office-based rapid prototyping and direct digital manufacturing solutions. Engineers use Stratasys systems to model complex geometries in a wide range of thermoplastic materials, including: ABS, polyphenylsulfone (PPSF), polycarbonate (PC) and ULTEM 9085. Stratasys manufactures in-office prototyping and direct digital manufacturing systems for automotive, aerospace, industrial, recreational, electronic, medical and consumer product OEMs. Click here to find more information about Stratasys.

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Even Blood vessels can be 3D printed now!

The contributions made by 3D printers in the healthcare industry are undoubtedly outstanding, but it seems that researchers and scientists are not going to slow down any time soon. They have now targeted one of the most complex part of human body i.e. is the blood vessels. There are almost sixty thousand miles of blood vessels in a human body. Blood vessels form the basis of the circulatory system allowing blood to flow freely and deliver essential nutrients and clear hazardous waste from the various organs of the human body. So the ability of the being able to print blood vessels is quite a big deal.

Although there has been numerous attempts to replicate all sorts of human tissues and organs but nothing could be actually materialized. The printing of blood vessels has been the talk in the healthcare industry for quite some time. But it’s quite a tricky affair to make tissues that fit the complexities of a human body in an effective way.

This concept has been materialized by a research team from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who has successfully fabricated blood vessels using three dimensional bio-printing techniques. As per Doctor Ali Khademhosseini, who is a biomedical engineer and project leader of this project at Boston,explained , “Creating artificial blood vessels remains a unique challenge in tissue engineering. We’ve attempted to address this challenge by offering a unique strategy for vascularization of hydrogel constructs that combine advances in 3D bio-printing technology and biomaterials.”The process involves the printing of agarose or sugar based molecule fibers as templates for the vessels and then covers that in jelly like hydrogel to produce a cast over the fibers which is then reinforced via photocrosslinks. Since the agarose is sturdy, scientist can pull it out to create channels without damaging any cells inside the gel. The resulting vessels are much better at transporting liquid and otherwise behaving like the real deal.This durable combination ensures that “the fiber templates we printed are strong enough that we can physically remove them to make the channels,” Khademhosseini said, explaining that this is crucial because it “prevents having to dissolve these template layers, which may not be so good for the cells that are entrapped in the surrounding gel.”

This new dimension that 3D printing has given to the healthcare industry may be used to develop transplantable tissues that can be customized according to the requirements of the patient. This would solve many problems and also arrest the death rate of people due to health problems related to lack of available transplants.

Image Source: University of Liverpool Faculty of Hralth & Life Science (Flickr Handle – liverpoolhls)

 

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3D Hubs – Find a 3D printer near you

3D Hubs
3D Hubs

For every hi-tech innovative idea to go mainstream into market it requires cumulative effort of hundreds of entrepreneurs trying out different ways to bring that idea to the public. 3D Hubs is one such idea to bring the 3D printing revolution to mainstream market. 3DHubs is a network of all 3D printing service providers across the globe. Anyone with a 3D printer can list their services on 3D Hubs. Customers can search for the 3D printing service providers in their area and contact those companies via 3D Hubs. In summary, 3DHubs is a portal to find a local 3D printing service provider.

3D Hubs was founded in August 2013 in Netherlands and has reached more than 5000 3D hub locations across the world in just 9 months, a number founders consider to be critical mass in an ever changing market. 3D Hubs is now considered world’s largest 3D printer network with presence in 80 countries and access to more than 750 million people globally within 10 miles from their home.

By enabling local production, 3D Hubs and its community of makers are disrupting the entire manufacturing supply chain shifting it away from “Made in China, Consumed across the world” to “Made Locally, Consumed Locally” model.

Below are some statistics provided by 3DHubs on crossing 5000 print hubs globally. For more information, visit their blog post by clicking here.

3D Hubs across the world

Reach of 3D HubsScale of 3D HubsTop 10 most active communities on 3D Hubs?

  1. Milan
  2. New York
  3. Amsterdam
  4. Los Angeles
  5. Antwerp
  6. Den Haag
  7. London
  8. Eindhoven
  9. Utrecht
  10. Paris

From the above statistics, one can find that 3D Hubs community is very active. And with companies like 3D Hubs that act on the fringes of 3D printing yet provide great value to customers and suppliers, it is just a matter of time for 3D printing to become ubiquitous.

Images Source: http://blog.3dhubs.com

 

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Printeer – A 3D Printer exclusively for kids

The world of 3D printing is expanding very fast, influencing a variety of industries and coming out with a lot of exciting applications. For the 3D printing industry to grow steadily, it needs to involve a variety of people from different age groups and different professions like creative designers, software professionals, material engineers, mechanical experts – to name a few.

3D Printing has always been accessible to a select few enthusiasts but now, a new company aims to take 3D printing out of labs and into schools. Mission Street Manufacturing based in Santa Barbara, has come out with Printeer, a 3D Printer specifically designed to enable children and K-12 schools to easily 3D print designs.

Unlike other printers, the Printeer 3D Printer doesn’t require any advanced skills and does not need a computer. The users don’t even need to learn or use a CAD program. All you need to do is to open a simple ipad app in a wifi environment and use simple touch controls to make shapes that can be printed by the printer. The device uses a thermo plastic filament called PLA, which is non-toxic and safe for the kids to use.

The Printeer 3D printer is very compact with dimensions of 16-inches by 9-inches, with a height of one foot. Coming to the print capacity, the device boasts of a 6 x 4 x 5 inch removable build platform, which is very convenient to remove the finished parts. The machine has a transparent case that prevents accidental contact with heated or moving parts and also enables the kids to see how the colourful parts like motors, pulleys, belts, and sliders work together. The startup is trying to raise at least $50,000 on crowdfunding site Kickstarter to start the project, and aims to ship the first units by October this year. In fact, it is already working with schools and educators in California to test its new printer. Price might be slightly high at $549, but it might make a very interesting birthday gift to your enthusiastic kids.

Full Technical Specifiations of Printeer

  • Size: 16 in. wide, 9 in. deep, 12 in. tall
  • Weight: 12 pounds
  • Build volume: 6 in. by 4 in. by 5 in.
  • Nozzle size: 0.5 mm
  • Filament: 1.75mm PLA
  • Spool capacity: 1 pound of filament
  • Removable bed
  • Automatic bed leveling
  • Custom iPad design software
  • RepRap g-code compatible
  • Entirely wireless (except for power)
  • Requires wifi to operate
  • Built using a variety of open-source hardware and software