I recently received a mail from Alex Mamalyha, web community manager for i.materialise, announcing the launch of a new service fromMaterialise NV.i.materialise is a rapid manufacturing service aimed at designers, and the beta sitegives a good idea of the way the service will work. Obviously there are many web-based rapid manufacturing services these days, and the announcement of a new one is a fairly regular occurrence which I usually just ignore. But given the extent to which Materialise have supported and encouraged designers’ use of RM technologies through their.MGXinitiative, I thought this was one service that deserved further investigation. More at i.Materialise
Ontdekkingsreis naar nieuwe mogelijkheden en trends in 3D printing en rapid manufacturing op donderdag 5 november 2009 TNO Eindhoven. De dag wordt georganiseerd door Microcentrum in samenwerking met TNO.
Deze themadag geeft de state of the art op het gebied van Rapid Manufacturing weer voor zowel bestaande als toekomstige gebruikers van RM-technologie. Vanuit verschillende toepassingsgebieden krijgt u inzicht in de vele mogelijkheden die RM-technologie biedt. Toepassingsvoorbeelden in 3D printing met kunststoffen, metalen en combinaties van diverse materialen passeren tijdens deze dag de revue.
Onbeperkte vormvrijheid, allerlei mogelijke functie integratie, direct vanuit een CAD file produceren en het combineren van verschillende materialen in één product zijn enkele grote voordelen bij het gebruik van Rapid Manufacturing technieken.
In the nineties laser printers revolutionized graphic design. Now 3D-desktop printers are revolutionizing industrial design and the common business models. Next we will be printing buildings and revolutionize architecture.
D_shape technology makes it possible to 3D print 6 by 6 by 1m parts. These parts could either be shipped to the construction site or the entire building could be 3D printed on location. The parts made by D_shape resemble sandstone. They are comparable in strength to reinforced concrete and the ingredients are the binding material and any type of sand. The materials cost more than regular concrete but much less manpower is needed for construction. No scaffolding needs to be constructed so overall building cost should be lower than traditional building methods.
The system works with a rigging that is suspended over the buildable part. The system deposits the sand and then the inorganic binding ink. No water is necessary. Because the two components meet outside the nozzle, the machine does not clog up and can keep up its accuracy of 25 DPI. Enrico and D_Shape are currently talking to lots of construction & engineering companies and architects about their technology.
The technology would seem to be especially interesting for these architects. With D-Shape they could make previously impossible forms and indeed approach a building not as a place where planes intersect but much more organically. As with regular 3D printing methods a lot of forms can only be made in this way.
Here’s an intriguing use of prototyping and laser scanning technology. Those UK Hip Hop afficionados out there will no doubt have got hold of Roots Manuva’sSlime and Reason late last year - I know I did. When I looked at the cover, I wondered how that freaky image has been made and the liner notes give it away with extra images from a white light laser scanner running across the Artist formerly known as Rodney Smith’s face and a small note thanking Metropolitan Works for its help on its creation.
Designed by graphic design duo Oscar & Ewan, the cover features a head and shoulders image showing the top of his head missing and the contents filled with green slime - as you can see. Apparently Roots came into Metro Work’s facility, had his head scanned and the scan was printed using Z-Corp’s Spectrum Z510 to create a master that was cast by a sculptor to create a ceramic vessel filled with slime.
The ARC 3D Webservice allows you to transform your images into 3D models automatically. You only need a digital camera, a PC and access to the Internet.
Everybody can now make pictures in 3D, with a regular photo camera and the free ARC 3D website. You only have to take a number of pictures from an object from different angles, load it onto the website and you will be notified when you can pick up the 3D photo from the ARC 3D ftp-site. With the ARC 3D model viewer you can generate your 3D model, ready for viewing on the internet. For this you need to save it as a vrml or x3d file and download a 3D viewer from the internet for viewing in a webbrowser. You can also save the model in other higher quality formats. The free MeshLab software provides professional tools to enable you to refine and enhance your 3D model.
Another interesting 3D print service based in Rome Ital is called SOLIDO. While they deliver only to Europe, they do indicate they have competitive pricing and offer a full range of services, including Rapid Prototyping, Testing (Functional and Ergonomic), 3D Modeling, 83 micron 3D prints, mechanical analyses, postproduction and more.
The build chamber size (200 x 250 x 200 mm) suggests they might be using a ZCorp 310 or 450 3D printer. In any case, you’ll need to send them your .STL to get an estimate or a print.
In the Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory (located in the Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Washington in Seattle), our research focuses on new and improved methods to describe complex shapes in a way that a computer can understand and to fabricate those shapes in ways that the computer can control (a.k.a., rapid prototyping).
Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is our favorite method of rapid prototyping, because the required equipment is not outrageously expensive and you can use just about any material that can be obtained in powdered form. While our initial research aimed to address a biomedical application (digital fabrication of alumina dental implants), it was not long before discussions with a co-worker led to consideration of other kinds of ceramics. The article presents the basics of 3DP and everything you need to know to put together the materials for producing ceramic art objects on a 3D printer.
Coraline, the animated fantasy movie directed by Henry Selick Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and others), has brought in almost $40 million since it opened last week – not bad for an animated feature. With a toddler at home, I don’t get to the theater very often, but this week I did get to see the innovative technology behind the movie: Objet Geometries Connex500. And if the Connex doesn’t count as a disruptive technology yet, it will soon.
The Connex500 is a 3-D printer. It can take an object designed in any CAD software or, in the case of Coraline, an animation program, and “print” a physical copy. Very simply, the software slices the design into microns-thick layers, and gives the printer a footprint for each, so that it can build a model one layer at a time. Because the Connex has multiple printer heads, it can build an object out of any of Objet’s eight basic plastic materials (shown, left) – which range from rigid to flexible, and include clear, white, and black options – or combine them to create an infinite number of composites. Those material options, along with the micron-measured detail, is helping change how companies think about 3-D printing.
Shapeways provides users a set of toolkits that allows them to create 3D objects without any CAD or programming skills. The compagny has introduced their so called Photoshaper, a service that allows anyone to turn digital photographs into 3D printed objects.
Users can logon to Shapeways, upload any photo and order their creations directly. Now you not only can see your girl friend in your wallet when you are on a business trip, but touch her in 3D. With Photoshaper Shapeways redefines online consumerism with direct access to individually customized products that were never available before.
Based on the contrast of the picture (light and dark) the Shapeways Photoshaper automatically creates a depth-layered 3D object that can be printed by Shapeways with the latest in 3D printing technology. The 3D photo will be produced and delivered globally within 10 days and costs between 40-50 USD, including shipping. For best results use a 1.5 megapixel or better picture. The size of the 3D photo is 13 cm to 9 cm, landscape and portrait.
You can now have one of your own! Imagine it sitting at the end of your desk, spitting out any objects you desire, or at least models you can manage to develop. Two things are interesting about the announcement from Dimension Printing: It’s not from Desktop Factory and It’s priced at 15,000 USD.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s still a teeny bit on the high side for a personal printer. Even the original personal laser printers from years ago weren’t that high in price.
We think this is a huge step forward to the days of consumer 3D printing. It’s obviously not there yet, but we’re heading that way. We think the uPrint will be quite popular, but not among consumers. It’s definitely a Personal printer, but perhaps more of a Personal-At-Work printer.
Momenteel loopt vanuit Fontys een RAAK traject over Rapid Manufacturing. Daarbij zijn betrokken 5 MKB bedrijven, TNO Industrie en Fontys Engineering. De subsidie bij dit project wordt alleen gebruikt voor het opdoen, verbeteren en uitwisselen van kennis binnen de Hogeschool, TNO en de deelnemende bedrijven.
In a common scene on Star Trek: The Next Generation, captain Jean-Luc Picard would walk up to an impressive, high-tech-looking console set in the wall and sternly say to it: Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
The console would shimmer and sparkle and, after a few seconds, a piping hot serving of tea complete with cup and saucer would materialize, ready for drinking. The technology was known as a replicator because it replicated real things out of thin air. But, as it eventually turns out with much of Star Trek ’s gadgetry, the technology is not so fantastical after all. It’s not Star Trek anymore, says Cathy Lewis, chief executive of Desktop Factory, a company that is making its own version of replicators. It’s reality.
Earlier we gave a sneak preview of our project to construct a home-built three dimensional fabricator. Our design goals were (1) a low cost design leveraging recycled components (2) large printable volume emphasized over high resolution, and (3) ability to use low-cost printing media including granulated sugar. We are extremely pleased to be able to report that it has been a success: Our three dimensional fabricator is now fully operational and we have used it to print several large, low-resolution, objects out of pure sugar. More about the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories 3D Fabricator Project.
(One of the first objects made with the 3D sugar printer.)
Dankzij digitalisering zijn beeld en geluid met elkaar verbonden op een manier die voorheen ondenkbaar was. Frozen presenteert audiokunst, prints en sculpturen als zelfstandige, maar onderling verbonden kunstwerken.
Frozen is gerealiseerd in samenwerking met de Noorse kunstenaar en curator Marius Watz, die is gespecialiseerd in het gebruik van generatieve systemen voor creatieve uitingen als print, animatie en sculptuur. Naast een bijdrage van Watz zijn er audiosculpturen te zien van Andreas Nicolas Fischer (DE) & Benjamin Maus (DE), Leander Herzog (CH) en Daniel Widrig & Shajay Booshan (UK). De audiosculptuur van Marius Watz is gebaseerd op Oslo Rain Manifesto van muzikant Alexander Rishaug. De andere sculpturen zijn gebaseerd op Reflection van Freiband, een project van de Nederlandse muzikant Frans de Waard. De geprinte stills zijn van Marius Watz en Leander Herzog.
Frozen werd eerder gepresenteerd tijdens het 5 Days Off Festival 2008 in Amsterdam. Frozen is nu weer te zien van 17 november tot 10 december in de Concrete Image aan de Store Spuistraat 250 in Amsterdam.
(Marius Watz: Sound memory (Oslo Rain Manifesto). Rapid prototyping object based on FFT data from the song Oslo Rain Manifesto by Alexander Rishaug - Image by Marius Watz.)
Just when you thought it was enough having a desktop 3D printer for under 5,000 Dollar, along comes The Mcor Matrix (22,000 Dollar) which Prints 3D using standard 80 gsm A4 paper, at a fraction of the total cost of ownership of current 3D printing technology (no actual numbers), but with operating costs of up to 50 times less.
Basically the unit uses Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), or layer by layer of paper is cut then glued together to make a 3D object, you can use recycled paper, and the waste paper, can itself be recycled. According to Mcor, the current cost of ownership of a 3D printer is high due to the recurring costs of consumables. By using paper you can get at the local office supply store, the cost per cubic centimeter is 0.01 Euro.
