FreeFormFab

3D Printer Fontys Enineering Eindhoven Operationeel

Donderdag 22 januari vond de feestelijke ingebruikname plaats van de eerste 3D printer bij Fontys Engineering Eindhoven. De printer is geheel door Fontys betaald. Het gaat om een FDM 400 mc printer van Stratasys.

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.

3D Printer uses Paper & Glue

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.

Oproep: Samen RepRap machines bouwen

Protospace in Utrecht start vanaf maandag 10 november met een groep die gezamelijk RepRap machines gaat bouwen. Zin om mee te doen? Mail dan even naar Erik de Bruijn of naar Siert van Protospace. Wel uiterlijk maandag 10 november even laten weten. En ook hier geldt hoe meer zielen hoe meer vreugd.

RepRap: Replicating Rapid-Prototyper

Look at your computer setup and imagine that you hooked up a 3D printer. Instead of printing on bits of paper this 3D printer makes real, robust, mechanical parts. To give you an idea of how robust, think Lego bricks and you’re in the right area. You could make lots of useful stuff, but interestingly you could also make most of the parts to make another 3D printer. That would be a machine that could copy itself.

RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-Prototyper. It is the practical self-copying 3D printer, a self-replicating machine. This 3D printer builds the parts up in layers of plastic. So what theRepRap team are doing is to develop and to give away the designs for a much cheaper machine with the novel capability of being able to self-copy (material costs are about 500 euro). That way it’s accessible to small communities in the developing world as well as individuals in the developed world.

Following the principles of the Free Software Movement we are distributing the RepRap machine at no cost to everyone under the GNU General Public Licence. So, if you have a RepRap machine, you can make another and give it to a friend.

Source: RepRap

Rapid Reality

Met de allernieuwste maaktechnologie en ontwerpsoftware is het mogelijk een ontwerp binnen een dag of zo om te zetten in een functioneel product of prototype. Syntens heeft een aantal van dit soort bedrijven en machines bij elkaar gezet tijdens de Dutch Design Week. De bedrijven zijn te bezoeken in Hal 3 van het Klokgebouw op Strijp-S. Maak kennis met ondernemers die concepten kunnen omzetten in producten:

• Amitek (met 3D scanning en custom made computermuizen)
• RP2 (met Objet 3D printing voorwerpen)
• Somatech (met FDM printer)
• Formit (met kleinserie behuizingen)
• Delft Spline Systems (desktop freesmachines)
• Metaalwarenfabriek Phoenix  (rubberpersen metaalplaat)
• Trotec Laser (lasersnijmachine)

Meer over Rapid Reality

DAVID Laserscanner

DAVID-Laserscanner is a very low-cost system for contact-free scanning of 3d objects. The only hardware requirements are a simple commercial hand-held laser and a standard camera. The scanner is developed by Simon Winkelbach en Sven Molkenstruck.

Tutorials on how to set up a Fablab

A series documenting the setting up and usage of a MIT styled FabLab in the Netherlands. Will feature step by step tutorials on how to use the different equipment in the lab.

Fab @ Home

Fab@Home is a project dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides everything you need to know in order to build or buy your own simple fabber, and to use it to print three dimensional objects. The hardware designs and software on this website are free and open-source. Once you have your own fabber, you can also download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself.

Lumenlab desktop CNC robot kit

micRo is Lumenlab’s desktop CNC robot kit (price about 500 usd). micRo is an awesome tool for any home-hobbyist and building it yourself is a great educational experience. You can use micRo to mill, drill, cut, draw and more using tools you create. Lumenlab’s micRo kit and companion site will guide you through building your own CNC robot and creating your own projects with CAD, CAM and EMC2.

CNC (computer numerical control) is the use of a computer to control a machine tool. CNC has made it easy to create precise curves and complex 3D structures which would be difficult to produce by hand. CNC has been around since the 1950s but is only recently becoming accessible to the home-hobbyist.

Source: Lumenlab

Desktop Factory 3D Printer

Until now, 3D printers have been large, expensive machines confined to the shops and design departments of major corporations and elite design firms. With the introduction of the Desktop Factory 3D printer, priced disruptively lower than the nearest competitive offering (5,000 Dollar in the US), Desktop Factory becomes the leader in high performance low-cost 3D printing technologies.

The Desktop Factory 3D printer builds durable, functional models from the bottom up, one layer at a time. The printer has a build speed comparable to existing 3D printing technologies, and produces robust parts.

Desktop Factory proprietary software imports STL files and other industry standard 3D printer formats, automatically slices and orients the part for optimal build performance and creates any required support structures. The Desktop Factory 3D printer measures about 25 x 20 x 20 inches and weighs less than 90 lbs. The maximum build volume of the initial product will be 5 x 5 x 5 inches. The thickness of each layer is 0.010 inch.

See also Businessweek

How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine

The idea behind this Instructable was to build a desktop sized CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine. While it would have been nice to purchase an off the shelf unit, the issue of price as well as size proved prohibitive. With this in mind I endeavored to design and build a three axis CNC machine with the following factors in mind:

• Use Simple tools (needs only a drill press, band saw, and hand tools) 
• Low Cost (all parts is under $600)
• Small footprint (30″ x 25″ footprint)
• Usable working envelope (10″ X-axis, 14″ Y-Axis, 4″ Z-Axis)
• Relativly fast cut rate (60″ per minute)
• Small part count (fewer than 30 unique parts)
• Easy to source parts (all parts available from 4 sources)
• Ability to cut ply-wood (Succesful)

Hobby CNC

Hobby CNC sells a variety of high-quality CNC products from router plans and stepper motors to full CNC kits for the hobbyist. Since 1999, our website has received over 1 million unique visitors and 15 million hits. We are committed to bringing you the best product, support and service at the best possible value. Should you have any questions, please visit our contact page here. Post-sales support is handled through our Yahoo! support group (with over 2.200 members) and a link will be provided with order shipping acknowledgment.

Source: Hobby CNC