Making balloon animals (and balloon anythings) is about to become much cooler. That’s because a collaboration between ETH Zurich and Disney Research Zurich has produced a new approach to making inflatable shapes with 3D printed molds.
The traditional method of creating rubber balloons using a sculpted mold does not lend itself to complex shapes. But the method described by Bernd Bickel and crew instead uses models of uninflated shapes that can be computer-simulated to reach a target inflated shape.
Basically, by figuring out the “at rest” state of the balloon and 3D printing that as a mold, the inflated version can be a perfect shape instead of a blown-out, distorted version that would come from simply inflating a scaled-down model.
Have a look at this video comparison to see the difference between optimized and unoptimized shapes as they are inflated: (more…)
Choc Edge is offering “the world’s first chocolate 3D printer” for sale. The first ten Choc Creators were offered on eBay, and the next 90 are currently available for pre-order at a discounted price.
The technology for the Choc Creator was developed by a team of researchers at the University of Exeter.
The recent merger of Objet and Stratasys makes the combined company the largest 3D printing company in the world with a $1.4 billion dollar equity value.
3D Systems has been acquiring 3D printing-related companies at an impressive rate in recent years, including ZCorp and Freedom of Creation, but this merger eclipses them. As 3D printing technology becomes cheaper and more accessible, the industry is also becoming more competitive and, potentially, highly lucrative. A battle is now being fought over who will have the right patents, the best distribution networks, and the right people.
A collection of 3D printed hats and acessories were shown on the runway as part of the Materialise World Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Well known designers Elvis Pompilio, Daniel Widrig, Niccolo Casas showed pieces in addition to the top 20 entries in Materialise’s recent “Hats Off to 3D Printing Challenge.” (more…)
Architect Margot Krasojevic has created a beautiful shell like 3D printed lamp powered by the force of the wind spinning around it’s vertical axis.
The lamp is functional a propeller that uses the wind’s kinetic energy to turn it. The light is generated by the spinning of wire coils past magnets generating electrical current to power the LED bulbs. Appropriate to its shell form the design has been printed in a ceramic material that is lightweight and durable enough to spin in the wind. (more…)
Sculpture created with 3D technologies by artist Sophie Kahn
The world of Chicago based digital artist Sophie Kahn is firmly embedded in 3D. Originally from Australia, Sophie trained as a photographer and came to perceive 3D scanning and 3D printing as post-photographic processes. Much of her work over the last eight years has revolved around these digital processes.
Initially Sophie used wax stereolithography for lost wax casting in bronze. More recently, she has been experimenting with full color 3D printing for which the digital model was generated using a laser scan and a photograph of a model. The final 3D print then requires sandblasting and sanding to create “the appearance of an unearthed ancient artifact.” The option of on-demand online fabrication has allowed the artist to experiment and test ideas quickly without much capital, whereas earlier work involved using large service bureaus that were often prohibitively expensive.
Sophie’s fabrication process is an involved one that expands beyond the computer screen and various scanning and printing technologies. 3D printing is often only an intermediate phase in creating the final art piece. The artist uses 3D prints for molds as part of wax casting or ceramic clip casting. She’s hoping to be able to 3D print in ceramic once it is possible to print larger objects. The goal is “to move away from plastic and towards more natural materials with longer histories”.
Sophie’s most recent project was a miniature printed in stainless steel. In this case the print was intended as the artefact.A few words from the artist after the jump:
Ever needed to 3D print something in a strong, clear material? It’s always exciting to see hobbyist printers being used with non-ABS/PLA materials, and polycarbonate is no exception.
From what I can tell, RichRap was the first person to use polycarbonate in a hobbyist device back in mid-2011. Those efforts were followed-up on by Luke and Alex of ProtoParadigm, who wrote a thorough blog post on the subject.
The main gist is that polycarbonate (also known as Lexan, or that-stuff-the-white-MacBook-is-made-of) is very strong, and can have great transparency. The catch is that it has to be kept or made very dry before extrusion: filament affected by humidity produces a milky sheen and causes bubbles in prints.
Here’s a video of polycarbonate printing in action, from ProtoParadigm: (more…)
After posting about Junior Veloso’s resin 3D printer last week (and its higher-than-expected price), commenters arthur and Adam B. pointed to a couple of cost-sensitive open source projects in the works: Lemon Curry and an unnamed printer by Christopher Jansen.
Both are still in the experimental stage, but expect to deliver low-cost, open source solutions that any person should be able to put together and get running. In the case of Jansen’s printer, his running tally of costs is under $200, including a used DLP projector from eBay.
Resin cost is also a big factor. An inexpensive printer wouldn’t very useful if it required paying hundreds of dollars per litre of building material, after all. Both projects have referenced Bucktown Polymers as a source for UV-curable resin for the equivalent of about $40/litre. Jansen made this short video of the resin curing under sunlight: (more…)
New high resolution kitset 3D printer in the works!
MiiCraft are a group of 3D printing enthusiasts who’re building a new high resolution 3D printer. They’re aiming for a price point of USD$2000 and hope to release their evaluation kitset by about June of this year.
I must admit that I have a particular fondness for projects that combine traditional and modern technology. They prove that not everything made with digital fabrication has to look like something from a space adventure movie (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that).
These small containers by nendo start with a paper-based 3D printer that glues and cuts sheets of regular paper to build the form. This kind of machine is normally considered a relatively cheap and low-quality alternative to the more common plastic extrusion printers, in part because of the terraced look of the models.
Instead of trying to hide the paper texture, nendo used it to its best advantage with a coating of traditional japanese lacquer. The combination looks something like wood grain. (more…)
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