Explore this controversial stereolithography machine.
Fabbaloo made this video tour of the Form 1 stereolithography-based 3D printer at CES 2013, a technology convention.
The Form 1 is notable both for its wildly successful Kickstarter campaign and the subsequent lawsuit by 3D Systems against both Formlab and Kickstarter. But lawsuits aside, this is a remarkable machine for the very reasonable price of $3299. The Form 1 ships in May.
The newest desktop 3D printer from 3D Systems.
3D Systems has announced their newest entry into the desktop 3D printer market: the CubeX. The most notable thing about the new printer is the unusually large build volume of 1030 cubic inches or 10.8” x 10.45” x 9.5”. By comparison, the Makerbot Replicator 2 has a build volume of only 410 cubic inches, although that is still respectable.
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The most advanced MakerBot yet.
MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis announced the Replicator 2X 3D printer at the CES technology event. The new printer is equipped with a heated build platform, dual extruders for multiple colors, the ability to print both PLA and ABS, and a 100 micron layer print resolution. It also has a fully enclosed build area with clear plastic windows (that oddly don’t appear to be shown in the above image).
This is arguably their most advanced 3D printer yet. It’s also their most expensive at $2799, clearly reinforcing the transition of MakerBot as a company from inexpensive hobbyist 3D printers to more professional-level machines.
Via Cnet
3D printing hits mainstream manufacturing.
Panasonic has unveiled a new television manufactured with the help of 3D printing. It’s not clear exactly what portion of it was 3D printed; it’s likely the body was 3D printed while the screen and internal components were manufactured traditionally. Regardless, it’s a major step forward to see 3D printing being used in mainstream manufacturing.
First 3D printing was used by major companies to make prototypes, then makers and small companies started using it to produce niche products, and now it seems that the technology has advanced sufficiently for a major corporation to use it for direct manufacturing.
The new 56-inch OLED television measures in at a shockingly thin half-inch thick, weighing a small fraction of equivalent LED TVs. It also boasts a 4k resolution, which is roughly equivalent to putting four full HD screens together.
Via TechCrunch
Promote your work in one of the world’s largest design competitions.
Core77 is now accepting entries for the 2013 Design Awards. The competition included 17 categories, 15 of which have a student section, so there is a category for pretty much any kind of design project you can come up with. Enter before January 31st for a 20% discount off the entry fees. The competition closes March 15, 2013 at 6pm EST.
5-axis and tubing cutting lasers.
Laser cutting generally consists of cutting shapes from a flat sheet of material. The pieces are often assembled or bent into a 3D form, but the cutting process is essentially two dimensional.
Some highly specialized manufacturers have machines capable of cutting more than just flat sheets. The video above and the first one after the jump shows 5-axis machines that can follow a cutting path in 3D space, and the last video is a machine specifically designed for cutting tubing.
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Expanding 3D printing beyond the build volume.
Chopper was developed by Linjie Luo, Ilya Baran, Szymon Rusinkiewicz, Wojciech Matusik of Princeton University as a way to readily make 3D prints larger than the a 3D printer’s build volume. The software divides the model into logical sections and automatically prepared joints for easy assembly and gluing. Watch the video to se how it works.
Via Shapeways
New grassroots hardware from the Pacific Northwest.
The BrainWave board by Metrix Create:Space and Matthew Wilson is an all-in-one controller specifically designed for DIY 3D printers. It includes support for 4 stepper motors, a heated extruder, and a heated print bed. It’s also open source. And did I mention it was fabricated, assembled, and tested in the Pacific Northwest? The components are from overseas, but that’s nearly impossible to avoid these days.
Unfortunately, it’s not widely available quite yet; it is currently being beta tested to work out the bugs. Once launched, the BrainWave will sell for the very reasonable price of $100.
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Three colors, many moving parts, one print.
This Ferris wheel was 3D printed by Objet as a demonstration of the capabilities of their Connex500 multi-material 3D printers. The crank smoothly turns the entire assemble, and all the parts move as they should. In spite of the complexity and refinement of the mechanism, the entire Ferris wheel was 3D printed as a single unit.
The struggle to convert digital music into a tangible analog format.
It’s a little surprising how difficult it is to digitally fabricate a record, considering that records are about 50 years older than digital technology. There have been multiple attempts, included laser engraved experiment records and 3D printed Fisher Price records. The challenge is the combination of the relatively large size of records and the extremely fine detail required to produce recognizable music.
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