A 3D Marriage Proposal

Sometimes it's what you do after work that counts. Objet sales engineer Idan Eshel had access to some amazing 3D printer gear and decided to prepare a unique marriage proposal to his girlfriend, Tamar. He 3D printed a very unusual ring with which he proposed. 

 

Evidently the strategy worked, as the couple were married last October. 

 

Via Objet

Get a Free Car From Objet!

Objet, one of the major manufacturers of commercial 3D printers, is offering a complete car at no charge. Well, it's not a *real* car, it's only a 3D model of one. You can find it at the link below.

 

Objet produced this model to demonstrate the capabilities of their 3D printer line. What are they demonstrating, exactly? This very small model (2cm in length) has some very unusual features in a 3D model, at least for home 3D printer operators.

 

We suspect you won't be able to print this model at home on your (MakerBot, BFB, Up!, RepRap, Ultimaker, etc) because it has a complete set of moving wheels and axles. Theoretically if your printer has sufficient resolution and an ability to print non-contiguous shapes with support, you'll have a teeny car that rolls on its own.  

 

But maybe we're wrong. Please give it a try on your device and let us know if it works. 

 

Via Objet Blog and Objet's Car

Imagined Shopping For 3D Printer Materials

Objet just announced another amazing material for their Connex and Eden 3D printers. This new material, called "High Temperature Material", not surprisingly provides 3D prints that can withstand high temperature exposure. 

 

It can withstand a temperature of +65C (149F) right out of the printer, but if you post-process the object with a "short oven-based, post-thermal treatment" it can withstand a near boiling +80C (176F). Pretty impressive! Objet's news release went on to say that their company now offers an amazing total of 68 different build materials. 

 

Sixty-eight materials! That got us thinking. Let's contrast this with the state of personal 3D printing materials: with a few exceptions, you must typically choose three things:

 

• Material Type: A choice of either ABS or PLA plastic. Occasionally you'll see a unique support material offered, such as MakerBot's water soluble PVA. 
• Filament Size: Either 3mm or 1.75mm, depending on the extruder your machine uses. So it's not really a choice.
• Color: We like blue. 

  

So other than color, the choices are already made as they depend on your situation. You need ABS or PLA? Simple, right? 

 

It is for now. But we envision a future where things get more complicated. A world where 3D printers are plentiful and affordable, where gadget shops stock and sell material cartridges for them. What will the supply shelf of the future look like? Today's ink cartridges typically occupy multiple shelves to merely cover off printer model and the four CMYK colors. The future 3D printer cartridge shelf might be unimaginably complex as it may have to cover not only colors and printer models, but also different materials. If the affordable 3D printers of the future can handle 68 different materials, or even 12, the shelves will be overflowing with options. 

 

Via PRNewsWire

Objet's Clear Bio-Material

Commercial 3D printer manufacturer Objet has released a new very interesting print material: MED610, which is a transparent bio-compatible substance. You might think that making a clear, safe substance would be easy, but it's not. In order to qualify for such a designation numerous tests and certifications are required, and that's the tough work that Objet has completed. According to their description: 

 

The material is ideal for applications requiring prolonged skin contact of over 30 days and short term mucosal-membrane contact of up to 24 hours. Objet Bio-Compatible material has 5 medical approvals including Cytotoxicity, Genotoxicity, Delayed Type Hypersensitivity, Irritation and USP Plastic Class VI*

 

While this material will typically be used for dental items, one wonders what one might print if we were able to use this material on our home 3D printers. 

 

Via Objet

The V&A Goes 3D

If you're visiting London soon, we'd recommend you spend some time at the Victoria and Albert Museum, home of incredible deisgns of all kinds. Typically the works are historical, but at times contemporary works are displayed. That's what's happening now in a new exhibition called "The Power of Making" taking place at the V&A from 6 September to 2 January 2012. The exhibition includes over 100 "exquisitely crafted objects". According to their website: 

 

The exhibition showcases works made using a diverse range of skills and explores how materials can be used in imaginative and spectacular ways, whether for medical innovation, entertainment, social networking or artistic endeavour.

 

We're specifically interested in the 3D printed shoes crafted by Marloes ten Bhömer, which we wrote about in January. This is an opportunity for the public to check out these amazing shoes in person. 

 

The shoes were produced with Objet 3D printing technology, which has the unique feature of being able to mix multiple materials together during a single print operation. This means a print, such as the V&A shoes, can include both rigid and soft portions. Very important in a shoe, comfy counts. 

 

The shoe's design is quite interesting: it is made of component parts that offer the ability to reconfigure the shoe, yet it is printed in a single operation and emerges already assembled. The design to wearable process apparently was only hours, truly demonstrating the Power of Making.

  

Via Victoria and Albert Museum & Objet (Hat tip to Clare)

Objet Prints a Toddler!

Most of a toddler, that is. They've used their unique multi-material 3D printing capability to print the upper half of a human toddler. As you can see in the image, they've used a clear material for most of the body, with a harder, white material for the skeleton - which is embedded within the 10Kg print!

 

Via Objet

National Geographic Video: IKEA's 3D Printers

Specifically, IKEA uses Objet's Eden500V 3D printer. But do they print furniture? Not as far as we can see, but instead they're using the printer to produce prototypes of utensils and other small objects in their familiar simplistic Scandinavian design style. 

 

National Geographic has posted a video of their process, in which Technician Johan Karlsson says: 

 

The product designer, developer or technician will come down to get it and then they will take a decision if it is good or bad. If it feels good in the hand, the size and shape of it, how it feels to eat with it.  

 

Now that's product testing - eating with it! 

 

Via Objet

Sit On Objet's 3D Printed Chair

It's always totally amazing to pull a new item out of a 3D printer, but it's even more amazing when it has moving parts and startling when it's a complete item that's ready for immediate use. 3D Printer manufacturer Objet has just produced such an item using a new material on a new printer. The object in question is rather nice folding chair, able to support a person, as you can see in the image above (click for higher detail). 

 

The chair was printed on a Objet Connex printer, which is capable of printing in multiple materials simultaneously. The chair is apparently able to support in excess of 100Kg (220 pounds), and is made from Objet's curiously named "ABS-like Digital Material". As you might expect, this material has great physical characteristics that permit the guy in the image to sit without the chair collapsing.

 

Via Objet