You don’t know what Sugru is? It’s a peculiar substance that is malleable when first exposed to air, but then solidifies into a rubber-like material that can be bent but snaps back to its original shape.
Too bad you can’t 3D print it.
But now you can! HYREL has performed an experiments with their Emulsifiable Extruder to prove that it is possible to 3D print Sugru. This specialized extruder is basically a 25cc syringe-type mechanism that can hold a variety of materials not typically 3D printed, such as plasticine, play-doh and now Sugru. The EMO-25 extruder can be installed on a normal HYREL 3D printer to enable printing of alternate materials.
Daniel Hutchison of HYREL says:
We are excited to announce we have a new material to add to our growing collection of 3D printable materials!Sugru, an extremely versitile self-setting Rubber, has been successfully 3D printed with the HYREL Emulsifiable Extruder (EMO-25)! We are the first in the industry to be able to 3D print with this material!
We believe this is an important development. Imagine being able to print, for example, flexible rubber hinges, soft buttons, footpads, bumpers or other flexible items that could make your design safer, more active or attractive.
The sample 3D print in the video below doesn’t seem to have particularly fine resolution, but we think that won’t matter for the applications possible with this new capability.
Now where can we buy a big load of Sugru?
Via HYREL
