learning

The Scoop on ABS and PLA

Most personal 3D printers use PLA or ABS plastic, but how much do you actually know about these materials? Aside from the fact that ABS’s melting temperature is somewhat higher than PLA, and that ABS is somewhat stronger than PLA, most 3D printer owners could be challenged to say more.    Don’t fear: there is… Continue reading The Scoop on ABS and PLA

3D Printed Skulls Help Teach Future Brain Surgeons

Brain surgery is notoriously difficult with surgeons spending years honing their craft. Given the need for more hands-on practice performing surgical operations, researchers at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur have created a 3D printed skull that can provide just that.   Using scans of each layer of the human skull, Vicknes Waran, professor… Continue reading 3D Printed Skulls Help Teach Future Brain Surgeons

Digital Crafts: A Book for Artists Exploring 3D Printing

We’ve checked out a new book that is specifically designed to assist artists who enter the world of 3D printing and digital design.    The book contains many case studies involving not only digital design using 3D CAD software, but also the process of 3D printing using contemporary equipment and 3D scanning. There’s even information… Continue reading Digital Crafts: A Book for Artists Exploring 3D Printing

The Five Most Important 3D Printing Tips You Must Know

If you have a plastic extrusion-based personal 3D printer, there’s some things you’d better know. This printing technology has its quirks regardless of the brand and model of machine you’re using. We’ve put together a few of the most basic things to know before you get started.   Level The Bed: Perhaps the single most… Continue reading The Five Most Important 3D Printing Tips You Must Know

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Making Prints Stick: Some Tips

The folks at ProtoParadigm have produced a terrific list of tips on how to reduce or eliminate the deadly warping effect that plagues personal 3D printers.    There’s nothing worse than discovering a time-consuming mess caused by a print that lifted off the bed. The warping itself isn’t such a problem; it’s that the warping… Continue reading Making Prints Stick: Some Tips

MakerBot’s Leap into Classrooms

At this year’s 3D Printshow, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis expressed his unhappiness with the current US educational system, which has largely removed “making” courses from the curriculum. As a student, Pettis enjoyed “shop classes” where he no doubt picked up the making bug. But how can this happen today?    MakerBot is attempting to change… Continue reading MakerBot’s Leap into Classrooms

3D Printing Curriculum Available

3D printer manufacturer Afinia has partnered with education supplier Pitsco to develop a comprehensive solution for teachers looking to educate their students on 3D printing.    Pitsco develops and markets packaged educational curriculums, which contain lessons and examples targeted at grades 6-9 students. The 3D printing package description:    This curriculum is designed for three… Continue reading 3D Printing Curriculum Available

Watch: 3D Print Smoothing with Acetone

Bracken Dawson and James Bruton of So Make It, the Southampton Makerspace, demonstrate the acetone smoothing technique for ABS prints in a recent video. The technique is well-known, but can be tricky and is also potentially dangerous if you’re not careful.    Nevertheless, the duo walk you through the acetone process, demonstrating issues such as… Continue reading Watch: 3D Print Smoothing with Acetone

Will MAKEWithMOTO Visit Your City?

It’s a summer-long road trip for several folks from Motorola, who are promoting the idea of “making” by driving a kind of mobile makerspace around the USA. They say:    This summer, Motorola is hitting the road in a velcro-clad Sprinter van full of the latest prototyping tools (3D printers, laser cutters, soldering stations, etc)… Continue reading Will MAKEWithMOTO Visit Your City?

The Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute

A new initiative has launched, hoping to uncover new 3D printing technological advances. The Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute will operate as a sponsor for selected research projects that address gaps in our knowledge of 3D printing. The program runs during August, much like Google’s Summer of Code program.    The program is hosted by the… Continue reading The Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute

A DIY Safety Guide

We’ve been directed to a Safety Guide created by Tatiana Crisan for those building their own personal CNC machine. While a CNC machine is by no means a 3D printer, many of the safety guidelines portrayed are totally applicable for those building personal 3D printers.    Yes, reading these points may seem obvious and even… Continue reading A DIY Safety Guide

3D Printing Will Be Adopted by K-12 in 5 Years

In a newly released report, the New Media Consortium (NMC) has identified six emerging technologies that could dramatically impact K-12 education. Among the new technologies are: cloud computing, mobile learning, open content, virtual/remote laboratories and, of course, 3D printing.   While the report projects that 3D printing will be among the last technologies to be… Continue reading 3D Printing Will Be Adopted by K-12 in 5 Years

GIANT 3D PRINTED BUGS!

The Australian National Insect Collection could be a creepy place if you’re adverse to meeting bugs. But now it’s enormously MORE creepy because they’ve used advanced technology to create GIANT 3D PRINTED BUGS!   They’ve carefully 3D scanned specimens of several species and reproduced them up to forty times life size. Yes, FORTY. And they’re… Continue reading GIANT 3D PRINTED BUGS!

3D Printing Becomes Standard Equipment for UK Schools

UK Education Secretary Michael Gove announced England’s schools will use a new “national curriculum” commencing in September 2014. While the new curriculum contains a variety of improvements, there is a rather interesting inclusion: exposure and basic training on the use of advanced technologies such as robotics and 3D printing.    This implies each UK school… Continue reading 3D Printing Becomes Standard Equipment for UK Schools

The Budget That Was Saved By 3D Printing

South east of Huntsville, Alabama is the small city of Boaz, where something very interesting happened. The Boaz City School System discovered they had to replace all the switch mounts for their network upgrade.    The 364 switches were to cost USD$2000, but Wayne Caudle, Director of Technologies for the School System had a better… Continue reading The Budget That Was Saved By 3D Printing

Voronoization

You may have seen those fascinating 3D models that seem to have replaced the normal shape with a strange, smooth skeletal networked form. The complex structures seem impossibly difficult to design with conventional 3D modeling tools, and indeed they are. Perhaps they’ve been made with mathematical 3D model generation tools operated by a PhD? Sometimes… Continue reading Voronoization

Stratasys’s Finishing Secrets

Stratasys has released a video detailing some of their secret (well, maybe not so secret) finishing processes. The video shows various tumbling media machines that operate similar to rock polishing tumblers – an object is tossed around within a bath of rough media. Gradually the objects become smooth after a relatively short period in the… Continue reading Stratasys’s Finishing Secrets

3D Printing Basics Explained

Fabbaloo’s own General Fabb appears in a video produced by the Winnipeg Free Press. In the video our General introduces the concept of 3D printing in a minute or two for those who haven’t been exposed to the technology.    The video takes place at Canada’s largest makerspace, AssentWorks, another venture by the General. The… Continue reading 3D Printing Basics Explained

PBS On 3D Printing

PBS has produced a brief seven minute video providing an overview of 3D printing, including interviews with Solidoodle, Shapeways and Wired.    They cover the possibilities of the technology, whether for good or evil and generally get you wound up about the future. Exciting!    Via YouTube

Perfectly Smooth Your 3D Prints – But Be Careful!

After the initial thrill of seeing a 3D print emerge from thin air, 3D print newbies often notice the layering effect. This is, of course, caused by the gradual deposition of plastic layers during the build process. Depending on the layer resolution selected for print, these layers could be very visible, or not.    The… Continue reading Perfectly Smooth Your 3D Prints – But Be Careful!

Feet As Big As You Want

The University of Washington’s Solheim Additive Manufacturing  Laboratory has long experimented in radical approaches to 3D printing and now they’ve shown us another example technique for your 3D printing toolkit: Scaling.    They were approached by the VA Center of Excellence for Limb Loss Prevention and Prosthetic Engineering to assist in the production of a… Continue reading Feet As Big As You Want

Obama Likes 3D Printing

During last night’s annual State of the Union address, US President Obama actually mentioned 3D printing and positioned it as one of his key strategies for reinvigorating the US manufacturing industry.    Specifically, he’s extending the experiment begun at the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute experiment, launched in August 2012. This institute attempts to speed… Continue reading Obama Likes 3D Printing

Edinburg Scientist Print Stem Cells

Although controversial in the US, stem cell research offers some of the best opportunities to produce breakthrough medical discoveries, including growing tailor made replacement organs.   In a new development for bioprinting, Dr, Will Shu of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh said,   “We found that the valve-based printing is gentle enough to maintain high stem… Continue reading Edinburg Scientist Print Stem Cells

Hod Lipson’s book

3D printing afficiando Hod Lipson has just published a new book on 3D printing entitled, “Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing”. Co-authored with Melba Kurman, the book “tells the story of 3D printers”.     Lipson, Professor of Engineering at Cornell, is well known within the 3D printing community for his work developing concepts… Continue reading Hod Lipson’s book

Bre Pettis Authors a Book

MakerBot Chief Bre Pettis is now an author – he’s just published a new book on 3D printing and specifically on doing so with a MakerBot. We had a chance to get a copy from Pettis himself at CES (above). Jointly written by Pettis, Anna Kaziunas France and Jay Shergill, the book could become quite… Continue reading Bre Pettis Authors a Book

Lunar 3D Printing? Check!

Researchers from several US institutions including NASA recently published a paper describing their experiment in “Lunar 3D Printing”. No, they weren’t actually ON the Moon. Instead they produced synthetic lunar soil (called “Regolith” by scientists) and attempted to use it as material in a 3D printing process.    The process used was “LENS”, or Laser… Continue reading Lunar 3D Printing? Check!

3D Printers Meet The Consumers

We’ve seen a rather huge rise in the interest and awareness of 3D printing in the past year, helped by the marketing efforts of those companies offering personal 3D printing devices. But what happens when your “normal” consumer acquires a 3D printer? Bioarchaeologist Kristina Killgrove of Pensacola, Florida writes of her experience with a personal… Continue reading 3D Printers Meet The Consumers

Thirty Artists are CALMed with 3D Printing

The University of Exeter’s Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing (CALM) recently hosted a collaboration between 30 artists and its engineers to leverage 3D printing technology.    The event was intended to introduce 3D printing technology to curious artists who expressed an interest in trying out the new approach. According to the University:     The… Continue reading Thirty Artists are CALMed with 3D Printing

Fashion Design For 3D Printers

If you’re looking for fashion accessories produced on your own 3D printer you may have difficulty finding 3D models in public repositories. Instead you might consider designing 3D fashion accessories yourself – and there’s an Instructables guide to show you how.    Instructables user kaadee404 produced a lengthy set of instructions for producing a Lip… Continue reading Fashion Design For 3D Printers

3D Systems Donates to Singularity U

Singularity University is a specialized institution dedicated to leveraging “the power of exponential technologies to solve humanity’s grand challenges”, and created by forward-looking entrepreneurs Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil. The grand challenges include research in very diverse areas, including energy, security, poverty and space exploration. The institution attracts top level students to work on these… Continue reading 3D Systems Donates to Singularity U

MOST Needs Your Help

The Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology Research Group is investigating the mechanical properties of parts produced with RepRap-style 3D printers and they need samples to put through extensive testing.    They require a very large number of samples of “tensile bars” to undergo testing. They say:    We are currently asking for companies/individuals with 3D… Continue reading MOST Needs Your Help

3D Printing Survey

We just noticed an online survey of 3D printing usage that readers may be interested in filling out.    Created by Spanish mechanical/product engineer JulioHCD, the survey is intended to assist in his research:    I have been involved in 3D print for building product models and prototypes…My interests include design inspired by nature, plastic… Continue reading 3D Printing Survey

A 3D Printing Matrix

We’ve received a very cool chart from Tuan Tranpham containing most of the current 3D printing ecosystem, including all the related functions (Scanning, Printing, Software, etc) mapped into different categories of consumer and various levels of industrial.    Yes, the chart is a bit hard to read here, but click on the image to see… Continue reading A 3D Printing Matrix

A 3D Printing Infographic

Sharing site Hightable offers a new infographic showing many details of the current state of 3D printing, including process overview, growth and industry usage. Here you see only a small extract; click the link below for the full version.    Via Hightable

How to Pick a 3D Printer Material

I’ve written two blog posts about the importance of materials to the future of 3D printing. The bottom line is that without a material that performs as needed, speed, cost and quality are irrelevant. Read More at Engineering.com

Master’s Degree in Direct Manufacturing Offered

We’ve learned that the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona now offer a Master’s Degree in Direct Manufacturing and New Materials for product design.    The new spanish-language program begins this October, when study in “New Materials” begins. This is followed by study in “New Production Processes” in… Continue reading Master’s Degree in Direct Manufacturing Offered

3D Printing in the USA

It’s interesting to read about 3D printing, but sometimes it’s just a whole lot better to visualize things. That’s precisely what 3DP blogger Nadra Angerman did when she produced this fascinating infographic that attempts to show many of the 3D printing establishments across the USA. Check out the full infographic at the link below.   … Continue reading 3D Printing in the USA

Fashion and Jewelry 3D Printing Workshop

Interested in fashion or jewelry design? Want to do it with 3D printing technology? If so, you may want to attend one of the workshops taking place at ELISAVA, School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona.   There are two five-day workshops scheduled, one from 23-27 July and a second edition from 10-14 September of… Continue reading Fashion and Jewelry 3D Printing Workshop

Hod Lipson in The Inquirer

There’s a terrific interview with 3D printing researcher Hod Lipson of Cornell University in The Inquirer.   Lipson discusses his life and how it led him to performing advanced research on 3D printing and related technologies. He talks about how 3D printing technology is sometimes viewed mistakenly by the general public:    Lipson says people… Continue reading Hod Lipson in The Inquirer

An Introduction to Dental 3D Printing

Many of our readers are operate or are keenly interested in personal 3D printers, but they are also aware that 3D printing was originally used for industrial uses. One of those uses is in dentistry, where “personalized fit” is essential. Creating one-time unique dental shapes is the business of dentists and 3D printing technology is… Continue reading An Introduction to Dental 3D Printing

Tutorial: Fix Your Messed Up 3D Scan

If you ever try to do 3D scanning at home using the rudimentary tools now available, you’ll quickly realize it isn’t particularly easy. Sure, the capture part of the job is relatively straightforward, but the clean up phase is often quite difficult.    Typical raw scans contain not only stray data points and somewhat inaccurately… Continue reading Tutorial: Fix Your Messed Up 3D Scan

3D Printing Movie Props At Home

We just finished reviewing a rather interesting Instructable detailing the steps you’d take to produce a complete, wearable Iron Man mask with your 3D printer (with some red and gold paint, of course).    Maker samohtep takes you through the process of developing the model, printing the pieces, painting, finishing and assembly. The result is… Continue reading 3D Printing Movie Props At Home

Open3DP Goes Closed3DP?

The folks at the University of Washington who’ve been doing stellar work researching 3D printing in concrete, ceramics, glass and other unusual materials have gone dark, so to speak.    It appears that the suits at their university have issued new rules regarding participation with outside groups. Specifically, they say:   it has become increasingly… Continue reading Open3DP Goes Closed3DP?

A Visit to the ITC

You’re looking at a picture of Stephen McKendry-Smith of Manitoba’s Industrial Technology Centre. This organization is a government-funded operation dedicated to economic development, particularly in the use of new technologies such as 3D printing.    The ITC now has a Dimension SST1200es onsite that they use to demonstrate 3D printing concepts and technology to interested… Continue reading A Visit to the ITC

Defeating Warping

If there’s one thing that personal 3D printer operators dislike, it must be the evils of warping. Warping, the phenomenon that occurs when a coincidence of material, temperatures, extruder speed and stretching results in printed models that have curled up corners. Typically warping is much more prevalent with ABS plastic and this may have led… Continue reading Defeating Warping

BotMill Makes Some Moves

3D Printer kit manufacturer BotMill has been making some serious moves to expand their business in the past while. In a discussion with BotMill Chief Gil Mayron, it was revealed that:    BotMill now has a bigtime reseller on their team: Robot Shop, who now offer BotMill’s Axis 3D printer for sale on their heavily… Continue reading BotMill Makes Some Moves

3D Buried Treasure

Seattle’s Matt Westervelt contacted us to explain a new initiative being undertaken by Metrix Create:Space. They’re concerned with the skills required to successfully perform powder-based 3D printing. According to Matt:   3D powder-based printing is more than designing something digitally and pulling it out of a machine.  There is skill involved in removing the excess… Continue reading 3D Buried Treasure

Replicating The Volcano

Students at Clevedon School in North Somerset made a volcano. A tiny one – based on NASA 3D data they downloaded and converted into a 3D model. The model was then pushed through a Bits From Bytes RapMan, giving the students the opportunity to see and touch the shape of an actual volcano. In this… Continue reading Replicating The Volcano

3D Printed Bridge Holds 146X Its Own Weight

Students at the Rochester Institute of Technology Statics Lab were challenged to build a truss out of any non-metallic material, with the winning design being the one holding up the most weight.   While other students opted for traditional materials such as bamboo or wood, student Kyle Manchester remembered there was a Dimension 3D printer… Continue reading 3D Printed Bridge Holds 146X Its Own Weight

Aluminum Bronze Casting Succeeds

Open3DP’s experimentation with metalcasting molds has paid off: one of their experimental hydroperm molds was used in traditional metalcasting (in this case poured aluminum bronze) at the Port Townsend Foundry and the successful results are apparent in the image above. According to Laura West and Dave Feathers:   The mold was placed in a greensand… Continue reading Aluminum Bronze Casting Succeeds

Students Race 3D Printed Cars

The Utah Valley University recently held a competition in which students designed “pinewood derby” style race cars – and then printed them out for actual racing. This derby began in 2008, when Professor David Manning of their Engineering Graphics & Design Technology department managed to convince the budgeteers to acquire a Dimension 3D printer.   … Continue reading Students Race 3D Printed Cars

Cool Stuff Collective Covers 3D Printing

The Cool Stuff Collective is a new UK-based kids show, where, well, “cool stuff” is demonstrated to children by well-known presenter Sy Thomas. In their first episode of September 13th of this year, they demonstrated 3D printing, but in a followup on September 20th they showed a related technology: haptic design. We’ve covered haptics previously,… Continue reading Cool Stuff Collective Covers 3D Printing

Dimension’s STARBASE

3D printer manufacturer Dimension is contributing back to the community by working with STARBASE Minnesota on a way to deeply involve students in the process of 3D manufacturing. The students, from Minneapolis area public schools, are shown problems, data and techniques and they work out solutions.    One of their projects has been to design… Continue reading Dimension’s STARBASE

3D Systems’ Print In 3D

It’s a brand new site just announced by industry giant 3D Systems: all you need to know about 3D printing all bundled together in one place. “Your 3D Printer Source”, is the tagline, and integrates all their material “into a contemporary, intuitive destination serving customers, prospects and partners with a secure, 24-hour online presence”  … Continue reading 3D Systems’ Print In 3D

The Columbus Idea Foundry

The Columbus Idea Foundry is one of many community workshops that keep popping up all over the globe. Their mission:   The “Idea Foundry” is intended to serve those in the community who express interest in art, design, engineering, and fabrication but have not yet found a viable outlet for exploring such a complex combination… Continue reading The Columbus Idea Foundry

Do You Need an Atomic Force Microscope?

Sure, everyone needs an AFM! But what is it? From Wikipedia:   Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy, with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the optical diffraction limit. The precursor to the… Continue reading Do You Need an Atomic Force Microscope?

Ice Printing

We know it’s spring and things are warming up (at least on the top side of our planet), but it’s time to talk about ice. Specifically, ice printing. Along with numerous other print materials, plain water can now be added to the list.    The “computer assisted ice printing” experiment was developed by professors and… Continue reading Ice Printing

3D Print and Design Workshop in Seattle

Wulf Design owner and 3D print blogger Larry James is offering a “3D Print & Design Workshop” on April the 24th, for any readers in the Seattle vicinity. The session is being offered through the Seattle Free School.    In the four-hour session, Larry will provide an introduction to 3D printing using a MakerBot printer (perhaps his… Continue reading 3D Print and Design Workshop in Seattle

The Khan Academy

During the course of your 3D object design, you might require some knowledge you don’t have, or perhaps have forgotten. Don’t worry – there’s a free service you can use to catch up: The Khan Academy. It’s a website jammed full of great short videos on a wide variety of topics, including many scientific areas… Continue reading The Khan Academy

RapMan Wins BETT Award

A1 Technologies, the makers of The RapMan, an inexpensive 3D printer kit targeted at the educational market, recently won the BETT award in the  Digital Devices category for their Bits From Bytes kit. The BETT Awards recognize “the best in educational technology solutions”.   The Bits From Bytes “complete” kit is priced at £750.00 and… Continue reading RapMan Wins BETT Award

The Tyee on 3D Printing

There’s a long article introducing 3D printing concepts appearing at The Tyee, a British Columbia-based electronic newsmagazine: “The Replicator, No Longer a Star Trek Dream”. The article contains interviews with Neil Gershenfeld, Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, Adrian Bowyer, inventor of the RepRap, Fab Lab users, a RepRap owner, University of Missouri… Continue reading The Tyee on 3D Printing

3D Printer “Gym” Opens in Philly

NextFab Studio opens a new workshop for innovators today in Philadelphia at the University City Science Center. The workshop comprises some 3,600 square feet of space filled with various modern manufacturing tools, including laser cutters and of course 3D printers. Use of the facility, which operates much like a neighbourhood gym, is by membership, which… Continue reading 3D Printer “Gym” Opens in Philly

One Blue Ring

The guys at Open3DP seem to have made a breakthrough in their quest to develop glass-based 3D printing. Every week they seem to make progress, and this week we see a “semi translucent blue glass ring”.    There’s no details on their blog to describe how they managed to create this magical item, but if… Continue reading One Blue Ring

MakerBot Introduction Video

Yeah, we keep talking about MakerBot. But this wonderful video introduces the MakerBot concept and how it arose from Maker Culture. There’s plenty of other highly interesting (but unrelated) videos to watch, too. Enjoy!   Via Babelgum