research Archives « Page 9 of 11

Reading Between the Lines of 3D Hubs’ Latest Trends Report

I found it interesting to see some long term patterns appearing in 3D Hubs’ monthly trends report.

3D Printed Weapons to be Produced by US Department of Defense

A very curious solicitation from the US DOD requests “explosive” 3D printer materials.

Magentic Bioprinting Experiment – In Orbit

Russian researchers are preparing a very unusual 3D printing experiment for use on the International Space Station.

3D Printing: The Key to the Solar System

A new paper from NASA proposes how to leverage 3D printing and robotics technologies to literally take over the solar system.

Attacking the Main Problem of Polymer 3D Printing

Finally, someone is doing something about a problem faced by virtually all polymer-based 3D printing: predictability.

This Time It Works: Facial 3D Models from Still Images

A research paper describes a new system that theoretically enables you to build a relatively accurate 3D model of a human face from a still image.

Artec 3D’s Experimental 3D Scan Automation System

Handheld 3D scanner operators might find this interesting: an experimental robotic 3D scanning system.

Researchers 3D Print Metal in Zero G for ESA

Made In Space changed the world when it installed the Zero-G Printer on the International Space Station (ISS) in late 2014.

Building a Sand Printer with a Laser Cutter

California-based William Osman has been experimenting with a homemade sand-fusion system based on a laser cutter that could eventually become a full 3D printer.

Ricoh Working on Metal 3D Printing Technology – And Ceramics

While Ricoh has been selling their SLS-based 3D printer for over a year, they’re now beginning to move into a very different 3D printing technology.

3D Printing Enables Control of Ultrasounds

An unusual use of 3D printing has enabled far more powerful control over acoustic waves.

Magnetic 3D Prints Opens Up New Possibilities

Researchers at TU Wien in Austria have developed a method of 3D printing strong magnetic objects in arbitrary shapes using 3D printing.

Researchers Develop Unusual 3D Printing Technique

TU Delft researchers have combined two 3D printing techniques together to demonstrate a powerful new process.

EXCLUSIVE: The Man Who 3D Printed On Mars

Zak Wilson spent eight months in a Mars simulator, where he did a great deal of 3D printing.

A Profound Insight Found in 3D Hubs’ Latest Trend Report

I noticed something very interesting in this month’s 3D Hubs Trends report, something that tells the story of the last few years of 3D printing.

A Metamaterial Demonstration Suggests Insane Future 3D Applications

I’m watching a video demonstrating a “meta material mechanism” and the mind boggles at what become of this concept.

Avante’s Experiments with 3D Printed Injection Molds

Avante Technology has been experimenting with producing effective 3D printed injection molds and apparently has achieved some success.

BioPrinting Breakthrough in Ireland

Researchers at Trinity College in Dublin have worked out a new process for 3D printing live, complex bone structures.

LLNL Sheds Light on 3D Printing Next-Gen Metamaterials

U.S. government labs have become involved in 3D printing in a big way, necessarily adopting the technology for research and development purposes since the technology’s inception, but also pushing the boundaries of what 3D printing is truly capable of.

Optomec’s New Micron-Level 3D Printing Capability

Optomec announced an improvement in their Aerosol Jet Technology that permits production of very small structures.

Two Interesting 3D Print Technologies Under Development

I recently encountered a couple of fascinating research projects that are both attempting to develop powerful new 3D printing technologies.

See, 3D Printing is Definitely Not Dead

In spite of the stream of ridiculous mainstream media posts on the “death of 3D printing”, there are plenty of good news stories, too. Here’s two.

Ti3AU, the Hardest New Metal Material for 3D Printing?

Researchers at Rice University and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory have developed a startlingly hard material, Ti3Au.

Can You 3D Print a Superconductor?

Selective laser melting process in action. Credit: Tim Sercombe/University of Western Australia
Researchers have been investigating whether it’s possible to 3D print an object that acts as a superconductor.

Large Scale 3D Printed Nanostructures Possible

A newly invented process could enable large-scale use of nano-printed metal materials.

Security Risks in 3D Printing? Apparently So

A report suggests there may be cybersecurity risks present in the current 3D printing workflows that could result in bad things happening.

Dissolvable Metal Support Material for 3D Printed Metal Could Create New Opportunities

Researchers have developed a very unusual support material: dissolvable carbon steel that could be used for metal 3D printing support structures.

BAE Systems’ “Chemical” Printer: Fantasy or Possibility?

There’s a very strange announcement on the BAE Systems site, proposing a “chemputer” that would “grow” objects. Is this something that’s actually feasible?

3D Models, Created by an A.I.: Good or Bad Idea?

An experiment by researchers at the University of Copenhagen attempted to persuade an A.I. to create a 3D model from scratch. It did.

3D Printed Construction Milestone Achieved

Netherlands company Heijmans partnered with CyBe Construction to produce prototype concrete formworks. Apparently, they were successful.

Resurrecting an Extinct Chocolate Bar with 3D Printing

It’s now been proven: prehistoric chocolate bars can indeed be brought back from extinction!

A New Bio-Active 3D Printing Polymer Suggests Many New Applications

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have done something I’ve not seen before: mixed bio-active enzymes with 3D printing polymer.

Sculpteo Releases Their “State of 3D Printing” Survey Results

3D print service Sculpteo undertook a comprehensive survey of their clients earlier this year and today they publish the results.

Electric 3D Printing? New Adhesive Method Could Enable a New Form of 3D Printing

A new adhesive is triggered by electricity, suggesting the possibility of a new form of 3D printing.

Fascinating Vector-Driven Metal 3D Printing From Harvard

Researchers at Harvard have developed a truly fascinating 3D printing technique that shows the limitations of current technologies.

Is That 3D Printed Mega-Groot For Real?

Earlier we published a story on the massive CoLiDo Mega 3D printer, but some believed the print was faked.

Projection Micro-Stereo-Lithography: A New Way To Create Precision Components

Researchers at Northwestern University have used a 3D printing technique called “projection micro-stereo-lithography” to create incredibly complex lenses.

Siemens’ Spiders Could Lead To Massive 3D Printing Projects

Research at engineering giant Siemens seems to be developing a kind of mobile 3D printing robot.

RetroFab: 3D Printed Parasitic Interfaces For Ancient Appliances

A bizarre project from Autodesk Labs investigates whether one can generate new physical interfaces for old appliances: They Can!

MIT Team 3D Prints Functioning Robot in a Single Step

Though the field of robotics is evolving at a rapid pace, there is a good deal of progress to be made on almost every front.

NASA’s Aerosol Jet 3D Printing Experiment’s Will Change Your Factory

It seems that NASA has been experimenting with Aerosol Jet 3D printing and their work could leak into other applications.

This New Manufacturing Method Uses Fabric and 6-Axis Robots to Bring Variation to Cast Objects

As conventional casting methods have taught us, the best way for reliably manufacturing multiples of any object is to start with an accurate and sturdy mold.

Carbon’s Huge M1 Pricing May Not Be Totally Crazy After All

Some analysis shows that Carbon’s recent pricing announcement for their M1 “CLIP”-based 3D printer might not be as stratospheric as you might think.

A Consideration of EBM versus DMLS Industrial Metal 3D Printing Processes, Part 2

This is the final segment of a two-part series comparing EBM and DMLS 3D printing processes. The first part may be found here.

Chemically Active 3D Prints To Make Amazing Things Happen

Some interesting research in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials shows how a 3D printed object could be functional in a chemical manner.

New 3D Printing Process Could Revolutionize Metal Printing

Researchers from the University of Southern California have developed yet another 3D printing process, which they call “Selective Separation Sintering”.

Carbon Dioxide As 3D Printing Material?

Yes, we’ve all seen carbon fiber 3D printing material, but now scientists from the University Of California have managed to use carbon dioxide to 3D print.

Tallying Up The Carbon M1’s Total Cost Of Ownership

Carbon announced their first product, the M1 3D Printer last week, but with a twist: subscription pricing. We calculated how much it could cost you.

Could A Plasma 3D Printer Be In Your Future?

New research from NASA Ames and SLAC demonstrates an effective way of 3D printing nanomaterials using plasma.

The Most Unusual 3D Printing Patent Yet Seen

Researchers at Boeing have published a patent describing a bizarre method of 3D printing that involves levitation. I am skeptical.

Your Quick Answers Could Help Additive Manufacturing Research

A survey is underway seeking answers from professionals using 3D printing / additive manufacturing processes.

Autodesk’s Project Escher Attempts To Combine 3D Printing With Other Manufacturing Processes

This could be a very big deal: Autodesk has taken up the challenge of opening up 3D printing to a much wider audience with Project Escher.

The Secret To 3D Printing Graphene: Freeze It!

It’s been quite problematic to 3D print graphene, but researchers at the University of Buffalo have come up with a very cool solution.

Fraunhofer’s Metal 3D Screen Printing Achieves Mass Production of Intricate Metal Parts

Critical to the adoption of additive manufacturing in the aerospace, automotive and defense industries, metal 3D printing is poised to see significant advances in the near future.

Considering The True Biodegradability of PLA

Hackaday’s recent story about PLA biodegradability got me thinking more about PLA’s characteristics.

Audio Capture of 3D Print Security Fears Overblown

Researchers at the University of California at Irvine have found a potential security issue with 3D printers, but I believe fears expressed are overreactions.

Proven: Metal Additive Manufacturing Can Optimize Building Structure

A research paper by engineers from Netherlands-based Arup suggests that 3D printed building elements could provide significant benefit when designing particular structural styles.

Unique Method of 3D Printing Bone Joints

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a method of 3D printing custom, bio-absorbable bone joints.

Ultrafast 3D Printed SuperCapacitors Produced: Could Change Many Things

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed a method of 3D printing graphene electrodes that could revolutionize the way we power mobile devices.

US Army Testing Mission-Specific Custom 3D Printed Drones

The US Army is conducting a test to investigate whether it is feasible to design and 3D print highly specific drone designs for specific missions.

Body-Temperature Polymer Could Provoke Some Very Interesting 3D Prints

A new polymer developed by a team from the University of Rochester has an interesting property: it changes shape when triggered by body temperature alone.

The Solid Vibration 3D Printing Project

Studio van Broekhoven in Eindhoven has developed a fascinating and simple technique to incorporate sound into 3D prints.

New Data On 3D Printer Emissions: Good Or Bad News?

Researchers from several institutions have performed more extensive testing on particulate emissions from commonly available 3D printers, and the results should be known by all 3D printer owners.

New Technique Could Dramatically Strengthen Resin-Based 3D Printing

Researchers at the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Engineering have developed a new technique for strengthening 3D printed resin.

Nano-Level Electro-Chemical 3D Printing Demonstrated

A new microscopic 3D printing process has been developed by Swiss company Cytosurge, and it can print metal!

NewPro3D’s Speedy ILI 3D Printing Technology

Vancouver-based NewPro3D has developed a new process for resin 3D printing that seems quite fast.

UCLA Invents New Strong And Lightweight Metal, But Can It Be 3D Printed?

A new metal alloy developed by UCLA researchers looks quite promising, particularly for aerospace use, but can it be 3D printed?

The Best 3D Print Benchmarks: Done?

We 3D printed two popular benchmark 3D models on a top quality industrial 3D printer, the Stratasys Objet Connex260.

IT’S ALIVE!? 3D Printing of Micro-Organs

Printing functioning organs may still sound like science fiction, but a new process for creating embryoid bodies (EB) by 3D printing embryonic stem cells (ESC) could bring us another step closer to turning science fiction into science fact.

3D Printing Materials Toxicity Assessment: Yes, Toxic

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have determined that at least some commonly used 3D printing materials are toxic.

An Easy Method To Generate Hair – On Almost Any 3D Printer!

Researchers at Carnagie Mellon have developed a ridiculously simple method of 3D printing hair-like structures.

A Big Step Towards 3D Printed Organs

Carnegie Mellon researchers have worked out a way to successfully print “squishy” biological tissues, thus removing one of the key barriers to major bioprinting.

Could Self-Healing Plastic Be 3D Printed?

A curious new plastic can heal itself in water, but could this be used in a 3D printer? Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania examined squid teeth, which have a very unusual property: they can heal themselves, even when submerged in water. Here’s the interesting part: the researchers were able to determine which genes controlled… Continue reading Could Self-Healing Plastic Be 3D Printed?