This Week in 3D Printing

Week of 9/14/2015

This Week’s Contents

! In the News ! Research Insight of the Week ! 3D Prints of the Week

In the NewsSummary and Analysis of Headlines around 3D Printing

Intel and XYZPrinting Debut new Handheld 3D Scanner

The holy grail of 3D printing companions is a 3D scanner capable of replicating real world objects quickly, and at an affordable price. Enter Intel’s RealSense technology, devices with cameras capable of grabbing 3D scans . The exciting news is that Intel has made the RealSense technology available to third party developers. The first company to leverage the technology is XYZprinting, who debuted their compact, low-cost, full-color handheld scanner at this years IFA 2015 consumer electronics show in Berlin. The scanner is a lightweight device weighing less than half a pound, and is capable of quickly grabbing full color scans of virtually any object or shape, with the final scan easily available to be viewed, repaired or altered with the included editing software. The current price tag is about $222 USD, and works by combining infrared, CCD and color capture data together into a single image.

Source(s): 3DPrint.org

Patent Filing Shows that Microsoft is Developing a Automatic 3D printing Service A recently released patent filing suggests that Microsoft is working on 3D fabrication software that reinvents productivity by implementing a ‘fabrication manager’. The term peaked the interests of researchers as it doesn’t match the description of any existing Microsoft service. The ‘fabrication manager’ is a middleware software designed to make it easier to translate CAD models into real-life objects. The patent initially detailed an alternative technique for inscribing text on printed objects involving a supportive mesh layered onto an item to keep the liquids in place while it solidified. Source(s): Declassifield.com

Lew Grand Hotel Develops world’s first 3D printed hotel

Entrepreneur Lewis Yakich, owner of Lewis Grand Hotel in the Philippines, has begun construction work on a massive 3D printed expansion of his hotel. He plans to follow up the 3D printed expansion with a series of 3D printed commercial homes. Yakich is known for innovation and profitability, having studied material sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara and working as an engineer at Intel before switching to real estate. The scientists turned real estate mogul realized that Philippines is home to very good materials for 3D printing, resulting in the hotel expansion taking months, and printing medium size homes in less than a week. The hotel expansion is set to be about 1500 square feet, and will be the first 3D printed hotel in the world, complete with a 3D printed Jacuzzi.

Source(s): 3DPrint.com

3D Hubs Releases 3D Printing Trend Report Amsterdam-based 3D Hubs recently released a September report on the state of 3D printing which brings a surprising amount of detail and information about the most popular 3D printers, the use of 3D printing within specific industries, and even detailed information about the most popular cities that use 3D printing on a daily basis. The company itself has over 21,000 3D printers spread across more than 150 countries, and thus has a surprising amount of information available to review. This month’s top cities in rank are New York City, Los Angeles, followed by a tie between Milan and London. Source(s): 3Ders.org

MIT Researchers Develop System To Customize 3D Print Designs

A team of researchers from MIT and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel have developed a revolutionary process of 3D printing design modifications through their program named Fab Forms. In traditional additive manufacturing, designs are complex and modifications require significant time to process and knowledge of CAD applications and in many cases mathematics. In an aim to speed up the process and make design more accessible to less CAD experienced individuals, Masha Shugrina set out to create a system that enabled 3D printing design modifications through a GUI interface. Thus was born Fab Forms, with a ingenious process that provides users immediate feedback of designs that cannot be manufactured.

Source(s): MIT.edu

Fashion Turns to 3D Printing The world of fashion has recently and quickly turned to additive manufacturing to print on demand clothes. What was thought of as impossible only a few years ago due to a variety of factors such as cost or fabrication process, has recently become possible and even economical. Brands such as Nike and Adidas have turned to artists around the world to develop experimental designs that can utilize 3D printing and take garments to the next level. For fashion companies, 3D printing is seen to provide inexpensive custom clothing options tailored to each individual, as well as more complex pieces which used to take days or weeks to create. Currently, 3D printed accessories are being sold by a variety of brands around the world, but in the coming months 3D printed clothing is expected to come to the forefront of designer clothing. Source(s): ArtMandy.Ro

New Design Services Aims to Expand 3D Printing Possibilities

Sinter3D has announced a project called the Sinter3D 3D Services Exchange & Future Tech Marketplace. According to the company, the new Exchange program allows users to connect with a community of design experts from around the world to bring a wide variety of products and ideas to life in 3D models. The company aims to connect designers seeking jobs with customers looking to have their designs brought to life, and charges a modest fee to introduce the two, and acts as a intermediary to resolve disputes. The company has even introduced a ‘design marketplace’ where individuals can upload their designs for users to purchase.

Source(s): sinter3d.com

3D Printed Gold Jewelry Aims to Transform Industry In an attempt to reshape the jewelry industry, designer Lionel T Dean has turned to digital manufacturing and 3D printing to design a new line of 18 carat gold 3D printed pieces. Dean designed the pieces as part of a project called Precious, a collaboration between five companies including precious metal supplier Cooksongold and software company Delcam. The new line was unveiled in August at Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery. Initially designers trying to use 3D printing had to turn to printing waxes and casting from those, due to the waste from regular printing techniques. However, Cooksongold has developed a new laser-sintering machine with 3D printing manufacturer EOS specifically designed for precious metals. The future of jewelry customization is set to change thanks to the tools and techniques now available. Source(s): Dezeen.com

TSA Master Luggage Keys 3D Design Leaked to Lockpickers

The TSA recently made a crucial mistake that lock-pickers and security experts have warned against for years: posted a picture of a key. The problem was that this wasn’t just any set of keys, they were a set of master keys that can open lcoks for any TSA “approved” lock. Within hours of the Washington Post unwittingly posting a picture the keys in an article about the life of baggage in the hands of TSA, 3D enthusiast had replicated the designs and posted a set of CAD files online for anyone to download and print out. 3D printing is a marvelous and life changing technology, but even life changing technology can be bad when in the hands of the wrong people.

Source(s): wired.com

World’s First 3D-Printed Titanium Rib Cage Saves Spain Patients Life A patient at Salmanca University Hospital in Spain is the recipient of the worlds first 3D-printed titanium chest prosthetic. Surgeons turned to 3D printing when they determined that it was in the patients best interests and a safer long term option to have a custom-designed prosthetic that replicated portions of the chest which were required to be removed. Using a high-resolution 3D CT scan of the patient’s chest, the team turned to Australia based Anatomics to design and build the replacement sternum and rib cage. Anatomics used a electron beam Arcam 3D printer to create the titanium piece, flying it to Spain for surgery. After 12 days, the paitent was discharged and is said to be recovering well. This presents a tremendous leap in medical technology, opening the door for a variety of new procedures. Source(s): Gizmodo.com

Research Insight of the WeekQuantifying the 3D Printing Landscape

The 3D printing Industry is expect to expand at an annual rate of 22.4% over the next

ten years, brining in over $307.7 million in profit for companies in 2015 alone.

Source: IBISWorld, 2015

3D Prints of the WeekShowcasing some of the most interesting applications of 3D Printing, from the amusing to the artistic to the innovative

3D Printed Toilet Paper Holder

! Reddit user WatersOkay turned to 3D printing to solve a intensely personal problem many of us have faced in our lives: the lack of a useable toilet paper holder.

! Realizing that traditional toilet paper holders require bolts on either side to properly mount, the user turned to auto CAD and created a useable rotating toilet paper holder, which he then printed at a personal cost of under $1 USD.

3D Printed Walking Tank

! Artist and graphics designer Michael Sng anted to make a toy that would excite and intrigue, and be “fun” to make. Naturally, he turned to 3D printing.

! The first toy in his new line, Codename Colossum, is a robot tank named “Boudicca.”

! The toy thank houses over 400 specially designed parts, all of which are 3D printed and linked together with servos and custom-built circuits, and can move around in a variety of directions.