Scientists build a low-cost, open-source 3-D metal printer OK, so maybe you aren't interested in making your own toys, cellphone cases, or glow-in-the-dark Christmas decorations. How about a brake drum? Until now, 3D printing has been a polymer affair, with most people in the maker community using the machines to make all manner of plastic consumer goods, from tent stakes to chess sets. A new low-cost 3D printer developed by Michigan Technological University's Joshua Pearce and his team could add hammers to that list. Pearce is the first to admit that his new printer is a work in progress. Using under $1,500 worth of materials, including a small commercial MIG welder and an open-source microcontroller, Pearce's team built a 3D metal printer than can lay down thin layers of steel to form complex geometric objects. His make-it-yourself metal printer is less expensive than off-the-shelf commercial plastic 3D printers and is affordable enough for home use, he said. Explore further: 3-D printing: Making your own saves energy, scientist says
ReCap -create intelligent 3D models from laser scans – Autodesk This looks promising.... What would be great though is if the download link actually led to a program that could be downloaded. Just a slight problem..... ReCap -create intelligent 3D models from laser scans – Autodesk The Printer That Can Print A 2,500 Square Foot House In 20 Hours. We have seen huge advancements in 3D printing. We’ve even seen oversized wrenches printed that measure 1.2 meters in length. Now, we can print an entire 2,500 sqft house in 20 hours. In the TED Talk video below, Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), demonstrates automated construction, using 3D printers to build an entire house in 20 hours. In manufacturing we use a process called CAD/CAM (computer-aided design / computer-aided manufacturing). 3D models are designed on a computer and then manufactured using CNC Machines or 3D printers. In this video, we see a prototype of a machine called ‘Contour Crafting’ Michael Cooney Michael Cooney, the founder of EngNet, worked as a project engineer for many years sourcing equipment.
Occipital’s New Structure Sensor Turns Your iPad Into A Mobile 3D Scanner The folks at Boulder/San Francisco-based Occipital are very much software people — the company’s RedLaser app was a big hit in the early App Store days before the team sold it to eBay, as was 360 Panorama before iOS 6′s Panorama feature took some of the wind out of its sails. Their roots may be in software, but now the team is trying something very, very new. Occipital just launched a Kickstarter campaign for its very first hardware project: the Structure, a portable 3D sensor that straps to the back of your iPad that should ship by next February. Update: Wow, the Occipital team has blown past its $100K funding goal in just over three hours. “It took us out of our comfort zone,” CEO Jeff Powers admitted. Those sleepless nights seem to have paid off. The really astonishing bit is how quickly the Structure works in capturing all of this data. That breadth of those demo apps speaks to the sort of ecosystem that Powers hopes will rise up around the Structure in the weeks and months to come.
world's first 3D printed metal gun successfully fires 50 bullets nov 08, 2013 world's first 3D printed metal gun successfully fires 50 bullets world’s first 3D printed metal gun successfully fires 50 rounds of bulletsall images courtesy solid concepts 3D printing service leader solid concepts has manufactured the world’s first 3D printed metal gun using a laser sintering process and powdered metals. the semi-automatic pistol is based off the design of a classic 1911 and has already successfully fired over 50 rounds of bullets without breaking. the fire-weapon is constructed with 33 17-4 stainless steel and inconel 625 components, and features a carbon-fiber filled nylon hand grip. ‘the whole concept of using a selective laser sintering process to 3D print a metal gun revolves around proving the reliability, accuracy and usability of metal 3D printing as functional prototypes and end use products,‘ says kent firestone, vice president of additive manufacturing at solid concepts. detail of the 3D printed .45 caliber pistol rodrigo caula I designboom
Structure Sensor: Capture the World in 3D by Occipital The Structure Sensor gives mobile devices the ability to capture and understand the world in three dimensions. With the Structure Sensor attached to your mobile device, you can walk around the world and instantly capture it in a digital form. This means you can capture 3D maps of indoor spaces and have every measurement in your pocket. You can instantly capture 3D models of objects and people for import into CAD and for 3D printing. You can play mind blowing augmented reality games where the real world is your game world. If you’re a developer, Structure gives you the ability to build mobile applications that interact with the three dimensional geometry of the real world for the very first time. The Structure Sensor has been designed from the ground up to be mobile. The Structure Sensor has a mobile-optimized range that begins at 40 centimeters and stretches to over 3.5 meters. Battery-powered Anodized aluminum chassis Dual infrared LEDs What does this mean in plain terms? 1. 2. 3. 4.
3D Printer Kit Google's Project Tango is a smartphone with sensors to map the world around you Google's just announced Project Tango, a 5-inch Android smartphone prototype equipped with Kinect-like 3D sensors and other components to track motion and map your surroundings. Unlike other 3D-sensing devices including Kinect, Project Tango includes the Myriad 1 vision processor from Movidius, which allows for advanced motion and depth tracking without sucking a ton of power. Available to a limited group of developers today, the handset could enable enhanced indoor navigation and immersive gaming, among other things. Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group is the brains behind Tango, and ATAP head Johnny Lee (formerly of the Microsoft Kinect team) said that the prototype "strives to give mobile devices a human-like understanding of space and motion ... enabling new and enhanced types of user experiences." Comments
3D Printer Kit » DIY 3D Printer 3D Printer Kit DIY Plans The following sources are open source 3D printer kit designs at time published. The sources provide a summary, mechanics, electronics, software files, how to, tools, and updates on how to build a 3D printer. These are “do it yourself” (DIY) 3D printer plans and building instructions. Most of the open sourced 3D printer kit sources are under GNU free documentation license. Darwin (RepRap) 3D Printer KitMendel 3D Printer KitPrusa 3D Printer KitHuxley 3D Printer KitHelium 3D Printer KitCustomizable Thing 3D Printer KitSteampunk 3D PrinterModel One 3D Printer KitModel Two 3D Printer KitEventorbot 3D Printer Kit The purpose of GNU free documentation license is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document “free” in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially.