Pirate 3D - Blog Maker Pro Newsletter Just because you've got a hammer, doesn't mean you're a carpenter. Know someone who would be interested in this newsletter? Click here to subscribe! From the editors of MAKE magazine, The Maker Pro Newsletter is about the impact of makers on business and technology. "Digital Revolution in Fabrication Bigger than 3D Printing" That was the gist of MIT's Neil Gershenfeld's message at the Science of Digital Fabrication conference at the MIT Media Lab on March 7. Bill Foster's Bill for National Fab Lab Network Rep. Foster is introducing a bill in Congress to create a national network of Fab Labs, specifying that there should be a Fab Lab in every Congressional district. Is Kickstarter and the Crowdfunding Market Slowing Down? Research analyst Michael Wolf of the NextMarket Blog says yes it is, based on data that shows that new project launches are slowing month over month from July 2012 through February 2013. Total Kickstarter Projects, Monthly Increases, July ‘12 to Feb ‘13 A BIG 3D Trend?
Association of 3D Printing Les entreprises qui vendent des imprimantes 3D 3D printer and 3D printing news, trends and resources. Solution d’impression 3D abordable pour l’éducation À l'occasion du salon Educatec 2012, Objet lance l’offre Scholar. Une solution d'impression 3D pour l’éducation disponible à un prix abordable. La société Objet Ltd., spécialiste en matière d'impression 3D destinée au prototypage rapide et à la fabrication additive, lance Objet30 Scholar, une solution d'impression 3D tout-en-un disponible à un prix très attractif pour les écoles, les lycées, les universités et les établissements d'enseignement supérieur. « L'offre Objet30 Scholar a été conçue dans le but de rendre encore plus accessibles les systèmes et les solutions d'impression 3D d'Objet pour le marché éminemment stratégique de l’éducation. Elle permet aux étudiants et aux universités de créer et de réaliser des prototypes de projets complexes dans une multitude de disciplines - en particulier les matières principales (sciences, technologie, ingénierie et mathématiques) », explique Gilad Gans, vice-président exécutif d'Objet. Jean-François Prevéraud
3D-printed gun maker now has federal firearms license to manufacture, deal guns On Saturday, Defense Distributed—America’s best-known group of 3D gunsmiths—announced on Facebook that its founder, Cody Wilson, is now a federally licensed gun manufacturer and dealer. The group published a picture of the Type 7 federal firearms license (FFL) to prove it. “The big thing it allows me to do is that it makes me [a manufacturer] under the law—everything that manufacturers are allowed to do,” he told Ars. Wilson and his colleagues have been making prototypes of guns for months now. Earlier this month Wilson told Ars that he had submitted the application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (a division of the Department of Justice) back in October 2012. Currently, Wilson said he will not actually begin manufacturing and selling guns until he receives an “add-on” to his FFL, known as a Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer (SOT), as licensed under federal law (PDF). As a gun dealer, Wilson will also be required to keep records on all the guns he makes and sells.
Model Repair Service Emanuel Sachs - Brevet US5204055 - Three-dimensional printing techniques This invention relates generally to the manufacture of tooling and prototype parts and, more particularly, to the use of three-dimensional printing techniques using computer models therefor. Two needs in providing effective industrial productivity and competitiveness lie in the reduction in time required to bring new products to the marketplace and the need for providing for flexible manufacture of products in small quantities. Thus, it is desirable to provide rapid part turnaround with a minimal investment in tooling. Techniques for doing so should have the ability to tailor designs to specfic tasks, to shorten the cycle time from design to manufacturing, and/or to manufacture in very small lot sizes, as low as a single component, all at reasonable cost. Another major contributor to the time to bring a product to market is the time required to develop tooling, such as molds and dies. Thus, a thin layer of powder is spread evenly onto a flat surface with a roller mechanism.
L'électronique imprimée : La souplesse en plus La fabrication électronique par des techniques d'impression ouvre de nouvelles perspectives, avec notamment la possibilité de réaliser des circuits, écrans et panneaux d'éclairage souples. Plusieurs technologies d'impression sont en compétition en fonction de la résolution de circuits à réaliser et des volumes à produire. Imprimer des circuits électroniques comme on le fait pour le papier ou les textiles : tel est le principe de l’électronique imprimée. Cinq techniques d’impression sont envisagées : la sérigraphie, le jet d’encre, la flexographie, l’offset et la rotative (roll-to-roll). Elles consistent toutes à créer le circuit en déposant ses éléments à partir d’encres spécialement formulées à cet effet. Chaque technique a ses avantages et ses inconvénients. L’impression ne rivalise pas en termes de résolution et de densité avec les techniques traditionnelles de photolithogravure.
3D printing iPhone dock adapters A French 3D printing company by the name of Sculpteo has begun offering 3D printed iPhone dock adapters for third-party iPod speakers. The adapters allow users to use Lightning connector iPhones and iPods in older dock connector speaker systems. The beauty of this system is that it allows Sculpteo to offer these adapters for a wide range of older speaker systems without the upfront costs of hiring a factory to manufacture thousands of units. From a user perspective, it's advantageous because, theoretically, any old iPod speaker system they have could have an adapter made for it quickly so it's compatible with new Lightning connector iOS devices. Currently the adapter made by Sculpteo will fit over 15 iPod speaker systems. Users will still have to buy the Lightning to dock connector separately from Apple, but when used with Sculpteo's adapters new devices will fit snugly in the old speaker systems. [via TechCrunch]