3D Printing

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has advanced rapidly in recent years, allowing companies to quickly produce working prototypes and home hobbyists to produce various bits and bobs for the home. While plastic remains the dominant printing material, additive manufacturing with materials including metal, cement and even glass, enables the production of everything from tiny screws to engine components to entire houses ... and it's only just getting started.

3D Printing

New 3D-printed museum piece is mammoth in scale

Ben Coxworth October 30, 2018

Over the past several years, Belgian manufacturing firm Materialise has 3D-printed items such as running shoes, a dress and a wheelchair. Now, the company has created something a little larger – a complete wooly mammoth skeleton.

The fully-assembled Mammoth of Lier replica

3D Printing Audio available

Pulped paper replaces plastic as the raw material for this 3D printer

Paul Ridden November 8, 2018

With a few notable exceptions, the majority of objects removed from a 3D printer bed are fashioned with plastic. But plastic has a nasty habit of ruining our environment at the end of its useful life. Beer Holthuis has built a 3D printer that extrudes paper pulp to build three-dimensional objects.

When objects produced by the Paper Pulp Printer are no longer needed, they can be recycled ...

3D Printing

3D-printed batteries make for some interesting possibilities

Ben Coxworth October 18, 2018

Electronic devices typically have to be manufactured with existing rectangular or cylindrical batteries in mind – but what might be possible if that weren't the case? Scientists recently created proof-of-concept 3D-printed batteries, paving the way for batteries that could be made in any shape.

The 3D-printed battery in this bracelet kept the LED lit for approximately one minute

3D Printing

PrinTracker tech could match sketchy objects to 3D printers that made them

Ben Coxworth October 16, 2018

Although 3D printers are able to produce some amazing objects, they can also crank out counterfeit goods, illegal firearms, and other not-so-nice creations. Soon, if someone is suspected of making such items, it could be possible to match the objects to that person's printer.

The system establishes a "fingerprint" for any one printer, based on a combination of factors

3D Printing Audio available

US nuclear carriers to get first 3D-printed part

David Szondy October 14, 2018

Additive manufacturing is taking to the seas with the first 3D-printed part being cleared for installation aboard a US Navy nuclear aircraft carrier. The prototype piping assembly will be installed on the USS Harry S. Truman in 2019, where it will be subjected to 12 months of operational testing.

The 3D-printed valve will be installed on the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)

3D Printing

Robots collaborate on 3D-printing concrete structures

Ben Coxworth October 2, 2018

Although we've already seen 3D printers that can create full-size concrete structures, the huge size of the devices could make them difficult to install at construction sites. Singaporean scientists are developing an alternative, in the form of mobile robots that work together to do the job.

The NTU team with the two robots and the structure that they built

3D Printing

MoSculp turns 2D videos into 3D-printed motion sculptures

Ben Coxworth September 19, 2018

Although gazing at computer models of processes that we're studying can certainly be helpful, there's often just no substitute for getting your hands on an actual physical object. Realizing that, an MIT team has developed a system that creates 3D-printed "motion sculptures" based on 2D videos.

A MoSculp motion sculpture of a runner in action

3D Printing

HP launches Metal Jet 3D printing technology for mass production

Loz Blain September 12, 2018

Desktop Metal might have set the ball rolling, but it seems HP is getting very serious about 3D metal printing at industrial volumes and automotive-grade production quality. HP Metal Jet is 50 times faster and significantly cheaper than existing methods, and pilot programs are already underway.

At less than US$400,000, these machines represent a revolution in high-volume, low-cost additive manufacture

3D Printing

US military builds barracks using "world's largest" 3D printer

Adam Williams September 10, 2018

3D-printed construction is portable and inexpensive, and could help build a safe barracks in a shorter time. With this in mind, the US Marine Corps Systems Command recently constructed a prototype concrete barracks in under two days with what it says is the world's largest 3D printer.

US Marine Corps Systems Command used a 3D printer to construct a prototype concrete barracks measuring ...

3D Printing Audio available

Prototype bionic eye created with custom 3D printer

Ben Coxworth August 29, 2018

When he was an assistant professor at Princeton University, Michael McAlpine led the development of a 3D-printed bionic ear. Now an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, he has gone on to 3D-print a rudimentary bionic eye.

The photodiodes are made of a semiconducting polymer printed over a base of silver-containing ink