3D Printing

Thanks to a steady rise in vinyl sales of late, turntables are returning to the living room hi-fi setup. But if you're a maker looking for something a bit different, Frame Theory 3D has just launched a 3D-printable turntable kit on Kickstarter.

The University of Alberta has developed a new technique for 3D printing cartilage in custom shapes. This can be used to repair the noses of skin cancer patients, saving them the trouble of having cartilage samples taken from other parts of the body.

The ivory trade has been banned for over 30 years now, which means that technicians restoring ivory artifacts have to get creative in finding alternative materials. A new 3D-printable substance known as Digory appears to fit the bill nicely.

When objects are being 3D printed, they often have to include supportive structures that are subsequently discarded. A new print bed, however, is designed to eliminate the need for such structures, thus reducing both waste and printing time.

On most consumer 3D printers, the print head moves by sliding horizontally along rails, and vertically along rods. The Plybot is different, though, in that it "holds" its head in two robotic arms.

Holograms are one of those sci-fi promises that always seem to remain just out of reach. Now a former MIT Media Lab researcher is crowdfunding a desktop 3D hologram printer that can create images that pop out in 3D, and even appear to move.

Ordinarily, if you want to change the shape in which an object is 3D-printed, you have to alter the computer model that tells the printer what to do. A new and simpler technique, however, allows the printer to initiate the changes itself, as the print job is in progress.

As a seedling matures into a tree, its trunk and branches become stiffer and stronger. Scientists have now replicated this effect in a photosynthesis-assisted 3D-printing ink, made partially from spinach.

The embedding of fibers within 3D-printed objects can be used to add properties such as electrical conductivity or extra strength to those items. Now, a shape-changing print nozzle has been developed to vary the orientation of those fibers – as the printing is in process.

Ordinarily, if you want to make a 3D-printed liquid-filled object, you have to inject the liquid after the object has been printed. A new process, however, allows such items to be printed in one step – and it could have some valuable applications.

We've been following the WobbleWorks developments since the first Kickstarter in 2013, even raising our doodles off the page on a number of occasions. The professional-grade Pro+ went on sale at the end of October, and we've been giving it a whirl.

While "traditional" objects may exhibit varying degrees of glossiness in different areas, 3D-printed items are typically uniformly shiny all over. That could be about to change, however, thanks to a new printer designed at MIT.