How to make a tiny Ornithopter? Print it in 3D

An ornithopter with a mass of 3.89g has been constructed using the 3D printing technique and has demonstrated an 85-second passively stable untethered hovering flight. This flight exhibits the functional utility of printed materials for flapping wing experimentation and ornithopter construction and for understanding the mechanical principles underlying insect flight and control.

http://ccsl.mae.cornell.edu/ornithopter

Does this count as 3D Printing?

The range of technologies, techniques and approaches that are being described as 3D Printing continues to expand. Here, a "3D printer" uses living cells to produce a human kidney.

http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/archives/2011/03/3d-printer.html

"Researchers at the institute have developed a technique and equipment for printing transplantable organs. The seven-hour process begins with collecting 3-D images of the organ that needs to be replaced. Next, a small tissue sample is taken from the patient and used to seed a specially-designed printer. The printer then replicates the tissue layer by layer to create a new organ"

Play the video at TED here
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/1088

Would you ride a 3D Printed Bike?

The European Areospace and Defence group (EADS) has shown off the first bike made from nylon – which they’re saying could replace traditional steel and aluminium bikes due to the affordable method it’s created. Drip by drop, each part of the bike is made from powder using the Additive Layer Manufacturing process of 3D printing, with the machine connected to a computer loaded with the CAD bike design.

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/03/3d-printed-airbike-is-as-strong-as-your-aluminium-bike/

Video: The Kinect has become a Camera for 3D Printers

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/02/28/video-the-kinect-has-become-a-camera-for-3d-printers/

"Here's one of the more unique uses of Microsoft's Kinect. A project called Fabricate Yourself turns the Kinect into a 3D printer of sorts. Well, a 3D modeler for a 3D printer. You'd best follow along with the video. The gist is that the Kinect takes 3D photos of whatever (in the video, it’s of enthusiastic young people), then the images are converted to the relevant file format, then passed off to a Dimension 3D printer."

The Economist frontpage Feb 2010: Print Me a Stradivarius

3D Printing hits the home page of The Economist www.economist.com The violin illustrated was made using an EOS laser-sintering 3D printer (and apparently it plays beautifully). The Economist article claims that 3D printing from digital designs will transform manufacturing and allow more people to start making things. Read both articles here:



http://www.economist.com/node/18114327
http://www.economist.com/node/18114221

Highlights:
* Examples of 3D printed objects include aircraft landing gear, medical implants, jewellery, football boots, lampshades, racing-car parts, solid-state batteries, complex mechanical devices and customized mobile phones
* More than 20% of 3D printed output is now production product, not prototype
* The technical term for this field is 'additive manufacturing'
* Within Technologies have 3D printed a flexible 'chain mail' metal glove, available in steel or titanium
* A new industrial revolution is on the way
* With traditional manufacturing techniques, 90% of the material is waste, cut away swarf. With 3D pritning, unused material can be re-used to print another part. Typically, a 3D printed part requires about 10% of the material required otherwise.
* 3D printing uses less energy to create parts
* 3D printing is not always slower per part
* Machining a part traditionally means having material where you might not need it for the final product. 3D printing puts material only where needed.
* 3D printed parts can be lighter, e.g. in aerospace applications
* Although current 3D printers have small build chambers, gantry like devices will be able to print very large parts in the future
* 3D printing can create internal structure in a material. e.g. Titanium with inner bone like lattice
* A company called Digital Forming is working with mobile operators to apply consumers to order custom printed designs
* Shapeways is now printing more than 10,000 each month
* EOS claims that a single machine would allow a Dentist to print 450 unique dental crowns in a single day
* Stratasys are printing parts for their own range of 3D printers
* Factories of the future will have 3D printers working along side existing machines, e.g. milling, presses, foundries and plastic injection moulding
* Rapid Quality Manufacturing says that small to medium sized metal components can be 3D printed in hours or days, against days or weeks for traditional process. (And the printers can run 24/7 unattended)
* A team at Loughborough University has invented a high-speed sintering system and believes that it can make parts for Burton Snowboards for 16 cents each, competitive with injection moulding
* 3D printed lampshades has become an industry with sales volumes in the 1000s
* Prediction that within 5 years, it will be competitive to have 3D printed runs of 10,000s to 100,000s
* Expectation of the 'Digital Production Plant'  - less capital tied up in tooling costs, work in progress and raw materials
* Chinese companies are adopting the technology
* DHL organized a conference which posited threats to the logistics industry - i.e. print where you need things
* 3D printing lowers the cost of entry to manufacturing  (analogy with early PC industry)
* Good ideas will now be able to copied ever faster, so expect some battles on intellectual property
* Competitive advantages may be shorter-lived than ever before
* "The beneficiary will be customers - revolution may not be too strong a word"

Printing Models for Exhibitions

The World's First 3D Printed Musical Instrument - A 3D Printed Flute

Is this a breakthrough? A flute, printed in 3D.

Is 3D Printing a niche technology? Just one of several fabrication techniques. Or is it a significant breakthrough that will transform manufacturing supply chains and economies with impacts on the scale of the first industrial revolution, or, the invention of Gutenberg's book printing press. Some examples of newly 3D-printed objects hint at what's to come.

Watch this fascinating video of the team at MIT Media Lab who have attempted - and succeeded - to 3D print a working flute (perhaps the first 3D printed musical instrument?).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwHgszH0aqI