3D Printing Plays a Big Role in New Imperia GP Roadster Development

Imperia GP Roadster Hybrid Car

The classic Imperia marque is being resurrected in Belgium with the development of a unique hybrid-powered retro-coupe. 3D printing technology plays a big role in its development and manufacture.

Imperia Automobiles was formed in 2009 to bring to market hybrid car technologies developed by Green Propulsion, a Belgian automotive R&D firm that specializes in electric and hybrid vehicles.

The roadster's hybrid powertrain consists of a 200hp, 1.6liter gasoline engine and a 150hp electric motor.

For the roadster's drivetrain components, Imperia designers partnered with Voxeljet, a 3D printing services company in Germany, and SICTA, a French aluminum foundry. Voxeljet prints sandcasting moulds which are then sent on to the SICTA foundry.

Tip of the hat to the 3ders blog.

World's First 3D-Printed Metal Gun from Solid Concepts

Printed Metal Handgun from Solid Concepts

From the Dezeen design blog comes news of this 3D-printed gun from Solid Concepts, an additive manufacturing firm based in Southern California.

A post at the Solid Concepts blog describes the pistol and the method of its construction in more detail. It is a 45ACP model based on the classic Colt 1911 45caliber (the design of which is in the public domain). A Direct Metal Selective Laser Sintering (DMSLS) process was used to print the more than 30 parts required in stainless steel and Inconel 625. The handgrips, which are seen at the bottom left of the picture here, were printed in plastic.

Solid Concepts VP Kent Firestone says that the goal of this exercise was to prove that the DMSLS technology has advanced to the point now that it can create components that are very accurate and very strong, that the process is ready for mainstream manufacturing use... Regarding the first point, Firestone says that no finish machining was used on any part, only some hand finishing. With respect to the second point, he notes that each time the gun is fired the barrel experiences a pressure of 20,000 psi.

The folks at Solid Concepts have run more that 1,000 rounds through the gun now. The video below was made to document their 500 round endurance test. You can see more videos from Solid Concepts at the Solid Concepts YouTube channel, including one about the DMSLS printing process.

Tip of the hat to the Dezeen blog, where we first saw the gun.

3D Printing Inspires a New Wave of Entrepreneurship in Japan

Financial Review has a new article up about a wave of 3D printing ventures that is building in Japan, especially attracting young Japanese entrepreneurs. Here at Cool Stuff We Like blog, we wish them the best.

3D-Printed Formula Race Car from Materialise

Areion in Track Tests at Hockenheim 

The Areion Formula Student racecar was built almost entirely with 3D-printed parts. It was designed by sixteen student engineers at Group T University in Belgium. The printed parts were made at Materialise, the Belgian 3D printing firm, using their "massive stereolithography" process, which has a work volume of 2100mm x 680mm x 800mm.

The Areion was tested at the Hockenheim Formula 1 race circuit in the summer of 2012. You can follow the further adventures of the Formula Group T racing team here.

3D Printed Gun Shoots Over 600 Rounds

Download a design file to you 3D printer and make a gun at home? Looks like that capability is here for real now...

Tech site ars technica reports that Cody Wilson of Texas has demonstrated a 3D printed AR-15 type "lower receiver" that withstood the firing of well over 600 rounds of .223 ammo. You can see it in action in the video embedded below.

Wired magazine's Danger Room staff tagged Cody Wilson as one of its "15 Most Dangerous People in the World" in December 2012.

"Zero to Maker": David Lang & the Maker Culture

OpenROV Open-Source Underwater Robot

David Lang's life was upended when he lost his office job in 2011. In his telling, he felt that he'd lost not just a job, but his future with it, and consequently had to "rethink his entire entire career trajectory." He realized that by skipping high school shop classes, he'd never learned the fundamental, hands-on skills needed to make or repair useful things. His response was to learn those skills by plunging headlong into the maker culture. Within a few months he'd taken every class he could get into at the Tech Shop in San Francisco: wood working, laser cutting, CNC machining, and so on.

Within in a year of that intense learning experience, he became a partner in OpenROV, a business that has designed and developed and open-source underwater exploration robot. A successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the OpenROV robot project raised over $111.6K. Now David and his partner, Eric Stackpole, are busy keeping up with the orders for OpenROV kits that are pouring in from around the world.

David and Eric have started a blog at the OpenROV website to chronicle how and where OpenROV customers are using the robot around the world. It also serves as a place to exchange ideas about applications for the robot. The OpenROV is an open-source hardware project, so many users are already modifying the basic robot with new features, such as grappling arms and additional cameras.

David was also invited by the crew at MAKE magazine to blog about his experiences and other maker topics at the MAKE website under the moniker "Zerotomaker."  Now he's come back to Kickstarter to raise funds for a book about his transition from laid-off office drone to entrepreneur titled Zero to Maker. His Kickstarter campaign closed a week ago with a total of $49.5K, many times the target of $2,500.

We've embedded a video of the OpenROV robot in action below, check it out.

Very Informative 3D Printing Blog at Engineering.com

If you are interested in 3D printing, check out engineering.com's very fine blog that focuses exclusively on news of and developments in that technology and business.

Also check out Chris Anderson's new book on the Maker culture, open source design, and 3D printing via our Amazon affiliate link below, available in hardback and Kindle.

  

Wood Filament for 3D Printing from Formfutura

Form Futura LAYWOOD-D3 Filament

Formfutura sells 3D printing filaments in various materials, including ABS, PLA, and nylon. They are offering a new material, LAYWOOD-D3, that consists of wood fibers in a polymer binder. It is available for RepRap style printers in 1.75mm and 3.0mm diameters. The wood content is 45%.

Formfutura claims that objects printed with LAYWOOD-D3 will look and even smell like wood. They also say that interesting effects can be obtained by varying the temperature during printing: the finished material becomes darker as the printing temperature is increased. For example, the maker can simulate the appearance of a tree's growth rings or wood grain.

Check out the video below in which the print is controlled to give the printed object the appearance of growth rings.

Tip of the hat to Fabbaloo for bringing this to our attention.

DeltaMaker 3D Printer Kickstarter Project

DeltaMaker 3D Printer

The developers of the DeltaMaker 3D printer ask, "Why does a 3D printer have to look like a microwave oven?" So, they've taken a unique and elegant approach to 3D printing that employs a delta robot mechanism rather than the usual raster-scanning print mechanism.

The development team has gone to Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to bring the DeltaMaker to market. The Kickstarter funding effort is currently at $96K committed with 26 days to go, closing in on a goal of $107K. The printer pldege price ranges from the $1,399 "early adopters" special, to $1,499 for students and teachers, to $1,599 for all Kickstarters throughout the duration of the pledge period.

Delta robots per se are not a new technology, they've been around for decades, but I believe the DeltaMaker is the first commercial 3D printer based on this mechanism. Delta robots can be made very fast and are often employed in pick-and-place and packaging applications where speed is a virtue; for example, there is a great video of a small delta robot performing pick-and-place assembly here.

The three arms you see holding the print head are parallelograms that restrict motion of the print head to the x-y axis. As the build proceeds, the three arms are pulled upward by a motor as the layers of fused plastic filament are put down. The designers claim an astounding 100micron layer resolution in a build volume of approximately 9" diameter and 11" height.

Watch the embedded video below to see the DeltaMaker in action.

Update: The DeltaMaker Kickstarter fundraiser was successfully completed yesterday (Mar. 1st) with $152.6K pledged, well over its $107K goal. Congratulations to the DeltaMaker team.

RoBo 3D Low Cost, Open Source 3D Printer on Kickstarter

RoBo3D Printer

This low-cost, open source 3D printer from RoBo 3D is the latest, hottest 3D printer Kickstarter project: With three days left to go at the time of this posting, 919 backers have committed almost $467,000, well over the target funding level of $49,000.

The base model prints with PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) biodegradable plastic, the same material that the MakerBot Replicator 2 uses. PLA has a reputation as the easiest 3D printing material to work, hence the best material for the novice to learn with. The base model is $520. An upgraded version for an additional $99 will also print in ABS, which is much tougher and stronger than PLA. The print volume is 10"x10"x8" (800cu. in.), nearly twice the volume of the Replicator 2.

At this low price point, a quarter of the cost of the Replicator 2, the RoBo 3D promises to bring 3D printing home to many more of us. Check out the Kickstarter page here for more info... there is still time to subscribe.

Update: The RoBo3D is now fully funded with 1,251 backers committing just under $650K!

Olaf Diegel's 3D Printed Guitars are Amazing

The 3D Systems "Americana" 3D Printed Guitar

I just discovered this 3D printing news site, 3ders.org. Lot of great content there. If you've got an interest in 3D printing, definitely visit and bookmark this site. That led me to the subject of high-quality, 3D printed guitars.

The Americana 3D printed guitar you see pictured here was designed by renowned guitar designer Olaf Diegel. You can see more of his 3D printed guitars and buy one here at Cubify. You can even work with Diegel to get a unique custom guitar to your own design and taste... To build, unique, personalized products, isn't that an aspect of the promise of 3D printing? Well, that has been realized in this case.

You are probably skeptical about the tone and sound quality of printed guitar... I was, too, until I listened to Olaf Diegel demonstrate his printed guitars in the video below. He begins with some riffs on a standard Fender Stratocaster as a reference, then proceeds to play a couple of his printed guitars.... I was amazed. Check it out.

MakerBot Opens 3D Printing Store in Manhattan

MakerBot Replicator 2 3D Printer

I just found this Businessweek article about the 3D printing retail store that MakerBot has recently opened in Manhattan. Customers can purchase 3D printed items and see the new Replicator 2, pictured to the left here, in action.

The store features the MakerBot 3D Photo Booth... step in and it creates a 3D model of your face from a series of 2D photos, which you can then have printed to scale there in the store.

I am assuming that customers can bring in their own design files and have them printed there, though that's not explicitly stated in the article or at the MakerBot website.

Check out the Replicator 2 in action in the video embedded below.

Stratasys Mojo 3D Printer Leases for $185/month

Stratasys Mojo 3D Printer Kit

Stratasys still has its Mojo 3D printer lease program going here in the US. This is an industrial grade, professional printer of the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) type that you can lease for as little as $185/month. It prints with the Stratasys ABSplus material.

You can find a YouTube video of the Mojo in action here at a post we did about it earlier this year.

You can get a free printed sample by registering with Stratasys here.

Please note again that the lease program is available only in the United States.

   

Buildatron 2 3D Printer from Buildatron Systems

Buildatron 2 3D Printer

Buildatron Systems in New York City designs and builds open source 3D printers. The basic design is apparently adapted from the RepRap printer, but is much more robust.

I believe the price for a fully assembled system is $2500, and a DIY unassembled kit is $1599. However, I went to the Buildatron online store page and could not see how to put a unit on order online. A contact number and email address is given there, so if you are interested in a printer you can give those a try.

Buildatron has several galleries of printer pics and parts pics here. Their blog is here.

If you would like to get into the research and design of 3D printers, Buildatron wants you to know that the company is looking for engineers and interns. You can contact the research and design department here.

I have embedded one of their YouTube videos here.

KScan3D Software Turns Kinect into 3D Color Scanner

KScan3D Human Model

The KScan3D software package from 3D3 Solutions lets you redeploy your Kinect for Windows or Kinect for Xbox 360 as a 3D color scanner. The 3D3 people claim that their software can seamlessly stitch together shots taken from multiple angles to capture a complete 360degree model of an object or person.   The software creatures a 3D mesh model that is automatically combined and aligned. The package also incorporates editing features for smoothing and editing the data.

The resulting model is available for output in four industry-standard file formats: .stl, .obj, .ply and .asc. The model can be used for CAD/CAM work, game design, visual effects, and 3D printing.

The package price is $299... You have to sign-up for an account with 3D3 Solutions to get pricing, by the way, providing your email address and street address, so I did that to save you the hassle. You can purchase  with a credit card or PayPal and download the software immediately.

If you own a Kinect, you can download and test drive KScan3D by taking advantage of the free fourteen-day trial.

You can see a gallery of scans here, and can download them in .ply, .obj, and .stl for examination in your CAD viewer.

If you give KScan3D a try, or are already a user, we'd like to hear what you think of the package... by all means, please leave your comments here at this post.

Solidoodle 3D Printer Breaks $500 Price Barrier

Solidoodle 3D Printer

MakerBot's former COO, Samuel Cervantes, left the company last year to launch another 3D printer company, Solidoodle. At $499, the Solidoodle 2 printer breaks the $500 barrier.

The build material is ABS in filament form, available from the Solidoodle store in natural, red, green, blue, and black. The build volume is 6"x6"x6".

Unlike some other small, low-cost 3D printers, the Solidoodle is strong and robust; the Solidoodle people claim that a 200lb. person can stand on the chassis without damaging it, even while it is printing.

See the Solidoodle in action below.

Mojo 3D Professional Printer from Stratasys, Under $10K

Mojo 3D Printer Pack from Stratasys

Stratasys has released their new Mojo 3D Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printer, and they are promoting it heavily. With this model at $9,900, Stratasys has pushed the price point for professional 3D printers below the $10K barrier.

The build volume of this desktop unit is 5x5x5 inches. The build material is a form of ABS that Stratasys calls ABSplus. Stratasys claims it is very tough and durable. It can be drilled and painted, or even plated.

A leasing program is available in the US for $185/month. I have not been able to find any details about the program on the Web... looks like you've got to contact a sales representative to get that information. Stratasys offers a free sample part for evaluation.

B9Creator 3D Printer Kickstarter Completed, Raised Over $500K

The B9Creator Kickstarter funding project we blogged about a few weeks ago is completed. Nearly 400 people committed a combined total of over $513,000, more than ten times the original $50,000 project goal. Amazing, and congratulations to Mike Joyce, creator of this innovative 3D printer.

B9Creator 3D Printer Fundraising on Kickstarter

A couple of weeks ago we posted a piece about the Bukobot 3D printer Kickstarter fundraiser, which has been quite successful, easily exceeding its maker's fundraising goal of $42K with more than a week left to go. Well, yesterday we found out about another 3D printer project at Kickstarter, the B9Creator fundraiser, which has done amazingly well: In less than a week, and with a month still to go, more than $123,000 has been pledged,  far exceeding owner Michael Joyce's original $50,000 project funding goal.

I think this one is so way-over-the-top successful because of its unique technical approach: Joyce uses a deformable mirror device to project a 1024x768 pixel image onto a layer of light-sensitive resin. The entire layer is immediately cured where the light hits it, so each layer of the printed object is created very rapidly. This is in contrast with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) techniques, where the material is laid down in a raster pattern after the fashion of inkjet printing.

Joyce writes that each layer is typically calibrated to be .004" (.1mm) thick, but that the user can trade off speed for even greater resolution. Claimed printing rates are 12-20mm per hour. The resin used is said to be very inexpensive.

The B9Creator is an open source hardware project, so all of the CAD files and software source code files will be made available under an open source license.

On another fun note, check out Michael Joyce's life-sized models of the Lost In Space "Robot B9." (And now you know where the "B9Creator" name came from...)

Update 5/21: With three weeks to go at Kickstarter, pledged funds for the B9Creator total just under $170,000, well over three times the project goal. 

Bukobot 3D Printer Kickstarter Funding Drive

Bukobot 3D Printer

The Bukobot 3D printer from Deezmaker is derived from the RepRap open source hardware printer. Deezmaker is attempting to bring the Bukobot to market by raising funds at Kickstarter. The funding goal is to raise $42,000 by May 23; as of this writing, at $19,569 they are just about halfway there, with twenty days to go.

You can follow Bukobot news at their blog.

Update: The committed total is already up over $22,000 less than 24hours later!

Update May 11: The Bukobot is funded! As of this morning, $42,905 with 125 backers and still twelve days to go!