Jul 24
3D printing might be bad for your health, according to a new study by the Illinois Institute of Technology. Imagine that. Melting plastic in your home might be hazardous.
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Jul 23
When you ask a bunch of 3D printing nerds to design a better birdhouse, you can expect some wild and wacky offering—but this thing is perhaps the ultimate avian abode.
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Jul 22
Like The Longines Symphonette before it, Thingiverse’s army of 3D printing enthusiasts don’t rest, so when MakerBot put them to the task of building a better home for wayward birds, they naturally jumped into action. Not to put too fine a point on it, but while we’re still a ways from indoor plumbing and the like, the American Craftsman Bungalow is surely the sort of thing any upwardly mobile winged friend would want to call home. The first place winner gets (fittingly) an Eggbot, some PLA filament, display space at the MakerBot NY store and the admiration of birds everywhere. And if Hitchcock has taught us anything, it’s that you want those buggers on your side. You can download the schematics for all of the winners in the source link below, complete with the standard whistles and bells.
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals
Source: Thingiverse
Jul 22
Today’s big news, courtesy of Quartz, is about the expiration of laser sintering patents that will change the face of 3D printing in 2014. In short, the reason “good” 3D printers – namely the ones that create solid, injection-molded style pieces – aren’t cheap or readily available is that older 3D printing companies have held the laser sintering process hostage. For example, the Form One printer by Form Labs infringes on these patents even though they detail a printer that uses a laser to fuse fine powder to create an object and the Form One uses a liquid.
That’s neither here nor there, however, because these patents will soon encourage a race to bottom in 3D printer quality, mirroring just about major CE device in the past decade. The first tablets got popular and cheap – and manufacturers flooded the market. 3D TV looked like it was the next best thing so everyone made them. Heck, even small form-factor computers had their day a little less than a decade ago. Once a device is deemed popular by the market, the quality quickly falls and the supply rises precipitously.
To be clear, a good 3D printer doesn’t need to cost $5,000 and I would wager it doesn’t even need to cost $2,000. However, once 3D printers hit the $300 mark, watch out. Quality at this price point will disappear and the costs will be centered on materials, driving the cost of ABS and other materials sky high. Think about the cost of 2D printers vs. the cost of their ink and you see where we’re headed.
I want every home in America to own a 3D printer. But, more important, I want every home in America to own a good 3D printer. 3D printers do no one any good if they are wonky, poorly designed, and under-supported. The current crop, Makerbot and Form Labs included, have a real attention to detail that is missing in nearly every aspect of consumer electronics. I doubt they will stay that way when they become popular.
At this point, 3D printing is in its indie infancy – the Pixies before Surfer Rosa, if you will. Once these patents expire the world will be awash in cheap hardware designed to cash in on a fad. It is up to us, then, to be careful with what we buy.
First, I would support open source as much as possible as well as DIY for educational markets. DIY helps the little guy – the guys who sell the parts that can’t be manufactured at home. The goal of many 3D printers was to create a machine that could make itself. This needs to continue to be a focus.
Second, let’s avoid letting the big guys horn in on this market, shall we? Obviously Stratasys bought Makerbot, much to the chagrin of open source advocates, but once Dell, HP, and Vizio get in on the market, there’s no telling what kind of garbage will be peddled at your local Best Buy. 3D printing is a difficult technology that needs to be brought to the general consumer. I don’t think the huge manufacturers are the guys to do it.
3D printing will truly heat up next year. I’m excited. With a little preparation and understanding, however, we can ensure the future will be less like Palm and more like Apple.
Jul 22
The extreme far north (or south) isn’t the only place on Earth that spends the winter locked in perpetual darkness. Beginning in September and ending in March, the Norwegian town of Rjukan is cast into a perpetual shadow. But no longer: This month, engineers are completing The Mirror Project, a system that will shed winter light on Rjukan for the first time ever.
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Jul 22
The 3D printing "revolution" isn’t just being held up by the state of the technology. It’s also being held up by the sheer cost of a 3D printer. But in February 2014, some key patents will expire, leaving an opening for competitors come in with cheaper alternatives.
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Jul 21
We’ve already seen a couple of 3D printed headphones, but they were mostly proofs of concept, not for daily use. Designer Julian Goulding hopes to incorporate the revolutionary technology into consumer-grade earphones with his Accord concept.
In theory, the Accord headphones present a variety of advantages. The first one is personalization. You can either go to a professional audiologist make molds of your ears or get a DIY molding kit from Goulding. Either way, you’ll send your molds to Goulding’s company to be scanned and turned into 3D files. This ensures that your earphones will fit snugly in your ears. They’ll also keep your files so you can order replacement parts in the future.
Another benefit of Accord’s 3D printing process is that they’re more sustainable: the earphones are printed on demand and not mass-produced. But as some you may know, custom and made-to-order earphones are nothing new. Companies like Ultimate Ears have been offering the service for years now. The problem with these existing personalized earphones is that they’re very expensive.
The picture above shows a mockup of the Android app for Accord. You can download a test version of the app here. The app lets you order your custom earphones and will let you choose its material and color, as well as track your order when it’s shipped. I wouldn’t be surprised if the price shown above is just a placeholder, but I’d even be more surprised if Accord earphones end up costing as much as its high-end counterparts. Besides, the fact that you can choose the material means you have some control over how expensive your order will be.
Goulding also mentioned on his website that the Accord can be localized by 3D printing firms to further drive down its printing costs. I wonder if that means you can specify a 3D printing shop near your location, or perhaps even let you print the Accord if you have your own 3D printer.
They actually look decent; now all we need to know is how they sound. Head to Goulding’s website to see a few more images of the Accord.
[via Damn Geeky]
Jul 18
Forget medical applications
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Jul 17
Jul 16
3D-Printed Cover + Standard Logitech Mouse = The Infinitely Customizable Mouse
Posted in: Today's ChiliGaming peripherals, while pricey, are quite durable and full of features that even the sternest desk-jockey can appreciate. Recently, I saw a couple of LED-powered keyboards that had me drooling, since they lit up very brightly to highlight gaming keys. The Mad Catz RAT has always been an extremely good mouse for gaming, since it allowed you to get the perfect shape for your hands. If you don’t like to buy off-the-shelf peripherals like these, then check out this 3D-printed alternative.
Granted, the Statial mouse housing costs a lot more than I expected, but if you can get similar functionality to a higher priced mouse, then you’re still winning. The Statial is a cover that will turn any Logitech M100 mouse into an adjustable alternative. Each section of the Statial cover can be adjusted to fit the form of your hand. The Statial was designed by Pyott Design.
Unfortunately, the $69.99 price tag for the shell on Shapeways makes this kind of a non-starter, since you can buy gaming mice with more functionality for the same total price. Still, if you’ve got the blueprints and a 3D printer, you can always print your own custom mouse cover.
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