Jul 05
While everyone is transitioning to lighter and thinner laptops, you can show your love for Apple’s venerable—and occasionally updated—Mac Pro tower with this custom printed 3D iPhone case. More »
Jul 04
Well, it probably won’t be free for most of us who don’t have our own 3D printers, but still this is a great-looking case, perfect for all of the Apple fanboys who just love the Mac Pro. Heck, who wouldn’t want to have a Mac Pro they can stick in their pocket?
The iPhone 4/4S MacPro case takes the front of the Mac Pro and fits it onto the back of your iPhone. The design was created to maintain the integrity behind Apple’s design philosophy. I have to say as an iPhone case, this looks pretty awesome.
The designer Cinemo recommends 3D-printing this baby on Polished White Strong & Flexible (Nylon), but Polished Alumide would look cool as well. You can get yours directly through Shapeways if you don’t have a 3D printer for about $30(USD).
[via Shapeways]
Jul 03
Researchers use 3D printer, sugar, to create a fake artery network for lab-grown tissue
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Printing a chocolate heart is easy enough, but how about an actual organ? There are folks working on it, but it turns out those veins of yours aren’t exactly a breeze to replicate. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT may have found a semi-sweet solution — dissolving a sugar lattice in a batch of living Jell-O. The research team uses a RepRap 3D printer and a custom extruder head to print a filament network composed of sucrose, glucose and dextran which is later encased in a bio-gel containing living cells. Once the confectionery paths are dissolved, they leave a network of artery-like channels in their void. Tissue living in the gel can then receive oxygen and nutrients through the hollow pipes.
The research has been promising so far, and has increased the number of functional liver cells the team has been able to maintain in artificial tissues. These results suggest the technique could have future research possibilities in developing lab-grown organs. MIT Professor Sangeeta Bhatia, who helped conduct the effort, hopes to push the group’s work further. “More work will be needed to learn how to directly connect these types of vascular networks to natural blood vessels while at the same time investigating fundamental interactions between the liver cells and the patterned vasculature. It’s an exciting future ahead.” Scientists at other labs could also get their mitts on the sweet templates since they’re stable enough to endure shipping. Head past the break for a video of the innard infrastructure.
Researchers use 3D printer, sugar, to create a fake artery network for lab-grown tissue originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jun 28
We might not quite be at the level of technological brilliance that allows us to sit at home on the computer, press the “print” button, and have a cake appear next to you in a few minutes. But that didn’t stop a group of creative 3D printing fanatics from using similar technology to create a machine that autonomously prints icing onto a cake, allowing custom, advanced designs.
The group, which refers to themselves as CNCDudez, uses what it calls a “punch and extrude method” wherein a package of buttercream frosting is maneuvered around the cake, and squirted out in a very specific pattern so as to match the design laid out in the specified program. It kind of reminds us of the “Burrito 3D printer” we saw just a little while ago. There are actually fabrication machines that can create recipes and food using 3D printing technologies.
This trend of 3D printing components and processes being used for purposes other than material and product fabrication is certainly an interesting development. It’s a symbol of just how mainstream the technology has become, in just a very short span of time. Anything that can be used in applications from sophisticated medical research to street-corner food vendors has a bright future.
[via Geek.com]
3D printer enthusiasts create cake-icing machine is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 25
A new, significant milestone has been reached in the world of 3D printing. You may know 3D printing as a neat, novelty kind of technological advancement that allows people to print their own mugs, earrings, etc. Or you may know it as a significant achievement in medical research. Or you may know it as something else. But there’s one thing that every application of 3D printing relies on – available printing material. That’s where Objet comes into place.
Objet, French for “Object,” of course, entered into a 3D printing merger with Stratasys earlier this year. That has boosted the company’s ability to rapidly expand its research and development to the point where, recently, it announced that it now has the technology to use 107 different materials in 3D printing applications. Most low-level commercial 3D printers only focus on one kind of plastic or similar substance.
But for industrial-grade purposes, there needs to be a lot more flexibility. Objet allows printing of flexible and rigid materials, opaque and transparent, and all manner of colors and shades. “Objet has become the first 3D printing company to break the 100 materials barrier. Considering that we had half this number just a few short years ago, this growth in material choice confirms our commitment to consistently deliver new and enhanced material properties to our customer,” the company said in a statement.
[via Online TMD]
Objet Ltd sets 100-material 3D printing record is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 24
Futuristic Paper Reflects Light Like 3D Objects and Might Just Save Printed Media [Video]
Posted in: Today's Chili
File this one under Straight Out of Our Sci-Fi Dreams. When you shine a light on a photo from different angles, nothing happens to the image. But what if the shadows on it could change as if it were a real, three-dimensional object? That day is closer than you think. More »
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