Tag: 3dprinting

MIT scientists make it easy to tweak designs for 3D printing

Two different groups of MIT researchers found a way to print out objects with glass instead of plastic and to make a printer spew out 10 different materials at once earlier this year. This particular team along with researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel, however, have chosen to focus on creating a system that makes it possible for even novices to customize the objects they want to print. Designers typically have to adjust a CAD file to tweak the object’s looks by typing in numerical values, and then wait for minutes to hours for a simulation software to make sure the final product is viable. The system this group developed dramatically speeds up the process. It displays the design along with sliders representing different parameters — say, the height of a shoe’s heel or the base size and width of a mug — on a web browser. The user can then easily play with the sliders to achieve the look they want. Now, here’s the best thing about it: it won’t let you design unstable structures or anything that can’t be printed or used. Nobody has to spend hours waiting for software to make sure the modified digital object is feasible, and all the user needs to do is to send it straight to the 3D printer. Filed under: Science Comments Source: MIT Tags: 3dprinter, 3dprinting, MIT

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MIT scientists make it easy to tweak designs for 3D printing

3D? Feh. MIT has already moved on to 4D printing (video)

The bad news: just as much of the world is starting to get excited about the prospects of 3D printing , science is moving on to the world of 4D. The good news: in the future, you might not have to assemble that Ikea chair yourself. “4D printing” is the term cientists are using to refer to a technology that MIT’s Skylar Tibbits talked up during a recent TED appearance. The fourth “d” here is time, referring to an object that, once printed, is capable of changing shape (over time, naturally). “Essentially the printing is nothing new,” Tibbits told the BBC. “It is about what happens after.” So far the concept has been demonstrated with thin strands of plastic, which, once added to water, form into a predetermined shape, using energy from the absorption. Suggested future applications involve furniture, pipes, bikes and buildings. First, however, scientists will have to demonstrate the technology on a larger structure, of course, and they’ll explore the possibility of other energy sources, like heat, sound and vibration. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Source: BBC

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3D? Feh. MIT has already moved on to 4D printing (video)

Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Most of the attention surrounding 3D printers in medicine has focused on patching up our outsides, whether it’s making skin to heal wounds or restoring the use of limbs . The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just detailed a technique that could go considerably deeper. By mixing natural gel put through an inkjet printer with thin and porous polymer threads coming from an electrospinner, researchers have generated constructs that could be ideal for cartilage implants: they encourage cell growth in and around an implant while remaining durable enough to survive real-world abuse. Early tests have been confined to the lab, but the institute pictures a day when doctors can scan a body part to produce an implant that’s a good match. If the method is ultimately refined for hospital use, patients could recover from joint injuries faster or more completely — and 3D printers could become that much more integral to health care. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Gizmag Source: Institute of Physics

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Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants