3D Printing In Architecture

An architecture studio in the Netherlands have sign up for the race to build the world's first 3D-printed house, by announcing plans to for a two-story canal house. The studio DUS Architects, believe that the technology behind 3D printing have grown so powerful that they believe this goal is very achievable. They plan to begin work within the next 6 months, using the KamerMaker Printer as their primary source of development. This is a mobile printing facility that lives in a shipping container designed by DUS Architects. It can be moved from site to site, and its name literally means "room creator" in Dutch. It can print rooms up to 2x2x3.5 metres (width x length x height).

The KamerMaker will be placed on the building site by the Buiksloter-canal in northern Amsterdam, where it will manufacture the building bit by bit, starting with the facade and first room, then the following rooms in the months after, for as long as it takes within the three-year period for which DUS has access to the site. Each part will be printed and tested at a 1:20 scale before being manufactured in actual size.

And although the building will start off being made from polypropylene, the team hopes to incorporate biomaterials and recycled plastics into later rooms.

The aim is not necessarily to build a dwelling at this time, but a public research centre for 3D-printed architecture where interested parties can visit to watch and learn more about the manufacturing process.

Little Emma's "magic arms"

Recently we posted about how 3D printing enabled the medical field to form something like an 'organ shop'.

Now, 3D printing has made a remarkable change in a little girl's life.

This is Emma playing like any other ordinary child would at her age, without the worry of being a sufferer of a serious and rare neuromuscular condition called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita. It causes her joints and muscles to be weak, making her unable to move her arms, since the bicep muscles do not expand or contract.

Source: http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/08/06/emmadrawing.png

So simply put, a set of appendages were 3D 'printed' and were attached to an exoskeleton structure called the Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton (WREX). It is said to be attached to a wheel chair in normal applications. But Emma was too young and so it was designed to be lighter and easier for her to move around while keeping it attached. WREX is held by a number of resistance bands attached around Emma's arms. It is said to give a sense of 'floatation', which allows voluntary movements instead of an artificially created movement. Although WREX has been around for a number of years, Emma was the first patient to have 3D printed parts.

An excerpt from Tariq Rahman (Mechanical engineer and head of pediatric engineering and research at Nemours):

"Without the 3D printer, we would not be in a position we're in with these younger kids, making them a WREX device that can go with them..."

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WoZ2BgPVtA0

That concludes the post and click on the link below for the main article, if you want to read the full story.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57487822-1/3d-printed-magic-arms-give-little-girl-new-reach/

3 Things You Need To Understand About 3D Printing

1. Customization Is Effectively Free With 3D Printing.

The advantages of 3D printing are all about total user customization. “Complexity is free,” said Duann Scott of 3D printing market Shapeways. ”So customization is free.” A room full of identical chairs costs much less than a room full of custom-fit seats when you use traditional manufacturing methods—but with 3D printing they cost exactly the same as their bespoke counterparts, as long as the materials are the same. That’s because you can use a different design for each individual item without resetting machinery or making new molds.

2.Software needed for 3D printing will get easier by necessity

Standard CAD product engineering software takes hundreds of hours to learn, mostly because it’s not about creating a literal model of what you want to print.

“You’re planning for the things enacted in the manufacturing process that will make the shape you want,” said Matthew Griffin of Adafruit, a site for buying electronics parts and learning how to tinker with them. “It’s kind of a proxy. You have to learn the metaphors and just go native, but before that point it can be frustrating to even navigate the design space.”

3. 3D printing isn't good for everything

There are plenty of things (like firearms) that you could probably make with a 3D printer but shouldn't. The mechanisms of a gun aren’t easily produced by a 3D printer, and will perform sub-optimally. This concept, extends to other products as well: Just because we can print it doesn’t mean we ever will. Easier interfaces are key to making 3D printing mainstream, the panel agreed, but material limitations are also a concern. “Right now,” Scott said, “You can only use one material at a time. Most things around you are made from multiple materials. This microphone has a shit ton of stuff inside of it.” Not being able to print electronics and their casings in one go, the panelists said, was a major drawback.

Interview With Cody Wilson

Four Ridiculous Remakes Of The 3D-Printed Gun

http://b-i.forbesimg.com/andygreenberg/files/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-29-at-11.07.40-PM.png

The original 'Liberator' takes the look of a classy, yet gangster style firearm. Something that almost every male would want as part of their collection. Even better yet, the blueprints of it can be printed out, edited and reprinted. The downloader of the original file can do, really, what they wish with the file.

There have been a few bizarre and ridiculous versions of the Liberator that had to be shared with you:

http://b-i.forbesimg.com/andygreenberg/files/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-29-at-11.04.23-PM.png

The Compensator has taken the Liberator to a whole new gangster level. The long barrel scream run away or ill pop you, yet the clean lines of the action and grip have turned the Liberator into a more functional and seemingly more accurate version.

http://b-i.forbesimg.com/andygreenberg/files/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-29-at-11.05.26-PM.png

The Suicidal seems to be something out of comedy movie, but someone actually spent time and effort in designing this piece of hilarity. As you can see from the image above, the trigger is pulled, and the projectile is fired straight into the chest of the firer. A gimmick but is a true reflection of the abilities of 3D design and 3D printing, as well as the thought processes of the people within our society.

http://b-i.forbesimg.com/andygreenberg/files/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-29-at-11.05.48-PM2.png

The Redeemer has given multibarrel firearms a whole new meaning. Combining what seems to be three handguns, to be able to fire bullets multidirectional, allows a shooter to rarely miss their target - if ever! The Redeemer however, is simply not practical. It requires 3 hands, of which we only have 2 and cannot demonstrate the full potential of this masterpiece.

3D Printed Rifle Gets First Shot

On August 7 of 2013 a 22-year-old Canadian man, known as Matthew, claimed to have fired the world's first 3D-Printed rifle. This comes after the Cody Wilson became the first man to fire a 3D-Printed pistol earlier in the year. Matthew claimed that after the first shot the gun cracked, however he has now rectified the problem and was able to fire 14 shots before the plastic around the barrel began to show cracks. This developed has now allowed him to physically hold the gun and fire, as opposed to pulling the trigger with a string from distance, which was how he fired the first ever shot.

3D-printed guns have inspired increased debate on the availability of blueprints for such weapons. Cody Wilson, creator of the Liberator, posted the gun's blueprints online for anyone to access. Although the plans were taken down at the request of the US government, they remain widely available on file-sharing networks. 


http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/first-3dprinted-rifle-successfully-fires-14-shots-20130807-2reen.html

Medicine's new "Organ Shop"

With the advancement of technology came many developments in how we do things. But nothing can was ground breaking like the 3D printing technology. In medicine it's referred to as Bioprinting and it rewrote the books on what can be done and cannot be done in medicine.

Organ transplants are common but there was always a limit to what can be restored. This was due to the availability of organs and some organs just cannot be transplanted. But now the organs can be "printed" and even little blood vessels can be made. Here's a taste of Bioprinting:

Printed replica of an ear

Source: http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/article_image_big/public/images/2013/07/PSC0813_GB_090_0.jpg?itok=yUnJNNCy

Blood vessels being printed

Source: http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/article_image_big/public/images/2013/07/PSC0813_GB_092_0.jpg?itok=hBDR473N

A lot of people suffer from burns every year and most of they usually are not able to restore their burnt skin to its original state. But 3D printing promises to change that.

Skin grafting using 3D printing

Source: http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/article_image_big/public/images/2013/07/PSC0813_GB_094_0.jpg?itok=5eqgBiSG

At the current rate of developments thanks to Bioprinting, the healthcare system will not be the same as we know it today.