3d printed shoes Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

Motorized, 3D Printed Shoes Could Make Virtual Reality Truly Immersive

Some prefer reading, others would rather binge-watch the latest Netflix show, and then there are the gamers. We often see 3D printing used in the gaming world, with classic board games, newer tabletop games, roleplaying games, and even virtual reality (VR) games. I’d say that VR is already a pretty immersive experience in its own right, but there are always people trying to take this technology to the next level, through grabbing and even feeling things in the VR environment, wearing backpacks for a free-roaming virtual experience, and moving with VR treadmills and shoes. Unfortunately, many reasons abound as to why none of these options seem to offer full immersion, such as large, pricey headsets and non-responsive haptic technology.

Alexander Evans, a maker and software engineer, could have the answer to completely immersive VR with his motorized shoes that feature mostly 3D printed parts, made on his Prusa systems. The shoes allow users to move omnidirectionally—each one has a track of horizontally facing wheels, and another track of vertically facing wheels. Each battery-powered shoe also features an attached motor, to help control movement.

Leg binding

“I’m making motorized shoes to be used with virtual reality games. The shoes keep you in the same spot as you walk, like a treadmill. You can walk infinitely in the game while staying in the same spot in the real world. The shoes are omni-directional so you can turn, strafe, and walk in any direction,” Evans wrote in his blog.

When wearing the heavy shoes, users can glide in multiple directions, and don’t even have to lift their feet off the ground. But, in order to wear them to play VR games, Evans says you also need to wear a safety harness that’s mounted to the ceiling or a strong, stable structure; this way, you don’t have to worry about rolling into a wall or, God forbid, out of a window.

First test with sideways motion

“These are basically roller skates that you wear with your eyes covered,” Evans commented on his Reddit post about the shoes. “If there is no safety structure in place, the user will fall and get hurt.”

They’re not so much shoes as they are motorized, wheeled platforms onto which you can strap your shoe-wearing feet. It would probably be pretty uncomfortable to put your bare feet on top of all that metal.

The way the design works is really interesting. Check out the image below:

The darker rectangle denotes a foot that is on the motorized platform, while the lighter rectangle signifies that the user is bringing the shoe forward or to the side with their foot. When the right foot is moved, a sensor in the platform detects an acceleration in the Y direction, which then triggers the motor on the left platform to turn on. The second shoe will begin moving backward at the same speed the first is moving forward.

“The speed to use can be calculated by using the accelerometer data (integrating to get the velocity) or by using motor encoders,” Evans wrote. “…When the user takes a step forward with his right foot, the left foot is moved at the same speed in the opposite direction.”

In terms of braking, when the user is standing still, both feet on the platform, the motors should resist any motion until one of the shoes is moved again. Check out the blog post if you want the nitty gritty details of the algorithms Evans is using for these shoes.

Right now, an Android app manually controls the shoes, but Evans is currently tweaking the software so movement can be automated and integrated within VR games. In the future, he hopes to add support for crouching and jogging to his design, though doesn’t believe that the shoes will be able to handle full-speed sprinting.

Evans doesn’t plan on licensing or patenting his shoes, though he wouldn’t mind selling them in the future once he’s perfected the design. In fact, he is a fan of the open source movement, and has added all the 3D printing files for the shoes onto GitHub, so others can download them and try to make their own pair of motorized shoes for immersive VR play.

“I plan on continuing to develop an open-source prototype while I build a YouTube channel. Once I have a sellable version, I plan on using the version for a couple months to see how well they last,” he explained on his blog. “I need to look into any safety regulations I need to meet, and get product liability insurance. I can produce a small batch of DIY kits and sell them. If they sell well, I can get another 3D printer or two and continue producing small batches and continue to build a 3D printer farm.”

(Source: Gizmodo)

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PEAK Launches Alien Beast 3D Printed Shoes for Limited Sale

In the fashion world, we have seen everything from haute couture collections to custom jewelry lines. Shoes of all kinds have been produced too, and usually tend to offer an interesting story—whether futuristic athletic shoes are being customized for runners, or designers are 3D printing elegant ballet flats or outrageous looking high heels.

Now comes the latest in casual cool from PEAK, an international company headquartered in China, known for its extensive sports products. The ‘Alien Beast’ is a new pair of shoes just released by PEAK, and they do have an enticing look—not to mention that edgy name! And while often marketing may be what it’s all about in the fashion and footwear realm, they have continued to refine their development of sneakers (check out their unique basketball and volleyball shoes launched over the past few years).

With the Alien Beast model, PEAK designers embraced the classic “art imitating nature” technique, invoking the influence of exotic animals from China. The design is both striking and alluring due to the sharp edges and corners, and stark lines.

With a detailed design, PEAK meant to imitate both bone spurs and scales, melding a wing shape onto the heel to complement the upper portion—suggesting the opportunity for flight, as well as that of a dragon’s face staring at you. Bringing the designs to life with bionics and integrated into one piece—rather than “spliced” into sections, the goal of the team at PEAK was to create a smooth look, while offering comfort to the consumer. Even with their beastly name, the 3D printed shoes are somewhat delicate, featuring a smooth texture and anti-skid soles.

Overall, the PEAK collection targets consumers engaged in running, tennis, basketball, and football. They offer a wide range of products which are manufactured conventionally but continue to move toward fully 3D printed products. This has been a trend for a smattering of footwear manufacturers, to include some major players like Adidas—ambitiously planning for mass 3D printing automation, only to kill off some of their Speedfactories last year. As other companies like PEAK continue to be optimistic about 3D printing in footwear (in small volume so far), only time will tell whether it is a novelty or truly a technology that can be integrated into and transform this type of manufacturing.

PEAK was founded in 1989 and operates a network of 6,000 stores around the world dedicated to sales of shoes, sports clothing, and accessories. They have also been very involved with athletes worldwide—from medal-winning Olympians to basketball players and soccer players.

Alien Beast footwear went on sale August 12th in Beijing, with only a limited amount of 299 pairs available for sale.

[Source / Images: Tencent]

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Shining 3D & MAGARIMONO Partner for 3D Printed Shoes

STEP DIFFERENT.

Heresy as the standard for the future.

New footwear unbound by conventions.

Possibilities through fusing material and technology.

Processes never before challenged.

We aim for footwear capable of meeting such goals.

-MAGARIMONO.com

High-fashion is getting another boost from high-tech as Hangzhou-based Shining 3D collaborates with MAGARIMONO, a Japanese company manufacturing designer footwear. Endeavoring to send their clientele walking on clouds, Shining 3D and MAGARIMONO have teamed up to create four new designs for the MAGARIMONO ORIGINALS CLOUD Collection.

While most consumers want aesthetically pleasing shoes that are also comfortable (not always an easy ‘feat’ to pull off), the designers invoke the concept of cushiony luxury combined with allusions to the four different types of clouds: cumulus, cirrus, stratus and nimbus.

“The design incorporates an amorphous shape in which water circulates while changing shape, such as bubbles, waves and clouds,” explains the MAGARIMONO team in a recent press release sent to 3DPrint.com regarding the project.

Although most famous for manufacturing of the EinScan series of scanners and 3D printers using FDM, SLA, SLS and SLM technology, this is not Shining 3D’s first experience in working with footwear manufacturers; in fact, they have contributed to the success of other famous shoe brands in China, and continue to grow in that space through offering greater numbers of shoe soles worldwide, printed with TPU on their SLS printers.

“Digital modeling and 3D printing have enabled today´s designers to create novel objects of previously near-impossible form,” said Eric Ludlum of Core77. “Elaborate shapes have become a hallmark of the medium but thankfully form-giving as a practice has pulled back from a complete embrace of the aesthetic and now finds success with a restrained mix of those digital flourished with classic surfaces.

“Japanese brand MAGARIMONO manages this trick in their new line of shoes. What makes it an interesting launch is that they´ve taken some of the creative strangeness cut from the formal resolution, and found a place for it elsewhere in their overall creative package. It counteracts the seriousness and sterility that can build up in tight digitally-enabled product development loops.”

The advantages of 3D printing are on full display here as customized shoes are fabricated for consumers, allowing them to choose the type of cloud they would like to ‘walk on.’ Cloud pattern soles are then produced on the Shining 3D EP-C5050 Pro TPU 3D Printer, continuing with the concept of condensation in the form of ‘waterdrops,’ and the continued ‘transformation of the elements’ as imagined by the MAGARIMONO designers.

3D printing continues to serve the fashion industry, from 3D printed haute couture to dresses bordering on the 4D that morph to their environment, jewelry, and more. Many have also shown interest in 3D printing footwear, including some of the biggest brands in athletic wear: Adidas, New Balance, Under Armour, Reebok, Nike and more.

Find out more about this recent collaboration in the video below, or visit the Shining 3D or MAGARIMONO websites.

[Source / Images: Shining 3D]

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Interview with RESA’s Glen Hinshaw on 3D Printing Shoes

Glen Hinshaw’s path to 3D printing is more circuitous than most. He used to ride in professional cycling circuits, was on the US Postal cycling team, founded a circuit board transport company, was a registered tax planner, was the manager of F1 driver Scott Speed, managed world tours for the Rolling Stones and U2, worked for the US Olympic Committee, managed an outdoor signage company as well as a games company. Along the way, Glen founded esoles that became a pioneer in 3D scanning soles using conventional means to manufacture them in stores and founded a leading custom bicycle fitting center. For nearly 15 years now Glen has been trying to make the in-store manufacturing of orthotics and custom shoe soles a reality. He came to 3D printing not because he was interested in the technology but because it could potentially make his dream of custom footwear for everyone a reality. With his startup RESA, he is trying to realize in-store manufacturing of 3D printing, and we spoke about his journey there.

How did you get started in 3D printing?

I wanted to improve the way custom insoles were made. After spending over a decade using traditional injection molding and CNC milled processes, we learned about AM and began to refine the process for our specific use case. That included designing custom internal structure forms, shaping the way the insole is built to improve performance and reduce production time. Ultimately we got the entire process down to under an hour, Using a process that we can use right there in the retail environment.

What does RESA do now?

Deploys on-premise 3D foot scanning / Custom design / 3D printing systems to retail and medical locations. Using our own unique scanning technology and use our own custom high speed FDM machines.We provide customized orthotic insoles under $140 USD; ready-to-wear in 1 hour or less.

What partners are you looking for?

Banking on retail in the 21st century is a fairly radical idea for many investors. What we have seen is making insoles onsite is really popular with customers, met with excitement and return orders well beyond what we ever imagined. With AM and our FDM processes, our margins can support more growth, with a much lower capex.

For this to grow, we need Investor(s) and industry leaders in both hardware and software technology, who are not afraid to embrace retail 2.0.

Our industry talk about ‘on demand, custom, on-site manufacturing’ as the wave of the future, people are surprised that we have already successfully proven high margins and customer demand far greater than expected for our custom footcare and footwear.

What is the advantage of a 3D printed insole?

Thankfully it’s easy for people to understand the advantage of 3D printing insoles, it’s perhaps one of the most simple use cases. We all know that 3D printing is perfect for making every part unique, and the best insoles are ones that are individually fitted to not just the customer, but to their activities and even their specific footwear. Its an obvious match! .

And of course we have the data to back this up. We didn’t just offer our product to the public and see sales, we had a national trial program that sold more than 50,000 pairs of insoles!

What is the potential?

At the most customer focused level, there is the opportunity for almost anyone to get access to a level of footcare that before many would have found prohibitively expensive. And when over 39% of adults experience foot pain, we know thats not a small problem or a small market.

At the same time, retail must transform, those who do not embrace Retail 2.0 will not survive. Resa is a company offering a product that engages customers and fulfills their needs in a way that is actually made more effective by being face-to-face. We are also able to use the data that customers share with us to make them Happy, not just for insoles, but for other products in the footwear space. With the most highly-evolved, most reliable footcare technology ever developed, we believe the world market can all benefit from our foot shape imaging and custom footwear/foot care products and services, over 14 billion feet worldwide.

Why is it important to 3D print in the store?

Quite simply because having an end-to-end, face-to face process is much better at driving customer engagement.

Because of direct customer interaction, we are able to capture far higher quality scans, that lets us provide a better product, with far higher satisfaction rates. And along the way we get to educate and entertain the customer, learn from them and better tailor our products to them. At the core we aim to be customer focused this means interacting with your customers, there is no better way to do that than in store. And it’s the best customer experience if at the end, you can hand them their product.

You made insoles before through other means, what is the difference?

The conventional ways to make insoles mentioned earlier have lots of limitations, either they are cheap but not custom, or you can have semi-custom and more expensive, or fully custom but you wait 2-6 weeks and it’s very expensive (not to mention the waste and mess if you are milling foam!) 3D printing lets us offer fully custom at point of scan, but at a much lower price, with no mess and in under an hour.

What materials are you using?

We use a custom TPU blend, and in the future we will use more recycled or even biodegradable polymers.

What is holding back 3D Printing in footwear?

Understanding how and when to use 3D printing. There is already wide use of 3D printing for tooling, but it takes time for designers and engineers to learn what works and what doesn’t when it comes to 3D printing for end use consumer products.

What is holding back 3D printing generally?

It’s not technology… Now don’t misunderstand. We need new and better 3D printing technology, but just as in footwear, it’s the lack of knowledge around how to successfully exploit the process that is holding this industry back.

“Can you 3D print this?”, is an easy question. “Should you 3D print this?” is a much harder question.

What advice do you have for a company that wants to manufacture with 3D printing?

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that 3D printing is a magic black box that just produces finished shapes. It’s a manufacturing process, and like any process you need to understand how and when to use it.

What technology developments are you excited about?

We are already working on research to better understand how to change the way we build our insoles, by using machine learning and AI we can change the internal structure of our insoles to improve comfort, better absorb impact and even improve long term health outcomes for our customers.

And the Team at Resa care about our long term impact on the environment, 3D printing does produce less waste, but long term we need to not just use more recycled and re-processed polymers. We need to move to polymers that are actually part of the natural environmental cycle, like bio-polymers. We are all excited to see the fruits of the investments in new bio-plastics and other biodegradable materials for 3D printing.

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Annie Foo Shoe Design Relies on 3D Printing for Bespoke Styles

“The world doesn’t need more shoes, but it deserves innovation.” – Annie Foo

The Annie Foo Design company is busy fashioning the future. A London local who is embracing the 3D printing trend, designer Annie Foo is currently working to complete her master’s degree in fashion at the Royal College of Art. In using Gravity Sketch (also employing virtual reality), she has been able to design and then 3D print her works, consisting of high-tech, fashionable shoes, on an HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200.

Foo recognizes the importance of 3D printing around the world, in fashion and shoes, and especially as she has watched the technology ‘pick up steam over the last several years.’ Along with that, 3D printing has infiltrated nearly every avenue of industry, helping to make everything from extremely important medical devices to auto parts, aerospace components, construction, and comprehensive manufacturing.

Foo Design sees 3D printing as ‘just getting started,’ however, in terms of fashion. Realizing the importance of finding her own niche in the fashion business, Foo has been using the progressive technology more often.

“Passionate about sustainability and moving away from the disposable aspect some parts of the fashion industry have turned to recently she researched the best way to print her shoe designs that would offer flexibility, durability and speed,” state the researchers. “The HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 presented a solution.”

And while the customized shoes are beautiful in design, presenting a serious artistic flair, the shoes are functional. Annie Foo has just begun producing 3D printed shoes for her customers and is working with her first now by 3D scanning the foot and then creating a ‘bespoke’ shoe. Pricing is still being decided on.

Employing the benefits of 3D printing allows for faster turnaround in the product, greater affordability, and better customization, Annie Foo also believes in fighting waste overall. The collection of Annie Foo’s shoe designs can be viewed on Instagram here.

3D printing continues to play a larger role in fashion today, and especially in shoes. While we have seen examples from other fashion designers too that are not quite as realistic for the mainstream in that they are mainly almost considered to be works of art—rather than works of comfort or sensibility—companies like Nike and Adidas have taken off with additive manufacturing and ‘run with it,’ adding 3D printed uppers, materials overall, and items like 3D printed lacelocks.

Other fashion designers have been involved in creating a wide range of dresses, some of which are haute couture and would never be worn in daily life, and then other pieces that are more casual and appealing for realistic consumers.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts; join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source / Images: Annie Foo Design]

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Dow, Dassault Systèmes, and ECCO Introduce New 3D Printed QUANT-U Shoe Midsoles

Dow, known for their historical innovations in chemicals, is lending their expertise to the ECCO Shoes’ QUANT-U line as they partner in creating a new system of shoe-making. Also collaborating with Dassault Systèmes, this power punch of leading companies presented the latest trend in materials, technology, and footwear in Japan recently at the ECCO Shoes’ Spring-Summer preview.

The QUANT-U customized footwear was introduced to other industry peers and experts, writers, stores, and fashion enthusiasts in the Asia-Pacific realm. ECCO’s independent cross-disciplinary design studio, Innovation Lab (ILE), heads up this new experimental line, offering customer-specific fit and consequent comfort—along with performance. 3D printing is the technology behind the project, and Dow’s liquid silicone rubber is the material making it possible.

Known as SILASTIC 3D 3335 Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR), Dow’s new 3D printing material is used to create shoes formed from the wearer’s ‘individual biomechanical data,’ featuring silicone midsoles that adapt to the customer’s shape and typical movements. This form of LSR was created by Dow specifically for 3D printing. Featuring a low viscosity, the versatile silicone results in smooth fabrication processes, accompanied by the requisite high resolution and accuracy.

The footwear team also expects its future customers to benefit from:

Elasticity and recovery
Optimized energy return
Cushioning
Added foot stability

Photo courtesy of QUANT-U

What also sets this new 3D printing venture in fashion/accessories/shoes apart from the others is the timeframe: less than one hour to create, in-store. Overall, the project between all entities culminating in the retail QUANT-U product took two years of development—with a recent press release stating that this brings together 50 years of footwear knowledge on ECCO’s part, and over 70 years in silicone elastomer experience from Dow. While SILASTIC brand silicone rubber was created by Dow over 45 years ago, this type of modern elastomer is helpful in rapid prototyping, the fabrication of complex geometries, and suitable in industrial applications like consumer goods, automotive, electrical, and more.

Photo courtesy of QUANT-U

“The QUANT-U collaboration showcases one of the infinite opportunities SILASTIC 3D-printable liquid silicone rubbers are opening up for designers seeking part design flexibility and the processing advantages of additive manufacturing along with the performance advantages of silicone rubber,” said Charlie Zimmer, global marketing director for silicone elastomers with Dow Performance Silicones.

Fashion and clothing designers around the world are enjoying countless new opportunities today thanks to 3D printing, and the same goes for a variety of different footwear—whether in ballet shoes, high heels, running shoes, or other unique products and projects like QUANT-U–which seem poised to change the face of shoe shopping for consumers open to progressive technology.

The QUANT-U shoes will be available for the first time from the general public on the 20th of April.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source: QUANT-U]

Photo courtesy of QUANT-U

Eco-Friendly 3D Printing at the Center of Designer’s Latest Collection

3D printing has done quite a bit for the fashion world, allowing designers to create new geometries and textures that have redefined the runway. The technology also enables designers to create sustainable garments, and that’s a major focus of Ganit Goldstein, a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Goldstein recently launched a collection called “Between the Layers,” which started as graduation project. Seven outfits and six pairs of shoes make up the collection, which was made from 3D printed PLA and TPU.

Goldstein aimed to combine traditional techniques with new technologies for the collection.

“My work begins by examining the characteristics of the material, the qualities with which I can work with,” she said. “Working with 3D software gives me the freedom to test which boundaries can be broken. It provides the understanding that the connection to the traditional craft material will create a completely new essence to the original material. For example, the technique of 3D layer printing allows me to re-examine which layers can be added and what new connections I can create.”

Goldstein spent some time in Japan as part of an exchange program at the Tokyo University of the Arts. The country helped to inspire her new collection.

“I was extremely fascinated by the Japanese overall aesthetic and design, their very unique perspective and ways of looking at things,” she said.

She began working with upcycling, shredding second-hand fabrics and industrial textile leftovers and then creating new garments using a Japanese textile technique called IKAT weaving.

“The IKAT weaving technique enables me to make patterns from the dyeing of the strings before the final weaving process,” she said.

When she returned home to Israel, Goldstein developed her own weaving process using a Prusa i3 Mk3 3D printer, combining the printing with hand-woven layers. Sustainability is an important value to her, and she appreciates 3D printing for the environmentally friendly opportunities it opens up.

“The technique of 3D printing in fashion is a great sustainable tool,” she said. “It enables designers to experience wide-ranging creative freedom, whilst giving the ability to exercise complete control over what we print and create. With 3D printing, we are able to choose exactly which materials to print and how much we need, as well as the precise pattern we want to obtain, without incurring unneeded waste, a notion that is both empowering and impactful.”

Goldstein uses many reusable and recycled materials in her work, and would like to work more with recycled plastics in the future.

“Creating designs from recycled plastic is an ever-growing interest of mine and I would like to create a growing number of designs that utilize this material,” she said.

In addition to her own 3D printing and weaving techniques, Goldstein also worked with Stratasys to 3D print a pair of shoes, using a Connex3 color 3D printer. Lately she has been touring the world with her collection of 3D printed clothes and shoes, participating (and winning second place) in “Redress Design Award 2018” in Hong Kong, as well as in the 2018 “Arts of Fashion” Competition at The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco

“Working with the traditional methods, and combining them with new technology is my vision and my inspiration for my future works,” she said.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

3D Printing News Briefs: December 22, 2018

Starting with fashion news, moving to automotive, and finally on to business, we’ve got a short but interesting 3D Printing News Briefs for you today. An Israeli fashion and shoe designer just introduced a 3D printed collection at a San Francisco museum, while Bugatti just tested out its 3D printed brake caliper. Roboze has three new points of contact for customers in North America, and Titomic has signed its second MoU of the week for metal powders.

3D Printed Fashion Collection on Display

Ganit Goldstein, an Israeli fashion design student at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem whose work we’ve admired before, recently collaborated with Stratasys on her graduation collection, titled “Between the Layers,” which consists of six pairs of 3D printed shoes and seven 3D printed outfits. The high-end, haute couture collection was inspired by her time in Japan learning a traditional weaving technique called ‘ikat’ at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and all of the pieces were 3D printed on the Objet500 Connex3 Color Multi-material 3D Printer by Stratasys. The 3D printed shoes from Goldstein’s collection were unveiled earlier this week at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum as part of the “Arts of Fashion Foundation” International Student Fashion Competition, of which Goldstein is a finalist.

“Stratasys’ advanced 3D printing technology has opened up endless possibilities for my designs, enabling me to print any design at the voxel level in vibrant colors and a range of materials – all in a single print. This capability to control any voxel for any pattern has enabled me to design without boundaries and to combine 3D printing with traditional weaving techniques to create ultra-realistic shoes. For aspiring designers, the ability to fuse cutting-edge technology with traditional crafts is very exciting, unlocking the freedom to design without limitations of past years,” said Goldstein.

“With the knowledge I’ve gained while working with Stratasys, I’ve come to realize that 3D printing is increasingly becoming an integral part of design thanks to the unique design freedom achievable. For me, the key to good design is to first get an understanding of the traditional design methods and foundations, and then explore how I can enhance the essence of the traditional method with new technology. Not only does 3D printing accelerate the design process and enable reduced production costs, it also affords designers total freedom of design.”

Bugatti Tests 3D Printed Brake Caliper

Last year, super car manufacturer Bugatti revealed that it had created the world’s first 3D printed titanium brake caliper, which was also the largest brake caliper in the automotive industry, as well as the world’s largest 3D printed titanium pressure functional component ever produced. Bugatti worked with Laser Zentrum Nord, part of the Fraunhofer research organization, to develop the caliper, and vehicle trials for the part in series production were expected to start in early 2018.

Earlier this week, the Volkswagen Group posted a YouTube video showing an impressive test run of the 3D printed titanium brake caliper developed by Bugatti. See it for yourself below:

Roboze Announces Three New Customer Points of Contact

Italian 3D printer manufacturer Roboze is continuing its expansion, and this week announced the names of its three new points of contact for its customers in the US, Canada, and Colombia, which will help it create direct channels in the North American market. This news comes right after the company announced that it had closed its first funding round of €3 million to further develop its R&D department and continue its EMEA and USA market expansion.

Its first new partner is ImageNet Consulting, based in Oklahoma City with a total of 18 US offices. The company chose to work with Roboze because of its high quality 3D printed parts and ability to use flame retardant materials. Ontario consulting company TM3 is working with Roboze because it provides the best opportunity for its customers to use a true industrial platform. Based in Medellin, Colombia, i3D is an expert in FDM technology and was impressed with the high quality of parts that were exhibited by Roboze at RAPID 2018.

Titomic Signs MoU with Sino-Euro

L-R: Sino-Euro’s Cristina Cao and S.J. Liang, Titomic’s Jeff Lang and Vahram Papyran, and Sino-Euro’s Alex Zhao

The day after announcing its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Lasting Titanium, Australia metal 3D printing company Titomic announced that it had also signed an MoU with Sino-Euro Materials Technologies of Xi’An Co. Ltd, a Chinese company that specializes in producing spherical powder for the plasma rotating electrode process (PREP). According to the terms of the MoU, which is effective immediately, Sino-Euro will be appointed as Titomic’s Chinese sales distributor and customer support for its Kinetic Fusion systems. It will also provide Titomic with an exclusive supply of its aerospace grade titanium PREP process powders, and develop new metal powder for the Titomic Kinetic Fusion systems.

“We chose to execute this MoU with Sino-Euro for supply of their high-quality Aerospace grade PREP titanium powders aligned with their 50+ years of material science research in titanium and super alloys,” said Jeff Lang, Titomic’s Managing Director.

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

Jabil Steps Forward with 3D Printed Footwear

Product solutions company Jabil has been increasing its focus on additive manufacturing over the past few years, recently going so far as to introduce its cloud-based Jabil Additive Manufacturing Network. The company’s additive manufacturing offerings are broad, but currently Jabil is focusing on one area in particular – footwear. 3D printing is becoming a bigger part of the footwear industry, as everything from running shoes to ballet slippers are enhanced with the technology. Now Jabil wants to become a leader in 3D printed footwear, despite some stiff competition.

3D printed footwear really started with the production of 3D printed insoles, which Jabil had a hand – or a foot – in at an early stage. The company wants to take things a step or two further, though, with the production of 3D printed shoes and even, as one representative suggested, a fully 3D printed ski boot. Jabil named several advantages of 3D printing in footwear, including:

Customization

The problem with the current footwear standard is that shoes are made as not quite one size fits all, but a few sizes fit all. Shoe companies offer a range of sizes, but people’s feet come in all shapes, which don’t always conform to a standard size 8 or 9. 3D scanning and 3D printing allow shoes to be made to order, perfectly fitting each customer’s unique foot size and shape. This also greatly helps people who have orthopedic needs, whether they’re suffering from diabetes or back problems.

On-Demand Local Delivery

People in remote countries are often lacking in proper footwear, but 3D printing can produce shoes as-needed anywhere in the world. This is also important when considering the military, where durable, comfortable, well-fitting footwear is critical. A 3D printer could go a long way toward providing military personnel with new boots whenever and wherever they need them.

Flexibility in Materials

3D printing materials have come a long way, and the selection of flexible materials is greater than ever before. Jabil suggests taking advantage of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) to create insoles, outsoles and other footwear components using materials such as EVA, PU and TPA.

Better Functionality

[Image: Reebok]

3D printing, simply, can create better shoes. With advanced materials available, shoes can be made to be more flexible, durable and functional no matter the application, whether military, athletic, orthopedic or simply leisure. They can be made to last longer, saving money and resources in the long run.

Jabil has a lot of competition in the 3D printed footwear market, as more and more traditional footwear brands begin to turn towards additive manufacturing and completely new companies dedicated to 3D printed footwear spring up. But Jabil benefits from years of expertise in 3D printing, and a knowledge of how to leverage the technology to quickly and thoroughly meet customers’ needs. Jabil offers parts production of performance footwear components such as insoles and midsoles, and uses DfAM to create parts consolidation and unique geometries. Its design services include topology optimization, as well as distributed production in local markets.

You can contact Jabil directly to find out more about its footwear and other manufacturing solutions.

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3D Printed Mycelium Shoe is Striking and Might Even Be Wearable

I can’t imagine walking in the new 3D printed high heels from design studio Ica and Kostika, but that doesn’t make them any less fascinating to look at. Called the Mycelium Shoe, the high heels’ texture does resemble some sort of mushroom, while their shape looks like a kind of curved shark fin sprouting from the ends of the wearer’s legs. More than one commentator on the design has brought up Lady Gaga, and they certainly are Gaga-esque, if not exactly something you’d expect to see on the average person. Don’t get your hopes up about seeing them in person anywhere, actually, because they’re being sold as a limited edition of only five pairs.

The silvery platform heels, despite their intimidating appearance, are designed for comfort – as much comfort as towering, shark fin-shaped heels can offer, anyway. Like other 3D printed shoes, they are customized to the wearer, who downloads an app and takes a series of pictures of their feet. The interior cavity of the shoes is then designed to perfectly fit the wearer’s feet. The rest of the shoe is 3D printed and finished using automotive-grade technologies, which is saying something – shoes and automotive technology don’t generally go together.

The Mycelium Shoe is the first piece being introduced by the brand new Ica and Kostika, which was founded by Ica Paru and Kostika Spaho. The shoe will be part of an ongoing collection called Exobiology.

“Humans have been creators since the dawn of time — it is our very nature — and we want our art to embody our evolutionary story from our past to our future,” the studio states. “Fusing the latest in 3D printing and data capturing technologies, we created not just a shoe, but a story of continuity and innovation, and this is our first step.”

High fashion isn’t often synonymous with comfort, so it’s intriguing to think about 3D scanning and 3D printing being used to make avant-garde, sculptural pumps like these ones wearable. So far, there have been two types of 3D printed footwear – that which is designed for comfort, like customized insoles and athletic shoes, and that which is designed for artistic effect, to show off the incredible geometries and bizarre designs that 3D printing is capable of easily creating and that other technologies might not be able to manage. You don’t often see the two types combined, and that’s true of all fashion – the more artistic-looking it is, the less wearable it tends to be. Might these shoes be the exception? I can’t say without trying them myself, and as I am not Lady Gaga, that’s not likely to happen.

The Mycelium Shoe certainly is something to look at, however – futuristic and almost dangerous-looking with its sharply pointed backs. I admit to being deeply curious about who the five people will be who buy these heels – they’re certain to turn heads if they wear them out and about on the streets. If shoes like these can actually be made comfortable, who knows – we may end up seeing more unconventional-looking footwear being worn by actual everyday people in the future, and 3D printing will almost definitely be a large reason for that.

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