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If you’ve never heard of One Piece, you should check it out! If you prefer to read, the manga is fun. The anime version also does a great job of making the manga come to life.
via Thingiverse
Chopper, manga character
If you don’t want to print many support structures, use split one.
In the paper “3D printed cork / polyurethane composite foams,” authors N. Gama, A. Ferreira, and A. Barros-Timmons delve further into the world of enhanced materials for better performance in thermal applications. Here, they explore the use of cork in creating a 3D printing composite for PU foams—often used in insulation, including the ‘sprayed in place’ foam, popular due to:
Because of the low thermal conductivity, the authors state that PU foams are more likely to offer strength in required applications and can be controlled for specific functionality by adjusting how pores are filled via reactants—making such products useful in the aerospace and automotive industries for both sound and impact absorption.
Materials like cork can also be used to further reduce thermal conductivity and act as a damping agent, and have been found effective in previous studies in liquified form too. With the advent of 3D printing and additive manufacturing, a variety of new geometries can be produced, and in many new materials—including a wide range of composites today. TPU (Pearlthane 11H94) was used in this study, with cork powder residue. The composite material was mixed to create a filament then used to fabricate the PU forms with an Anycubic Chiron 3D printer.
3D sketch of the PU foam.
The researchers found the cork to have a ‘pronounced effect’ on the filament; however, while increasing the amount of cork residue, they noticed it caused the filament to become ‘rougher,’ suggesting ‘insufficient impregnation’ of the cork.
“Nonetheless, voids were not observed, which are known to be starting points of material failure under stress, indicating good wettability of the cork by the TPU,” stated the researchers.
The cork also decreases the strength of tensile properties in the 3D printed foam samples, with the authors reporting a reduction of up to 15 percent. While they point out that this does ‘suggest lower bond performance,’ interlayer bonding may not be compromised as the foams are more vulnerable to compression stress. Because of that, the team does not expect maximum tension and elongation at break to cause any defect in the performance of the 3D printed foam samples.
“From the results obtained, it was observed that the presence of cork affects the morphology of the ensuing foams, leading to rougher skeletons as well as to the presence of voids in the struts of the resulting PU foams. Due to the presence of cork as well as to the presence of voids, the resulting foams presented lower density, lower thermal conductivity and proved to be more flexible. Moreover, the addition of cork did not affect the thermal stability of the composites and despite of affecting the layer-to-layer bonding performance may not compromise its application,” concluded the researchers.
“Besides their thermal insulation properties, their elastomeric behavior suggests that the 3D printed foams produced may be used as thermal insulation, sound absorption or as damping materials. Moreover, progresses in the 3D printing technology, may increase the added value of the 3D printed foams for example in medical applications such as wound care or surgical aids. Yet, thorough compatibility tests would be required.”
SEM images of PU foam-0cork (a); PU foam-1cork (b), PU foam-3cork (c) and PU foam-5cork (d).
You might be surprised to find out how often foam is the center of 3D printing research and innovation, from ink to aerospace applications for NASA, and even syntactic filaments designed to create foam for marine use. Find out more about composites in foam fabrication here. Discuss this article and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.
Images of PU foam-0cork (a); PU foam-1cork (b), PU foam-3cork (c) and PU foam-5cork (d).
[Source / Images: 3D printed cork / polyurethane composite foams]
CRP Technology has been among the first to import additive manufacturing technology to Europe, and has developed the Windform® TOP-LINE family of composite materials.
They are some of the international market’s most high-performance Carbon- or Glass- composite laser sintering materials, in use for more than 20 years in the aerospace, UAV, defense, avionics markets for the most demanding applications.
Therefore it is unquestionable that CRP Technology has been changing the rules of additive manufacturing, smashing records and setting models nowadays that apply to 3D printing with polyamide materials.
A clear sign of this continued performance is Windform® FR1 (FR stands for Flame Retardant), the new-born material from the Windform® TOP-LINE family of composite materials for additive manufacturing.
It is intended to become a game-changing material in the field of 3D printing for its uniqueness: it is the first Flame Retardant (UL 94 V-0 rated) material for additive manufacturing which is carbon fiber reinforced.
It is also passed the FAR 25.853 flammability tests successfully as well as the 45° Bunsen burner test.
“Only a few weeks from the launch of a new range of Windform® materials, the P-LINE for HSS technology,” commented Franco Cevolini, VP and CTO at CRP Technology. “I’m very proud to introduce a new revolutionary composite material from the Windform® TOP-LINE family of materials for laser sintering technology. Our aim is to constantly produce technological breakthroughs. With Windform® FR1 we can steer you toward the proper solution for your projects.”
Franco Cevolini. Ph©Elisabetta Baracchi
“I’m firmly committed to solving one of the most important challenges, maybe the main one, for people who work in the 3D printing field “– added Cevolini – “the ability to ensure the performance and reliability of the AM process and materials. At CRP Technology and CRP USA we work extremely hard to control our process. We do testing on both equipment and materials on a regular basis. This kind of effort lets our customers understand that we are not just cranking out parts like a traditional rapid prototyping service bureau.”
Someone could say this technology and materials are expensive, but it is not correct especially in a long-term perspective. It is proven that using professional 3D printing and Windform® composite materials produce substantial cost savings considering the whole process performance.
“With professional 3D printing and Windform®” commented Cevolini – “the manufacturing process, from the design phase to product development, is optimized. Quality is not a cost, it is an investment”.
Aerospace and Avionics application spotlight
Not only the new-born Windform® FR1 material, but all the Windform® materials allow manufacturing of functional prototypes as well as finished, high-performance functional parts.
“Windform® materials from the TOP-LINE range of composite materials have some unique properties. Let’s consider, for example, Windform® XT 2.0: resistance to UV, low outgassing and its lightweight versus strength are some of the key characteristics that allow for it to replace a traditional material like Aluminium in some applications.”
The freedom of additive manufacturing allows the creation of more complex geometry, especially in the aerospace field.
TuPOD deployed © JAXA NASA
Recently CRP USA , the U.S.-based 3D printing company partnered with CRP Technology, contributed to mark a new milestone in the small satellites arena with TuPOD, the innovative cubesat manufactured via laser sintering in Windform® XT 2.0. This ground breaking project was carried out by GAUSS, Teton Aerospace, Morehead State University. From a distance, the TuPOD looks relatively simple, but upon closer examination there are some areas in the design that would have been more difficult to accomplish with traditional manufacturing methods.
The significant performance of Windform® is creating new ways to invent and manufacture, while it is proving to be a viable option for the innovative design and high-performance features associated with advanced Aerospace applications.
“Leveraging 3D printing and Windform® composite materials properly has been a key advantage that our customers in the Space Industry have quickly adapted to. Whether it is entire structures or smaller components, we have been amazed at the creativity. The time to produce the parts is often dramatically less than through traditional methods.”
Progress has been also made in the avionics field: recently Windform® composite materials combined with laser sintering technology, have been used to manufacture some external parts of the wind tunnel model in 1:8.5 scale for the prototype of the new Leonardo Helicopter Division tiltrotor AW609, for a series of dedicated low-speed wind tunnel tests. (Designed, manufactured and assembled by Metaltech S.r.l., under supervision of Leonardo HD).
Tiltrotor-AW609. Courtesy Leonardo HD
These 3D printed parts highlight the perfect union between advanced 3D printing technology and Windform® high-performance composite materials. Thanks to the Windform® materials, it was possible to complete and test the model in the wind tunnel within a very short time, with excellent results and with high-performing mechanical and aerodynamic properties.
The 3D printed parts have been created by CRP Technology using Windform® XT 2.0 are nose and cockpit, rear fuselage, nacelles, external fuel tanks and fairings.
CRP USA also contributed to demonstrate the effectiveness of additive manufacturing and use of Windform® as a structural material for avionics applications: on behalf of Leonardo HD and under the control of ATI Co. – Newport News (the model supplier), CRP USA manufactured via laser sintering and Windform, the external fuselage and additional components for a new 1:6 model.
It was created for a high-speed wind tunnel test campaign at NASA Ames Unitary Plan 11 by 11 foot transonic wind tunnel, as part of a thorough review of aircraft behavior.
The model scale selected was 1:6 of the full scale in order to be fully compatible within the given constraints of the physical size of the NASA 11 by 11 tunnel.
The architecture of the new 1:6 model for transonic high-speed tests was very similar to the AW609 model but with some improvements in order to have the remote controls for the flaperons and elevator surfaces.
For the first time the Windform® XT 2.0 Carbon-composite material was used for an high speed model tested at NASA AMES facility.
Windform® TOP-LINE family of high-performance composite materials have passed NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) outgassing screening, suitable for aerospace applications:
In addition:
Rolls Royce continues their foray into additive manufacturing on an even larger scale, selecting the SLM Solutions’ SLM®500 quad-laser machine, furthering progressive production; however, these parts are not meant for their cars, but instead will aid in fabrication of aerospace components—an industry where they also lead in manufacturing of quality engines common to Airbus and Boeing.
Headquartered in Germany (with other offices around the globe), SLM Solutions Group AG is a manufacturer of AM technology and multi-laser machines. Their expertise in multi-laser optics, along with a patented bi-directional recoating mechanism offers significant credibility to their brand, with the SLM 500—on the market since 2013—boasting four lasers enabling build rates up to 171 cm3.
“The SLM®500 serves as the flagship metal 3D printer for high volume processes while offering automated, closed-loop material supply, recovery and sieving to minimize operator handling of metal powder,” states the company in a recent press release sent to 3DPrint.com.
The SLM®500 build chamber
While Rolls Royce is certainly no stranger to precision in parts, as well as accommodating safety measures, building aerospace components lends an even higher level of challenge in production due to stringent certifications required for every part.
“Rolls-Royce is very advanced in additive layer manufacturing, with a state-of-the-art approach and expert team working on extremely complex metal additive manufacturing solutions. SLM Solutions recognized the need at Rolls-Royce for a supplier to support with equipment qualification,” said Meddah Hadjar, CEO of SLM Solutions Group AG.
“We work closely to develop products that meet their needs to assure aerospace certified part quality levels. This way the Rolls-Royce team can document their expertise and control of the systems adhering to strict regulations and keep their ambitious and innovative additive production plans on track.”
While Rolls-Royce has complex manufacturing needs, along with a checklist for industry aerospace regulations and inspections to be considered, they also must meet the obvious demands for productivity. With the four laser SLM 500, and the control of inert gas flow, they can keep a constantly controlled work atmosphere in the build chamber, with gas flow and control mechanisms perfected.
” We are delighted to be working with SLM Solutions and using their quad-laser machines. Rolls-Royce continues to develop our additive layer manufacturing capability to ensure we are at the forefront of advanced manufacturing,” said Neil Mantle, Head of Additive Layer Manufacturing at Rolls-Royce. “We knew that transferring our expertise and knowledge gained from single laser machines to multi-laser platforms would require a close working relationship and SLM Solutions have provided this.”
Rolls-Royce is now part of the SLM Solutions beta customer program too, as they all look forward to new machine accessories in the future.
Embracing additive manufacturing quietly for decades, the automotive industry continues to roll out impressive new prototypes and parts—from BMW to Ford to a range of racing cars—and even the top of the line at Rolls Royce, with their Phantom bearing over 10,000 3D printed parts, and future plans for their luxury vehicles, such as personalized exteriors. 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: SLM Solutions]
Len Wagner is Chief Technology Manager at Impossible Objects, Inc. He is also currently a Managing Partner at Deer Valley Ventures, investing in early stage advanced and additive manufacturing companies. He gives good insight into both the technical world as well as the financial realm within additive manufacturing. He also is involved as a chairman of the FabLab Association for the Museum of Science and Industry.
What has lead you to this point?
I started my career in computer graphics. I was focused on the software that produced the images. I did a lot of graphics simulations. This lead to CAD and finite element analysis. In 1992 I was a researcher and was able to work on one of the first 3D printers. I was able to help researchers to visualize their data. Later on I was able to work on the financial side as I run a fund. I sit between these two things. I am also involved in a lot of STEM education as well and it has been important for me to give back. It took a while, but I figured out I had a skill of explaining the technical side to the business side. It took a while to realize that was important.
What kind of developments have recently disrupted this marketplace?
We have seen a big movement in the industry. We have moved from prototyping to manufacturing. We are at the very beginning stages of this. Customers and vendors are doing things to make this transition. It is a very different set of requirements from making prototypes to actual production levels. We at Impossible Objects are somewhat betting on this. The word disruption is funny. It is a slow methodical process to move in this field. Manufacturing moves very conservatively and methodically. More parts are moving toward digital manufacturing and additive manufacturing. If you talk to a large aircraft manufacturer like Boeing, a modern aircraft has hundreds of parts. A small percentage of these parts are continuously being made with additive manufacturing. Good steady progress is important. The full life cycle of material properties is important to understand.
Can you explain your work and day to day operations for Impossible Objects?
I run the engineering group as the Chief Technology Manager. The main function we have is designing and building new machines. We want to improve the process with new materials and machinery. We work on process development and I also help to make an automated machine that may assist with these types of process developments. I also work with customers for them to work with machines.
You have an interesting mix of skills in terms of venture capital as well as engineering. Can you give some insight into how you operate within both worlds?
It really comes down to building teams and having communication skills. It is important to build the communication skills. It’s important to translate the cultures. Engineers have a certain way of speaking and it is important to be able to explain things in terms of the business side and that realm of communication.
I feel the future of the additive sector lies within the precision of 3 dimensional imaging techniques. What are your thoughts on this?
I think it is important to measure the quality control of a product. 3D optical scanning at a cheap rate is not really on the market just yet and I think there is a great market need for it. Why is there not an open source package that is oriented towards this?
People compare the additive manufacturing industry to the early days of computers. Do you agree or disagree and why?
I largely agree but it is not a perfect analogy. I agree that the transformation for being able to do manufacturing cheaper and faster at a small scale is similar to how programming costs went down extremely over time. Authoring is hard to do in 3D. Thinking in 3D is difficult. I also do not think there is a Moore’s law of Additive Manufacturing. I do think the ability to change the manufacturing sector is large.
Museum of Science and Industry Fab Lab
Can you explain some of the work you do as chairman of the FabLab Association for the Museum of Science and Industry?
With the FabLab Network, I am an advisor to the board of the MIT FabLab Network. The Museum of Science and Industry has a FabLab and it is great to expose people to one aspect of the maker movement. Schools and organizations are allowed some exposure and experience to this environment. There is an educational aspect of the Museum as well. This also invigorates people. It sparks the interest in people as well. I help to raise funds and I advise the lab. The equipment has become relatively cheap so schools can have access to these items. It is important for us to teach educators how to use these types of machines. It is important to give people access as well as give people mentorship.
What are some key points that companies should be focusing on in terms of the additive manufacturing strategies?
We must focus on material properties. It also is important to know the speed of prints. It is also important to have the economics down pat as well. Lastly, I think these machines have to work within your larger manufacturing environments. We are adding a camera to slice every image of all levels that have been printed. It is also to take advantage of digital manufacturing and mass customization.
One of the companies leading the way in Brazil’s growing 3D printing industry is targeting education. Founded in 2014, 3D Criar is a big part of the additive manufacturing community, pushing their ideas through and around economic, political and industry limitations.
Like other emerging countries in Latin America, Brazil is lagging the world in 3D printing, and even though it is leading the region, there are too many challenges. One of the big concerns is a rising demand for engineers, biomedical scientists, software designers, 3D customization and prototyping specialists, among other professions needed to become an innovative leader in the global arena, something the country is lacking at the moment. Furthermore, private and public high schools and universities are in great need of new tools to learn and interact through collaborative and motivational learning, which is why 3D Criar is offering solutions for the education industry through 3D printing technologies, user training, and educational tools. Operating in the professional desktop 3D printer segment and distributing the world’s leading brands in Brazil, it carries the widest range of technologies available from a single company: FFF/FDM, SLA, DLP and polymer SLS, as well as high performance 3D printing materials such as HTPLA, Taulman 645 Nylon and biocompatible resins. 3D Criar is helping the industry, health and education sectors develop a customized 3D printing workflow. To better understand how the company is adding value in Brazil’s complex educational, economic and technological life, 3DPrint.com spoke with André Skortzaru, co-founder of 3D Criar.
André Skortzaru speaking about 3D Criar at the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo in Brazil
After years spent as a top executive at big companies, among them Dow Chemical, Skortzaru took a long break, moving to China to learn the culture, language and find some perspective. Which he did. A couple of months into the journey, he noticed the country was thriving and a lot of it had to do with disruptive technologies, smart factories and a great big leap into industry 4.0, not to mention the massive expansion of education, tripling the share of GDP spent in the last 20 years and even plans to install 3D printers in all of its elementary schools. 3D printing definitely caught the attention of Skortzaru who started planning his return to Brazil and financing for a 3D printing startup. Along with business partner Leandro Chen (who at the time was an executive at a software company), they established 3D Criar, incubated at the technology park Center of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Technology (Cietec), in São Paulo. From there on, they began to identify market opportunities and decided to focus on digital manufacturing in education, contributing to the development of knowledge, preparing students for careers of the future, providing 3D printers, raw materials, consultancy services, in addition to training -which is already included in the purchase price of the machines- for any institution that wanted to set up a digital manufacturing lab, or fab lab, and maker spaces.
“With financial support from international institutions, like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Brazilian government has funded education initiatives in certain impoverished sectors of the country, including the purchase of 3D printers. However, we noticed that universities and schools still had a huge demand for 3D printers, but little or no staff prepared to use the devices and back when we started, there was no awareness of the applications and technology available, especially in elementary schools. So we got to work and in the last five years, 3D Criar sold 1,000 machines to the public sector for education. Today the country faces a complex reality, with institutions highly demanding 3D printing technology, yet not enough money to invest in education. To become more competitve we need more policies and initiatives from the Brazilian government, like access to credit lines, tax advantages for universities, and other economic incentives that will drive investment in the region,” Skortzaru explained.
The 3D Criar stand at Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo in Brazil
According to Skortzaru, one of the big problems facing private universities in Brazil is the cutback in student registrations, something that began right after the State chose to reduce by half the low-interest loans it offered poorer students to attend the more numerous fee-paying private universities. For poor Brazilians who miss out on the small number of free university places, a cheap loan from the Fund of Student Financing (FIES) is the best hope of accessing a college education. Skortzaru worries that with these cuts in funding inherent risks are significant.
“We are in a very bad cycle. Clearly, if students are dropping out of college because they dont have money to pay for it, the institutions will schematicaly lose investment in education, and if we dont invest right now, Brazil will be lagging behind the world average in terms of education, technological advances and trained professionals, ruining future growth prospects. And of course, I’m not even thinking about the next couple of years, at 3D Criar we worry about the coming decades, because the students that are going to graduate soon will not have any knowledge of the 3D printing industry. And how could they, if they’ve never even seen one of the machines, let alone used it. Our engineers, software developers, and scientists will all have sallaries below the global average,” revealed Skortzaru.
With so many universities around the world developing 3D printing machines, like Formlabs – which was founded six years ago by three MIT graduates becoming a 3D printing unicorn company – or biotech startup OxSyBio, which spun out of the University of Oxford, the Latin American 3D printing ecosystem dreams of catching up. Skortzaru is hopeful that enabling 3D printing in all schooling levels will help children learn various disciplines, including STEM, and in a way prepare them for the future.
André Skortzaru explains how 3D Criar will change the 3D printing industry in Brazil
As one of the top exhibitors at the 6th edition of South America’s largest 3D printing event, “Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo”, 3D Criar is successfully implementing the technologies of industry 4.0 in Brazil, providing customized training, lifetime technical support, research and development, consulting and post-sale follow-up. The entrepreneurs’ efforts to ensure the best 3D printing experience for their users has led to many participations in trade shows and fairs where the startup has gained recognition among competing companies and interest from 3D printing manufacturers eager to find a reseller in South America. The companies they currently represent in Brazil are BCN3D, ZMorph, Sinterit, Sprintray, B9 Core and XYZ Printing.
3D Criar’s success led them to also supply machines for the Brazilian industry, that means this pair of business entrepreneurs also have a good idea of how the sector is struggling to incorporate 3D printing technology. At this time, 3D Criar provides complete additive manufacturing solutions to the industry, from the machines to the input materials, and the training, they even help companies develop viability studies to understand the return on investment from purchasing a 3D printer, including analyzing 3D printing successes and cost reductions over time.
“The industry was really late in implementing additive manufacturing, especially compared to Europe, North America, and Asia. This comes as no surprise, since during the last five years, Brazil has been in a deep economic recession and political crisis; as a consequence, in 2019, the industrial GDP was the same as it was in 2013. Then, the industry began to cut costs, mainly affecting investment and R&D, which means that today we are implementing 3D printing technology in its last stages, to produce final products, bypassing the normal phases of research and development that most of the world is doing. This needs to change soon, we want universities and institutions to investigate, experiment with the technology, and learn to use the machines,” explained Skortzaru, who is also Commercial Director of 3D Criar.
One of the most visited stands at Inside 3D Printing Conference & Event was 3D Criar
Indeed, the industry is now more open to 3D printing and manufacturing companies are searching for FDM technologies, like multinationals Ford Motors and Renault. Other “fields, like dental and medicine, haven’t entirely grasped the importance of the advances this technology brings.” For example, in Brazil “the majority of dentists finish university without even knowing what 3D printing is,” in an area that is continuously advancing; moreover, the speed with which the dental industry is adopting 3D printing technology may be unrivaled in the history of 3D printing. While the medical sector is continuously struggling to find a way to democratize AM processes, as surgeons have big restrictions to create biomodels, except for very complex surgeries where they are being used. At 3D Criar they “are working hard to make doctors, hospitals and biologists understand that 3D printing goes beyond just creating 3D models of unborn babies so parents know what they look like,” they want to help develop bioengineering applications and bioprinting.
3D Criar helps students’ ideas come to life (Image: 3D Criar)
“3D Criar is fighting to alter the technological environment in Brazil starting with the younger generations, teaching them what they will need in the future,” Skortzaru said. “Although, if universities and schools don’t have the technology, knowledge, and money to sustainably implement the required changes, we will always be a developing country. If our national industry can only develop FDM machines, we are hopeless. if our teaching institutions can’t afford to buy a 3D printer, how will we ever carry out any research? The most renowned engineering university in Brazil the Escola Politecnica of the University of Sao Paolo doesn’t even have 3D printers, how will we ever become an additive manufacturing hub?”
3D Criar’s printers for education: the ZMorph (Image: 3D Criar)
Skortzaru believes that the rewards of all the efforts they make will come in 10 years when they expect to be the biggest 3D company in Brazil. Now they are investing to create the market, growing demand and teaching the basics. In the last two years, the entrepreneurs have been working on a project to develop 10,000 Social Technology Laboratories throughout the country to provide knowledge for new startups. With only one of these centers to date, the team is anxious and hopes to add many more in the next five years. This is one of their dreams, a plan that they believe could cost up to one billion dollars, an idea that could take 3D printing into some of the most remote areas of the region, places where there is barely any government funding for innovation. Just like with 3D Criar, they believe they can make the centers a reality, hopefully, they will build them in time for the next generation to enjoy them.
This is a part of a series part one is here, two here, three here.
The results for small, positive features are shown in Figure 11 and Table 4. FFF had the best results with seven features being within tolerance. However, SLA, SLS and FDM accuracy was fair to good with all measurements being within or very near the specified tolerance band. MJF proved to be very inaccurate (0.0017 in. to 0.0256 in.) and very imprecise (0.0023 in. to 0.0252 in.). For precision, SLA, FFF and FDM were comparable with SDs ranging from 0.0008 in. to 0.0027 in. Except for FDM, small, negative feature results (Figure 12 and Table 5) were not consistent with those for small, positive features. FDM continued to show both accuracy (-0.0026 in. to 0.0042 in.) and precision (0.0006 in. to 0.0016 in.). SLA, SLS and FFF, on the other hand, have poorer accuracy and precision. Meanwhile, MJF has generally better results for both accuracy and precision.
Machine to Machine To determine the influence of inconsistencies between machines on accuracy and precision, Figures 13, 14 and 15 present the dimensional measurement results for Machine 1 and Machine 2. These charts use the same format as those that preceded them, but the results for each machine are presented side by side. Low variability is shown when the mean deviation from nominal dimensions and standard deviations (SD) are similar for both machines. For large, small-positive and small-negative features, FDM proved to be the most consistent across two machines for both accuracy and precision. For precision, the standard deviation difference did not exceed 0.0007 in. MJF, on the other hand, proved to have significant differences in both accuracy and precision. For accuracy, the average difference between machines is 0.0128 in. while the average SD difference is 0.0021 in. Additionally, for some features, such A, B, E and F, MJF lacked precision on individual machines. In comparing machine-to-machine results for SLA, SLS and FFF, Figures 13, 14 and 15 do not show a consistent pattern across all features for either accuracy or precision.
Conclusion Considering all mechanical properties, FDM and SLA had the lowest variabilities with tensile strength and tensile modulus COVs below 3.55% and EAB variances below 14.12%. MJF performed well in all areas except EAB in the XY orientation. SLS, CLIP and FFF faired poorer with significantly higher variations and a lack of consistency in the COV values for the three properties between build orientations. When evaluated for property variability between machines, FDM and MJF were the most consistent. However, SLA and CLIP each showed good machine-to-machine consistency for two of the three properties. In contrast, SLS and FFF both showed high variability between the mechanical properties delivered from each machine. The analysis of dimensional accuracy and variance showed FDM to have the best results across large, small-negative and small-positive features. SLA proved to have low variances but was less accurate. The opposite was true for SLS, which was accurate but imprecise. FFF results were mixed with accuracy and precision varying by feature type. In the dimensional component of this study, MJF was found to be both inaccurate and imprecise. In the comparison of machine-to-machine results, FDM also was found to be the most consistent with respect to both accuracy and precision. Meanwhile, MJF had the highest discrepancies between machines. SLA, SLS and FFF had a mix of good and poor variance in the machine comparison. This study found that for mechanical properties, considering both overall results and machine-tomachine variances, FDM and MJF had the best precision. For dimensional accuracy and variance, both overall and machine-to-machine, FDM had the best results. Therefore, this study shows that for variance in mechanical properties and geometric dimensions, FDM is the front-runner for manufacturing readiness.
This paper was written by Todd Grimm, a long established 3D printing consultant. It was however commissioned by Stratasys.
A super cool 3D printed mobile surveillance tank built with a raspberry Pi!
Shared by edwardchew on Thingiverse:
Finally I can build a fully functional home surveillance rover with the below requirements,
- charging station to run 24hrs
- low latency
- can be controlled over internet/web from anywhere in the world
- mostly 3D printed
- runs on Raspberry Pi 3
See the full details and download the files!
Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!
“My Drone has the Hands and I send it to do the shopping” was the title of the email that Youbionic‘s Federico Ciccarese sent me. Sometimes you can’t beat a subject line. I’ve been a huge fan of Youbionic, the bionic 3D printed robot project, for years now. Just between you and me, I’ll publish these guy’s shopping list if they send it to me. Their open source robot project has led to a lot of great robots and innovative things being developed by people the world over. There is however, a mad hatter portion to the Youbionic team’s innovations that continues to surprise. Not content to stay within their cuddly open source corner, they regularly produce nightmare fuel for us. These are the people who put arms on the already terrifying Spot the robot hellhound, proposed a nice little upgrade for you and me with a potential third or fourth arm, and also a double hand device to give us each more hands.
Technically would you now have three hands, four?
So whenever I get an email from Youbionic one hand goes to open ‘Add New Post’ while the other shakes a bit in trepidation as I open the email. This one did not disappoint because the 3D printing team working hardest on creating a dystopian future through 3D printing has now put hands on a drone. Open up your speakers and help bring in the end of humanity people, because here it is:
The Drone for Handy by Youbionic is completely literally the thing we will see hovering overhead as we cower in the caves as civilization collapses around us.
Thus the Youbionic team wants to usher in our doom. Undeterred? You can download the parts and make your own Drone for Handy on the Youbionic site. Sign up and you’ll get Google Drive access to the STLs for free. Not sure why all of the shareables sites are sleeping and not trying to get Youbionic on their platform. Unless of course they’d prefer to limit their camping to video games and don’t want Hitchcock’s the Birds with Drones to become humanity’s greatest new problem.
Rarely have seriously bad ideas been brought to us in so beguiling a manner as they have in the hands of Youbionic. Part of me really wants these guys to succeed and get millions of adherents to build their robots. Part of me thinks of all the wonderful prosthetics and aids for humans that such a development could create. But, there’s this spidey sense thing that I get from these guys that makes me very worried.
The above clip is literally what is playing in my head right now. Only instead of comparatively harmless crows, it is a flock of Youbionic Drone for Handys that is bearing down on us. Only they don’t make bird sounds like crows but they sound kind of like scissors snipping, like from Coraline. Oh great, now I won’t be able to sleep for weeks. Download the STLs here, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
[Images: Youbionic]
Jose Manuel is a healthcare entrepreneur and CEO, bringing new technologies from lab to bed to improve people’s quality of life. He is working in more than 20 countries. He is the Founder and CEO of BRECA Health Care and REGEMAT 3D. He is looking to pioneer the revolution of 3D printing and bioprinting in healthcare. He was born in Valencia in October 1983. He studied engineering in Valencia, Spain, Braunschweig, Germany, and Oxford, UK, where he got his MSc in Motorsport engineering supported by the grant program of F1 world champion Fernando Alonso. He has also studied biomedical engineering in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and he just finished his PhD in Biomedicine in Biomedicine at the University of Granada, he is now a doctor.
What inspired you to do a lot within the healthcare industry?
While working at the F1 team, I decided to focus my career on the intersection between engineering and medical sciences. I could have worked on designing cars but medical devices were more motivational and challenging for me.
Ten years ago I started researching and designing custom made implants and thought that, 3D printing could be used for doing amazing customized implants. In 2010, I started working on the BRECA Health Care Business plan. The company was founded in early 2011, and at that time 3D printing was not that popular. Various people told me that I was never going to bring it to the clinical world. We now have dozens of successful clinical cases around the world.
Back in 2011, a researcher from the University of Granada asked him to develop a system in which we could print cells rather than Titanium, to solve the problems of apoptosis and the differentiation I had been working in 2D cultures. At that time the number of available solutions were 0. This is how I got inside this amazing industry. Some years later I started REGEMAT 3D to bring to society the results of our development from 2011. Now after few years we have a presence in more than 25 countries.
Early in 2018 and thinking on his future research after the PhD, I decided to get involved in a research group with a clinical focus to bring new treatments to patients that is how I started at the PITI3D platform as a Scientific coordinator and also a main figure in the start up of the platform.
What are interesting things to pay attention to within the healthcare sector for bioprinting? How does 3D Printing revolutionize your day to day work?
We believe that bioprinting is in a kind of hype period. Biological sciences can benefit a lot from these ranges of different technologies, but it is not true that we are going to be printing functional organs in the short term. You can say that to do an IPO and get funding but after some years when results don’t ́t come as expected, you are going to fall. I saw it many years ago with 3D printing in medical devices, then after that the curve of expectations decreases and a lot of detractors arise. Just when you show the results it is when the technology starts being used and find a place in the market.
Also it is important to make clear that what we print with a bioprinter is not a tissue; it is a matrix, a scaffold, with cells in 3D, that as we showed many years ago behave in a similar way to the cells in vivo, but still a procedure that needs to have a functional tissue to be implanted.
Mechanical stress after printing and other ingredients play an important role in the outcomes of the tissue. We think of bioprinting as an amazing range of technologies to achieve our aims as researchers that want to mimic living structures but there still are a lot of things to do to cover all tissues. That is why we in REGEMAT 3D offer not just a bioprinting system but a customized one for every specific application. In the short term we see a lot of opportunities in the combination of 3D printed custom made synthetic medical devices and bioprinted structures to regenerate an injury.
What are some projects that Regemat has been working on recently?
We have been working on a lab on a chip Kit for antitumoral treatments. This includes Cornea Regeneration. We are also testing a new biomaterial based on the skin of a butterfly as well.
What are some projects that BRECA HealthCare has been working on recently?
We have worked on surgical guides, prosthesis and implants for Maxillofacial, thoracic box, osteosarcoma, and knee-related projects.
Are there ways to fuse these two industries as it seems that the work you do must have interconnection in order for one to transition between both?
Thanks to our previous experience with Breca Health Care, we offer some advantages to our collaborators such as:
- Benefiting from all the results and new components developed by our bioprinting community
- We can customize the solution and the specifications for your research. This will make it unique.
- Funding opportunities
- Royalties for co-development
- As implanting medical devices experts, we will help you to bring your results from lab to bed
- Advertising in media
- Discounts in the modifications and ad hoc projects
- Discounts in the new versions and components
- Pre-clinical and clinical projects in cooperation with PITI3D
What are some concerns you have over the healthcare industry as a whole in terms of innovation? What are some benefits that the industry has as well?
The regulatory sector is important. We are now trying different applications with this technology at a pre-clinical phase, but we need to work on what will happen once we can go through the clinical applications with real patients. The benefit of this situation is the fact that we are helping to develop the regulation and we are completely involved in this sandbox.
Lastly, what is the future of bioprinting? What fields of study will be crucial for its future development?
Our approach is to create a tissue is quite unique as we are always thinking on the clinical application and how custom made surgical implants can promote the formation of a living tissue and the regeneration of a defect. For the creation of a living tissue it is crucial the bioprinting process and the ingredients selected to achieve the objective to create a functional specific tissue the scaffold, the cells, the bioinks and the other ingredients to be printed that will promote the formation of the right tissue. But also the maturation procedure applied to the 3D cell laden constructs, that is even more important. If we think about bioprinting as a technology to recreate all the structure in the same form as shown in a living tissue, we are going to fail. We have to think on bioprinting as a way of creating cell laden 3D constructs as a precursor of a functional tissue. The maturation and tissue formation process, in vivo or bioreactors mimicking the implantation body, will be as important or even more than the bioprinting one. Considering the strategies of both parts will be crucial to obtain the desired functional knee cartilage tissue. They are pioneering both fields!
