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3D Printing News Briefs: August 3, 2019

For this edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re starting off with a celebration – Scansite created 3D printed replicas of the spacesuit that Neil Armstrong wore for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Moving on to business and metals, 3D Hubs has hired a new Managing Director for the US, and DigiFabster published a case study. IAM 3D HUB’s newest technological partner is ArcelorMittal, and finally, SmarTech Publishing released some new research on metal powder bed fusion.

Scansite Creates 3D Printed Replicas of Famous Spacesuit

Just over 50 years ago last month, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, and people around the world have been celebrating this important anniversary. In 2015, the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum launched a Kickstarter campaign to conserve, preserve, and digitize Armstrong’s spacesuit from that fateful day; this year, to commemorate the anniversary, the museum contacted Scansite to create 15 extremely faithful replicas of the suit for its 50th celebration of the moon landing. The interactive, life-sized “Apollo at the Park” replicas were made to display at 15 MLB ballparks around the US, together with an augmented reality app so visitors can learn important facts about the Apollo 11 moon mission.

“Baseball parks are the perfect venues for new generations to learn more about that summer night on July 20, 1969. The spacesuit replicas allow us to bring a piece of Apollo to Americans everywhere,” said Ellen Stofan, director of the National Air and Space Museum.

Scansite conducted high resolution 3D scanning of the original spacesuit, which was tricky because it features many details and different materials. The company used both a Breuckmann structured light scanner and a Faro touch probe to acquire the scan data, which resulted in a file with over 5.3 gigabytes of data. The data was edited, using surrounding topology of each hole in the information as a guide to fill everything in, and Scansite created a full-scale 3D print of the spacesuit, in 16 separate panels, on a Voxeljet 3D printer out of porous acrylic material. The sections were glued together to create the master model, which was then used to make a mold; finally, each replica was hand-sanded and painted, finished with a tough, autobody clear coat, and mounted on an engraved granite base.

3D Hubs Names Robert Schouwenburg as US Managing Director

Online manufacturing marketplace 3D Hubs announced that Robert Schouwenburg, the former COO & CTO of Shapeways, will be joining the company as its Managing Director for the USA. The company recently announced an $18 million funding round, which it’s been using to expand its team in the US, including opening a new North American headquarters at Chicago’s mHUB. Schouwenburg has over 20 years of experience in the industry, and will be working with the Chicago team to better service the company’s North American customer base, in addition to expanding 3D Hubs’ CNC machining services offering in Chicago.

“We’re at the start of ‘industry 4.0,’ an era when automation and data exchange will accelerate manufacturing technologies, and 3D Hubs is uniquely positioned to become a leader in this upcoming industrial revolution,” stated Schouwenburg.

DigiFabster Helps MakeItQuick Lower Costs and Increase Revenue

3D printing software and services provider DigiFabster recently released a case study about its customer MakeItQuick, a UK 3D printing service bureau. DigiFabster helps machine shops and service bureaus like MakeItQuick generate more new revenue, while lowering the cost of labor-intensive activities such as order entry, project management, and quoting. MakeItQuick teamed up with DigiFabster not long after it launched, and quickly started seeing results – the company was able to reduce quoting costs by up to 95% and order transaction costs by up to 85%. This allowed MakeItQuick to scale quickly and grow their revenues by 25% a month.

“The software handles 90% of our quotes without the need to manually review every part that is submitted. The time savings were immediately evident,” said Marco Massi, the owner of MakeItQuick.

“We save even more once a quote is confirmed. All the order details are at hand, giving us the opportunity to analyze the data and decide on the best way forward.

“In less than a year with DigiFabster, our revenue has grown steadily. We’re now experiencing a 25% monthly revenue increase, paving the way for our future success.”

IAM 3D HUB’s New Technological Partner

The latest technological partner of AM technology incubator IAM 3D HUB is ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s top steel and mining companies. The company, which has a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 18, will support the Barcelona-based hub with its technologies, materials, and knowledge to allow for new applications of and metal materials for 3D printing. The two share similar objectives, but ArcelorMittal hopes to use its experiences to contribute a new point of view.

ArcelorMittal’s membership in IAM 3D HUB will allow it to develop new metal 3D printing materials, as well as leverage the hub’s end-to-end solutions platform and work with stakeholders. By incorporating this company, the hub is welcoming a new member in the value chain of 3D printing “as a material developer.” It joins technological developers like HP, Renishaw, and Wacker Chemie, strategic partner Fira de Barcelona, and post-processing specialist Abrast by Coniex.

SmarTech Publishing: New Research Note on Metal Powder Bed Fusion

Less than a year ago, 3DPrint.com’s owner, 3DR Holdings, acquired an interest in industry analysis firm SmarTech Markets Publishing, and we continue to have a great relationship. If you’re ever interested in reading the firm’s latest data reports or market studies, you can find them all under the Research tab on our home page. Speaking of research, SmarTech’s VP of Research Scott Dunham, who has prepared the company’s Additive Manufacturing with Metal Powders Report for the last five years, recently released a research note on metal powder bed fusion, titled “Who Will Win (and Who Will Lose) the Metal PBF Marathon?”

“Despite what headlines, technologists, and marketing executives would have you believe, the metal 3D printing “race” is a marathon, not a sprint. To continue with the metaphor, we’re probably in about mile 10 of the race today –certainly not at the beginning anymore, but also quite a long way from the end. We are now about twenty three years since the first commercial metal powder bed fusion (PBF) systems came into view,” Dunham wrote.

“With so many closely comparable suppliers of metal PBF equipment now vying for market share, this begs the question, who has what it takes to make it? Everyone in the race today is working toward similar visions of an “Industry 4.0” future that hinges on metalworking going fully digital and highly automated from end to end, from prototyping all the way up to scaled production, with varying levels of customization capabilities based on industry needs along the way.”

Dunham goes on to list some of the technology’s “standout traits,” and names the company’s predictions on how the metal PBF race will turn out: which companies will be the front runners (EOS, GE Additive, Trumpf).

To learn more, check out SmarTech’s recently published “Powder Bed Fusion Markets, A Metal Additive Manufacturing Market Analysis.”

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

The post 3D Printing News Briefs: August 3, 2019 appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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Collaborative Makerspace Network NextFab is Celebrating Ten Years of Business in Philadelphia

Collaborative Philadelphia-based workspace NextFab isn’t just made up of one location, but is actually a regional network of makerspaces and business incubators, where artisans, hardware entrepreneurs, and makers can feel free to come in and work on their latest projects. Membership-based NextFab, founded by Dr. Evan Malone as “NextFab Studio” a decade ago, has three mid-Atlantic locations and offers all the training, capital, tools, and consultants that people need to turn their great ideas into real products and businesses.

The NextFab website reads, “Turn an idea into reality, develop a product or business, and create something you only dared to dream up – all while growing your own skills and finding your passions.”

The community currently boasts over 1,250 members across its Philly and Delaware locations, and encourages everyone from startups and entrepreneurs to enthusiasts and hobbyists to come out and get to work – an easy thing to do when you consider how much NextFab has expanded its offerings over the last ten years.

In addition to classes, support, and special programming, NextFab offers the following departments to its members:

  • 2D printing and photography
  • 3D printing and scanning
  • Design software
  • Electronics
  • Jewelry
  • Laser cutting and engraving
  • Metalworking
  • Textiles
  • Woodworking

Soon, the makerspace network will be celebrating its tenth year in business, and wants to make sure everybody knows about it.

“When I opened our first makerspace at the University City Science Center, in 2009, I was responding to the 2008 economic crisis and the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US. I wanted to help more people to make things for themselves – to feel empowered, to create new art, new products, new businesses. I’m proud of what my colleagues and I have achieved over a decade, but nothing makes me prouder than that thousands of amazing people dare to dream, share their dreams, and make them real at NextFab,” said NextFab’s President Dr. Malone. “Our vision for the next ten years is to ensure that anyone with a passion for positive change, and the grit to see it through, has what they need to bring tangible improvements to the world.”

NextFab has a lot of memorable moments in its past, including opening the 2013 Philadelphia Science Festival with the “Science Carnival After Dark” event right after moving to its South Philly location, the 2014 opening of its second Philadelphia location in Northern Liberties, the launch of its RAPID Hardware Accelerator program, and opening its Wilmington, Delaware location in 2017.

In order to properly commemorate its ten-year anniversary, NextFab will soon be hosting a large-scale street festival in and around its Washington Avenue location in South Philadelphia.

On Saturday, June 15th, NextFab will be celebrating “A Decade Made Better” with an outdoor anniversary celebration, produced by Milk Street Marketing. The festival, which will take place from 2-8 pm that day, will occupy the whole 2000 block of Philadelphia’s Washington Avenue and is free and open to the community. At the anniversary festival, attendees can enjoy live music, interactive activities, local food vendors, and a craft beer garden, which will be provided by Dock Street Brewing Company; the brewery is actually opening its new location a block away later this summer.

NextFab’s members and startup companies will be also be out on display during the event, and attendees can enjoy self-guided tours of the Washington Avenue facility. In addition, people can also register for a special drawing at the event for the chance to win several different prizes – including a free trial membership and the opportunity to participate in a pop-up business pitch competition.

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

[Images: NextFab]

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3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Milestones: EOS Celebrates Three Decades

Germany’s EOS has been revolutionizing and expanding the world of manufacturing for 30 years now. As one of the leaders in 3D printing and additive manufacturing, their innovative impact in past decades has been formidable. And it continues, as they celebrate three decades of progress in industrial 3D printing.

Founded in 1989 by Dr. Hans J. Langer, EOS has an installed base of almost 3,500 industrial 3D printing systems around the globe. While most 3D printing enterprises centered around rapid prototyping to begin with, the technology overall has become well-known for offering affordability, speed, and the ability to make items never before possible. Along with that is a growing popularity for low-batch and serious production of functional 3D printed and additive manufactured parts.

Since 1989, the EOS vision has been to create 3D printed products with laser technology—and while it may not be as much of a novelty anymore, the world of 3D printers still has infinite room for development. The EOS team sees their success in the world of industrial 3D printing as stemming from their pioneering spirits, courage in creating, and a motivation to make people’s lives better with the industry- and customer-specific 3D printing solutions they produce.

The founder of EOS, Dr. Hans Langer.

With a centered focus on laser sintering, EOS has continued to make strides:

“While the early phase of the enterprise was still dominated by stereolithography technology, since 1997 EOS has concentrated exclusively on laser sintering,” states the team in their latest press release. “This was a far-reaching decision at that time and the right strategy, as it turned out. The powder-bed based process is particularly well suited to today’s rapidly growing market of series applications. This is true both in terms of quality and reproducibility and the speed and cost of part production.”

EOS 3D printing products allow clients to manufacture high-performance parts that function in a wide range of applications such as aerospace, the transportation sector, and medical field, due to lighter weight, flexibility, and stability. EOS technology produces less waste and can also be integrated into existing production mechanisms.

“EOS’ technology and know-how are accordingly used in a variety of industries and areas of life: Whether fuel-saving components in the aviation sector, spare parts on demand for buses and trains, or prostheses individually created to suit each patient,” states the company in their press release.

While 3D printing and additive manufacturing offer extensive benefits to so many different industries today, conventional manufacturing techniques are still heavily relied on. EOS sees the big picture and envisions all these technologies coming together for many companies in a busy digital factory atmosphere. This is an exciting concept that EOS is actively advancing:

“The establishment of complete digital production platforms is a major goal that we are aiming to achieve in the coming years,” said Dr. Adrian Keppler, CEO of EOS. “It’s not just about providing the right 3D printing solutions, but about evaluating, planning, setting-up, and optimizing AM production cells to leverage all the advantages and possibilities of digitalization.”

EOS P 800

Today, EOS employs over 1,200 people around the world—a far cry from the original team of four! They are still family-owned, and independent, offering AM systems in both polymers and metals. EOS also offers a consulting unit, Additive Minds, with 300 successful customer projects.

Much has happened over three decades, and EOS has assisted in the spectacular evolution of 3D printing all along the way. Just in the past few years they have begun focusing on a larger group strategy while expanding training programs too. They have created automated systems for additive manufacturing with metal, expanded further with a new 3D printing plant, and acquired and integrated Vulcan Labs into their continually growing fold.

Find out more about EOS here. 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: EOS]

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3D Printing News Briefs: October 16, 2018

We’re starting with some business news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, including stories about a new 3D printer, an anniversary, and a 3D printing investment. Cincinnati Incorporated has launched a new high temperature version of its SAAM 3D printer, and EOS will supply Visser Precision with five new metal 3D printers, including its M 400-4. VBN Components celebrates its tenth anniversary, and an Israeli 3D printing startup has received about $400,000 in funding. Researchers in Iran have successfully 3D printed flexible electronic circuits, and 3D printing was used to replicate a Chinese grotto. Finally, the Golf Channel will be featuring 3D printed golf clubs tonight.

New High Temperature Version of SAAM 3D Printer

Last week at FABTECH 2018 in Georgia, build-to-order machine tool manufacturer Cincinnati Incorporated (CI) launched a brand new high temperature version of its SAAM (Small Area Additive Manufacturing) 3D printer series. The SAAM HT 3D printer has a nozzle that can sustain temperatures up to 450°C and a bed temperature up to 260°C, which makes it possible to process materials like polycarbonate, PEEK, and ULTEM. Courtesy of its continuous patented automatic-ejection mechanism, the SAAM HT can be used for small batch production, and is a good choice for manufacturing tooling involved in high temperature operations.

“All materials compatible with SAAM can be used on the HT version. This level of versatility makes it a valuable asset in any manufacturing setting. We are enabling manufacturers and engineers to create the custom parts they need for their most demanding applications,” said Chris Haid, the General Manager of the NVBOTS Business Unit at CI.

EOS Supplying Visser Precision with New Metal 3D Printers

EOS M400-4

Denver-based Visser Precision, which provides advanced metals manufacturing solutions, has doubled its metal 3D printing capacity, thanks to the terms of an agreement reached with EOS at the recent IMTS trade fair. Visser has purchased three EOS M 400-4 3D printers, and two of the recently introduced EOS M 300-4 systems, making it the first organization to acquire the new platform. Market demands for DMLS-quality metal components in industries like aerospace and defense led Visser to grow its metal 3D printer capacity, and the new EOS systems will be delivered in a few months.

Ryan Coniam, the President of Visser Precision, said, “Our customers require the highest-performance, highest quality components and we feel partnering with EOS – the metal AM industry pioneers and leaders in DMLS – provides us with the capabilities we need to meet market demands now and in the next few years. Nearly anyone nowadays can 3D print something in metal, the trick is repeatability while meeting and maintaining quality and our investments with EOS mean we can deliver that to our customers.”

VBN Components Celebrating 10 Years in Business

Swedish materials development company VBN Components AB was founded in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, and has come a long way since then. The award-winning company works to continuously develop new and better materials, including its corrosion and wear resistant Vibenite 350 for the plastics industry and Vibenite 290, the “World’s Hardest Steel.”

Martin Nilsson, CEO and one of the founders of VBN Components, said, “After our first patent, describing the process of making extremely clean and low-oxygen-rate materials, we realised that we were on to something big.”

This year, VBN Components is celebrating 10 years in business, with several patents and new, hard materials under its belt. But stay tuned – the company will soon unveil the greatest news in its history, which has been described as “a revolution in material development.”

Israeli 3D Printing Startup Receives Funding

TAU Ventures team, R-L: Nimrod Cohen, Managing Partner at TAU Ventures; Shira Gal, Director of Incubator Programs; Yaara Benbenishty, Director of Marketing and Operations [Image: Eylon Yehiel]

TAU Ventures, the venture capital fund of Tel Aviv University, announced that it has led an investment round worth nearly $2 million for two Israeli startups, including Hoopo and 3D printing company Castor. Founded two years ago by Omer Blaier and Elad Schiller, Castor combines 3D printing with artificial intelligence for its high-tech customers, which enables the companies to lower costs by using advanced technology. Castor’s technology automatically analyzes and determines the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of using 3D printing in the manufacturing process.

The startup will be receiving about $400,000 in combined funding from Stanley Black & Decker, the Techstars Accelerator, British businessman Jeremy Coller, and TAU Ventures, which is the first and only academic-based venture capital fund in Israel.

3D Printing Flexible Electronic Circuits

Researchers from a knowledge-based company in Iran have recently developed 3D printers that can fabricate flexible electronic circuits, which could be used in the future as wearables for clothing, pressure sensors, or industrial talc for cars.

The unnamed company’s project manager, Ali Gharekhani, told Mehr News that these 3D printers only take a few seconds to 3D print the flexible electronic circuits, and that foreign versions of this system are “very expensive.” Gharekhani also said that in light of this new development, his company has already received some proposals for Turkey, and “intends to reach an agreement with the Turkish side on production of clothes by 3D printers” before its rivals in Germany, Canada, and Korea.

3D Printed Replica of Chinese Grotto

Yungang Grottoes are a cradle of Buddhist art, playing host to more than 51,000 sculptures. [Image: Zhang Xingjian, China Daily]

There are over 59,000 statues carved in 45 different caves in the 1,500-year-old Yungang Grottoes, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001. This week, a full-size, 3D printed replica of one of the grottoes passed experts’ tests. The Yungang Grottoes Research Institute in northern China’s Shanxi province, a Shenzhen company, and Zhejiang University launched the project, which is based on original cave No 12, also called the “Cave of Music.” The 3D printed replica is 15 meters long, 11 meters wide, and 9 meters high, weighs less than 5 metric tons, and is claimed by the institute to be the world’s largest 3D printed movable grotto. High precision 3D data was collected to print the replica out of resin, which took about six months, and it can be divided in parts and pieced together within a week.

“We plan to color it with mineral pigments before the end of this year,” said Zhang Zhuo, head of the institute. “In this way, the replica will maintain its original size, texture and color.”

In the future, the 3D printed grotto replica will be added to exhibition tours with the institute’s other cultural relics.

3D Printed Golf Clubs on the Golf Channel

Tonight, at 9 pm EDT, EOS will be featured, together with Wilson Golf, on the NBC Golf Channel show Driver Vs. Driver. The seven-episode series follows aspiring designers of golf equipment as they compete against each other for the chance to win $500,000. In addition to the money, the winner will also have the opportunity to have their driver design sold, under the Wilson Staff name, at retail stores.

The show gives viewers a behind the scenes look as advancing teams work with engineers at the company’s innovation hub, Wilson LABS, to evaluate, refine, and test out their concepts. Tonight is the third episode, and showcases several designers’ use of 3D printing to make the best golf driver club. Wilson is among a few other companies, including Krone Golf, Ping, Callaway Golf Company, and Cobra Puma Golf, that is using 3D printing to produce golf clubs and other equipment.

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

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3D Printing News Briefs: August 10, 2018

We’ve got some business news to start things off with in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, followed by a little research and a really cool 3D printed costume. The Department of Defense has awarded a contract to Contour Crafting, and Sutrue is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Facebook has made the decision to ban blueprints for 3D printed guns, and a Siggraph paper takes an in-depth look into near-eye displays. Finally, several companies helped the non-profit organization Magic Wheelchair make a really cool 3D printed wheelchair costume for a big Star Wars fan.

Contour Crafting Receives Department of Defense Contract

One of the first methods of large-scale 3D printing, Contour Crafting, uses large but lightweight robotic 3D printers, which can quickly put down layers of building material to rapidly create entire buildings onsite in just days. The California-based corporation itself is on a mission to commercialize disruptive construction technologies, and we recently learned that the US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Contour Crafting a $3 million research and development contract to build a concrete 3D printer for the purposes of building construction for disaster relief.

According to the company’s website , “Effective 25 JUL 2018, the Department of Defense has awarded Contour Crafting Corporation with a Rapid Innovation Fund contract in the domain of large and construction scale 3D printing. The outcome of this funded R&D program is expected to be a technology which, among other applications, will effectively respond to disaster relief situations with expedient, safe and sustainable structures and buildings.”

This information confirms that the DoD is not putting all of its eggs into one basket, so to speak, and is seeking outside help for its construction 3D printing goals.

Sutrue Celebrates Ten Years

Medical device startup Sutrue first started working on a 3D printed suture stitching device to help prevent needle stick injuries back in 2014, and became the first company to successfully 3D print a suture device. But Sutrue’s story actually began back in August of 2008, when its founder Alex Berry was stuck at home with a broken ankle and watched a documentary that provided some insight into robotic suturing. In an effort to keep busy during his recovery, Berry, who had some basic CAD knowledge, got to work.

After moving to the UK, Berry officially started Sutrue in 2012, meeting some influential people along the way who helped him get closer to achieving his goal of creating a 3D printed suture device. The startup completed a £30,000 crowdfunding campaign in 2014, submitted another patent, developed a few mutually beneficial relationships with other companies, and secured further funding for continued device development. Now, Sutrue is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Berry’s initial idea.

The startup wrote in a post, “It’s been ten years of ups and downs, filled with much uncertainty particularly in the first five years in which Berry didn’t even know for sure that the device would work. He has maintained the progression of the device through having a healthy dose of insanity, extreme resourcefulness, and an inquiring and problem-solving mind. He’s gone against many societal norms to have created two working prototypes of his automated suturing device – the robotic and the handheld, but as the route to market becomes closer and closer, he’s glad to have fought against the odds to see the project through to completion.”

Facebook Bans 3D Printed Gun Blueprints

Gun with 3D printed parts. [Image: CNET]

There’s been an increased amount of conversation on the topic of 3D printed guns recently, after news broke of a settlement between the US State Department and Texas open source 3D printed gun designer Defense Distributed, run by Cody Wilson. The settlement states that Wilson and his non-profit organization can publish files, plans, and 3D drawings of guns in any form, and are also exempted from export restrictions; additionally, the government will be paying nearly $40,000 of Wilson’s legal fees. This means that people who weren’t legally able to purchase firearms before, such as felons and domestic abusers, can 3D print their own guns without serial numbers. As you can imagine, many are not happy with this decision. This week, Facebook, the world’s largest social network, said that it will ban any websites that host and share blueprints of 3D printed guns, though the designs have already been available online for years.

According to BuzzFeed News, a Facebook spokesperson said, “Sharing instructions on how to print firearms using 3D printers is not allowed under our Community Standards. In line with our policies, we are removing this content from Facebook.”

MSN reports that Facebook did not “immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the Ghost Gunner” 3D printed gun.

Siggraph Paper on Optical Design for Augmented Reality Near Eye Displays

This year’s annual conference on computer graphics, SIGGRAPH 2018, starts this Sunday, August 12th, in Vancouver. One of the papers published for the conference, titled “Steerable application-adaptive near eye displays,” discusses see-through near eye displays (NED), which are currently being used in the Hololens, among other things. According to the Stanford Computational Imaging Lab, most NEDs work by using a stereoscopic image pair to optically drive the visual system’s vergence state to “arbitrary distances,” but drives the focus (accommodation) state towards a fixed distance.

The technology is a bit of a long shot, due to people getting motion sickness or their eyes getting tired, but if we can get it to work, I bet every movie theatre in the world will employ it.

The abstract of the paper reads, “The design challenges of see-through near-eye displays can be mitigated by specializing an augmented reality device for a particular application. We present a novel optical design for augmented reality near-eye displays exploiting 3D stereolithography printing techniques to achieve similar characteristics to progressive prescription binoculars. We propose to manufacture inter-changeable optical components using 3D printing, leading to arbitrary shaped static projection screen surfaces that are adaptive to the targeted applications. We identify a computational optical design methodology to generate various optical components accordingly, leading to small compute and power demands. To this end, we introduce our augmented reality prototype with a moderate form-factor, large field of view. We have also presented that our prototype is promising high resolutions for a foveation technique using a moving lens in front of a projection system. We believe our display technique provides a gate-way to application-adaptive, easily replicable, customizable, and cost-effective near-eye display designs.”

Co-authors of the paper are NVIDIA Corporation‘s Kishore Rathinavel, Praneeth Chakravarthula, Kaan Akşit, Josef Spjut, Ben Boudaoud, Turner Whitted, David Luebke, and Henry Fuchs from UNC Chapel Hill.

3D Printed Star Wars Wheelchair Costume

Here’s something fun and heartwarming to kick off your weekend – non-profit organization Magic Wheelchair, which makes free, bespoke wheelchair costumes for kids, created a 3D printed Poe Dameron X-Wing Fighter wheelchair costume for a 13-year-old, wheelchair-bound Star Wars fan named Vedant Singhania to wear at last month’s Comic-Con International. Project partners included Pixologic, which used its ZBrush digital sculpting software to provide the design and modeling work, and Dangling Carrot Creative, which used the high print speeds of the Massivit 1800 3D printer to make 50 separate costume pieces in a little over two weeks. Massivit also donated 3D printing materials, and Monster City Studios assembled the large wheelchair costume.

“We connected with Magic Wheelchair because we knew our technology and modelling expertise could assist them with the fantastic work they are doing for children in wheelchairs,” said Pixologic’s 3D Product Development Manager Paul Gaboury. “After we designed the costume, Dangling Carrot Creative was the final piece to the puzzle. The company allowed us to 3D print life-size to help remove the need for molds or casting which saves substantial time and money.”

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