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Tackle “New Normal” with the Wikifactory #SafeToPlay Design Challenge

Online design and collaboration community Wikifactory has initiated a design challenge, being held from the June 8 to July 5. The “Let’s make it #SafeToPlay! Design Challenge” is being run together with Snapmaker and we at 3DPrint.com are a partner. The central concept is to design new inventions, products, and solutions for the New Normal.

We all know that the world has fundamentally changed only very recently. What will the New Normal mean for us all? The Wikifactory team thought about something as simple as play. Play is fundamental for one’s upbringing, but far beyond your younger years, play can still provide you with much joy. But, how exactly can we play now? How can we experience the unbridled joy of being together, interacting and having fun in a safe way?

 

The challenge is exactly this: What products can you think of that promote play, but do so in a virus prevalent world? What games, sports or interactive activities can you redesign for the new world? What CNC-milled, laser-etched or 3D-printed products can you conceive that are virus-resistant and fun? 

The contest will be judged by:

  • Daniel Charny (award-winning creative director, curator and educator at FixEd),
  • Zhijie Liang (Snapmaker)
  • Christina Rebel (Co-founder of Wikifactory)
  • Agustin Arroyo (Professor at UVF Madrid and @flowalistik)
  • Henk Werner, Co-founder of TroubleMaker (Shenzhen)
  • Me

The lucky winners will receive a Snapmaker 2.0 A350, a “3-in-1 digital fabrication machine” that can etch, mill and 3D print.

Winnings:

1st prize:

  • Snapmaker 2.0 A350
  • Feedback on your design
  • Mentoring from the jury to help bring your concept to the prototype stage
  • 1-year FREE Wikifactory Private Subscription for your team for up to 10 collaborators, worth EUR 840

2nd prize:

  • Snapmaker Original
  • Feedback on your design
  • 1-year FREE Wikifactory Private Subscription for your team for up to 10 collaborators, worth EUR 840

8 Runner up prizes:

  • Feedback on your design
  • 1-year FREE Wikifactory Private Subscription for your team for up to 10 collaborators, worth EUR 840

Rules

  1. Your design entries must employ at least one digital fabrication technology, including 3D printing, laser etching or CNC milling (but you’ll score points for building in all three).
  2. You must also incorporate anti-viral materials or processes, into your submission.

“You can add electronic elements or existing objects you’re already working on, as long as your entry fits with the rules of the competition. This is a great design challenge to create fun objects that bridge the gap between functionality, aesthetics, creativity, positive social impact and safety. Presentation and documentation are essential. Our expert panel will also assess aesthetics, great concepts, and how collaborative the design process was. So, don’t hesitate to combine your design submission with a step-by-step tutorial or a nice video to really impress our jury.”

Selection criteria for finalists

“We’re looking for functionality, creativity, aesthetics, printability (accessible manufacturing process), documentation quality (photos, GIFs, video, assembly process, FAQ…), collaboration (engagement on your project and in your social channels), and technical or antimicrobial materials used such as copper-based materials.

“Designs can already be available on other platforms, but the user must be the original creator of the designs in order to be eligible. Users can submit as many designs as they wish, but they will only win one prize. Winners will be announced on 8 July 2020.” 

Entries must: 

  • Be uploaded on wikifactory.com, the world’s first social platform for collaborative product development, and your all-in-one workspace to collaborate, design and prototype with our amazing 3D visualisation and version control software. Here you’ll find all the tools you need to make a great design happen
  • Include the topic hashtag #SafeToPlay when creating the project and invite @flowalistik straight away to provide mentoring and guidance.
  • Be shared on your favorite social media, tagging Wikifactory and Snapmaker
  • Include at least one digital fabrication technology, e.g. 3D printing, laser etching or CNC,
  • Carefully incorporate anti-viral materials or processes into your design.
  • Encourage at least one of the #SafeToPlay design tips (see below)
  • Be able to be manufactured using a Snapmaker 2.0 A350 (1st prize) and fit the working dimensions of 320mm X 320mm X320mm
  • Include complete project documentation

#SafeToPlay Tips for virus-safer designing:

“Eligible ‘design concepts’ must encourage at least one of the following: (Based on WHO‘s advice for the public)

  • Encourages people to wash their hands (painting toys that will require washing their hands after playing)
  • Encourages social distancing (frisbee, badminton…)
  • Stay home if you’re not feeling well (board games, marble runs…)
  • Don’t touch your face (cosplay helmet/mask design)
  • Look after yourself and stay healthy (individual sports made more comfortable, bicycle accessories, skates, electric vehicles…)

Additional recommendations include designing devices that can be easily disassembled, allowing for in-depth cleaning, using temperature resistant and antibacterial materials and technologies, and creating original and innovative designs.

If you have any questions about your design, open an issue on your project and tag our Content Developer (@flowalistik) who will follow and support you through your project submission during the competition to increase your chances of creating a unique submission.

Best practices

  • Simple design that allows in-depth cleaning: Antimicrobial or virus-resistant materials that do not deform under high temperatures (PETG, ABS…)
  • Do things in different ways to improve the New Normal: Designing a regular ping pong set is not as impressive as an original ping pong set that implements design changes to avoid direct contact. 

In general, one solution that you can turn to is copper. Copper filament, making copper objects by electroplating 3D prints, or making copper parts through casting wax (or in a pinch PLA) parts is a straightforward path to making parts with antimicrobial qualities. Below you can see a part by Australian cold spray 3D printing company SPEE3D, where they made an activated copper door handle with antimicrobial properties. SPEE3D is not affiliated with the contest but they do print copper and I thought that this was really an excellent example of what one could do. Of course, this object does not directly promote play or engender playful opportunities in a safe way. So, what can you do, with copper? Or with another smart innovation to make the world #SafeToPlay once again.

The use of a Copper Alloy surface is a supplement to and not a substitute for standard infection control practices; users must continue to follow all current infection control practices, including those practices related to cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces. The Copper Alloy surface material has been shown to reduce microbial contamination, but it does not necessarily prevent cross-contamination.

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Wikifactory’s Docubot Challenge Creates a Hardware Solution for Documentation

International startup Wikifactory, established in Hong Kong last June, is a social platform for collaborative product development. Co-founded by four makers and counting 3DPrint.com Editor-in-Chief Joris Peels until recently as a member of its advisory board, Wikifactory also has locations in Madrid and Shenzhen, and is dedicated to makers and DIY projects. It’s an all-in-one workspace designed for open source communities to help connect product developers to useful tools, such as 3D printing.

Recently, the platform launched the Docubot Challenge to help inaugurate the first Distributed Hardware Hackathon in the world. The global open source community was charged with finding a hardware solution for an issue that every maker faces – documentation.

This is a very prevalent issue in the maker community in terms of open knowledge for the purposes of digital fabrication. Documentation makes it possible for community members to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to further contribute to an ever-growing base of information. But just because it’s useful doesn’t mean it’s easy – while documenting fabrication methods may be a necessary evil, it can be a painstaking and tedious process that can slip through the cracks if you’re not meticulous about updating your work.

“Every product developer faces the task of having to document their work, but it’s a painful process. When your hands are full with what you are doing, it’s hard to take a step back and jot down the steps. That’s why documentation is often written after the process has already been completed, so there will always be missing photos or information,” the challenge states.

“We should strive to make the process of documentation easier, because Documentation in itself is an amazing thing. As a resource, it helps a broader community learn the skills and acquire the knowledge to contribute to a growing open source knowledge base.”

The Wikifactory team really wanted to turn the first edition of its Docubot Challenge into a distributed event; it is, after all, tagged as being “designed for makers, by makers.” Due to support from makerspaces around the world – specifically Pumping Station One in Chicago, Makerspace Madrid, and TroubleMaker in Shenzhen, China – this hope became a reality. Wikifactory is a great tool when organizing maker community events like workshops and hackathons, as it makes it simple to bring teams together online so they can contribute before, and even after, the event.

The goal of the challenge was to, according to WikiFactory, “accelerate a solution to a common problem faced by product developers” by collaboratively building a real-time documentation assistant that will take photos and videos on command, and could even convert speech to text. As someone who spends plenty of time transcribing recorded interviews, I want to know when this documentation assistant will be commercially available!

“With a hardware solution, doing documentation can be made into a more interactive, assisted process which can help accelerate engagement and collaboration in open source design and hardware,” the challenge stated.

The Docubot Challenge was originally instigated by Wikifactory members Gianluca Pugliese and Kevin Cheng. The participants were connected through Wikifactory to host project events in their own cities, engage with other teams around the world, and accept feedback and advice from other problem solvers. While it was definitely a learning experience, Docubot is now officially an open source hardware initiative, and great progress has already been made.


“The Shenzhen Team developed an app that converts speech to text, the Madrid Team created a fun game that helps makers beat laziness and get documenting, and the Chicago Team created a button that signals a phone to start recording voice messages as well as pictures,” Wikifactory wrote.

The worldwide maker community is invited to get involved and contribute to the Docubot initiative. Whether you’re working on design ideas, developing the app and OS, or the hardware integration, the collaborative project needs your help in further extending the ideas by the team members who originally started it.

“With interactive and intercity sessions, participants will get to build relationships with creative problem solvers from around the world. It is an opportunity to apply skills in digital fabrication machines like 3D printing, hardware, electronics, programming and robotics for a relevant cause.”

Learn more about the Docubot Challenge here.

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

[Images: Wikifactory]

The post Wikifactory’s Docubot Challenge Creates a Hardware Solution for Documentation appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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Solvay Announces Winners of 2019 Solvay AM Cup, First Place Winners Take $10K Home

It’s that time of year again, as Italy’s Solvay announces winners for what seems to have become a yearly tradition with their AM Cup. For 2019, students were at the ready, and given an industrial task as they were challenged to use Radel® PPSU AM-ready filament for creating an ASTM D638 Type V size tensile bar in the z-axis, along with a wavy-shaped pressure pipe.

While it may seem like an easy challenge to be given an assignment to print out a couple of parts, there was much more to it than that; in fact, students from three continents participated in this contest, with 35 student teams from 32 universities. Solvay’s ultimate goal in initiating the 2019 Solvay AM Cup was to highlight the impact 3D printing materials can have on different applications today due to the high performance of parts—and the availability of different materials and methods. Solvay’s focus was for the students to explore the disruptive technology and learn more about ‘the art of the possible.’

The teams were judged on their collective enterprise in making the parts, judged on:

  • Creativity in 3D printing
  • Maximum dimensional accuracy
  • Mechanical properties
  • Performance in burst pressure tests and translucency

Each team was provided with a spool of Radel® polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) AM filament and sent on their way to make plans for winning the competition. Those who were successful in their mission have just been announced:

“The team secured the first prize due to its ability to achieve 100 percent z-axis strength in the Type V size tensile bar and its wavy pipe showed overall dimensional accuracy, surface uniformity, and a remarkable mechanical performance by enduring a burst pressure test of 1,400 psi (96.5 bar) for two hours,” states Solvay in their press release, also commenting that there was very little separating the teams who won second and third place regarding performance in strength and ductility of their parts.

The winners won $10,000, $5,000, and $3,000, respectively, with the idea that these funds would be well-invested in activities related to higher learning, or ‘societal or entrepreneurial’ endeavors. The 3D printed parts they submitted for the challenge will be on display at the Rapid + TCT show in Detroit, MI (Booth #747) from May 21-23.

“It was inspiring to see the various approaches to solving the challenges of fused filament fabrication (FFF) such as bed adhesion and chamber temperature management. The winning team demonstrated once more that 3D printed parts can virtually match the performance and quality of conventional injection molded parts, provided material, hardware, and process are optimized together,” said Ryan Hammonds, R&D platform manager for Solvay’s Specialty Polymers global business unit and president of the AM Cup Jury.

“We look forward to sharing with our customers the benefits gained from this edition of the Solvay AM Cup for 3D printing the best possible PPSU parts for applications in various industries such as aerospace, healthcare and industrial.”

Along with inspiring students to explore the infinite opportunities available with 3D design and printing, Solvay has continued their momentum, offering strong opinions on the future of 3D printing, expanding materials within their manufacturing processes, and entering into dynamic partnerships. 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: Solvay]

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3D Printing News Briefs: February 8, 2019

We made it to the weekend! To celebrate, check out our 3D Printing News Briefs today, which covers business, research, and a few other topics as well. PostProcess has signed its 7th channel partner in North America, while GEFERTEC partners with Linde on 3D printing research. Researchers from Purdue and USC are working together to develop new AI technology, and the finalists for Additive World’s Design for Additive Manufacturing 2019 competition have been announced. Finally, Marines in Hawaii used 3D printing to make a long overdue repair part, and Thermwood and Bell teamed up to 3D print a helicopter blade mold.

PostProcess Technologies Signs Latest North American Channel Partner

PostProcess Technologies, which provides automated and intelligent post-printing solutions for additive manufacturing, has announced its seventh North American Channel Partner in the last year: Hawk Ridge Systems, the largest global provider of 3D design and manufacturing solutions. This new partnership will serve as a natural extension of Hawk Ridge Systems’ AM solutions portfolio, and the company will now represent PostProcess Technologies’ solution portfolio in select North American territories.

“Hawk Ridge Systems believes in providing turnkey 3D printers for our customers for use in rapid prototyping, tooling, and production manufacturing. Often overlooked, post-printing is a critical part of all 3D printing processes, including support removal and surface finish refinement,” said Cameron Carson, VP of Engineering at Hawk Ridge Systems. “PostProcess Technologies provides a comprehensive line of equipment that helps our customers lower the cost of labor and achieve more consistent high-quality results for our 3D printing technologies, including SL (Vat polymerization), MJF (Sintered polymer), and ADAM (Metal) printing. We vet our partnerships very closely for consistent values and quality, and I was impressed with PostProcess Technologies’ reputation for reliability and quality – an ideal partnership to bring solutions to our customers.”

GEFERTEC and Linde Working Together on 3D Printing Research

Near-net-shaped part after 3D printing. [Image: GEFERTEC]

In order to investigate the influence of the process gas and the oxygen percentage on 3DMP technology, which combines arc welding with CAD data of metal parts, GEFERTEC GmbH and Linde AG have entered into a joint research project. The two already work closely together – Linde, which is part of the larger Linde Group, uses its worldwide distribution network to supply process gases for 3D printing (especially DMLS/metal 3D printing/LPBF), while GEFERTEC brings its arc machines, which use wire as the starting material to create near-net-shaped parts in layers; conventional milling can be used later to further machine the part after 3D printing is complete.

The 3D printing for this joint project will take place at fellow research partner Fraunhofer IGCV‘s additive manufacturing laboratory, where GEFERTEC will install one of its 3D printers. The last research partner is MT Aerospace AG, which will perform mechanical tests on the 3D printed parts.

Purdue University and USC Researchers Developing New AI Technology

In another joint project, researchers from Purdue University and the University of Southern California (USC) are working to develop new artificial intelligence technology that could potentially use machine learning to enable aircraft parts to fit together more precisely, which means that assembly time can be reduced. The work speaks to a significant challenge in the current AM industry – individual 3D printed parts need a high level of both precision and reproducibility, and the joint team’s AI technology allows users to run software components in their current local network, exposing an API. Then, the software will use machine learning to analyze the product data and build plans to 3D print the specific parts more accurately.

“We’re really taking a giant leap and working on the future of manufacturing. We have developed automated machine learning technology to help improve additive manufacturing. This kind of innovation is heading on the path to essentially allowing anyone to be a manufacturer,” said Arman Sabbaghi, an assistant professor of statistics in Purdue’s College of Science.

“This has applications for many industries, such as aerospace, where exact geometric dimensions are crucial to ensure reliability and safety. This has been the first time where I’ve been able to see my statistical work really make a difference and it’s the most incredible feeling in the world.”

Both 3D Printing and AI are very “hot” right now. Outside of the hype there are many ways that machine learning could be very beneficial for 3D printing in coming years in part prediction, melt pool monitoring and prediction, fault analysis and in layer QA. Purdue’s technology could be a possible step forward to “Intelligent CAD” that does much of the calculation, analysis and part generation for you.

Finalists Announced for Design for Additive Manufacturing Challenge

[Image: Additive Industries]

Additive Industries has announced the finalists for its Additive World Design for Additive Manufacturing Challenge, a yearly competition where contestants redesign an existing, conventionally manufactured part of a machine or product with 3D printing, taking care to use the technology’s unique design capabilities, like custom elements and thin walls. This year, over 121 students and professionals entered the contest, and three finalists were chosen in each category, with two honorable mentions – the Unibody Hydraulic System by from Italy’s Aidro Hydraulics & 3D Printing and the Contirod-Düse from Nina Uppenkam, SMS Group GmbH – in the professional category.

“The redesigns submitted from all over the world and across different fields like automotive, aerospace, medical, tooling, and high tech, demonstrated how product designs can be improved when the freedom of additive manufacturing is applied,” said Daan Kersten, CEO of Additive Industries. “This year again we saw major focus on the elimination of conventional manufacturing difficulties, minimization of assembly and lowering logistical costs. There are also interesting potential business cases within both categories.”

The finalist designs are listed below, and can be seen in the image above, left to right, top to bottom:

  • “Hyper-performance suspension upright” from Revannth Narmatha Murugesan, Carbon Performance Limited (United Kingdom, professional)
  • “Cutting dough knife” from Jaap Bulsink, K3D (The Netherlands, professional)
  • “Cold Finger” from Kartheek Raghu, Wipro3D (India, professional)
  • “Brake Caliper” from Nanyang Technological University team (Singapore, student)
  • “Cubesat Propellant Tank” from Abraham Mathew, the McMaster University (Canada, student)
  • “Twin Spark Connecting Rod” from Obasogie Okpamen, the Landmark University (Nigeria, student)

Marines 3D Printed Repair Part 

US Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Tracey Taylor, a computer technician with 7th Communications Battalion, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, is one of the Marines that utilize 3D printing technology to expand capabilities within the unit. [Photo: US Marine Corps Cpl. George Melendez]

To save time by moving past the lengthy requisitioning process, 3D printing was used at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, to create a repair part that would help fix a critical component to increase unit readiness. This winter, Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 3 fabricated the part for the Electronic Maintenance (EM) Platoon, 3rd Radion Battalion, and both EM technicians and members of CLB-3 worked together to design, develop, and 3D print the part, then repaired the component, within just one month, after having spent almost a year trying to get around delays to fix it.

US Marine Cpl. Anthony Farrington, designer, CLB-3, said that it took about three hours to design the replacement part prototype, and an average between five to six hours to 3D print it, before it was used to restore the unit to full capability.

“With the use of 3D printing, Marines are empowered to create solutions to immediate and imminent challenges through additive manufacturing innovation,” said subject matter expert US Marine Chief Warrant Officer 3 Waldo Buitrago, CLB-3.

“We need to embrace 3D printing and encourage our Marines to express their creativity, which in turn, could lead to solutions in garrison and combat such as in this case study.”

3D Printed Helicopter Blade Mold

Thermwood and Bell recently worked together to create a 3D printed tool, but not just any 3D printed tool. Thermwood believes that the 3D printed helicopter blade mold is the largest ever 3D printed autoclave-capable tool. Bell, frustrated with expensive tooling that took a long lead time, reached out to Thermwood for help, and the company suggested its LSAM system, with new 60 mm melt core technology. Bell then provided Thermwood with a 20-foot-long, 17-inch-high, 14-inch-wide closed cavity blade mold, and upon receiving both the model and Bell’s tooling requirements, Thermwood began printing the tool with Techmer PM’s 25% carbon fiber reinforced PESU material (formulated specifically for its LSAM additive printing) in a continuous run. The new melt core can achieve a high print rate, even when processing high temperature material, which was great news for Bell.

Glenn Isbell, Vice President of Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Innovation at Bell, said, “Thermwood’s aggressive approach to pushing the boundaries and limitations of traditional 3D printing and machining is exactly what we were looking for.”

The final bond tool was able to maintain the vacuum standards required by Bell for autoclave processing right off the printer, without needing a seal coating. Thermwood will soon 3D print the second half of the blade mold, and both teams will complete further testing on PESU 3D printed molds for the purpose of continued innovation.

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

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3D Printing News Sliced, Volkswagen, Dassault Systèmes, FORMNEXT and more

Today’s digest of the latest 3D printing industry news contains updates from Volkswagen, Dassault Systèmes and Roboze. There is also an new opportunity for educators and students working in the area of advanced manufacturing. Innovation awards on CBS The Science + Innovation Awards (SIA) is accepting nominations for two awards to be presented by Manufacturing […]
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Another Chance to Win Amazon Gift Cards from 3DPrint.com!

 3D printing is an investment. Even after you’ve bought your 3D printer, the costs don’t end there – filament needs to consistently be replenished, particularly if you 3D print often, and there are things like post-processing tools and bed adhesives that add up as well. At 3DPrint.com, we understand that 3D printing can get expensive, so we do our best to help out our readers whenever we get a chance. That’s why we’re once again giving away $100 worth of Amazon gift cards in our latest giveaway.

Amazon has gone from being an online bookseller to an online repository of just about everything, and that includes 3D printers and 3D printing supplies. We’re giving away three gift cards – one for $50, one for $30 and one for $20 – and there are plenty of ways that you can enter to win. All you have to do is any of the following:

It’s easy to enter, and you can enter multiple times for a better chance at winning. If you win, it’s up to you what you want to use your gift card for – you can stock up on your favorite filament, or try a new experimental type of filament that you’ve always been interested in but never wanted to spend the money to try before. If you’ve been saving up for a new 3D printer, then a gift card can give you the extra funding boost that you need. Of course, you don’t have to spend it on 3D printing at all – you can buy a new paper shredder if you like! Exciting, yes? (That was the last thing I looked at on Amazon, because I need one.) Or you can be old-fashioned and buy some books, Kindle or otherwise. Whatever you decide to do with them, gift cards are nice to have, and you have just under three weeks to enter. So get clicking! And as always, remember that you can link directly to Amazon through our online shop.

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