This RepRap machine is as self-replicating as a DIY 3D printer can get

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This accessible, hackable and customizable RepRap printer features a large 8” x 6” x 6″ build volume.

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Desktop 3D printers pretty much seem to be a dime a dozen these days. And whereas some Makers would prefer to simply go out and purchase one, others would rather take on the challenge of building their own from scratch. Take Ryan Adams, for example.

The Maker is collaborating with mapleMaker Media to provide open source 3D printable designs for 3D printers that are aimed towards those DIYers who like constructing their own machines with various custom elements. Their latest project, mapleMaker Mini V2, differentiates itself from a majority of RepRap devices in the sense that it is consists of a frame that is entirely 3D-printed.

What’s more, the project only calls for 36 hours to print out all the components necessary for assembly. The mapleMaker Mini V2 boasts a large 8″ x 6″ x 6″ build volume and employs an all-metal E3D Lite6 hot-end. Aside from its 3D-printable parts, the rest of the electronics will need to be sourced, which like most DIY machines, include an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), a RAMPS 1.4 shield, NEMA 17 stepper motors, an LCD panel and an MK8 extruder drive gear. Beyond that, the Maker is running Eric Zalm’s Marlin firmware.

“The aim of this kit was to reduce costs and create an accessible, hackable, upgradeable, and ultimately, user customizable 3D printer. We believe that a 3D printer should evolve with it’s users needs and knowledge, and become a platform for any number of future upgrades and additions without the need for costly re-works or additional components,” its creators explain.

Adams has made his project available on YouMagine, where you will find all of its necessary parts, code and designs.

Ripple Maker uses 3D printing tech to personalize your latte

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The Ripple Maker combines hardware and software to stamp an image or message onto your morning latte, cappuccino or any other foam-topped drink. 

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As any coffee aficionado will admit, there’s something about a barista charming you with a gorgeous piece of art on the foam of your morning latte. Up until now only the most skilled of baristas were able to craft such masterpieces which range from iconic leaves to cute hearts. However, thanks to a new system from New York-based startup Steam CC, that will all change.

The Ripple Maker employs 3D printing and inkjet technology to adorn the top of your hot beverage with complex designs that could take the form of someone’s name, their face, or even a personalized message to the attractive customer behind you. The machine itself is small, measuring just 8.5” by 10.5,” and connects via Wi-Fi to a library of designs. Users have the option to choose from a menu of themes and messages to stamp onto the milky foam canvas using natural coffee extract, also known as Ripple Pods.

Even suitable for the morning rush, the machine takes all of 10 seconds to produce a selected design on top of any cup up to 7″ high and 4.5″ wide. In addition, the Ripple Maker comes with a mobile app that enables baristas and companies to create custom designs, or upload and edit images straight from their smartphone camera roll. This makes sending a personal image as simple as devising a social media post.

“Latte art is one the most shared images on social media,” explains Yossi Meshulam, CEO of Steam CC. “When you put something beautiful in someone’s hands, they want to share it. That’s how we’re making a ripple on the world.”

It should be noted that, as cool as it may be, the Ripple Maker isn’t aimed at in-home use. Instead, the machine is tailored more towards coffee shops and other commercial settings throughout the world. Among its notable customers already is Lufthansa. So, the next time you fly Business Class, don’t be surprised to receive a personalized message thanking you for choosing the only airline that can whip up a slick design in your espresso.

If you ask us, pair this with some 3D-printed pancakes and you have quite the Maker-iffic breakfast! Priced at $999, Ripples will begin shipping in September 2015. In the interim, watch it in action below!

Dubai is building the world’s first 3D-printed office building

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3D printing could cut the building time by 50-70% and labor costs by 50-80%.

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While we’ve already seen the emergence of 3D-printed cars, bridges and homes, Dubai has revealed plans to take the technology to new heights by constructing an entire office building. Not only will the exterior walls of the 2,000-square-feet structure be printed, but its interior and furniture will be as well.

In hopes of reducing costs and time by over 50%, the one-story prototype building will be printed layer-by-layer using a 20-foot tall printer with reinforced concrete, gypsum reinforced with glass fiber, and plastic. The project is a collaborative effort between the city of Dubai, Chinese 3D printing pioneer WinSun, as well as architectural and engineering firms Gensler, Thornton Thomasetti and Syska Hennessy.

When all is said and done, officials plan to utilize the office as the temporary headquarters of a recently announced, $136 million “Museum of the Future” that is expected to open in 2017. No stranger to impressive undertakings, Dubai is already home to a number of manmade islands and the world’s tallest building.

15 animals who were given a new lease on life by 3D printing

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The lives of animals are being changed thanks to advancements in 3D-printed prosthetics.

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The field of animal prostheses (much like that of humans) before the advent of 3D printing was limited in terms of design, accessibility, and most of all, affordability. Fortunately, the Maker Movement has opened the door to a number of low-cost machines and open source files, which have made it possible to give several of our four-legged (and not-so-four-legged) friends a new lease on life. From tiny wheelchairs for chihuahuas to new shells for turtles, 3D printing has demonstrated the tremendous impact it can and will continue to have on both humans and animals alike.

TurboRoo the Chihuahua

Dudley the Duck

Hobbes the Terrier Mix

Ozzie the Goose

Akut-3 the Turtle

Benji the Kitten

Bubbles the Wiener Dog

Scooter the Two-Legged Pup

Cleopatra the Tortoise

Quack Quack the Duck

Derby the Dog

Stumpy the Box Turtle

Holly the Horse

Buttercup the Duck

Beauty the Bald Eagle

Panda is a 3D-printed, Arduino-powered cleaning robot

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This Maker’s mini cleaning machine that is like a Roomba on steroids. 

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As our world continues to get smarter, it seems like many of us are becoming increasingly less fixated on taking care of our homes and more on our homes taking care of us. While we await a Rosie The Maid-like robot sidekick that can take care of the mundane tasks around the house, from folding our clothes to washing the dishes, Maker Jake Lee has took a stab at creating a DIY cleaning machine that can do a little bit more than the typical Roomba.

The Panda, named after his soon-to-be-born son’s nickname, is a robotic device that boasts a number of enhanced features like air suction, a sweeper and a roller brush. Lee had originally devised a project two years ago, however found it to be a bit too small and that it had to be connected to a power source, like a PC, with the cable dangling in the air. As you can imagine, that’s not the most convenient set up for a freely moving machine.

Back with his second iteration, the new design is a little larger, measuring in at around 6” x 6” and is capable of sweeping and vacuuming not just the floor but his desk as well. The mini robot chooses its directions randomly, and can even detect cliffs or other obstacles that may stand its way.

The top, bottom and mid-housing components, along with its two battery covers, gear box and dust cabinet were all 3D printed on Lee’s MakerBot Replicator 2X. As for its hardware, Panda is based on an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and runs on a pair of 135 RPM gear motors for the wheels, a 1000RPM motor for the roller and sweeper, as well as a DC 3V motor for the vacuum and fan blade. Beyond that, Lee used PRO_E modeling software, but notes that just about any program would suffice.

To reinforce the suction capabilities form his earlier model, the Maker added a roller with brushes and a sweeper. Perhaps one of the more challenging steps of the project was determining a way to use the gears rather than a motor to power the roller and sweeper, since it would consume less battery power. According to Lee, not only does this setup save battery power, it also works like a charm.

Looking for a robotic cleaning gadget of your own? Check out Lee’s detailed Instructables page here to get started.

Tell time with this 3D-printed binary watch

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Maker creates his very own 3D-printed, ATtiny85 powered binary watch.

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What can we say? Makers just love finding new ways to tell time. Testament to that, Tim Keeley recently took it upon himself to devise a slick, 3D-printed binary watch. The wearable reveals the hour and minutes by flashing two LEDs in sequence to represent two 4-bit binary numbers — the left LED represents the 0s, while the right denotes the 1s. The first set of flashes indicates the hour, the second set of flashes is the minute.

“It has three pieces that pressure fit together very nicely. The body and the face pieces have an oval so that you can align the parts up evenly when the two pieces are together. The face piece has two tabs to help hold the circuit board in place. It also has pin holes to add your own strap,” the Maker explains.

Powered by an ATtiny85, the circuitry is comprised of two resistors, two LEDs, a momentary pushbutton and a CR2032 battery holder. Meanwhile, the sketch flashed onto the MCU was derived from fellow Maker Sam DeRose’s Nerd Watch with only a few minor changes.

“The circuit board should be about a 37mm diameter circle and the components should be positioned in a window 28.5mm wide by 22.5mm high in the middle of the board. I put all the components on the top with only the batter holder on the bottom. This is a little tricky but can be done,” Keeley notes.

Time to make one of your own? Head over to his project page on Thingiverse, as well as check it out in action below.

Building a low-cost Delta 3D printer out of recycled electronics

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Maker creates a Delta-style 3D printer using recycled parts from an old dot matrix printer and flatbed scanner. 

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When it comes to the Maker Movement, DIYers never cease to amaze us with new ways to recycle electronic waste. Take Instructables user Hesam Hamidi for instance, who has impressively created a Delta-style 3D printer using parts from an old dot matrix printer and flatbed scanner.

Whereas FDM printers typically posses an aluminum or precision shaft frame, the Maker had swapped it out for five pieces of 16mm MDF, fixed together by wood screws. Three adjustable cabinet legs were attached under the body to keep it level, while another beam was added to the top of the body to support the filament spool. Attached to the trio of vertical MDF frame pieces are rail and carriage assemblies taken from the dot matrix printer, which fortunately already had their stepper motors and belts installed.

“Each slider has a step motor that moves carriage by a timing belt for about 430mm. At the end of sliding course, there is a home position sensor that senses the tractor motion end. Each step moves the carriage for 106 microns and in case of using micro stepping drivers we can reduce this length. Dimensional specifications of our 3D printer were specified based on slider motion,” Hamidi writes.

The end effector is also a unique attribute of Delta-style printers. In this project, it was made from a steel plate and provides a mount of the extruder, which is driven by another scavenged stepper motor along with a timing belt pulley and pulley tightening mechanism.

“A U-shaped profile was used to support stepper motor, ball bearings and hotend. Support plate is a CNC cut circular steel plate that has six holes for ball end supports with 120 degrees to each other. Hotend was purchased from a Felix printer with nozzle diameter of 0.3 mm,” the Maker adds.

For the print bed, Hamidi repurposed an Epson flatbed scanner, which was selected due to its durability and smoothness. The inner workings of the device were removed and replaced with a 220V 300W flat heating element beneath the glass. Meanwhile, the bed heater has a 12V element and NTC thermistor to regulate temperature, and is controlled separately by way of a household thermostat.

In terms of its electronics, the 3D printer is based on an Arduino Leonardo (ATmega32U4) and four different stepper drivers that take the place of the common Arduino Mega/RAMPS 1.4 combination. Beyond that, three analog inputs were employed to sense signals of home position sensors, while eight digital outputs send pulses to four stepper motors. Temperature of the hotend and heater are managed separately by individual controllers.

What’s more, the DIY machine boasts a size of 600mm x 650mm with a build volume of 200mm x 200mm x 200mm and can achieve printing speeds of up to 80mm/second in all three directions. Interested in constructing one of your own? Head over to the project’s Instructables page, where you’ll find a detailed breakdown of the build including its schematics and code. In the meantime, watch it in action below!

This 3D printer can produce objects smaller than red blood cells

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Researchers have developed a 3D printer that can create objects as tiny as 0.001 millimeters.

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A team of researchers from South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have developed a 3D printing technology that is capable of producing high-resolution 3D patterns as tiny as 0.001 millimeter in size, which happens to be thinner than a human red blood cell. Meaning that, the printed shapes are too small for the eye to even see.

According to the team, led by Professor Jang-Ung Park, this method works not unlike any in-home inkjet printer, except for that the fact this machine uses special inks that can be layer to form microscopic 3D designs like vertical or helix-shaped pillars and straight or rounded walls. With such a technology, the researchers hope that one day users will be able to create bendable or curved electronic circuits on a flexible substrate, ranging from low conductivity plastics to high conductivity metal materials. Not to mention, such advancements would drastically simplify and expedite the prototyping process.

“This new technology could bring us a step closer to realizing wearable 3D printing electronic devices with enhanced stretchability and electrical and mechanical reliability,” says Park.

Whereas today’s 3D printers have difficulty extruding smooth objects, and as a result possess rougher textures, this new technology can eliminate these shortcomings altogether by operating at higher rates of precision. In fact, the maximum printing resolution represents an improvement of more than 50 times over its predecessors.

Check out the world’s first 3D-printed supercar

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What can you make with a 3D printer, some aluminum powder and carbon fiber tubing? If you’re Kevin Czinger, a brand new sports car with a 3D-printed chassis.

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During the O’Reilly Solid Conference, Divergent Microfactories unveiled a disruptive new approach to auto manufacturing that incorporates 3D printing to dramatically reduce the pollution, materials and capital costs associated with building automobiles and other large complex structures. Highlighted by Blade, the first prototype supercar based on this new technology, Czinger introduced the company’s plan to dematerialize and democratize car manufacturing.

Aside from its sleek and sexy exterior, Blade can go from 0-60mph in just two seconds, and at 1,400-pounds weighs 90% less than conventional cars. Equipped with a 700-horsepower bi-fuel engine that can run on either compressed natural gas or gasoline, Divergent Microfactories plans to sell a limited number of the high-performance, two-seater vehicles that will be manufactured in its own microfactory. The automobile is capable of traveling up to 100 miles on CNG, while 350 miles on regular gasoline.

The company’s revolutionary technology centers around a proprietary, modular solution called a Node — a 3D-printed aluminum joint that connects pieces of carbon fiber tubing to make up the car’s chassis. In others, think of it like a LEGO kit for vehicles. While it may not be the first 3D-printed automobile in recent months, Blade’s unique combination of 3D printing and assembly is certainly something else. The Node solves the problem of time and space by cutting down on the actual amount of 3D printing required to build the chassis and can be fabricated in a matter of minutes. What’s more, the prototype is also one of the greenest and most powerful cars in the world.

“We’ve found a way to make automobiles that holds the promise of radically reducing the resource use and pollution generated by manufacturing. It also holds the promise of making large-scale car manufacturing affordable for small teams of innovators. And as Blade proves, we’ve done it without sacrificing style or substance. We’ve developed a sustainable path forward for the car industry that we believe will result in a renaissance in car manufacturing, with innovative, eco-friendly cars like Blade being designed and built in microfactories around the world,” Czinger adds.

Aside from showing off its prototype, Divergent Microfactories has shared plans to democratize auto manufacturing. The goal is to put the platform in the hands of small entrepreneurial teams around the world, allowing them to set up their own microfactories and build their own cars and, eventually, other large complex structures. These microfactories will make innovation affordable while reducing the health and environmental impacts of traditional manufacturing.

3D printing objects out of tree cellulose

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Researchers have successfully 3D printed objects made entirely from wood fiber. 

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In a breakthrough, researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology have successfully developed a way to 3D print objects out of cellulose from wood. In addition to that, they were also able to create electrically-conductive materials by adding carbon nanotubes.

(Source: Peter Widing)

The scientists say that one day, plant-derived biomaterials could rival fossil-based materials when it comes to additive manufacturing. This can lead to a much more environmentally-friendly, sustainable alternative to the metals and plastics that are currently used by a majority of 3D printers.

“Combing the use of cellulose to the fast technological development of 3D printing offers great environmental advantages,” explains Professor Paul Gatenholm, the leader of the research group. “Cellulose is an unlimited renewable commodity that is completely biodegradable, and manufacture using raw material from wood, in essence, means to bind carbon dioxide that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere.”

While wood has been a material of choice for countess objects and structures, it has never been an easy-to-use filament for 3D printing. Reason being, unlike others, cellulose doesn’t melt when heated which makes it a bit harder to mold into various things. To solve this issue, the Chalmers researchers mixed the cellulose nanofibrils in a liquid gel consisting of 95-99% water. The researchers tested their mixture on a 3D bioprinter, which had been used previously to make scaffolds where cells grew before being implanted in a patient.

(Source: Peter Widing)

Upon being printed, the object has to dry in order to maintain its desired shape. In order to achieve this, the researchers devised a process which consisted of them freezing the items, then gradually removing the water to control its final configuration. What’s more, the researchers were able to insert carbon nanotubes into the dry object so that it could conduct electricity. After testing one conductive gel with the nanotubes and one without, they were even able to create a 3D electrical circuit where the resolution increased significantly upon drying.

So, what does the future hold for such an innovation? According to Professor Gatenholm, “Potential applications range from sensors integrated with packaging, to textiles that convert body heat to electricity, and wound dressings that can communicate with healthcare workers.”

Intrigued? Read more about the project on its official page here.