BigBox is a large, hackable and open source 3D printer

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This 3D printer from E3D and LittleBox boasts an impressive build volume, modular design and hotend.

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It’s safe to assume that Makers who’ve dabbled with RepRap and other low-cost, open source 3D printers are most likely familiar with UK-based startup E3D. Combining their experience in crafting high-quality parts, the team has collaborated with fellow British company LittleBox, the designers of the MicroSlice desktop laser cutter, to introduce what they call the BigBox 3D Printer. 

Now live on Kickstarter, the BigBox is described as a no-compromise 3D printer that converges high-print resolution, a large build volume and an extrusion system that can spew out nearly every material on the market, all wrapped up in a clutter-free package with a powerful, easy-to-use toolchain. The machines will come in an assortment of DIY kits — Lite, Pro and Dual — or can ship fully-assembled for those seeking a more out-of-the-box experience. Nevertheless, all of the models boast a substantial print volume of about 12″ x 8″ x 11”, auto-leveling as a standard, and are capable of a layer thicknesses as fine as 50 microns.

Each of the BigBox units are equipped with a heated bed, a max print speed of 100mm/second and a E3D-v6 hotend that can reach temperatures up to 572°F (300°C), except for the barebones Lite version which lacks the heated bed, has half the max print speed and employs a “mostly metal” hotend. And as its name would imply, the Dual features two printheads to allow users to print in various colors or two totally different materials simultaneously.

When taking a look at the printer, one of, if not, the most noticeable attribute is its enormous build volume with a 17-liter space that provides everyone the freedom to create big objects without sacrificing quality. What’s more, the build volume has been configured to not just be large in one direction, like many other plus-sized printers, but balanced in all axes with a huge usable surface.

“Objects built in the plane of the bed are stronger than tall objects built away from the bed so this is a real practical advantage,”  E3D’s Sanjay Mortimer and Josh Rowley explain. “Having a larger bed also means that you can pack more items into a single print for high-volume printing. So BigBox has not just a large build space, but a well-proportioned, more useful build space.”

The motion system of the BigBox 3D printers have been designed by LittleBox to offer the right combination of both mechanical reduction and higher resolution motors to achieve twice the standard positional resolution, low drag motion and consistency across every axis. Any vibration and unnecessary wobbling is eliminated thanks to bearings on every corner, which in turn, offers users extreme precision and a smooth experience.

The company’s flagship E3D-v6 extruder has the ability to spit out just about every filament available on the market, ranging from flexible, rubber-like resin to metal and carbon-filled materials. And of course, Makers can still choose to use PLA and ABS.  On top of that, the hotends have interchangeable nozzles depending on if someone is looking for higher resolution or increased print times.

In terms of its electronics, the user-friendly machines include a couple of Atmel MCUs: an ATmega2560 at its core, an ATmega16U2 for managing communications, as well as an ATtiny to be added for “something else that as yet to be announced.” Each device is packed with an LCD display and an integrated SD card reader for untethered printing. Aside from the classic USB connectivity options, BigBox can also interact over the web with OctoPrint and Raspberry Pi.

Sound like a 3D printer you’d like for your Makerspace? Head over to BigBox’s Kickstarter page, where E3D and LittleBox have already well surpassed their initial goal of $46,870. The first batch of units is expected to ship in December 2015 — just in time for the holidays!

Maker creates an inexpensive surgical robot with Arduino

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Will DIY surgical robots one day provide an accessible alternative to costly professional healthcare services?

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Over the past decade, robots have drastically revolutionized surgery in terms of their abilities to remotely carry out complicated procedures with enhanced precision and dexterity, reducing the risk of complications while speeding up the recovery process. However, these next-generational machines can cost upwards of $200,000 — just out of reach for most Makers.

With this in mind, Frank Kolkman at London’s Design Interactions/RCA set out to explore whether building DIY surgical robots, outside the scope of regulations, could plausibly provide an accessible alternative to expensive professional healthcare services worldwide. The OpenSurgery project aims to provoke alternative thinking about medical innovation by challenging the socioeconomic frameworks that the industry currently operates within.

With a price tag of under $5,000, the DIY robot was prototyped using a series of laser-cut and 3D-printed parts along with several readymade components. Meanwhile, the medical tools were ordered directly from Alibaba for around $40 and came in sterile packaging.

“Another realization during the staring phases of the project was that you could simply re-appropriate domestic devices to account for not having access to hospital infrastructure. A simple domestic oven turned to 160 degrees Centigrade for 4 hours, would be a simple alternative to an autoclave, and for plastic parts you might even be able to use a microwave,” the Maker writes.

With a design resembling that of an open source 3D printer, an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) handles the serial communication over USB while a RAMPS 1.4 shield drives a pair of servo motors. As for its software, the Maker commissioned the help of Marcel Helmer and Riccardo Lardi to devise a Processing sketch that would allow for the control of all the motors separately over serial from a simple ControlP5 interface. In time, though, Kolkman hopes to use a PlayStation3 controller to command the arms.

Conceptually, the robot is designed to perform simple procedures like laparoscopic surgery, which includes no more than a few tiny incisions for a surgeon to go inside a patient’s body. This would enable the DIY gadget to theoretically carry out operations like appendectomies,hysterectomies and GI inspections. As FastCoDesign notes, these procedures already call upon the assistance of robotic system. Kolkman would simply be removing the doctor out of the equation.

While you may not see DIY robots attempting surgery anytime soon, nor would we want to, the project is pretty cool nonetheless and certainly provokes an alternative way of thinking. More importantly, it demonstrates the sort of contributions to healthcare that the Maker community can provide.

Intrigued? Head over to the project’s official page here.

This 3D-printed smart cap can sense spoiled milk

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Researchers have 3D-printed a smart cap for a milk carton that detects signs of spoilage using embedded sensors.

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3D printing has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, ranging from affordable prosthetics and medical implants to on-demand toys and cars. However, a group of UC Berkeley engineers have pointed out, one thing that was missing up until now was the ability to produce sensitive electronic components. So in collaboration with researchers at Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University, the team has set out to expand the already impressive portfolio of 3D printing technology to include electrical components, like resistors, inductors, capacitors and integrated wireless electrical sensing systems. In order put this advancement to the test, they have printed a wireless smart milk carton cap capable of detecting signs of spoilage using embedded sensors.

(Source: Sung-Yueh Wu)

“Our paper describes the first demonstration of 3D printing for working basic electrical components, as well as a working wireless sensor,” explained Liwei Lin, a professor of mechanical engineering and co-director of the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center. These findings were published in a new open-access journal in the Nature Publishing Group entitled “Microsystems & Nanoengineering. “One day, people may simply download 3D-printing files from the Internet with customized shapes and colors and print out useful devices at home.”

While polymers are typically used in 3D printing given their ability to be flexed into a variety of shapes, they are poor conductors of electricity. To get around this, the researchers devised a system using both polymers and wax. They removed the wax, leaving hollow tubes into which liquid metal was injected and then cured. The team used silver in their latest experiments.

The shape and design of the metal determined the function of different electrical components. For instance, thin wires acted as resistors, and flat plates were made into capacitors. The electronic component was then embedded into a plastic cap to detect signs of spoilage in a milk carton. A capacitor and inductor were added to the smart cap to form a resonant circuit. The engineers flipped the carton to allow a bit of milk into the capacitor, and left the carton unopened for 36 hours at room temperature.

(Source: Sung-Yueh Wu)

From there, the circuit sensed the changes in electrical signals that accompany increased levels of bacteria. These changes were monitored with a wireless radio-frequency probe at the start of the experiment and every 12 hours thereafter. Upon completion, the smart cap found that the peak vibration frequency of the room-temperature milk dropped by 4.3% after 36 hours. In comparison, a carton of milk kept at 4°C saw a relatively minor 0.12% shift in frequency over the same time period.

“This 3D-printing technology could eventually make electronic circuits cheap enough to be added to packaging to provide food safety alerts for consumers,” Lin added. “You could imagine a scenario where you can use your cellphone to check the freshness of food while it’s still on the store shelves.”

Looking ahead, the researchers are hoping to further develop this technology for use in health applications, such as implantable devices with embedded transducers that can monitor blood pressure, muscle strain and drug concentrations.

Interested? Read more about the study here.

Reify lets you hear, see and hold music

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Reify is a new medium of creative expression for artists, and a deeper, connected music experience for fans.

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As enjoyable as listening to music may be, it is often times just one-dimensional. But what if, instead of simply hearing your favorite tunes, you were able to actually see and feel them at the same time? That is idea behind one Brooklyn-based startup’s latest innovation dubbed Reify — a term that refers to the act of making something abstract more real.

Led by Allison Wood and Kei Gowda, the team of designers and engineers have launched a Kickstarter campaign for what they hope will usher in a new age of cross-sensory experiences, strengthening the bonds between musicians and their fans.

The process begins by collaborating with an artist on a range of visual interpretations of a specific song which take the form of abstract 3D models. These models, also known as totems, are created via Harmony — a custom audio-to-physical engine and parametric design software — and then 3D-printed.

From there, Reify encodes these objects using Unity and Vuforia with the original tunes and a series of intense, mind-blowing visuals. Along with an accompanying mobile app called Stylus, these totems morph right before a user’s eyes, taking them on a augmented reality journey like never before imagined — unless, of course, you’re Kanye West. As the song plays through Stylus, users have the ability to move the screen around to see all sides of the transforming, psychedelic sculpture as it changes shapes, bounces around and pulsates in sync with the audio track being played.

So far, the team has designed hundreds of experimental totems spanning across different music genres, with each one as unique as the song it represents.

“Each experience is unique in style and content. Some are game-like. Some are conceptual explorations. Others are both…and neither. All are direct expressions of the artist’s creative vision,” its creators note.

The NYC startup has taken to Kickstarter to help fund their project, where they are currently seeking $150,000. Whether or not, Reify achieves its goal, one thing is for certain: it’s awesome to see the Maker Movement continue to inspire engineers, designers and hobbyists to dream up ways to bring music to life.

Keep the mosquitoes away with this ultrasonic water lily

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This 3D-printed, ATmega328 powered floating lily pad repels insects from your pool.

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If those Citronella torches and repellant sprays can’t keep the mosquitoes away from you during a nighttime swim, perhaps this 3D-printed ultrasonic floating water lily will do the trick. Devised by Maker Jake Reeves, the project uses ultrasound in the 38-40kHz frequency range to repel pesky insects from your pool at dark. This, of course, not only deters them from joining you as you take a few laps, but will reduce how much you have to skim in the morning, and even better, prevents any future breeding.

The simple object consists of two parts, a top and bottom, both of which were printed using a MakerBot Replicator. Upon being created, Reeves sprayed each of the components with a clear sealant to keep water from seeping through to its embedded electronics, which consists of an ICStation Nano 3.0 board (ATmega328), a 40kHz ultrasonic microphone and a rechargeable 9V battery.

As you would imagine, the unit is designed in such a way that the lily pad sits just below the pool’s surface, with the flower pedals emerging from the water as the system emits a 38kHz frequency.

“I chose part of that spectrum to try and repel the unwanted insects from pools and standing water. Mosquitoes in particular dislike the 38kHz frequency as males emit that frequency, so during breeding the males avoid each other and when the females are preparing to give birth, they avoid the males to reduce competition over food.”

With summer in full swing, are you tired of skimming countless mosquitoes from your pool? If so, check out the project’s Thingiverse page here.

Freaks3D may be the most portable 3D printer ever

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ElecFreaks Tech has designed a 3D printer for Makers that is both portable and affordable.

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A classroom desk. A living room floor. A meeting space. A coffee shop. An outdoor picnic table. These are just some of the places that were not well-suited for 3D printing until now. That’s because ElecFreaks Tech has unveiled a revolutionary FDM machine that is not only affordable but portable as well. Measuring 11.4” x 12.6” x 12.8” in size and weighing a little over six pounds, Freaks3D will undoubtedly be welcomed with open arms by the DIY community.

The idea for the Maker-friendly device was born out of their own frustrations with most of today’s commercial printers. As advanced as the technology has become, it’s not without the sacrifice of either form factor, quality or price. The team explains, “Most of them are bulky, not lightweight enough to be carried around, a hassle to use, plus the prices are ridiculously high. We want a reliable, affordable and portable 3D printer that we can take everywhere. More importantly, it should be easy-to-use for general consumer crowds like artists/designers, educators, household wives, even children who are curious about creations.”

Now live on Indiegogo, Freaks3D boasts a design that will surely separate itself from a rather saturated market with an extremely small and lightweight frame that can be picked up by its customizable handle with only a few fingers. Due to low power consumption, the printer can run on a 12V battery pack, or a pair of 9000mAh lithium batteries for two hours if an outlet isn’t accessible.

The device features a v-slot slider system that provides users with precise seamless positioning, as well as simplified extruded-aluminum beams for enhanced stability. Additionally, Freaks3D is equipped with an interactive LCD display for intuitive monitoring and configuration.

As mobile and low cost as it may be, Freaks3D is still able to produce high-quality prints with detailed layer resolution. With no pre-heating required, an all-metal nozzle spews out PLA/TPU material in a wide range of colors without easy breaks or damage, making it an ideal instrument of DIYers of all ages. Simply feed the filament into the entrance path and the printer will take care of the rest.

Freaks3D prints via both USB and SD card. What’s more, the machine is super quiet — so no need to worry about upsetting librarians, teachers or neighbors — and is extremely easy to operate. Once a print job is done, just twist to remove the object.

• Printer size: 11.4” x 12.6” x 12.8”
• Build volume: 5″ x 6″ x 4″
• Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm
• Resolution: 100 microns
• Connectivity: USB and SD card
• Software: Cura, Repetier Host

Following in the footsteps of its latest crowdfunding success, the ELF VR drone, ElecFreaks Tech has already well surpassed Freaks3D’s initial goal of $20,000 on Indiegogo. Shipment slated for August 2015.

Photon Printer is a $20 micro laser engraver

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The Photon Printer is a 3D-printable laser engraver made from recycled DVD drives.

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It seems like nowadays Makers can transform any form of electronic waste into a fully-functional device. Case in point: this pocket laser engraver comprised of recycled DVD drives.

In a project he calls the Photon Printer, Maker Stephen Brockett has successfully developed a micro laser engraver made from a pair of spare DVD burners, some stepper drivers and an Arduino, of course. Inspired by a previous Instructables project he happened to stumble upon, the idea was originally meant to be a simple weekend activity, but didn’t take long to evolve into a much more elaborate endeavor.

Brockett points out that the laser diode needs to be from a DVD drive capable of writing to discs, because the laser from a read-only drive isn’t powerful enough to engrave. In his case, the Maker used a set of LightScribe drives from an old HP GSA-H60L that he had lying around, and the Photon Printer’s X and Y mounts have been designed to fit these drives.

“The newer the drive, the more powerful the diode will be. After about 2009, they changed the diode package making it harder to use, so aim for something before that,” he advises.

Powered by an Arduino Nano (ATmega328), the engraver features laser housing with a glass lens and a pair of EasyDrivers that rely upon the regulation of a 5V USB supply. Aside from that, Brockett decided to 3D print a few of his parts including the enclosure with built-in roller door access, as it enabled him to customize the housing to best suit the oddly-shaped DVD components. Since the parts had one large flat surface, 3D printing was super easy.

To modify the DVD axes, Brockett suggests unscrewing the hub ends to expose the circuit board, and then from there, soldering wires to the two terminals on the far right, as they connect to the end stop micro switch. Afterward, reassemble and then solder four wires to the stepper motor.

In terms of software, the Maker employed GRBL — an open source, high-performance CNC milling controller written in optimized C that will run on an Arduino — and generated a Gcode for the engraver. As a whole, the Photon Printer itself works quite well, especially given the minimal parts and cost associated with the project. What’s more, the device boasts various adjustment options and a spring-ensioned Z axis to reduce vibration.

Intrigued? You can head over to Brockett’s Thingiverse page here, or watch it in action below.

Creating an elaborate BB-8 replica

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Inspired by BB-8, one Maker is bringing some Star Wars magic of his own to life with a ball-balancing robot. 

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It didn’t take long for everyone (ourselves included) to fall in love with JJ Abrams’s adorable new BB-8 droids, who have stolen much of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens spotlight even before hitting theaters. As you can imagine, countless fans are already counting down the days before the arrival of what will surely be a holiday best-selling robot toy this year. However, instead of waiting, a number of Makers like James Burton have decided to take it into their own hands by devising fully-functioning replicas.

Whereas the actual character is comprised of two separate parts (a remote-controlled body and a separately remote-controlled head), Burton’s latest project consists of a balancing robot that sits atop a 500mm diameter polysyrene ball serving as its body. This lightweight material gives more relative inertia, and therefore, stability for the droid positioned on top.

As seen when the robotic creature made its debut on stage in Anaheim, the “real” BB-8 features a robotic ball for its body with an independently-moving head that doesn’t fall off, which is clearly the work of physics and maybe some magnets?

And this Maker has taken a somewhat similar approach. Gyroscopes and accelerometers from SparkFun are tasked with maintaining the ball-balancing robot’s equilibrium. Meanwhile, the Maker has employed an Arduino Pro Mini 5V (ATmega328), a couple motor drivers, a few DC motors, a level shifter, and of course, a set of omni wheels for multi-directional movement. These components are all mounted to a 3D-printed chassis and housed inside a 300mm acrylic hemisphere.

With that working well, he also tried to make it remote-controlled. This required the addition of an RC receiver along with another Arduino that offsets the gyro value to make it roll in one direction. For a while, BB-8 was only capable of running on carpet; however, as you can imagine when trying to demonstrate the project at shows and other conventions, carrying around a small piece of rug could be quite tedious. So in an effort to solve this problem, Burton improved his design with some trial-and-error by adding ball bearings inside the hollow sphere, thereby emulating the slowness of carpet.

With a little more 3D printing for additional details, such as its eyes, and some airbrushing of its exterior, Burton was just about complete with his impressive project — that is at least, until he begins a second version. For those of you who are familiar with this Maker’s work, it should come as no surprise that he has put together an extremely elaborate playlist of steps, which you can find below. Interested? You can find the project and its entire code on Github.

This 3D-printed robot can jump six times its height

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This first-of-its-kind, autonomous robot blasts off like a UFO.

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In a paper published Thursday in Science magazine, engineers from Harvard University and the UC San Diego have revealed a 3D-printed, autonomous robot capable of over 30 untethered jumps without connection to an external computer or power source. Actuated by a combination of butane and oxygen, this little bot can leap two and a half feet into the air — up to six times its body height.

(Source: Harvard Microrobotics Lab)

Inspired by nature, the project uses the combination of both hard and soft materials which its designers say make it a more efficient jumper. For example, certain species of mussels have a foot that starts out soft and then becomes rigid at the point where it makes contact with rocks.

“In nature, complexity has a very low cost,” explains Michael Tolley, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UC San Diego. “Using new manufacturing techniques like 3D printing, we’re trying to translate this to robotics.”

Soft robotics is surely a hot topic at the moment, as engineers are finding them to be much more adaptable and resilient than their conventional, metal-based counterparts. However, their flexibility comes at a coast: they tend to be slower, more difficult to fabricate and challenging to make autonomous due to the fact that most motors, pumps, batteries, sensors and microcontrollers are rigid.

Fortunately, the joint research project has come up with a design that offers a new solution to this conundrum by integrating hard and soft materials. In other words, the best of both worlds.

The combustion-powered robot is comprised of two hemispheres: a soft, plunger-like body with three pneumatic legs at the bottom and a 3D-printed, sturdy core on top. The latter houses a custom circuit board, a high-voltage power source, a battery, a miniature air compressor, a butane fuel cell, six solenoid valves, an oxygen cartridge and pressure regulator and ducts to move the gas and stuff around as necessary. What’s more, it has nine graduating levels of stiffness.

(Source: Science)

In order to determine the perfect gradient of firmness, researchers tried a couple prototypes. And what they found was that a fully rigid top would make for higher jumps, while a flexible top was more likely to survive impacts on landing, allowing the robot to be reused.

For movement, the robot inflates its pneumatic legs to tilt its body in the direction that it wants to go. From there, butane and oxygen are mixed together and ignited, catapulting it into the air like a UFO. Once the chemical charge is exhausted, the bottom hemisphere goes back to its original shape. Researchers say that the robot’s jumping ability and soft body can come in handy in harsh and unpredictable or disastrous environments, enabling it to survive large falls and other unexpected situations.

In a series of tests, the robot was able to leap two and a half feet in height and half a foot laterally. Beyond that, it jumped more than 100 times and survived an additional 35 falls from a height of nearly four feet.

Interested? Read the project’s entire article here.

Local Motors plans to begin selling 3D-printed cars next year

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Local Motors will be releasing two models of the ReLoad Redacted car in Q1 2016 at a price tag of $18,000 to $30,000. 

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If it’s up to Local Motors, not only will the vehicles of tomorrow be autonomous, they’re going to be 3D-printed as well. That’s because the Phoenix-based company, who introduced the first 3D-printed automobile (the Strati) back in September 2014, has unveiled the electric car that it plans to sell next year. The design for the coupe was chosen by the company’s crowdsourcing community and a panel of well-known judges from among 60 other entries. Among the judges in the contest was former “Tonight Show” host and auto enthusiast Jay Leno, who said “You need something that makes you go ‘what’s that?’”

The winning entry, named Reload Redacted – Swim and Sport, was submitted by mechanical engineer Kevin Lo, who envisions a reconfigurable, low-speed neighborhood car. Set to debut during the first quarter of 2016, it will be priced in the wheelhouse of $18,000 and $30,000, with a fully-homologated highway-ready version to follow towards the tail-end of next year. Lo, who works for Hewlett-Packard on advanced printer systems, received $7,500 plus royalties from future sales for his mockup.

“In addition to its revolutionary design, the entry showcases many benefits of Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM), including the ability to create a completely customizable vehicle. What’s more, its design boasts a flexible foundation that can support many different styles and technology options,” Local Motors writes.

According to Lo, Reload Redacted – Swim and Sport has some clear benefits over Local Motors’ original 3D-printed car. For instance, any part can be easily removed, reprinted and replaced in the event of an accident. Having chose form over function, the vehicle is built around a skateboard-style chassis that houses the powertrain, battery, steering and suspension. What’s more, both redacted versions feature external speakers for the audio system, and interchangeable front, rear and roof panels to accommodate different styles. The target audience for such a vehicle will be the “social, outgoing, adventurous type,” Lo notes.

The battery technology in the test platform, which will also serve as a base for the development of the 3D-printed car’s powertrain, employs the same lithium ion chemistry used in existing electric vehicles (as well as iPhones). Local Motors is already working to identify numerous cutting-edge battery options, such as exploring lithium sulfur battery technology, which creates three times the energy at half the weight of lithium ion technology.

Meanwhile, the company has launched a program it calls the Local Motors Co-Created (LOCO) University Vehicles. Three colleges have already signed up to participate: the University of Michigan, Arizona State University and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Several projects will focus on developing an autonomous vehicle.

“Think Uber, but with low-speed, autonomous cars,” explained Ed Olson, an associate professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of Michigan, who leads the project. “The goal of this program is for us to begin to understanding the challenges of a transportation-on-demand system built around autonomous cars.”