ShapingBits launches a pair of multi-material, high-resolution 3D printers

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Recently launched on Kickstarter, the 3FXtrud Uno and 3FXtrud Duo are next-gen, multi-capable machines.

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While it seems like just about every week a new 3D printer debuts on Kickstarter, some more than others are geared toward the DIY crowd. With that in mind, Bogdan Diaconescu and Difei Zhang — who are the co-founders of Albuquerque-based ShapingBits — have unveiled a pair of multi-material 3D printers that enable Makers and budget-conscious startups to create functional objects in an easy-to-use, cost-effective manner.

The 3FXtrud 20 Uno is a single extruder printer built with features that make it Maker-friendly with expedited setup and reliable printing in a multitude of filaments. This device primarily caters to those seeking to devise objects in hard, flexible and soft thermoplastics, which can all be 3D-printed using its universal extruder system. Meanwhile, the 3FXtrud 25 Duo throws on an additional extruder to give users a true free-form fabrication printer with advanced capabilities that allow for a greater variety of engineering (and FDA approved) materials — from compressible to maximum strength, and from low to high melting temperatures.

“True free-form fabrication (3F) can be achieved when any shape can be printed,” Diaconescu explains. “3FXtrud Duo uses a multi-material dual extruder, thus can print a large number of thermoplastics along with any two combinations of such materials. With 3FXtrud Duo you can print any 3D geometry with overhangs, bridges, internal spaces with internal objects, all possible by using dissolvable support materials.”

Based on an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) and RAMPS 1.4 board, the machines also pack an advanced multi-material, all-metal head that excels at printing a broad range of thermoplastics. At the moment, supported filaments include ABS, nylon, TPU, TPE, PC, PC-ABS blends, HIPS, PVA, PLA, PETT poly, metal/ceramics blends, wood, carbon fiber, and conductive materials. This unique extruder was designed to provide Makers with minimum maintenance and prolonged utilization, by reducing stripping, skipping and jamming, and employing a tool-free, constant-force feeding system.

What’s more, a notable feature of both 3FXtrud devices is its superior temperature control. Both printers are equipped with a high-temp heated bed that can sustain up to 130°C continuously along with an extremely flat and removable glass surface for improved adhesion and to prevent warping. And to offer even more control over a broader range of filaments, the Duo boasts a fully-enclosed build volume that eliminates air drafts and gives a stable air temperature profile by trapping the heat. This minimizes interlayer stress in the printed objects, and ultimately improves its overall quality and robustness.

“A particle and activated carbon air filter with air temperature homogenizer for odor free operation can be installed, which provides a uniform temperature profile for the enclosure,” Diaconescu adds. “For the mavericks wanting even more control and desire to work with experimental materials, a closed loop air temperature conditioner can be installed for an extended enclosure air temperature range.”

• Build volume: 20cm x 20cm x 20cm (Uno) / 25cm x 25cm x 25cm (Duo)
• Layer solution: 40 to 300µm (Uno) / 20 to 300µm (Duo)
• Printing speed: 20mm/sec to 150 mm/sec (Uno) / 20mm/sec to 200 mm/sec (Duo)
• Nozzle diameter: 0.35mm (replaceable nozzles include: 0.2mm, 0.4mm, 0.5mm)
• Filament size: 1.75mm
• Software: Software: Repetier, Printrun, Slic3r
• Connectivity: SD card, USB (Wi-Fi in development)

Interested? Head over to its official Kickstarter campaign, where the ShapingBits team is currently seeking $15,370. Shipment is expected to begin in June 2015.

These robots will slide under your car and move it

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Sure there are self-parking cars, but what about autonomous robots that can move your parked car? 

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A team of European researchers have developed a swarm of small robots and a deployment unit that can autonomously extract and move vehicles up to two tons in weight. Dubbed the Autonomous Multi-Robot System for Vehicle Extraction and Transportation — or AVERT for short — the system was designed for use by law enforcement.

As its name implies, the solution requires very little human interaction and is comprised of three separate subsystems: a deployment unit, a set of bogies and a remote command center. How it works is pretty straightforward: The deployment unit is equipped with a digital camera and SICK laser scanner that is tasked with mapping out an area and scouting for potential obstacles in order to plan its safest route. This unit then releases four small bogies, which by operating in a swarm, navigate over to the vehicle using on-board sensors to avoid obstacles, detect tires and dock themselves to the vehicle.

Once in position under the car’s footprint, it is hoisted just an inch or so off the ground and taken away by the robots. Meanwhile, a graphical user interface (GUI) provides users with all of the necessary information and on-demand interaction during the deployment and operation of the system.

As awesome as AVERT would be to rescue society from bad parallel parking situations, it was specifically developed for use by police officers — especially in scenarios which require the extraction of suspicious vehicles from within buildings, parking garages and other tight places where a tow truck is not accessible, or to transport cars suspected of being rigged with explosives to a safer location.

The team has been developing the technology since 2012 and believes a production model could be ready by next year. Even better, a member of the project has informed us that an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) can be found at the core of AVERT. They will be showcasing the system at the upcoming International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Seattle.

That’s enough yapping from us now, you’ll have to see it to believe it! Watch below!

You-SLS is an inexpensive, open-source SLS 3D printer

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One Maker has set out to build the cheapest SLS printer on the market. 

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In recent years, there have been plenty of FDM and SLA printers to emerge on crowdfunding sites, and rightfully so. Given their ease-of-use and affordability, these desktop machines have become the go-to choice for Makers looking to 3D print a project. Though, as great as they may be, users often encounter a number of limitations when it comes to creating overhangs greater than 45 degrees, altering a design on a whim and adding support material.

Meanwhile, selective laser sintering (or SLS) is in a league of its own when it comes to yielding high-quality, high-definition results. These machines avoid the extrusion process entirely, and instead, construct objects by selectively solidifying very fine powder materials of nylon, layer by layer, using a laser. Unfortunately, as incredible as these devices may be, the cheapest SLS printer on the market today is in the ballpark of $180,000.

That was until now. 18-year-old Maker Lukas Hoppe has set out to introduce an SLS 3D printer that packs all of the key elements of those industrial-grade machines without the astronomical price tag. What’s more, it will also be open-source and feature a heated build chamber.

Hoppe admits that he only got into 3D printing about a year ago, but immediately became an advocate of the Atmel driven RepRap movement yet was always tempted by more pricier 3D printers. This got him to thinking: What if there was a way that would combine the open-source principles of a RepRap with the professional quality of SLS devices? And so, the $2,000 You-SLS 3D Printer was born.

As expected, the machine is based on the highly-popular tandem of an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) and a RAMPS 1.4 board, along with Marlin firmware. However, controlling a SLS machine is a bit more complex than commanding a conventional FDM printer, and so, Hoppe employed another Arduino to drive the recoater. The rest of the You-SLS consists of commonly available parts that make constructing as simple and inexpensive as possible.

What really sets this gadget apart from other SLS printers is its X-Y gantry system, as hardware and software for those systems is readily accessible.

“I decided that it would be best to stick with the Cartesian X-Y system, as the software is hassle free, it allows the use of a standard RAMPS board, which again is very common with open source printers, and the hardware is available all over the world from different suppliers at a low cost,” the Maker adds.

The DIY system will employ a three-way heating system: each of two pistons will be equipped with two 300W heating cartridges and the build chamber will be heated by two optical heaters with independent temperature feedback controls. The laser sintering system itself will revolve around a laser-diode with 2W of power at a wavelength of 445nm.

In order to cool the various lasers, stepper motors and electronic components, the Maker notes that his design moves the lasers outside the hot environment by creating two parts: a lower segment, which contains the two pistons and a recoater, and the upper segment that holds the XY-stage and the laser diode. This way, the hot and the cold parts of the machine are separated.

The You-SLS printer’s outer dimensions are 90cm x 50cm x 55cm, which will make it a welcomed addition to any Makerspace workbench. And with a print bed of about 20cm x 15cm x 10cm in size, this allows larger parts to be printed diagonally and for jet small parts to be created without using too much powder to fill the bed.

Sound like something you’d like? Hurry over to Hoppe’s official Indiegogo page, where the Maker has already surpassed his $1,100 goal.

The Palette turns any 3D printer into a multi-color, multi-material machine

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One Canadian startup has developed a way to take 3D printing to the next level.

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Over the past couple of years, there has been an upsurge in the number of 3D printing startups and a slew of new machines. However, as great as many of them are, they all too often share the same limitation: they can only print in one color. That’s where one Montreal, Canada startup comes in. From home projects to complex prototypes, the Mosaic Manufacturing team is hoping to enable Makers to create objects that would otherwise have been way too expensive or inconceivable with conventional printers.

The Palette is a filament feeding system that connects to a single-extruder 3D printer and transforms it into a multi-color gadget, all through the use of a standalone box. This helps avoid the limitations of pricier, bulkier and harder-to-use machines, which require multiple filament nozzles.

What’s nice is that this shoebox-sized accessory, which recently debuted on Kickstarter, provides Makers with the ability to build an unprecedented range of things on the 3D printer that they already own — using up to four colors and a variety of materials. Beyond that, the system eradicates most of the commonly encountered problems associated with regular 3D printers, such as dripping and build size constraints.

“If you can use a 3D printer, you can build high quality color creations with The Palette. You can skip the upgrade cycle of buying an expensive printer, keep using your favorite slicer, and use whatever filament supplier you want,” the team notes.

Generally speaking, FDM 3D printers run off of plastic filament and the color of the material determines the color of the extruded object. Not anymore! Thanks to The Palette, users can take four filament inputs and combine them together into a single filament output. The device isn’t just limited to extending the possibilities of colors either; instead, given the wave of new filaments, the standalone system allows Makers to use many of today’s most exotic filaments — whether that’s carbon fiber, wood, stainless steel or a conductive material.

“Everything is done automatically, from the order of the filaments, to their exact length, to make sure every color shows up exactly where it should,” the team adds. “All you have to do is go through the simple setup sequence and print like you normally would!”

To appeal to the diverse landscape of today’s machines, The Palette is configured to function with just about any brand of FDM 3D printer that runs on G-Code/X3G and uses the typical 1.75 mm filament. Simply plug it in, and it’s ready to go. What’s more, it doesn’t require any modifications, wiring or hardware changes, and is cross-platform compatible.

Based on an ATmega2560 MCU, the device is driven by seven NEMA 17 stepper motors, is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux, and features both an SD card interface and USB connection. The Mosaic Manufacturing crew also went the extra mile by employing open-source firmware and software. This not only makes it DIY-friendly, but lets The Palette fit nicely within the collaborative ecosystem that is fueling the 3D printing community.

The Palette’s software works with existing multi-extruder slicers on the market as well. A user starts by configuring their slicer to prepare a four extruder print and assigns each extruder to the appropriate .stl files. From there, they slice the parts and create four extruder .gcode. Using Mosaic’s accompanying app, this .gcode is then processed to make it ready for a single extruder printer.

“Printing isn’t a perfect science, so we created a feedback loop to ensure The Palette and your printer are always on the same page. Mosaic’s app inputs a series of checkpoints into the .gcode/.x3g file. The Palette reads these checkpoints, and if the buffer is shifting, the Palette makes adjustments to the upcoming lengths of filament to ensure every piece of filament goes back to being perfectly synced,” they explain.

The Palette truly represents a giant step forward for Makers, as we continue to inch closer to an era of ubiquitous consumer 3D printing. Sound like something you or your Makerspace would love to have? Head over to its official Kickstarter page, where the team has already well-exceeded its initial goal of $75,000. Shipment to early bird backers is slated for December 2015, while regular delivery is expected to begin in January 2016. (Not to be bias or anything, but the team admitted to following along with our blog regularly and “would have loved to to be covered,” so a little extra promotion is in store for these guys!)

Scanning books in Google-like fashion with Arduino

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Make creates an automatic, Arduino-powered linear book scanner that was inspired by Google.

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A few years ago, the Google Books team revealed their plans for an automatic book scanning device that moves a book face-down over a set of linear sensors that captures page images and uses vacuum pressure to isolate the individual pages and automatically turn them over. After a quick 40-second setup, the prototype was able to digitize a 1,000-page book in a little over 90 minutes, and unlike many popular scanners on the market, didn’t require anyone to man the controls once it got going.

Inspired by Google’s open-sourced design, a Maker by the name “Forssa1” decided to try his hand at devising a similar machine. For this build, however, he employed two handheld book scanners, an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), and a powerful server fan tasked with flipping the pages. The gadget itself is comprised of laser-cut acrylic. You can see it in action below!

This modded typewriter will print you an ASCII art selfie

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But first, let me type a selfie.

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Well, what do you know? Another week, another impressive project from Moscow-based technological artist Dmitry Morozov — otherwise known as ::vtol::. Just the other day, the Maker devised an innovative way to capture 8-bit instant photos using a camera masquerading as a gun. Now, he has managed to mod a Brother SX-4000 typewriter to produce even lower res pics, this time in the form of ASCII art images. (For those unfamiliar with ASCII art, its widespread usage can be traced to the computer bulletin board systems of the late 1970s and early 1980s.)

The typewriter, which is controlled by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), works by capturing an image from a camera, converting it into ASCII art using Pure Data and MAX/MSP, and slowly printing it onto a piece of paper — one character at a time.

The project, dubbed I/O, was recently on display at the 101 Festival where a number of onlookers had the chance to stand before a lamp and camera, then wait as their portrait was typed out. You can see it in action below!

Disney Research creates a 3D printer that can print in fabric

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A new form of 3D printing technology can make embeddedable, plush toys.

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3D printing has grown leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, not only in terms of the gadgets themselves, but the filaments they are capable of extruding as well. Still though, most consumer-grade 3D printers only construct objects comprised of rigid and hard materials (like plastics, ceramics or metal) fused together. That was until now. A group of researchers from Disney, Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University have recently developed a new 3D printing technique that creates items out of layers of felt.

“Consumers increasingly prefer high quality and beautiful bespoke objects, as evidenced by the success of websites such as Etsy,” the team elaborates upon the inspiration of the project. “However, these websites typically require individual craftspeople to produce such objects by hand. New additive manufacturing technologies (more commonly known as 3D printing) provide an opportunity to manufacture highly custom objects on demand.”

The so-called Layered Fabric 3D Printer works along principles similar to those used in polymer deposition. A 3D model is broken down into slices, which are translated into the printer. This is where the two techniques diverge. Rather than being laid down by an extruder nozzle, this method uses a laser to cut the outline of each layer from a roll of heat-activated adhesive fabric that correspond to the sliced layers. The fabric is fed to the bottom face of the bed by rollers mounted to the sides, and held in place by a vacuum during cutting. This layer is then transferred onto the printer’s build platform, where it is activated by a warm disc on the machine’s print head. This process is then repeated until the object is fully “printed,” whereupon completion, the result is a block-like figure that is manually peeled, revealing a soft and flexible layered object.

The printer is also multi-material, and can automatically integrate two types of fabric into a single print. Meaning, conductive fabric can be embedded in a print to create a capacitive touch input or electric circuit paths. “For example, objects with printed ‘wiring’ can be constructed using conductive fabric. This ‘wiring’ is completely flexible since it is formed with, and entirely embedded inside of, fabric sheets,” the team adds. “We have used this capability in several proof-of-concept demonstration objects including a soft cell phone case which contains a printed fabric coil capable of harvesting power from the NFC hardware of an off-the-shelf cell phone.”

By using conductive fabric as one of their material feeds, the researchers were able to make custom-printed capacitive sensors as a part of a normal print, including a touch-enabled necklace pendent in the form of a soft starfish connected to an Arduino Lilypad (ATmega328) and a capacitive sensor configured as a slider linked to an off-the-shelf Teensy MCU.

Much like a number of other traditional printers available today, the Layered Fabric 3D Printer is powered by an Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560) driving a RAMPS 1.4 control board with Repetier firmware. On the software side, the project employs Repetier-Host v0.95 with no modification and Slic3r v1.1.7. The build volume for the current prototype is 10” x 10” x 10”, though the team does note that larger-sized devices could be easily constructed using this same design.

To first test out its approach of crafting on-demand plush toys, the team constructed a 2.5-inch Stanford bunny in roughly two and a half hours. Interestingly enough, unlike conventional printers where printing and filling the model are the most laborious parts, with this machine, movement of the bonding platform and the bonding steps consume the most time.

“It consists of 32 layers of acrylic felt fabric resulting in a 64mm high final product. Despite the relatively thick 2mm felt used in the print, it preserved most of the details in the underlying 3D digital model like the nose and ears. Also notice the relatively com- plex overhanging shape in the ears of the bunny. Because of the cutting strategy we used, fabric from the bounding box area of the previous layer serves as support for overhangs, including very small and sharply overhung features such as these.”

When all is said and done, the researchers are looking to usher in a new way of layer-based 3D fabric printing that can form precise, yet soft and deformable 3D objects from rolls of off-the-shelf fabric. As TechCrunch notes, “It’s as much a laser cutter as it is a 3D printer.” Nevertheless, it’s still extremely cool — and AVR powered!

Want to learn more? You can read the entire paper from Disney Research, Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon here.

Building a DIY 3D printer for less than $200

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One 13-year-old Maker just designed and built his own 3D printer for under $200. 

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Truth be told, a number of 3D printers still remain out of reach for many everyday consumers not looking to shell out thousands of dollars on a device. This leaves countless Makers dying to get their hands on a machine to do one of two things: either spend their savings account or create their own. We don’t know what you were doing at age 13, but chances are you weren’t constructing your own easy-to-use, inexpensive 3D printer.

Meet Zach Sousa, who recently unveiled plans for the second iteration of his DIY 3D printer that he devised, built and uploaded to Instructables — all by himself. The gadget, which he calls The Edge 2.0, is roughly the size of the Printrbot Simple with a slightly larger 6″ x 5.5″ x 4″ build envelope. The device weighs just over five pounds, and can be made from materials costing no more than $200. While he is still testing the final print resolution, 3DPrint.com reveals that he has managed to print successfully down to 200 microns!

The idea for an updated model of the Edge came about following its tremendous popularity, having garnered well over 125,000 views and thousands of likes online. Similar to its predecessor, v2.0 is controlled by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) and RAMPS 1.4 board, as well as driven by five NEMA 17 stepper motors.

The Maker crafted each of the machine’s parts using a combination of laser cutting and 3D printing, along with a little soldering and wiring to round out the Edge 2.0’s design. In order to complete the project, Sousa calls for a computer with Arduino IDE, running Pronterface and a slicer program like Cura or Slic3r.

Interested? Head over to its official Instructables page for a step-by-step breakdown of the project.

This Arduino-based installation turns Google searches into music

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Maker uses the popularity of others as the input for creating electronic music.

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By now, you’re probably well aware that Moscow-based innovator Dmitry Morozov is no stranger to the Bits & Pieces blog with his unique Arduino-based installations. Just when we thought we’ve seen it all, from making eery tunes by crushing electronic devices to turning air pollution into contemporary art, the Maker has returned with his latest project: Kalculator.

Designed as a special piece for Moscow’s Museum and Exhibition Center, the installation uses the popularity of others to generate electronic music. A user selects one of 18 names from a chart listing top Russian artists. Within moments, the program conducts a Google search and returns the amount of times that the chosen name was mentioned throughout the web. This information is monitored and displayed on an Android tablet.

From there, a special algorithm transforms the number into a form of sound composition emitted through a pair of speakers. The complexity and duration of the tune is directly correlated with the amount of times that the particular name was mentioned. Meanwhile, the project was powered by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560).

Intrigued? You can watch the piece in action below.

Open Gigabot is an open-source 3D printer concept

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As they say, everything is bigger in Texas… including the 3D printers.

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Nearly two years ago, Austin-based startup re:3D launched a super successful Kickstarter campaign for its Gigabot 3D printer, which garnered over $250,000 in a matter of weeks. The machine was not only large in size, but packed with a plethora of features. Most notably, a print volume that allowed for it to construct objects up to 30 times the size of other traditional desktop 3D printers at the time.

Two years later, the folks at re:3D have once again proven to be a crowdfunding success with their Open Gigabot concept 3D printer. Unlike countless other companies seeking to unveil the most lightweight, pint-sized gadgets imaginable, they have decided to take the opposite route. First unveiled at SXSW a few weeks ago, the team aspires to bring the DIY community the “most personal, most Maker-accesible and most inherently useful human-scale 3D printer on the planet.”

As its name suggests, the device is entirely open-source, offering users with unmatched transparency from its hardware to its software and everything in between. Constructed out of aluminum, the Open Gigabot allows users to attach anything to its frame without drilling holes, while extra headers with 3.3V, 5V and 12V at both the control board and the extruder give Makers the ability to personalize their own experience.

Impressively, the Open Gigabot boasts a build envelope of 24” x 24” x 20” yet is still super mobile and easily accessible. A touchscreen graphical user interface enables simple control and remote printing from afar. Additionally, users can seamlessly connect to a wireless network via Wi-Fi, USB or Ethernet.

With the DIY community in mind, the re:3D crew designed their latest machine with an expanded error detection set that reliably notifies Makers of filament feed errors, low filament, stepper motor drive faults and temperature issues, among any other problems one may encounter during a job.

“To enable all these new features we also created a brand new controller. Completely open-source, of course. Built as a shield for the popular Arduino, it includes a host of small but important features to make it expandable and customizable,” the company writes.

The new controller for OpenGB is loosely based on the highly-popular, open-source RAMPS 1.4 control and mounted on an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560). What’s more, board includes seven sockets for stepper motor drivers, three thermocouple support circuits, four thermo resistors, eight end stop terminals, five power MOSFETS, two serial connections with logic level conversion, input for induction bed sensor, hobby servo motor headers, a 12V cooling fan header, a header for all unused pins, and software-controlled stepper motor current.

As for its software, it is written in either Python or using the Arduino IDE. Beyond that, OpenGB’s UI is a pre-flight checklist that guides users through everything from leveling their build plate, to uploading their files wirelessly, to fine-tuning advanced controls.

Interested? While its Kickstarter campaign has just come to a successful end (the team raised $50,239), you can still head over to its official page to learn more. In the meantime, you can also check out MAKE: Magazine’s recent writeup here.