Tag Archives: V-One

Rewind: 15 mind-blowing machines from 2015

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… that are NOT your typical 3D printer.

Although 3D printers have received most of the buzz in recent months, these next-gen machines are doing much more than just spitting out ABS and PLA objects. In fact, you can expect to find one of the following 15 gadgets on your workbench, desktop, kitchen counter or inside your man cave in the not too distant future.

Glowforge

A big hit at this year’s World Maker Faire, the Glowforge is a revolutionary 3D laser printer that uses subtractive technology rather than additive methods. With one press of a button, the device cuts and engraves a variety of materials — including wood, fabric, leather, paper, cardboard, food and acrylic — instead of constructing items layer by layer. During its crowdfunding campaign, the team impressively garnered a record-setting $27M in 30 days.

X-Carve

With X-Carve, Inventables offers several new elements to the 3D carving kit concept which they’ve been associated with over the past few years. This customizable piece of equipment is ideal for the workshop, and can create precision parts from plastic, wood and metal. It comes in two sizes, 500mm and 1000mm rails, which provide a 12″ x 12″ and a 31″ x 31″ work area, respectively.

Prometheus

Zippy Robotics’ Prometheus is a milling machine that rapidly produces prototype PCBs from your desk in minutes, so you no longer have to wait weeks for a delivery truck. It works by carving through the copper layer of a standard copper-clad board (FR-4 or FR-1), as well as drilling holes and routing the shape of the board itself if it needs to fit a specific enclosure. Prometheus boasts an extremely low runout error that cuts traces down to .007 inches in diameter, meaning you can design with pretty much any surface mount component.

Voltera V-One

Born out of their own frustrations with traditional fabrication processes, Voltera has come up with a unique way to reduce development time from months to days. Winner of both TechCrunch’s Hardware Battlefield and the 2015 James Dyson Award, the V-One can print out circuit boards, dispense solder paste and reflow.

Voxel8

Voxel8, in partnership with Autodesk, introduced the world’s first 3D printer for electronics ranging from fully-functional drones to hearing aids. Designers and engineers will now be able to actualize three-dimensional parts with embedded circuitry for the first time.

The PancakeBot

A perfect example of an idea that has gone from the ‘MakerSpace to MarketPlace,’ the PanakeBot is exactly what it sounds like: an automated appliance that can whip up pancakes in virtually any shape you can imagine.

G3DP

A team of MIT researchers has opened up a new frontier in 3D printing: the ability to build optically transparent glass objects. The G3DP consists of two heated chambers. The upper chamber is a crucible kiln that operates at a temperature of around 1900°F, and funnels the molten material through an alumina-zircon-silica nozzle, while the bottom chamber works to anneal the structures.

BoXZY

There are 3D printers. There are engravers. There are CNC mills. However, BoXZY is different — it’s all three. Hoping to usher in a new age of ‘modular manufacturing,’ this triple-threat mini FabLab empowers Makers to alternate between the tools with quick-change heads. Oh, and did we mention that Justin and Joel Johnson raised more than $1.1M on Kickstarter?

Pico

Instead of having to run out to your local package store or brewery, Pico allows you to craft fresh, personalized beer right from home. One notable feature of the coffeemaker-sized appliance is its new PicoPak system, which includes conveniently pre-packaged ingredient combinations.

FarmBot

A finalist in this year’s Hackaday Prize, FarmBot is an open source CNC farming machine capable of weeding, seeding, feeding and watering crops. What’s more, its web-based application lets growers graphically design their farm or garden to meet desired specifications. This makes the process as simple as playing a game of FarmVille.

Ripple Maker

The Ripple Maker leverages 3D printing and inkjet technologies to adorn the top of your morning latte with complex artwork that could take the form of someone’s name, their face, or even a personalized message to the customer behind you. The unit itself is rather 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 text to stamp onto the milky foam canvas with natural coffee extract.

Bistrobot

Bistrobot wants you to bid farewell to long lines and wrong orders, and say hello to an automated assembly line that can make peanut butter sandwiches on white bread with your choice of honey, blackberry jam, sweet chili, chocolate sauce and Nutella.

Electroloom

What if you could design ready-to-wear garments straight from your desktop? Thanks to Electroloom, you can. The team’s electrospinning process makes it possible for anyone with a small bit of CAD ability to create seamless fabric items on demand.

Circular Knitic

The artist duo of Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet has devised an open source, automated circular knitter dubbed Circular Knitic. In true Maker fashion, the idea was brought to life with 3D printing, laser cutting, MakerBeam and Arduino.

Bartesian

Like a Keurig for cocktails, the Bartesian is a capsule-based gadget that enables anyone to expertly fix their favorite alcoholic beverages in a matter of seconds.

Shapeoko 3

The Shapeoko 3 is an affordable, heavy duty, three-axis CNC machine designed to “do real work, out of real materials.”

Evo-One

Geared towards everyone from the DIY community to the industrial-savvy crowd, Evo-One is a sleek desktop CNC mill that can engrave, carve and cut complex shapes with incredible accuracy.

Print your own circuit boards in under an hour with Voltera

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The V-One will allow Makers to go from concept to creation in just minutes.

The emergence of 3D printing continues to revolutionize the way in which companies and Makers go about the prototyping process. And, as you’re well aware, constructing your own circuit boards can certainly be a daunting task. Now, what if converging these two elements could significantly cut down the time between concept and creation? That’s the idea of Voltera’s new V-One circuit printer, which we first saw on the CES 2015 show floor and has since hit Kickstarter. The Waterloo-based startup is hoping to eliminate many of the frustrations typically associated with traditional fabrication, all while accelerating development.

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According to the team, the Voltera V-One is the first conductive ink printer that goes further than simply printing single layer circuits on paper. The device is said to be capable of producing electrically-separated dual-layer circuits onto FR4. What’s more, the V-One can create an insulating mask that goes over the first layer of conductive ink before a second layer is printed, thereby enabling traces to cross over each other. It also offers a solder paste option to let Maker reflow surface-mount components onto existing boards.

How it works is relatively simple. Using a print head full of conductive ink, the Voltera can recreate a variety of circuit traces from a schematic that are required to connect chips and other hardware components together. The printer itself only has one button, in addition to magnetic ink cartridges that are designed to snap on/off, allowing for easy transitions between materials. Meanwhile, its software will guide a user through each step and handle all of the file conversions.

As easy as the process may be, it is important to point out that these boards aren’t meant to replace mass manufactured PCBs altogether. Instead, it is merely a prototyping tool that aspires to help bring ideas to life in a much quicker, more efficient manner.

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“How many times have you tossed out a board because you used the wrong footprint or because you forgot a pull-up resistor? If you’re anything like us… more times than you’d like to admit. Now you can quickly test an idea without wasting money or two weeks of your time,” the team writes.

Each printer will come with template boards — which at the moment are shield boards for the Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and Mega (ATmega2560) — that are cut to shape and pre-drilled to get you up and running in expedited fashion. The machine is compatible with a number of operating systems, including Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as CAD tools like EAGLE, Altium, Upverter and KiCad.

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The team shares that a relatively standard layout, such as that of an Atmel based Arduino, can print in just about 15-20 minutes. Then, add 30 minutes for the ink to dry, and you have yourself a finished prototype circuit board in under an hour — all with just the press of a button.

  • Printer size: 390mm x 257mm x 207mm
  • Print Area: 138mm x 102mm
  • Printer weight: 7kg (15.4lbs)
  • Maximum board thickness: 3mm
  • Substrate material: FR4
  • Heated bed temperature: 250°C
  • Connectivity: USB

And while the V-One may not be the first circuit board printer to hit Kickstarter, it does appear to be one of the more impressive and advanced devices we’ve seen thus far. If you recall, both Voxel8 and Squink are also seeking to make 3D-printed electronics a reality. Want a circuit board prototyping machine of your own? Head over to its Kickstarter page now, where Voltera been garnered over $500,000.