3D Printing

April 25, 2022 Leave a Comment Additive manufacturing offers a number of benefits to those wishing to develop antennas in various non-traditional geometries, and a team of researchers in the US have recently test-flown a drone with a printed antenna to demonstrate those benefits. Ohio-based drone company Event38 have been working with local partners (Ohio Federal Research Network (OFRN), Kent State University, Youngstown State University, and Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI)) to upgrade their E400 mapping drone with a new hybrid antenna/nose cone. The part was printed with a combination of metal and polymer printing, and was presumably assembled afterwards into a single unit. E400 drone. (Image credit: Event38) Typically antennas need to be conductive, but as we have seen in previous articles, it is perfectly possible to print complex geometries in plastics and apply conductive materials to them after printing. This is a lot more cost effective than simply printing…    read more 

April 26, 2022 Leave a Comment Oh, how times change! If you had tried to make a small plastic electric vehicle 35 years ago, you would have been pilloried and mocked relentlessly. Just ask home computer pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair, who in 1985 released his Sinclair C5 e-trike and got that exact same response. It seemed that some folks had issues with sitting in a battery/pedal powered recumbent tricycle with truck wheels roaring by at mere inches from their petrified heads… While the C5 debacle buried the idea of actually useful urban EV products for decades, the idea of small, fuel efficient concepts has been kept alive and kicking in the Shell Eco-marathon. The marathon has been running for many years now and has been used as a platform for student teams to push the envelope in terms of fuel economy, and this year a team from Saskatchewan Polytechnic has…    read more 

April 20, 2022 Leave a Comment Learn how to set up a school’s 3D print program successfully and enjoy one of the most rewarding experiences in education. Watch students get deeply engaged in their learning process – across geography, chemistry, biology and more! Keys to set up a school’s 3D print program To successfully set up a school’s 3D print program one does depend on a few things, of course.Students need to enjoy success and at the same time – admins need to manage print queues without spending crazy amounts of time doing so!These are 3 critical indicators of a school’s 3D print program success. Indicator 1: Increased 3D Print Success One piece of prime importance is optimizing everything for more successful prints.On the one hand, you want students to push their own boundaries and accept that in doing so, they will sometimes fail. However, on the other hand, you…    read more 

April 15, 2022 Leave a Comment Construction additive manufacturing is still seeking new ways to demonstrate its value, and as we saw a few weeks ago with the printed flood relief housing, it is finding more and more use in transient housing applications. Well, it could be said that there are none more transient than soldiers in training, and so the US Department of Defense has employed Texas-based construction printer company ICON to print their vast barracks complex at Fort Bliss, Texas. There will be three barracks printed at the facility, each housing up to 72 soldiers at a time. At approximately 530 square meters of area each, they will be the largest 3D printed structures in the western hemisphere. The current world’s largest AM structure is in Dubai, as we reported here. That was printed by Apis Cor with their concrete printing systems. You can see a rendering of…    read more 

April 10, 2022 Leave a Comment Snapmaker, the 3-in-1 3D printer manufacturer that found fame as the highest funded 3D printer on Kickstarter back in 2019 has announced a sale for the upcoming Easter season. Let’s take a look at what is on offer, for those who are interested in a 3-in-1 solution that is at once a 3D printer, a CNC router and a laser engraver. Read on to know more. 3-in-1 Fun Since the release of the original Snapmaker system back in 2019, the Shenzhen-based company has released new iterations and bundles for their flagship product. The Snapmaker Original is still available, with its 125 x 125 x 125mm print bed and this will be on sale for $439 (usual price is $699). For those wishing a bigger solution, the Snapmaker 2.0 is available in various sizes and bundles. The Snapmaker 2.0 comes in different forms including the…    read more