3D Printing

Mosquitos suck. That’s not an insult, it’s just what they do. And they do it all over the world except for Antarctica and a few other subpolar island locations (such as Iceland). They are vectors for such diseases such as malaria and dengue, and are responsible for one million deaths per year, according to the WHO. They are literally the world’s deadliest animal. And if they’re not killing us in huge numbers, their bites are incredibly annoying, causing irritation, swelling, rashes, and sleepless nights for many. There are many solutions for repelling these hellish insects, but they are far from perfect. Wearable Repellent A team of researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Germany have developed a potential solution that may prove to be a step in the right direction, and their answer comes in the form of a 3D printed wearable containing a skin-friendly chemical repellant. You can…    read more 

Early adopters who have dreamed of living in a printed home, but don’t want to drop a big pile of cash on the experience can now do so thanks to US company Azure Printed Homes, who are printing homes to rent. The Los Angeles-based construction company has teamed up with property developer Reinhabit to construct 10 prefabricated homes which will be rented out to occupants. What’s more is that the little houses will be printed out of recycled plastic, and according to the company, the modular components that make up one of their houses can be printed in the space of a day. You can see an example one Azure’s prefabricated designs in the image below, being lowered into position by crane. An Azure Backyard Studio, being delivered.(Image credit: Azure Printed homes) The 10 tiny houses will be assembled on three different sites in Southern California. “We have been researching…    read more 

Living organs for medical experimentation are pretty hard to come by, on account of human beings actually using them on a day to day basis. To rectify this, the concept of the organoid has been developed. Functional Organ Models Organoids are mini-versions of organs that replicate various biological functions, and they are grown in-vitro, in a petri dish or test tube or some other kind of container outside of the normal environment of the body. Manufacturing of organoids has had its limitations however, as it has been difficult to demonstrate consistent and robust extraction of mature organoids from renewable cells. This could be about to change though, thanks to a team of researchers from the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh who have been awarded funding to further research into organoid production using AI and 3D printing. In-vitro organoids. (Image credit: University of Pittsburgh) The team of…    read more 

Back in April 2021 we took a look at Chinese printer company Cerambot’s ceramic printer the Eazao, which enabled the printing of ceramics that could be fired inside a standard home microwave oven thanks to their nifty little microwave kiln gizmo. Now the company is back with a bigger offering, with a bunch of new improvements, and it’s available on Kickstarter. Let’s take a look in more detail at the new Cerambot Eazao Matrix. Bigger & Better First up, the new Cerambot Eazao Matrix is significantly bigger than the previous model. The Matrix comes in three different sizes which are the M500, M600, and M700. The largest is the M700 which provides the maximum printing volume at 500 x 500 x 700mm. That’s big enough to print your own bathroom sink or other bathroom ceramics! Imagine printing your own bidet! Mmmmm… custom freshness! The new Matrix is also capable of…    read more 

A new hybrid printing process developed by researchers at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is promising to speed up printing of resins at sub-micron levels. The process has been developed by Dr Suhas Nawada, who previously worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences at UvA. The method combines elements of both SLA and DLP printing, with the rapid low resolution work being done by the DLP and the slower high resolution aspects being performed by the SLA segment, thus allowing both high speed and high resolution. The technology has been licenced to Gouda-based company atum3D via the Amsterdam Innovation Exchange (IXA), which is UvA’s technology transfer office. Best of Both Worlds The process utilizes composite imaging where large-scale, low-resolution patterns are printed using a DLP projector. Within these low-res layers, pre-defined photomasks enable the realization of micro-features. Switching photomask patterns between layers can…    read more