New tool gives structural strength to 3D printed works

“I have an entire zoo of broken 3D printed objects in my office,” said Bedrich Benes, an associate professor of computer graphics at Purdue University.

Company creates software that they say stops the 3D printing of Guns

The company Create It Real has created software that enables a printer to disallow printing guns.

According to their press release they say:

3D Printing on Hot Brazilian Bed

Did not get my ordered plot3d.org this week but my eyes  noticed today in a grocery a tape that cost 0,99€. Bought it and applied it onto the heated aluminium plate:

RepRap 3D Printer Released

Today I am eventually proud of my extreme affordable and effective design of the 3D RepRap printer and the Spark Wheel Direct Drive Extruder!

They both, in combination, have printed a serious object - a compressor wheel thing:53455 that took 110 layers 0.3mm each:

3D Printing

The 3D Printer provides a true “Out of the Box 3D Printing Experience” as the 3D Printer comes fully assembled with easy to install software for both the PC and Mac. The 3D Printer can prototype a part or model that is up to 5 inches cubed in dimensions. The output is accurate to within .15mm (6 thousandths of an inch), and has 30% of the strength of injection molded parts

Engineers successfully fly a small pilotless aircraft -- produced from a 3D printer

We've been talking about the promising potential of 3D printing for some time here at SmartPlanet, in which specialized printers, connected to ordinary PCs, can be employed to mass produce highly customized products -- from houses to food -- in the same way we produce documents.

Add another accomplishment to the 3D printer repertoire -- small aircraft. Researchers from the University of Southampton have just designed and flew the world's first "printed" aircraft. The SULSA (Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft) plane is an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) whose entire structure has been printed, including wings, integral control surfaces and access hatches. It was printed on an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine, which fabricates plastic or metal objects, building up the item layer by layer.

3D Printing Will Change the World

To anyone who hasn’t seen it demonstrated, 3D printing sounds futuristic—like the meals that materialized in the Jetsons’ oven at the touch of a keypad. But the technology is quite straightforward: It is a small evolutionary step from spraying toner on paper to putting down layers of something more substantial (such as plastic resin) until the layers add up to an object. And yet, by enabling a machine to produce objects of any shape, on the spot and as needed, 3D printer really is ushering in a new era.