Tools

One type of 3D printing project you could challenge yourself with is to make some tools for yourself that will make home life a bit more convenient. For example, for the gamers out there who prefer a cord mouse for the battery life and lack of lag, you can build yourself a mouse bungee. The design, submitted to Thingiverse by Peter Merhaut, attaches to the cord so it rotates as you move your mouse. This helps to limit your cord from getting tangled or caught in other desk items, giving a cord mouse a cordless feel. As with every make on Thingiverse, the files for each part are available for direct download and you can edit and tweak them as you see fit. You can even take a look at some of the other maker’s mods and see if they’ve made any improvements on the original design.

You can also print tools that will help you with certain projects. For example, you can print a woodworking marking gauge tool, which will aid you in future woodworking projects. As a 3D printing aficionado, you can even build yourself a workbench dremel bit storage, which is designed to expertly hold all of the different pieces you need for your 3D printing work. It gives each of your sanding drums, cutoff discs, and flap wheels a specific space, making them much easier to find when you’re in the middle of a build.

Games

For any gamers out there, challenge yourself to make some gaming accessories. For example, if you’re a role-playing gamer, you can design yourself some fantasy character models with your 3D printer. This particular set of characters, created by Andrew Stockon, was designed using DesktopHero and includes all sorts of characters from elves to tieflings to paladins.

As a role-playing gamer, you can also create 3D printed landscapes and sets. For example, the Wicked Makers crew walks you through how to build and paint your own dungeon tile using 3D printing. After the piece is 3D printed, the painting process simply involves spray painting with a gray paint, painting a few tiles on each piece with a brown paint, and using some gray paint to blotch all over. After finally dry brushing with some white paint, you’ve got a finished tile to add to your dungeon.

If you’re a video game player, you can make a super mario style storage block for your game cartridges or, if you really wanted to challenge yourself, even build your own retro gaming system using 3D printing.

Decor

You can also challenge yourself to make some enviable new decorations for your home. This could include something super creative and one-of-a-kind like this wall flower mount. The design includes a plant holder which is also a wall mount with a small cloud above it and, if you pour water in the cloud, it will give the appearance that your plant is being watered by rain. Through this design, one can also see the collaborative work between makers where the designs have improved over time based on the tips and tweaks other makers have made on the project over the years the design has been available.

You can also create some very geometric minimalist pieces such as a geometric flower pot or fox wall sculpture. Or, if your decorating style is more funky and fun, you could 3D print this mushroom lamp which was designed by Nik Markellov. Whether you’re designing from scratch or utilizing a design with your own twist, 3D printing your decor can make your home feel just a bit more hygge.

The post Maker Challenge: 3D Printing appeared first on Inventionland.

What’s the difference between a MakerBar and a Hackerspace?

In short, there really isn’t one. Think of a Hackerspace as a smaller subsection of the Maker movement- something that is a Hackerspace can also be called a MakerBar, but the reverse isn’t always true. Essentially, a while a MakerBar focuses broadly on any DIY project, a Hackerspace focuses solely on DIY projects involving technology. So, while a MakerBar may include woodworking, a Hackerspace will solely include things like 3D Printing, Laser cutters, programming, digital art, etc.

Where did they come from?

According to Makerspaces, the origins of hackerspaces can be traced back to 1995 Berlin where the world’s first hackerspace, C-Base, was launched. It was originally started as a community for computer programmers to come together and meet, work, and share infrastructure. At the time, “hack” originally referred to making technology do something it wasn’t meant to do. Over time, however, 3D printing and CNC routers became more affordable to the point where these spaces became part of the Maker Movement.

What are the benefits?

There are several benefits to the spread of these spaces. The first was shared among their original founders at C-Base: these spaces create a community. It allows programmers or digital artists to share their interests and ideas with one another in a safe space. It even allows them to collaborate with one another on projects and learn new skills. In a New York Times piece, Mitch Altman, founder of Noisebridge in San Francisco, states of his hackerspace: “It’s a community supporting people in exploring and doing what they love. That’s the main thing, and you can feel it.”

Mr. Dougherty, of Make magazine, echoed the same sentiments on the benefits of hackerspaces. “The big value is community. A hobby starts as a very personal thing. As soon as you express that interest, you begin meeting people who share that interest. It can really help with motivation.”

Not only do Hackerspaces provide a much-needed sense of community to tech workers, but it also saves a lot of them time, money, and space. When the Hackerspace community originally began to spread, they weren’t popping up in rural areas with large houses and plenty of space. They were solely popping up in urban areas. This is because Makers in Urban areas are severely lacking the space to create. The ideal situation is to be able to tinker away in one’s garage, but people in Urban areas like New York City barely have enough living space for themselves, let alone all of their various tools.

A lot of Hackerspaces operate similarly to how a gym will. You can sign up and pay a monthly membership fee for unlimited use of the facility and its tools. This gives a lot of city Makers not only a space to work in, but also access to all of the tools they need without having to actually go out and purchase them themselves.

In addition, these spaces also serve as great networking opportunities for engineers and inventors. They’re great places to meet like-minded individuals and find others to collaborate with. In fact, business-like Pinterest and MakerBot have grown out of Hackerspaces.

Root Access, a hackerspace that runs out of Fresno, CA, it an excellent example of all of these benefits at work. The space is open for members to use freely and they also teach beneficial classes such as Electronic Hobbyist, Intro to Soldering, 3D Printing, and more. Andrew Runner, an employee with Root Access, spoke to us regarding the benefits of Hackerspaces, stating, “We see a group of people that haven’t had a space to meet besides work or tech conferences. People who do net security, robotics, and cutting-edge tech but didn’t have a venue to meet people of shared interests. People gain skills that are obscure and difficult to learn on your own. Our community provides friendly help in a not usually social scene. Jacob Joaquin has dazzled us with his group, Art Code Tech, fusing code and creativity on a monthly basis.”

Along with the Maker Movement itself, these spaces continue to spread through urban and rural areas, bringing a much-needed sense of community, collaboration, and resources along with them. And the owners of these spaces continue to work hard to teach new skills and pass their expertise along to their fellow creative professionals. Say what you will about Hackerspaces and the Maker Movement in general, but they certainly aren’t hacks.

The post Makers and Maker Movements: Hackerspaces appeared first on Inventionland.

From a young age, Greg has been fascinated with how things worked. He tinkered; he played; and, he rolled up his sleeves and followed his passion, which ultimately led him to Inventionland.

“You’re free to be you here,” said Greg about the creative atmosphere that lives within the walls of Inventionland!

It’s at our invention factory that Greg is able to put his inventing spirit to use by way of rapid prototyping and 3D printing!

From his passion to fascination, Greg gives us his view point on how today’s modern technology is awe-inspiring. But, that’s not all; he fills us in on what he likes to do in his spare time, too.

Let’s get right into the action. Here’s Greg’s episode of Inside Inventionland. Enjoy!

If you’d like to see more of where that came from, be sure to check our blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel today to see more Inside Inventionland episodes!

Copyright Inventionland, 2016

The post Inside Inventionland Puts Focus on Rapid Prototyping and 3D Printing appeared first on Inventionland.

Recently, MIT unveiled their new 3D-printing method that uses transparent glass rather than plastic.

In collaboration with the school’s Mechanical Engineering Department, the MIT Glass Lab, as well as the Wyss Institute and Mediated Matter Group, have created their new method of 3D printing, otherwise known as 3DGP.

Their method essentially works in the same way as a conventional 3D printer in that it’s an additive manufacturing platform that’s designed to print optically-transparent glass.

The team of researchers found a better way to modulate the light transmission, reflection and refraction qualities by accurately varying the thickness of the print.

In order to carry out the process, two heated-chambers are stacked one on top of the other. The first chamber acts as a kiln cartridge and works at 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit while the other chamber melts and hardens the structures together.

Though you never want glass to break, this breakthrough in 3D printing could lead to advances in the creation of fiber optic cables that can transmit data more efficiently. Furthermore, 3DGP could open the innovative gates that could lead to the creation of more complex structures and some that we’d never even imagined could be possible.

For now though, commercial applications for 3DGP don’t exist. However, some of the glass structures that the team has already created will be showcased at an art exhibit at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York in 2016.

Until then, let’s all marvel at the mesmerizing innovation that is MIT’s 3DGP!

GLASS from Mediated Matter Group on Vimeo.

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://www.engadget.com/2015/08/21/mit-figured-out-how-to-3d-print-using-glass-instead-of-plastic/

https://mashable.com/2015/08/22/3d-glass-printing/

Media:

https://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2560×1349+0+0/resize/1200×632!/format/jpg/quality/85/https://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/c57306a015b6d3972d4854fcf8d89a2a/202512865/Screen+Shot+2015-08-21+at+9.44.35+AM.png

https://vimeo.com/mediatedmattergroup/glass

The post 3DGP is Absolutely Fascinating – Check it Out appeared first on Inventionland.

In the United States, more and more people are seeking to live a simpler, less expensive way of life and one way to live out this idea is to join in on the Tiny House Movement.

These Tiny Houses that we speak of usually measure in at about 400 square feet and, as you can see, they live up to their name, “Tiny Houses.”

Not only is this particular movement encouraging people to downsize, it’s also, as you would expect, environmentally and financially friendly – two other enticing benefits.

3D printing service bureau, Sculpteo, has highlighted the fact that there are a myriad of designs for Tiny Houses available for free online.

These designs range from custom brackets to shelves and the 3D printers that are used in the process are able to fabricate the smaller components that are used in construction as well.

The idea of Tiny Houses isn’t entirely new; in fact, last year, urban design professor Peter Ebner, along with his students in the UCLA 3M futureLAB, created a fully-functional “microhouse” that was built via 3D printing.

The students took on the challenge to create their prototype of the 3D-printed microhouse in just 10 weeks. At the end of that time period, the house was completed and was seven feet wide by seven feet long and 11 feet tall. The design was made in two halves, which were then joined to create an enclosed shell.

In this microhouse were a bed, kitchen, full bathroom, storage space and a small lounge area with room for a TV.

In order to build strong walls that would retain heat, the students modeled the interior of the walls to resemble the internal structure of bones, which are porous.  These walls assisted in the heating and cooling of the house.

The UCLA house was less than 50 square feet of home-sweet-home!

The microhouse, as pictured above from UCLA 3M futureLAB.

Albeit very interesting, Ebner chose 3D printing and portable microhomes as the focus of this particular project because it fits the mission of 3M futureLAB – using technology to develop solutions to social problems, like alleviating overcrowding in urban areas that have insufficient affordable housing, while using fewer materials.

Additionally, Sculpteo agrees with Ebner and his students in that 3D printing allows for mass customization that can improve safety features to protect homeowners in the future.

Now, the microhouse is just one example of the possibilities that remain with the creation of Tiny Houses. The future for the Tiny House Movement still hangs in the balance, but we think there’s room for big opportunities!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://3dprint.com/88730/tiny-houses-meet-3d-printing/

https://www.sculpteo.com/blog/2015/08/11/3d-printing-and-the-tiny-house-movement-in-the-us/

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/the-home-of-the-future-in-50-square-feet

Media:

https://cms.ipressroom.com.s3.amazonaws.com/173/files/20145/53ab5e41299b506db0001b6e_3D+printed+house+and+Ebner/3D+printed+house+and+Ebner_mid.jpg

https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/53f214a3eab8ea703458db7d-1200/tiny-house-plattsburgh.jpg

The post Tiny Houses = Big Opportunities for 3D printing! appeared first on Inventionland.

In collaboration with musical artist and violinist Laurent Bernadac, the French company known as 3Dvarius has designed a fully-playable electric violin.

Though that alone sounds extremely innovative, the creativity doesn’t stop there. In fact, this electric violin was actually created with the most advanced 3D-printing technology and based on the traditional Stradivarius, which is one of the cellos, violas, violins and other stringed instruments that was built by members of the Stradivari family, namely Antonio Stradivari, during the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

Now that that short history lesson is over, let’s get back to how this 3D-printed violin was made. First, it was printed as a single piece. The process combines the precision of computer renderings and the extremely intricate skill of violin making.

Laurent Bernadac playing the 3D-printed violin. Image: designboom.com

Both of these talents were paired with Laurent Bernadac’s experience with violins and his knowledge of what exactly was needed in order to create a great violin.

The 3D-printed violin that 3Dvarius created was made to be lightweight and take into account all of the movements a violinist makes.

Throughout the research process, the acoustic and wave propagation through the body of the violin were studied, as well as the right mechanical resistance for the pressure of the strings.

To carry out this research, 3Dvarius used sterolithography, which is a technology that creates models layer by layer by curing photo reactive resin with an ultraviolet laser. Once this is complete, hand sanding takes place. This step is then followed by cleaning and polymerization that removes any excess resin and protects the internal makings of the violin.

Next is perhaps the most delicate step – the stringing of the violin. It’s during this step that the structure of the violin is introduced to actual string pressure.

Here’s an actual video of the making of the 3D-printed violin from 3Dvarius!

The idea for this 3D-printed violin came to be in 2012. Its first prototype was created in polycarbonate in 2013; however, it was too heavy and difficult to play. So, the 3Dvarius team put their heads together and created the second and current prototype.

If the 3D-printed violin is a hit with violinists, 3Dvarius will consider a commercial release. Until then, we’ll enjoy the sound of innovation!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://www.designboom.com/technology/3dvarius-3d-printed-violin-08-11-2015/

https://www.3ders.org/articles/20150807-this-gorgeous-3d-printed-transparent-electric-violin-sounds-fantastic.html

Media:

https://www.designboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/3dvarius-laurent-bernadac-3d-violin-designboom-01-818×545.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=43&v=Gr-Vu4w35RM

https://www.designboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/3dvarius-laurent-bernadac-3d-violin-designboom-02-818×545.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF0pOUBS3sg

The post 3Dvarius Strings Together Innovation appeared first on Inventionland.

The University of Maribor in Slovenia is the stage for the latest 3D-printed invention.  After designing a “green” 3D printer in 2013, a group of students worked hard to turn 3D printers into on-demand gardeners through their creation of PrintGREEN.

The slogan that PrintGreen lives by is a twist on the old conservationist motto, “Think before you print,” and tells their audience to, in fact, “Print, because it is green.”

You might be wondering what makes PrintGREEN so environmentally friendly. If you were, we’re here to fill you in. This “green” invention is all about bringing together art, technology and nature into one, unified object.

The printer combines modern technology with an innovative approach by using a special CNC machine as a printing device. Rather than a canvas, PrintGREEN uses Styrodur, which is a print page that’s covered with black felt and reinforced with a sponge.

The “ink” that this printer uses is unlike any other ink. Rather than using and reusing recycled plastics that never fully degrade, PrintGreen’s ink will naturally degrade over time. The ink is actually made of a mixture of soil, water and seeds, the general ingredients that are used in typical gardens everywhere.

Once the organic ink is loaded, the printer then produces living prints of customized objects in a variety of shapes and sizes.

After the drying period, the muddy mixture holds its form and then begins to sprout grass from the organic material.

Check out these pictures straight from PrintGREEN’s website!

The end goal of PrintGREEN, as we mentioned before, is to fuse art and nature to creatively produce living designs through the assistance of modern technology.  PrintGreen is all about creating a “living” design/print as it becomes green on its own!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Source:

https://print-green.org/

https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/3d-printing-green-06082015/s

https://upriser.com/posts/green-3d-printer-prints-living-designs-from-organic-ink

Media:

https://printgreendotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/photo-41.jpg?w=273&h=273&crop=1

https://printgreendotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/photo-2.jpg?w=306&h=408&crop=1

https://printgreendotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/photo20.jpg?w=216&h=287&crop=1

The post PrintGREEN with this 3D Printer appeared first on Inventionland.

Gone may be the days of sniffing the milk carton to see if your milk has spoiled, thanks to a collaboration between engineers at UC Berkeley and Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University.

This 3D-printed smart cap that the group has developed is meant to find a better way to detect whether a liquid has gone sour, thanks to the wireless electrical sensors that are attached to the milk carton’s smart cap.

Polymers combined with wax were used to create the cap. When the wax was removed, it left behind a hollow tube that allowed for the group to inject silver.

From there, the engineers added electronics, which included a capacitor and inductor to create a circuit that would monitor if and when the milk would spoil.

The group flipped over a milk carton so that milk could be captured in the capacitor. From there, they left the carton unopened for 36 hours in a room that was set at around 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

To determine whether or not the milk was spoiled, the engineers tracked the changes in the electrical signals that were associated with the increase of bacteria in the milk.

They continued to monitor the changes wirelessly by way of a radio-frequency probe.

Through their discovery, the group of engineers clearly demonstrated how 3D printing can work for basic electrical components.

Furthermore, this experiment and the invention of the smart cap intimates that 3D-printed smart caps could one day be used for food packaging purposes.

In fact, the group of engineers are currently working on inventing an implantable device with embedded transducers that can monitor blood pressure, muscle strain and drug concentrations through the smart cap technology.

For now, however, this news might only be a whiff of the smart cap’s innovation. We guess only time will smell, oops, we mean tell!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://news.berkeley.edu/2015/07/20/3d-printed-electronic-smart-cap/

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/70343/20150720/3d-printed-smart-cap-sense-spoiled-milk.htm

Media: https://news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/3dsmartcap-milk450.jpg

The post Smart Cap Redefines Spoiler Alert appeared first on Inventionland.

Now, the idea of 3D printing with food isn’t new, even pancake batter has been previously used as well. However, a new invention called the Peter Pancake, is changing the pancake game.

The inventor behind the Peter Pancake is a man from China named Wu Yili. He wanted to create a better way to make pancakes, so he quit his job at IBM and worked tirelessly to pursue his invention.

Accompanied by a few classmates from Tsingua University, he began to build the machine that he calls Peter Pancake. As of late, his invention is available for use at a food chain that translates roughly to “Good Luck Food.”

The Peter Pancake resembles a desktop 3D printer; however, in place of the extruder is a container filled with pancake batter, which is then dispensed onto the griddle.

The consistency of the batter is extremely important for the Peter Pancake to work correctly. If the batter is too thin, it’ll leak out; but, if it’s too thick, it won’t come out of the nozzle.

Once the batter is perfected, it’s fed into the container, which is hooked up to the printer that’s connected to a tablet via an app. The app gives a person the creative license to select the pattern that they’d like to print.

Once the griddle is hot, the Peter Pancake starts to print the design. The pancakes are flipped manually and require a great deal of attention, so that they do not burn.

The cooking takes about 30 to 90 seconds to complete. The running rate for a 3d-printed pancake is approximately $1.60.

Yili’s invention, Peter Pancake, has been named “China’s first pancake robot” and it continues to create customized shapes and patterns that are as innovative as they are delicious!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://3dprint.com/82599/pancake-3d-printer-china/

https://www.3ders.org/articles/20150720-former-ibm-employee-creates-china-first-3d-printed-pancake-robot.html

Media:

https://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pancake114-1024×713.png

https://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pancake10.jpg

The post Peter Pancake is Flipping with Innovation appeared first on Inventionland.

In the spirit of such amazing space news, we weren’t shocked to learn that this monumental journey has already been sent to another dimension- 3D, that is.

Pluto, the farthest (dwarf) planet from Earth within our solar system was explored for the very first time by an interplanetary space probe by the name of New Horizons.

Just a measly 7.5 billion miles (we’re being sarcastic) from Earth, this ongoing journey came to a close last week after about 10 years.

So, to celebrate this remarkable feat in space history, Brian Allan, an engineer at Formlabs, decided to create a 3D-printed replica of New Horizons.

This venture to 3D print the Pluto space probe began with Blender 3D, which is free software. From there, he used a Formlabs Form 1+ SLA printer that doesn’t need calibration and can be set up and ready to print in as little as 15 minutes.

Allan used the 3D printer to fabricate the probe at 50-micron (a unit of length that’s equal to one millionth of a meter) accuracy.

As opposed to the nearly 10 years that it took to actually get New Horizons to its destination, it only took Allan about eight hours to print its replica.

The size of the completed print was around 4.75 inches from the base to the top of the power supply.

To finish the model of New Horizons, Allan sanded the main dish and began to paint, using a coat of Krylon spray paint and markers to draw an American flag.

Once the layers of paint dried, Allan began to take pictures. In order to make it look realistic, he pulled up an image of Pluto onto his TV screen. He then tied a string to the model and proceeded to dangle it in front of the screen to take some pictures as seen below from 3dprint.com.

After this exploration in the 3D-printing space, we’re certain that many “New Horizons” are ahead!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://formlabs.com/products/form-1-plus/

https://3dprint.com/81478/pluto-3d-print-new-horizons/

Images:

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/image_card_4x3_ratio/public/thumbnails/image/tn-p_lorri_fullframe_color.jpg?itok=gTWhgkIA

https://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ne3-1024×576.jpgv

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