OMNI cnc router with 4 spindles working on material.
4 spindle cnc router working video
OMNI cnc router with 4 spindles working on material.
Thanks to Open Source, now you just need to insert the CAELinux LiveDVD in your computer to turn it into a free and open engineering development workstation with CAD, CAM, CAE / FEA / CFD, electronic design and 3D printing features: no licence and even no installation is required !
Based on the open-source CAD/CAM software such as Freecad, LibreCAD, PyCAM and Cura and CAE softwares like Salomé, Code_Aster, Code_Saturne,OpenFOAM and Elmer , you can design your CAD geometry, perform multiphysics simulations to optimize your design, generate G-code for prototyping with 3D printing & milling, and even develop your own PCBs & microcontroller based electronic circuits for automation.
For example, using Freecad, you can design your parametric CAD geometry with ease, generate a computation mesh and setup your simulation problem in Salome_Meca in a few minutes. After your design is checked you can go on preparing a G-Code for CNC milling a prototype with PyCAM or 3D printing it with Cura.
With the integrated open-source tools of CAELinux, you can simulate incredibly complex physics with the open-source FE & CFD solvers Code_Aster, Code-Saturne, OpenFOAM & Elmer: non-linear thermo-mechanics, coupled fluid-structure dynamics, seismic / non-linear explicit dynamics, contacts, visco-plasticity, fluid dynamics, heat exchange, convection heat transfer and radiation in other words nearly all physics problem can be addressed with the integrated solvers!! Then reload your results files in post-processing applications like Salomé, GMSH or Paraview to visualize your data in 3D... And don't forget all these features are based on open-source / free softwares, so now you don't have to pay for any expensive licenses and if you want, you can even improve it.
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| SALOME on CAE Linux |
D-Coil is a new digital 3D modeling approach using wax coiling to bring tangibility to the design of digital models. After defining a shape to extrude, the users follow the lead of a hand-held actuated extruder to instantiate the actual extrusion using wax. The tangibility of the wax extrusion sets the stage to create the next components until the digital model is completed.
The digital model affords all digital attributes (ease of transformation, distribution, and 3D printing) while the wax artifact can be discarded or kept as a one-of-a-kind memento.
We present a proof-of-concept implementation of D-Coil and showcase how this additive approach can also be extended to a subtractive process using a digitally actuated cutter. By adding a 6DOF mouse, users can also include scaling, rotation, and bending effects to create a wide variety of shapes often difficult for novices to produce in standard CAD software.
“Building the first full-scale, copper rocket part with additive manufacturing is a milestone for aerospace 3-D printing,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Additive manufacturing is one of many technologies we are embracing to help us continue our journey to Mars and even sustain explorers living on the Red Planet.”
Numerous complex parts made of many different materials are assembled to make engines that provide the thrust that powers rockets. Additive manufacturing has the potential to reduce the time and cost of making rocket parts like the copper liner found in rocket combustion chambers where super-cold propellants are mixed and heated to the extreme temperatures needed to send rockets to space.
A selective laser melting machine in Marshall’s Materials and Processing Laboratory fused 8,255 layers of copper powder to make the chamber in 10 days and 18 hours. Before making the liner, materials engineers built several other test parts, characterized the material and created a process for additive manufacturing with copper.
“On the inside of the paper-edge-thin copper liner wall, temperatures soar to over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and we have to keep it from melting by recirculating gases cooled to less than 100 degrees above absolute zero on the other side of the wall,” said Chris Singer, director of the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the copper rocket engine liner was manufactured. “To circulate the gas, the combustion chamber liner has more than 200 intricate channels built between the inner and outer liner wall. Making these tiny passages with complex internal geometries challenged our additive manufacturing team.”Source and more information:
“Copper is extremely good at conducting heat,” explained Zach Jones, the materials engineer who led the manufacturing at Marshall. “That’s why copper is an ideal material for lining an engine combustion chamber and for other parts as well, but this property makes the additive manufacturing of copper challenging because the laser has difficulty continuously melting the copper powder.”
Engineers from Institute 41 (part of the China Aerospace Science and industry Corporation) have already successfully tested an engine ignition device that has been created using 3D printing technology.
This is reportedly the first time Chinese engineers tested a 3D printed rocket component, but it seems to be very suitable for the job. Shell structures typically used for the ignition components in rocket engines are very difficult to design and produce, and are very costly and time-consuming to create. Engineers felt themselves bottlenecked, so a team from the ignition technology research laboratory of Institute 41 began incorporating 3D printing into their R&D process.
In collaboration with local manufacturers of 3D printing equipment, these engineers eventually and successfully 3D printed the first set of shells for ignition devices. To ensure these shells met all design requirements, researchers produced hundreds of 3D printed test samples, which were submitted to various extensive testing sequences.
Limitless is a revolutionary new automated multi tool. With Limitless, projects and ideas can be brought to life using one of many methods. Inventors and engineers can bring projects to life using the milling machine, 3d printer and other tools we plan to add such as a laser cutter. Limitless is a dynamic platform which is always changing to suit the needs of its users.
Unlike all other personal platforms, Limitless uses a robust controller similar to the ones found in industrial machines. We do not use all-in-one controllers for our automation. Each one of our large stepper motors has its own motor driver with separate power supply. We also provide the largest work space out of any other brand! With a granty clearance of 14 inches and a table size of 23.5 x 33 inches, we are the largest most versatile CNC combo tool one can buy!
With Limitless real prototypes can be produced! Since we have such a large work area, projects often do not need to be scaled down. Buy upgrading to our 6 axis controller a lathe option can be added as well, adding even more versatility to the platform. Also, all of our tools (Spindle, 3d printer, and, potentially a laser) are always installed on the “Z” axis, so there is no need to swap out tool heads. You just choose the profile you plan on using and you are good to go!Company and product page: http://advancetecheng.com/index-Automaiton.html
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| I welcome our aquatic robotic overlords |
TestrBot is a $300 Universal Test Machine (UTM) and can be used to perform any type of static or dynamic testing in tension or compression up to 200 lbs. It was designed to run a gamut of physical tests on 3D printed specimens.
3D printing is still new enough that there are many questions that do not yet have definitive answers. While the basic physical properties of raw ABS & PLA have been well established, there are still many esoteric material properties that cannot be determined without doing actual mechanical testing.
TestrBot is going to help the 3D printing community by figuring out these properties. As of this writing, I am at the beginning of the testing process but you can among the first to hear about the results as they become available by following blog here: www.EngineerDog.com
We present a new type of 3D printer that can form precise, but soft and deformable 3D objects from layers of off-the-shelf fabric. Our printer employs an approach where a sheet of fabric forms each layer of a 3D object. The printer cuts this sheet along the 2D contour of the layer using a laser cutter and then bonds it to previously printed layers using a heat sensitive adhesive. Surrounding fabric in each layer is temporarily retained to provide a removable support structure for layers printed above it. This process is repeated to build up a 3D object layer by layer.
Our printer is capable of automatically feeding two separate fabric types into a single print. This allows specially cut layers of conductive fabric to be embedded in our soft prints. Using this capability we demonstrate 3D models with touch sensing capability built into a soft print in one complete printing process, and a simple LED display making use of a conductive fabric coil for wireless power reception.
Here's a new bill in the California Assembly, AB-37*, which would require libraries that have 3D printers to post stupid signs warning people not to do nasty infringy things with those printers:
This bill would require every public library that provides public access to a 3D printer, as defined, to post a notice on or near the 3D printer that would alert users of the 3D printer of the potential liability of the user for misuse of the 3D printer, as specified.
This bill would require the Department of Justice to draft and distribute this notice, as specified, and annually review and revise the notice for accuracy. By imposing additional duties upon local officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
In the actual text of the law, they're explicit about how it's about not infringing intellectual property:
The Department of Justice shall prepare and distribute to a public library that provides public access to a 3D printer a notice that would alert users of the 3D printer of the potential liability of the user for misuse of the 3D printer. The notice shall do all of the following:
(A) Provide citations to the applicable state and federal laws that may impose civil liability or criminal penalties for misuse of a 3D printer, including laws regarding copyright infringement and trademark and patent protection.