If you are interested in astrophotography and you want to make a low cost DIY setup here is a great project. Greg Holloway developed a Raspberry Pi Zero based wireless camera for a 1.25" telescope eyepiece receptacle with 3d printed casing. It is battery powered so you can take it in the wilderness to observe the stars.
Full project description, all the files and software can be found at:
Here is a simple and usable DIY project for you photography enthusiasts. It is a pan and tilt camera stand or goniometer. It is developed by Instructables user smurray2. Nice project.
Do you know the difference between translucent and transparent? I didn't, but I got it after watching this video. This free webinar will teach you how to get 3d objects optically clean by polishing, buffing, photobleaching, sanding, clear coating and applying other techniques. It is focused on Stratasys VeroClear material but it can be applied on other surfaces to get better finish.
MIT developed new high temperature molten glass extruder and 3d printing process. Cool engineering but still very rough objects come out of it.
Project description:
Glass 3D Printing (G3DP)
Additive Manufacturing of Optically Transparent Glass developed by the Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab in collaboration with the Glass Lab at MIT. Ancient yet modern, enclosing yet invisible, glass was first created in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt 4,500 years ago. Precise recipes for its production - the chemistry and techniques - often remain closely guarded secrets. Glass can be molded, formed, blown, plated or sintered; its formal qualities are closely tied to techniques used for its formation.
From the discovery of core-forming process for bead-making in ancient Egypt, through the invention of the metal blow pipe during Roman times, to the modern industrial Pilkington process for making large-scale flat glass; each new breakthrough in glass technology occurred as a result of prolonged experimentation and ingenuity, and has given rise to a new universe of possibilities for uses of the material. This show unveils a first of its kind optically transparent glass printing process called G3DP.
G3DP is an additive manufacturing platform designed to print optically transparent glass. The tunability enabled by geometrical and optical variation driven by form, transparency and color variation can drive; limit or control light transmission, reflection and refraction, and therefore carries significant implications for all things glass.
The platform is based on a dual heated chamber concept. The upper chamber acts as a Kiln Cartridge while the lower chamber serves to anneal the structures. The Kiln Cartridge operates at approximately 1900°F and can contain sufficient material to build a single architectural component. The molten material gets funneled through an alumina-zircon-silica nozzle.
The project synthesizes modern technologies, with age-old established glass tools and technologies producing novel glass structures with numerous potential applications. The G3DP project was created in collaboration between the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab, the Mechanical Engineering Department, the MIT Glass Lab and Wyss Institute. Researchers include John Klein, Michael Stern, Markus Kayser, Chikara Inamura, Giorgia Franchin, Shreya Dave, James Weaver, Peter Houk and Prof. Neri Oxman.
There have been some guides on 3d printing DIY eyeglasses in the past but Jenny made a dedicated Blender library that will enable you to create high quality 3d printable frames from SVG (scalable vector graphics) images of commercial glass frames. The library will allow you to adjust all the parameters to get a perfect fitting frames where you can insert your prescription lenses.
Here is a video of how you insert the lenses in a frames designed with this method:
Here are a few DIY projects for all you astronomy enthusiast out there which can be done with acces to 3d printer.
Ultrascope smartphone telescope
Ultrascope is a 3d printed telescope which uses Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone with high resolution camera to get pictures and light curves from space objects. Project is developed by James Parr from Open Space Agency.
All the information about function and construction of the Ultrascope are available at:
PiKon, the 3d printed telescope attachment for Raspberry Pi camera
PiKon is a low cost project where a 3d printed mount is used to attach Raspberry Pi camera to Newtonian reflector telescope to get 5MP resolution astrophotogaphs. Project was developed by University of Sheffield in cooperation with Alternative Photonics.
Printonian, the 3D printed DIY Dobsonian telescope
From Printonian project description:
This thing is a 3D printed Dobsonian telescope designed for an 8" primary mirror with a focal length of 48". The optical tube assembly consists of aluminum extrusions attached with 3D printed ribs designed for standard hardware and covered with cardboard tubing. The optical tube was mounted onto a base that was made from 3/4" baltic birch plywood cut on a CNC router. The bottom base plates are separated with plastic bearings to allow for control.
All the files, parts list and instructions can be found at:
3d printing optical lenses is usually in domain of high tech companies, but Craig Broady developed and tested a method that enables you to print functional lenses on Form 1 + with clear resin.
The process is well documented in a form of a guide on Formlabs forums and it involves a post-processing by polishing the surface with sand paper and scratch removal fluid.
The lens is 1.75mm at its thinnest and 4.32mm at its thickest, printed with a 50 micron layer thickness.
Working lens printed as a monocle on Formlabs 1+ with clear resin
3d lens during design phase, you can see supports and holding structure
Lens after printing with partial removal of support material
Lens mounted on a hand power drill to smoothen and polish the surface
More detailed guide can be found here together with lens files:
