Help Melanie with her Master Thesis by taking a survey about open source hardware and 3d printing

I was approached by Melanie Kern to help her out with her survey for her master thesis. It deals with Open Source Hardware and 3d printing. 

If you have spare 10 minutes go and help someone doing valuable research! Remember people: sharing is caring!

Dear Survey Participant,

Open Source Hardware (OSH) development is a fascinating phenomenon that recently gained momentum. Given the potential of 3D printing and OSH to disrupt entire industries and revolutionize the way we design, produce, recycle, manufacture, distribute and commercialize physical products in the future, this is worth in-depth inquiry. To begin with, this survey, conducted at the Universities of Hamburg and Osnabrück, Germany, shall provide insight about 3D printing communities and their motivations and drivers.

It shall also give developers the possibility to provide feedback on community services and to name key features that would help to improve their favorite platforms. The anonymous and aggregated data will be used for research at the Chair of Management and Digital Markets and be provided to platform managers.

The survey will only take about 10 minutes. Your contribution is crucial to the project and is very much appreciated. Many thanks.

To participate, please follow the link:
survey.digital-markets.info/index.php/914511/lang-en

Best regards,

Melanie Kern, BA (University of Hamburg)
Prof. Dr. Piet Hausberg (University of Osnabrück)
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Späth (University of Hamburg)

You can access the project homepage here:
http://www.wiwi.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/departments_and_institutes/technology_and_innovation_management_prof_hausberg/research.html

Or on the social media site:
https://www.facebook.com/3Dprintingresearchproject

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Space Invaders Delta 3 tracked 3d printer from South Africa

Space Invaders is a team of students with Rueben Pretorius, Mathew Whyte and Jared Rheeders as members. They were South African representatives on 11th World Robot Olympics at Sochi and won the 4th place in Junior High age group.

They developed mobile caterpillar tracked robotic 3d printer powered with LEGO EV3 controller and Arduino. The Delta 3 is a concept of Mars based construction robot that can 3d print buildings, machines and even itself since it is a RepRap.

Here is video explaining their project:



Great work Space Invaders!

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FilaSoy is soy based 3d printing filament developed by Purdue University students

Team of students from Purdue University developed a new 3d printing filament made from polylactide (PLA) which is made from corn, starch, tapioca root and sugar cane and  20-25% soy materials.

FilaSoy key advantages:

There are many benefits to FilaSoy over currently available filaments. The melting temperature of FilaSoy is lower than other filaments in the market, which saves energy costs. It also has a higher Young’s modulus than PLA (a common filament used for 3D printing) for greater resistance to deformation. This allows users to create a wide variety of products such as toys, specialty parts, models, art, and more.

The concept of FilaSoy is not simply to generate a generic material for the currently available products. FilaSoy also brings a renewable, cost effective product (soy) as an additive to the current available market while changing the properties of the material for other purposes and significantly reducing the cost of production. Since FilaSoy is renewable and derived from plant matter, it is green, recyclable, and maintains superior quality.

FilaSoy specifications:

• Function: S3D Innovations’ FilaSoy is the next generation 3D printing material. Replace harmful petroleum based plastic with low energy, low temperature, and all renewable based filament. Retain similar properties found in PLA with an added green twist. Print your prototypes, designs, models, and more without worrying about waste. This product is completely renewable and recyclable.
• To Use: Insert filament end into 3D printer head or as instructed in your 3D printer manual. Set the temperature at 220/230°C. For best results please iterate printer setting until filament extrudes smoothly.
• Ingredients: FilaSoy is composed of approximately 20-25% soy-based materials and raw polylactide pellets.
• Safety: FilaSoy has a very low degree of toxicity under normal conditions of use. Caution is advised when handling, storing, using, or disposing. Keep in cool and dry storage area. Do not use with food or ingest. Potential choking hazard. Keep away from children and pets.

 http://s3dinnovations.wix.com/filasoy

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University of Arizona students design and launch 3d printed rocket

Another example of how the space race will be won by young, innovators, DIY-rs and private companies with some help of 3d printing. Governments are slow and expensive.
This project was developed with help of Solid Concepts.

University of Arizona students create and successfully launch a rocket made up with several 3D printed parts. 3D printed circuit mounts, electronic housing boxes, booster fins, aft body structure and tailcone all contributed to creating a streamline model that caught big attention from aerospace companies and won awards.

Source article and more information:

http://blog.solidconcepts.com/industry-highlights/innovation-high-power-rocketry-using-3d-printing/

Group of students already made fully functional metal printed rocket engine suitable for much larger rockets:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/10/students-developed-and-successfully.html

Parts printed in ULTEM thermoplastics. Temperatures of engine blast get up to 1500 C but the structure holds.

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Students developed and successfully tested 3d printed rocket engine

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) University of California, San Diego created Tri-D Addittive manufactured (3D Printed) static fire system (aka working metal 3d printed rocket engine). Wow!

Description:
Material: Cobalt Chromium
3rd stage of 3 Stage Cubesat
Thrust: 200 lbs.

Propellants:
Fuel: RP-1 (Jet Fuel)
Oxydizer: Liquid Oxygen (LOx








https://www.facebook.com/sedsucsd

http://issuu.com/datyam/docs/seds_newsletter_final?e=8936455%2F4220927

Update:

Now the Tri-D engine has it's own wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRI-D_(rocket_engine)

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